Mr. Fahrenheit

Gr 7–10—Benji Lightman is the high school football mascot, Benji Blaze—an aspiring magician who pulls infinity scarves out of his tuxedo sleeves and is the master of flash-paper during pregame coin tosses. As outside observers, readers will see what Benji is coming to realize himself: he's a pariah, merely tolerated (and perhaps mocked) rather than adored for his magicianship. In the meantime, he and his loyal friends witness a UFO crash and find themselves inexplicably linked with an alien "Voyager." Benji believes this is the moment that will make him special. Following their first contact experience, Benji and friends hide debris from the spacecraft. Then a man in black who claims to be from the FBI turns up asking questions. The explanation starts to unfold when Benji discovers that the psychic dream he and the Voyager share are visions of his grandfather's youth—as this is not the alien's first visit to this otherwise sleepy community. All in all, this science fiction novel is good, but not great. It pays homage to the classic sci-fi films of the 1950s and attempts to invoke the nostalgia depicted in Super 8 but involves too many different flashbacks, too little actualized romance, and not enough detail on the alien.