Alex and his pet dog Carl Sagan embark on a journey to SHARF where they're going to launch their rocket. Soon, overwhelmed by the result of the launch, Alex makes some friends who lead him to make some decisions. Alex is intrigued to discover a family member in LA and immediately starts talking. He also talks about his brother but after a while when his friends start fighting, and it gets bloody, Alex cries and runs away with his sister. Away from home and his friends, Alex listens to his sister who cheers him up and they head home. But they're surprised to find his mom having a disease. His mom doesn't even recognize him but poor Alex doesn't know that. When he begs to meet his mom, his brother takes him after a few days, and lo and behold..... Find out what happens in this thrilling, happy-sad, bitter-sweet book.
See You in the Cosmos
By Jack Cheng
| Interest Level | Reading Level | Reading A-Z | ATOS | Word Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grades 4 - 8 | Grade 6 | n/a | 5.4 | 64551 |
A space-obsessed boy and his dog, Carl Sagan, take a journey toward family, love, hope, and awe in this funny and moving novel for fans of Counting by 7s, Walk Two Moons, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
11-year-old Alex Petroski loves space and rockets, his mom, his brother, and his dog Carl Sagan—named for his hero, the real-life astronomer. All he wants is to launch his golden iPod into space the way Carl Sagan (the man, not the dog) launched his Golden Record on the Voyager spacecraft in 1977. From Colorado to New Mexico, Las Vegas to L.A., Alex records a journey on his iPod to show other lifeforms what life on earth, his earth, is like. But his destination keeps changing. And the funny, lost, remarkable people he meets along the way can only partially prepare him for the secrets he’ll uncover—from the truth about his long-dead dad to the fact that, for a kid with a troubled mom and a mostly not-around brother, he has way more family than he ever knew.
Jack Cheng’s debut is full of joy, optimism, determination, and unbelievable heart. To read the first page is to fall in love with Alex and his view of our big, beautiful, complicated world. To read the last is to know he and his story will stay with you a long, long time.
"Stellar." —Entertainment Weekly
“Life-embracing.” —The Wall Street Journal
“Irresistible.” —The Chicago Tribune
“The best I've read in a long, long time.” —Holly Goldberg Sloan, author of Counting by 7s
“Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious.” —Kirkus, starred review
“A propulsive stream-of-conscious dive.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“A gift—a miracle.” —Paul Griffin, author When Friendship Followed Me Home
“Exuberant.” —Booklist
"Full of the real kind of magic." —Ally Condie, author of Matched
“Incredible.” —BookRiot
"Full of innocence and unwavering optimism." —SLC
"Inspiring." —Time for Kids
“Powerfully affirms our human capacity for grace and love and understanding.” —Gary D. Schmidt, author of Okay for Now
Book Reviews (35)
11 year old Alex Petroski is just a normal boy until he goes to SHARF(South-West High Altitude Rocket Festival ) he meets Steve and Zed that helps him find out if that notifaction from Ansetry.com is true or not but what he finds out is amazing! Fortunely you get to experience the things that Alex goes through with the audio recordings. Alex has an amazing voice his exciting voice always makes me feel awesome. Alex has three main questions Where did I come from, Who’s out there and most important one of all How can I be brave. But with a troubled Mum, Mostly not around brother and a long past Dad Alex struggles to find the answers but with Zed and Steve (later in the story) he gets the simplest idea “you already have it” Lots of things happen to Alex during the story like going to Vegas and L.A. also thinking about going to California, lots of family issues and hurting himself very badly but with hurting himself very badly he brought the family together. Author Jack Cheng Rating 5/5 star rating This book is a book that is rated (in my opinion!) 10+ because of the hints and themes in this book may be disturbing for younger readers.
