Table of Contents
About The Book
It’s 1964, the Space Race is well underway, and eleven-year-old Magnolia Jean Crook and the other residents of Totter, Texas, are over the moon about UFOs.
The whole town is gearing up for the First Annual Come on Down Day—in just one week, they are hoping to host any and all space aliens who would like to visit Earth. But right before the kick-off party, a meteorite goes missing—and MJ’s beloved grandmother Mimi, who is the vice president of the Totter Unidentified Flying Object Organization, is the prime suspect.
MJ is desperate to show the town that this Crook is not a thief. The only problem is that there is a lot of evidence against her, and Mimi herself isn’t helping things. She’s acting suspiciously, pulling disappearing acts, and worst of all, can’t seem to answer any questions about where she was or what she was doing.
But much like UFOs, extraterrestrial visitations, and sending people to space, the impossible has been known to happen.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (April 18, 2023)
- Length: 224 pages
- ISBN13: 9781665914215
- Ages: 8 - 12
- Lexile ® 720L The Lexile reading levels have been certified by the Lexile developer, MetaMetrics®
Raves and Reviews
"Bustard fills her cast with a realistic mix of friends, rivals, supportive parents, and neighborly townsfolk (many given animated faces by Rowland’s vignettes at each chapter’s head), capturing a vivid sense of the rhythms and atmosphere of small-town life in the early 1960s—inspired, she writes, by a real event staged in the 1970s. Readers fond of comfy tales set in small Southern towns (practically a genre all its own) will enjoy meeting Magnolia Jean."
– Booklist
"A sometimes meandering plot centers solidly on the book’s compassionate protagonist, whose colloquial narrative reflects the town’s quirky affability, offers a loving view of an intergenerational relationship, and touches on themes of memory and belief."
– Publishers Weekly
Awards and Honors
- Kansas NEA Reading Circle List Junior Title
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Far Out! eBook 9781665914215
- Author Photo (jpg): Anne Bustard Photograph by Sam Bond(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit