For our last Backlist Booklist of the summer (keep an eye out; the call for judges for our 2022 season is coming soon!) I thought we’d tackle aliens. Maybe it’s because Jordan Peele’s Nope is in the theaters, or because the solution to Wordle the other day was Alien (got it in three!), or because of the images from the James Webb Space Telescope, but I’ve found that I’ve got the possibility of other life Out There on the brain. So, why not highlight the good books that are exploring that?
Your Alien
by Tammi Sauer, illustrated by Goro Fujita
Sterling Publishing
2015 Fiction Picture Book Nominee
Zita the Spacegirl
by Ben Hatke
First Second Books
2011 Elementary/Middle Grade Graphic Novels Winer
Aurora Rising
by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
2019 Young Adult Speculative Fiction Finalist
Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything
by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
Simon Pulse
2020 Young Adult Speculative Fiction Finalist
We’re Not from Here
by Geoff Rodkey
Crown Books for Young Readers
2019 Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction Finalist
Last Day on Mars
by Kevin Emerson
Walden Pond Press
2017 Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction Finalist
The Knife of Never Letting Go
by Patrick Ness
Candlewick Press
2008 Young Adult Speculative Fiction Nominee
Felix Yz
by Lisa Bunker
Viking Books for Young Readers
2017 Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction Nominee
Fly Guy and the Alienzz
by Tedd Arnold
Cartwheel Books
2018 Easy Reader Nominee
Mr. Wuffles!
by David Wiesner
Clarion Books
2013 Fiction Picture Book Nominee
Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More; A History with 21 Activities
by Mary Kay Carson
Chicago Review Press
2013 Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction Nominee