Press 1 for Invasion
By J. A. Dauber
Table of Contents
About The Book
A kid who just wanted a cell phone ends up being responsible for saving the world from an alien invasion in this “humorous, fast-paced” (Kirkus Reviews) middle grade novel that’s perfect for fans of Sal and Gabi Break the Universe and Gordon Korman.
Ten-year-old Matt really wants a phone, but his parents won’t let him have one. When he finds one just lying on the sidewalk, he naturally picks it up and claims it for himself. But when Matt uses his new phone to take pictures, they show the crossing guard in front of his school as a monster. That can’t be right…can it?
Matt soon learns that: a) his lunch lady is also a monster (actually, an alien); b) an invasion of Earth is due to take place within the next few days; and c) the lunch lady is having cold feet (well, tentacles) about the whole thing and wants his help. Matt and his friend Marcela join forces with her to save the planet.
Battles in their school cafeteria and high above the Earth’s atmosphere place them in very close encounters with alien pets and the business end of a gigantic oven. As the danger mounts, Matt and Marcela must ask themselves what they’re willing to risk to save their friends, their family, and their world.
Ten-year-old Matt really wants a phone, but his parents won’t let him have one. When he finds one just lying on the sidewalk, he naturally picks it up and claims it for himself. But when Matt uses his new phone to take pictures, they show the crossing guard in front of his school as a monster. That can’t be right…can it?
Matt soon learns that: a) his lunch lady is also a monster (actually, an alien); b) an invasion of Earth is due to take place within the next few days; and c) the lunch lady is having cold feet (well, tentacles) about the whole thing and wants his help. Matt and his friend Marcela join forces with her to save the planet.
Battles in their school cafeteria and high above the Earth’s atmosphere place them in very close encounters with alien pets and the business end of a gigantic oven. As the danger mounts, Matt and Marcela must ask themselves what they’re willing to risk to save their friends, their family, and their world.
Excerpt
Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1
It’s all my parents’ fault.
If they’d just gotten me a phone like I’d asked them, and asked them, none of this would have ever happened.
Henry has a phone. Marcela has a phone. Even Geno has a phone, and his parents are really strict—they don’t even let him watch TV on weekends. But my parents won’t let me have one. “When you’re older,” they said. And then they wouldn’t even tell me what that meant.
So I really think it was their fault I stole the phone.
Okay, I didn’t steal it, really. But I didn’t look super hard for whoever it belonged to either.
This is what happened. I was walking home from the park and I was playing catch with my house key. I have really good hand-eye coordination, if I do say so myself, but I was trying to do a spin-around-double-jump-eyes-closed catch, which is pretty hard. I’d done it three times in a row already, and was going for four when I tripped.
Over the phone. Which was just sitting there on the sidewalk. Like it was waiting for me to kneel down and pick it up.
And it worked. I mean, I swiped, and it had a whole bunch of apps on it and everything. And it was even all charged up.
I know what I really should have done was tell my parents about it as soon as I got home. But they would have just taken it right away and put up signs about it on telephone poles or announced it on the internet or something, and I would have never gotten the chance to use it. And now I could show Geno that what I’d been saying all along was true, that I was getting a phone and that it had been on back order from Amazon this whole time.
So I shoved the phone deep into the bottom of my backpack and went home. And headed straight to the bathroom, locked the door, and then dug the phone out to look at it again.
I guess it was on a different plan than the one my parents had, because I couldn’t get service at home. I tried calling Geno, twice, but the call didn’t go through. It wasn’t really great about connecting to the internet, either; it was taking so long to load a page that I just gave up. But at least the camera worked fine: I didn’t take a lot of pictures, because I was in the bathroom and that was just gross, but I took one or two selfies just to make sure I could.
And so even though it was a kind-of-stolen phone and it only kind of worked, it was still pretty cool.
CHAPTER 1
It’s all my parents’ fault.
If they’d just gotten me a phone like I’d asked them, and asked them, none of this would have ever happened.
Henry has a phone. Marcela has a phone. Even Geno has a phone, and his parents are really strict—they don’t even let him watch TV on weekends. But my parents won’t let me have one. “When you’re older,” they said. And then they wouldn’t even tell me what that meant.
So I really think it was their fault I stole the phone.
Okay, I didn’t steal it, really. But I didn’t look super hard for whoever it belonged to either.
This is what happened. I was walking home from the park and I was playing catch with my house key. I have really good hand-eye coordination, if I do say so myself, but I was trying to do a spin-around-double-jump-eyes-closed catch, which is pretty hard. I’d done it three times in a row already, and was going for four when I tripped.
Over the phone. Which was just sitting there on the sidewalk. Like it was waiting for me to kneel down and pick it up.
And it worked. I mean, I swiped, and it had a whole bunch of apps on it and everything. And it was even all charged up.
I know what I really should have done was tell my parents about it as soon as I got home. But they would have just taken it right away and put up signs about it on telephone poles or announced it on the internet or something, and I would have never gotten the chance to use it. And now I could show Geno that what I’d been saying all along was true, that I was getting a phone and that it had been on back order from Amazon this whole time.
So I shoved the phone deep into the bottom of my backpack and went home. And headed straight to the bathroom, locked the door, and then dug the phone out to look at it again.
I guess it was on a different plan than the one my parents had, because I couldn’t get service at home. I tried calling Geno, twice, but the call didn’t go through. It wasn’t really great about connecting to the internet, either; it was taking so long to load a page that I just gave up. But at least the camera worked fine: I didn’t take a lot of pictures, because I was in the bathroom and that was just gross, but I took one or two selfies just to make sure I could.
And so even though it was a kind-of-stolen phone and it only kind of worked, it was still pretty cool.
About The Author
Tilly Blair Photography
J. A. Dauber
When he’s not writing about aliens, J.A. Dauber can be found talking to students about books, movies, and other fun stuff at Columbia University in New York City, where he is a professor. He lives right near there, with his family, so that he can walk to work and see if anyone has dropped anything. Like a phone. After all, you never know. In addition to the middle grade novel Press 1 for Invasion, he also wrote a YA novel about a teenage supervillain named Mayhem which won an award from the Children’s Book Council.
Product Details
- Publisher: Aladdin (September 9, 2025)
- Length: 320 pages
- ISBN13: 9781665974776
- Ages: 8 - 12
Raves and Reviews
"This humorous, fast-paced story has a light tone and plenty of action to keep readers hooked...Twists and turns and lots of silliness make this an appealing choice."
– Kirkus
Resources and Downloads
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Book Cover Image (jpg): Press 1 for Invasion
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Author Photo (jpg): J. A. Dauber Tilly Blair Photography(0.1 MB)
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