Review: 11 year old Alex Petroski is a boy who adores space like his idol Carl Sagon who is a fmaous astromemer. Alex thought to name his dog Carl Sagon. Alex has a mum that sits on the on the couch and has 'Quiet Days' and goes on 'walks' and his died when Alex was three, a brother who is a sports agent. Alex Petroski wants to launch his Golden IPod into space at .S.H.A.F.T. ( South-West High Altitude Rocket Festival ) Alex made food and cleaned up the house for his mum. When he got to the train station, he had a adult ticket and he was only 11 and you need to be 13 to usethe adult ticket and he needs a adult to get on the train until a boy pretended to be his brother and when he was on the train he stumbled across a karate master called Zed and a man called Steve that suffers arguments with his girlfriend. When he got to .S.H.A.F.T. He saw a lot more people that expecting, and Carl Sagon is very scared of people. Meanwhile, he was so amazed how many people were there. When he went up to launch his rocket meanwhile he witnessed frustrastion and other bad feelings. After the rocket launch he got a email from Ancestry.com and said there was a man as that has the same name and birthday as his dad, and said he lived in LA when he asked Steve My Dad Lives in LA and we need to go there , and steve said your in luck im going to LA today. Awesome when he arrived at the address he came across a relative he never knew he had and Alex suffers from losing a dog and his mum has schizophrenia. I recomend this book to 10-18 years because there is problems in the book and real life situations. Book By: Jack Cheng (Updated about less than a minute ago)
Nice review... you convinced me to start reading it :)
Alex Pestroski is an eleven year old boy but thirteen in maturity. While his mum is sensitive and a brother who is mostly not home, life becomes a little bit harder, with a mystery dad, Alex has a lot if stuff missing. He dicides to go to rocket festival in New Mexico with his dog Carl Sagon named after his idol Carl Sagon, and just like him, he wants to send a golden record into space. As he carries on with he’s journey he meets some incredible people, he comes across Zed who is also going to the rocket festival. As they soon find themselves going to Las Vegas to find his dad, but when they got there, a series of events happen including a missing dog and a half sister, Terra. They travel to Las Angles where some pretty big things break out. They find themselves on the road again going back to Alex’s mum. Who seems to have gone missing. But was actually in a Mental Health Hospital. Who has schizophrenia and is going through a tough time, This is showing that these challenges of family and bravery is what he has completed during this story. Jack Cheng has created a full out master piece. With an amazing debut novel that easily stole the show. He tackles the hardest parts of life. Honesty and courage. I “straight up” loved it. It’s probably for ages 10-17. The genre is adventure and drama.
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See You In The Cosmos Jack Cheng Published 2017 Penguin Random House 314 pages Mission to the Stars Space. Alien life. Bravery. Truth. Love. Sacrifices. A dream waiting to come true. In this moving story an optimistic, young, space-addicted boy named Alex Petroski is on a mission. Little did he know he was about to experience a remarkable life-changing adventure; Featuring a not-around LA sports agent as a brother and a long-dead father with some complicated secrets. A troubled depressed mother who has an 11 year old cooking for her, (13 in maturity years) and another member of the family nobody saw coming. Jack Cheng’s inspirational debut is a book not to miss, with plot twists, mystery characters, new friends and a loving canine companion who goes missing. This touching story would be an easy 5 star rating and I would recommend it to anyone 10+ as there are hints of mature themes. Reviewed by Zara Brown Aged 10
See You in the Cosmos is an inspiring and original book that moved me and made think more about real life situations such as not enough money to buy food, no father, far away brother and a depressed mother. Having to take care of himself Alex Petroski buys the food, cooks, cleans and has a day job to top it of. Alex is space obsessed and like his idol Carl Sagan wants to learn more about space and the cosmos and what life is outside of earth. Unfortunately this is not a one man job. Unable to launch his rocket at S.H.A.R.F. South-west high altitude festival and with a series of video recordings on his golden ipod which he plans to send into space fail. More adventures happens which then takes him to his long dead Dad which then take him to his Terra which isolates in a wild adventure were Alex learns about love, trust and family. I would recommend this for children aged 10+ because of the mature themes and problems. Over all i give this book 5/1-2 stars. Amazing first novel Jack Cheng.
4.5 stars See you in the Cosmos, Book Review I adored this book. The characteristics, the planning, it all came together as an eleven year old boy, Alex Petroski makes his way into the real world and comes across life problems. His big dream is to become a famous astronomer like his idol Carl Sagon. Alex Petroski wants to release his golden iPod into space, full of recordings. In this astonishing book the themes Jack Cheng has tried to bring out are, love, truth and bravery. See you in the Cosmos is set to be an adventurous novel with life -changing moments. This book is recommended for children that are over ten years old. This is an inspiring debut novel by Jack Cheng.
See You In The Cosmos By Jack Cheng Alex Petroski’s dream is to launch his iPod into space but to be a good book he has to have problems and Jack Cheng has made Alex go through a lot of problems starting at SHARF. (South-West High Altitude Rocket Festival) At SHARF Alex meets Zed and Steve who play a big role in Alex’s story. Alex’s rocket fails at SHARF but he goes with Steve and Zed to LA to find his maybe dad. When he gets there he finds his step sister, Terra. Some of the main themes like Love, Truth, Bravery and Sacrifice a really well incorporated and explored though his range of characters. This book is a good read for people about ten years and up. I would have to rate 4 ½ Stars.
awsome :)
AAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i got a email on my computer that said i won this book i have been obsessing over this book for i long time cant wait till i get it in the mail yeeee! soooo happy right now omg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Awesome :-)