The Fellowship for Alien Detection

The Fellowship for Alien Detection is the kind of book that reaffirms my love for middle grade. There's adventure, interesting characters, and best of all: aliens.

I like that The Fellowship is told from both Haley and Dodgers point of view for many reasons. 1) Having the point of view of both a boy and a girl makes the story more well-rounded and gives a draw for both genders, 2) it adds more to the mystery since you start out with Haley's side of the story then get Dodger's so the two sides of the story end up coming together to create one (mostly) complete picture, and 3) Haley and Dodger's lives are really different so you get quite a few different dynamics like academic/doesn't care about school much, close family/awkward&distant family, etc.

The mystery in The Fellowship was fantastic. I was hooked from page one and constantly kept on the edge of my seat trying to fit some answers together. Thankfully, everything was answered by the end, though.

The road trip aspect of the story really added to the element of adventure. Haley and Dodger are running from state to state both in escape and pursuit giving the story that extra little charge that kept me flipping pages and eager to find out what happens next. And not to spoil anything, but does it get much more adventurous than flying in a spaceship?

I enjoyed the undertone of Haley and Dodger discovering who they were and finding their places in the world and the contrast between both characters' journey. Haley thought she'd already had everything figured out but ended up discovering she didn't quite know herself as well as she'd thought. Whereas Dodger had always felt lost and ended up discovering things about his past while also figuring out who he really wanted to be and what he believed in.

I do have one small complaint, though. It seemed everything in the story was brown: brown landscape, brown cows with brown eyes, brown seat covers, brown smells. I swear every time I turned there was some new brown thing being described. Now, I know they were in the desert for a chunk of the story and there are, in fact, many brown things in life, but it's okay to use a little creative freedom to make the cows white or the seat covers blue.

The Nutshell: The Fellowship for Alien Detection is a whirlwind of mystery, adventure, and self-discovery. Haley and Dodger each give their own unique voice and point of view to the story making the adventure and mystery all the more thrilling. If you want an adventure wrapped in a mystery with aliens thrown in for good measure, then try The Fellowship for Alien Detection.

Direct Hit

The Fellowship for Alien Detection is a suspenseful, fast-paced, mysterious, alien adventure!
The first sci-fi that I have ever read that is based in the present and highly believable.
If you are not a believer, Haley and Dodger will definitely make you into one!!!

The story starts with Haley trying to figure out a way to keep the majority of her fellowship a secret from her family. If they knew half the things that were going on, they would not let Haley go on with her investigation. And Haley is determined to follow through; she wants all the credit she can get to build her resume, her dream is to become a newspaper reporter.
So far, Haley has figured out that there has been a pattern of missing time coinciding with missing persons. Every time a Missing Time Field goes off, everyone within a 16 mile radius experiences a loss of 16 minutes and then 'wakes up' disorientated, confused and with similar stories of what they experienced and saw.
The closer Haley gets to putting the pieces together, the closer she gets to finding out why the aliens are here and what they have been doing.

Dodger lives 3,000 miles away from Haley. He's also won a fellowship. But Dodger's reason's for applying for the fellowship and investigating the possibility of aliens is quite the opposite of Haley's:
Dodger has been receiving a radio frequency through his head from a town called Juliette; a town that does not exist on any current map, a town that no one has ever heard of.
Dodger knows that he's always been different from other kids and has never felt like he's ever fitted in anywhere, not even home with his parents. He is determined to find out why - why can he hear this radio station in his head? Why is he so different from everyone else? Why does his father always glook at him like something is not right?

When Haley makes a new discovery, the fellowship tells her she must go home, she's in danger now. But Haley insists on going forward and getting to the bottom of things. The Alto is sent to help her - he works for the fellowship and knows about the aliens, how they work and what they are capable of. But, how does he know so much about them?

Soon after, Haley and the Alto catch up with Dodger - and things start to really pick up!
Discoveries are made!!! Many!!!
You will not be disappointed!

What really stood out to me the most is even though both Haley and Dodger had some frustrations with their families, in the end, family is what matters the most. Sacrificing and keeping them safe was their top priority.

Kevin Emerson's writing is so kid friendly, interactive and picturesque - which makes up for the length of this book. Seriously, do not be intimidated by 428 pages! The book is hard to put down once you get started and it just flies by!
I highly recommend this book to all sci-fi and E.T. fans! And even those who aren't - it is a great book to introduce those who have always been interested but wary of the sci-fi genre.