I read this book for a read-aloud throughout a couple of weeks with my fifth grade classroom suggested by my CT. It follows the story of a young boy who is the "smartest" person in the world. He is trying to invent a spaceship (only out of cardboard) so that he can escape the planet away from his little brother. I like this book a lot because it is a very fun engaging story for all students and it also includes a lot of science in it. It talks a lot about different topics in science like force and math equations to help him solve his problems. In class, we read this book and watched a video about Caine's arcade. It actually inspired one of my students to create a basketball arcade game out of cardboard boxes like Caine and the main character. So, I would probably read this and implement it the same way. I would ask students to create something out of cardboard like a game. ( )

Genius inventor Alex can't stand his little brother Johnathon. He comes to realize the only escape from his brother is to leave the planet. He invents and builds a star jumper spacecraft from cardboard, but problems arise before he can leave for good. ( )

Alex wants to build a space ship to go to the other side of the galaxy, far far away from little brother Jonathan. Using cardboard and junk he builds his space ship, space suit, and equipment. Jonathan is sure Alex is building something for him. When he finds out Alex is not, he is telling Mom. Alex must find a way to defeat Jonathan's evil deeds.

I laughed out loud at times. This story is told in the first person point-of-view which makes is so much more funny because Alex is throwing asides at the reader through the whole book. He is my kind of kid. I could place myself in Alex's shoes and feel exactly as he was feeling. I totally enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the rest of the series. ( )

This book about a kid who invents a space ship out of a cardboard box revisits an old theme about breaking the rules. The art is great, and the kid has a wonderful adventure before returning home.

This is the first in a trilogy, and I have already ordered the series. I see my older reluctant readers making connections with the main character (annoyed by his little brother) and I love the idea of the journaling. This would be a terrific book for Literature Circles!