Little Green Men at the Mercury Inn by Greg Leitich Smith –OPTIONAL

Smith, Greg Leitich  Little Green Men at the Mercury Inn Roaring Brook Press, 2014. $15.99  Content: Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: G Violence: G

Aidan is a twelve year old who has grown up in a beachside motel owned by his family in Florida, called the Mercury Inn. Part of his chores are to maintain the pool and help out random tasks with the hotel. Aidan still finds time to hang out with his best friend Louis, an UFO/Alien buff. After a NASA space launch fails and the whole crowd thinks they see a UFO, suddenly the hotel is stuffed with Alien seeking tourists. Aidan and Louis find themselves in the center of the search and make a startling discovery.

This is an intelligent and quirky read. I thought this would appeal to younger readers, like 3-4 graders, but the references and vocabulary might be better suited for 6-7 graders, a timely comment to this post suggests its popular with Middle School Readers. At times I found the cultural references quite obscure and I think students would be just confused. The entire story taking place at the hotel is a bit claustrophobic. I thought the title was in discord with the content and I am not sure why they went that direction.  Fun and lighthearted with lots of potential for humor.
MS -OPTIONAL  Reviewer: Stephanie Elementary School Librarian & Author.