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Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth

From the UK Children's Laureate 2024–2026

Audiobook
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The Blythes are a big, warm, rambunctious family who live on a small farm and sometimes foster children. Now Prez has come to live with them. But, though he seems cheerful and helpful, he never says a word.
Then one day Prez answers the door to someone claiming to be his relative. This small, loud stranger carries a backpack, walks with a swagger and goes by the name of Sputnik.
As Prez dithers on the doorstep, Sputnik strolls right past him and introduces himself to everyone in the household. Prez is amazed at the response. The family pat Sputnik on the head, call him a good boy and drop food into his mouth. It seems they all think Sputnik is a dog. It's only Prez who thinks otherwise.
But Prez soon finds himself having to defend the family from the chaos and danger unleashed by Sputnik, as household items come to life - like a TV remote that fast-forwards people: 'Anyone can do it, it's just that people don't read the instructions properly'; and a toy lightsaber that entertains guests at a children's party, until one of them is nearly decapitated by it – and Prez is going to have to use his voice to explain himself.
It turns out that Sputnik is writing a guidebook to Earth called Ten Things Worth Doing on Earth, and he takes Prez on a journey to discover just those ten things. Each adventure seems to take Prez nearer to the heart of the family he is being fostered by. But they also take him closer to the day that he is due to leave them forever . . .

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 24, 2017
      Prez Mellows lives with his increasingly forgetful grandfather until an incident that results in Granddad being sent away to be “sorted out.” Prez, electively mute, is taken in by the Blythes, a raucous farm family on Scotland’s southern border. Though the premise sounds grim, Boyce’s (The Astounding Broccoli Boy) story is anything but, and it’s kick-started by the arrival of Sputnik, a being visible to Prez as a “wee alien in a kilt and goggles,” and to everyone else as an adorable and exceedingly clever dog. Sputnik’s mission is to save Earth from impending doom by finding 10 worthy things about the planet to update a guidebook, originally written by Laika, the Russian space dog. His advanced knowledge of scientific principles combines with a penchant for mischief to produce an avalanche of kooky mayhem (working lightsabers are involved). It’s a funny and touching story about a boy who, through a transformative summer, learns to expand his definitions of family and home. “Home’s not a building,” as Sputnik tells Prez. “Home is other people, isn’t it?” Ages 8–12.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Peter Capaldi's Scottish accent is so strong that American listeners may have trouble understanding him at first, but those who stick with it are in for a supersonic treat. Prez Mellows has been removed from the care of his senile grandad and is living in a temporary foster home when a space-traveling alien--in the form of a dog named Sputnik--shows up at his door. Capaldi's exuberant performance gives Boyce's delightful writing even more cheerful buoyancy, humor, and heart as he captures jaunty Sputnik and his outlandish antics. Especially sympathetic as Prez, Capaldi modulates his voice from quiet wonder to panicked alarm amid the madcap physics-defying adventures. Heartwarming fun will entertain the whole family. S.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

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  • English

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