Space Race by Sylvia Waugh

Title: Space Race
Author: Sylvia Waugh
ISBN: 0-385-32766-8
241 pages
Delacorte Press, 2000 edition

Being a fan of science fiction, I often am partial to select a book merely on the title and just hope that the contents fit my expectations (maybe not the best idea). Anyhow, that is how I chanced upon Sylvia Waugh's book. No recommendation, not even was the book set up differently on the shelf, I just noticed the spine, grabbed and was on my way.

Description:

'Space Race' tells the story of a young English boy names Thomas. Thomas lives a normal life, except that his parents are from what they call the Other Place and sometimes talk about it or say things in the old language. This is not too strange, as many kids' parents are from other countries but, as Thomas will soon find out, his case is quite different.

Thomas' parents are from the planet Ormingat and have been here on Earth since Thomas was quite young. Thomas and his family are going to have to go back to their home planet and his father tries rekindle Thomas' memory of his own people and world. In learning about his alien self, Thomas also gains a great deal of knowledge (and appreciation) for his 'normal' life on Earth.

Review:

To be honest, this was kind of a strange book for me. It is not that the writing was particularly poor or the plot ill-concieved, but for some reason nothing resonated with me. I had little connection to the characters and was hoping to see what their home planet was like. Instead the imminent trip 'home' never gets off the ground and once I realized this was the case, I lost interest. Maybe some kids out there will pick this book up and enjoy it greatly. But, for my money, there are so many other books out there that it is hard to recommend this one.