The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex

The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex is title of the essay eleven-year-old Gratuity Tucci writes about the Christmas Eve when the alien race, the Boov, came to Earth, led by Captain Smek. Gratuity, her friends call her Tip, knew something was strange when her mother started talking to herself in single words in both Italian and English. Her mother was convinced she had been taken by aliens who had implanted a mole on her neck - and she had the mole to prove it. Tip didn't believe it until she actually saw a huge ship suck her other into the sky. Suddenly, Earth was overrun by the Boov, who decided all American humans should be sent to live in Florida. Rather than board the mystery ships with the other humans, Tip decides to drive herself and her cat, Pig. She runs into all sorts of trouble along the way, including meeting J.Lo, a Boov who is on the run from his own people for accidentally alerting an evil alien race that the Boov had taken over Earth. Tip, Pig and J.Lo make it to Florida, only to find the humans were all moved to Arizona. They are on their way to Arizona when the Gorg arrive and begin destroying all of the Boov and clearing the world of cats. J.Lo and Tip know they need to come up with a plan to keep Pig safe and save the human race and Earth. They find a teleclone machine the Gorg have been using to replecate themselves and take it with them to Arizona. When they get there, they find Tip's mom, but she doesn't believe a kid and an alien can do anything to help. So, Tip and J.Lo hatch a plan to get rid of the Boov and the Gorg forever.

This was a neat book. The beginning was two drafts of Tip's essay about the meaning of Smekday (the day the Boov arrived and left one year later). The rest of the story is Tip writing out everything else that happened when the Boov and Gorg came to Earth. The entire book is filled with pictures, drawings, and even comics drawn by J.Lo! I really liked the way the author wove parts of our own history into what was happening with the alien invaders (like when they promised Florida to the humans FOREVER, then took it away because they discovered oranges - reminds me of what happened with the Native Americans...). This was a great alien invasion story without a lot of super-scientific terms and blood and guts!