You may or may not know, depending on how involved you are, that 2022-2023 OBOB is starting! And if you’re scratching your head right now and wondering what in the world OBOB is, then I recommend you check out my post on it to explain what I’m talking about right now. Go on. I’ll wait. Oh, you’re back! Do you understand? You do? Great! Anyway, if you’re not new to OBOB, like you volunteer, or are a regular participate, or have simply just heard of it from a friend or a relative, or online, or wherever, than this has been a waste of time for you. Sorry. But as I was saying, because I am taking part in OBOB this year, you should be on the lookout for reviews on the sixteen books I’m required to read. And to make this a little easier for you all, and so you don’t have to listen to me talking about this sixteen times, in the review title I’ll let you know that this is one of the books from the program. Now, I hope you haven’t fallen asleep, or went to eat something, or went to do something you might find a little more interesting, because finally, finally, I’m going to introduce to this book. By Geoff Rodkey, I present We’re Not From Here! Ta da!

So, I have a couple things to say about this book before I tell you what it’s about. For me personally, We’re Not From Here was slightly hard to get into, but I gave it time and it gradually got better. And, this relates to my previous comment, but I also put off reading it, especially at home when I had a lot more book choices than I did at school. Then, when I had nothing to do and thought, hey self, why don’t you be productive today, I took it out of my backpack, sat down, and started to read. I don’t remember how much of it I had left, but I finished We’re Not From Here that day. It turned out to be fairly intriguing, too.

Geoff Rodkey’s book is, well, let’s say interesting. We’re Not From Here starts with the human race living on Mars, the apparent consequences of ruining their Earth. But it’s clear that Mars isn’t going to work for much longer, so when a signal from a distant planet, planet Choom, comes in announcing an invitation for the humans to live there, everyone jumps at the chance. Yet, in the years and years of travel it takes until their arrival, the Zhuri, a species on the planet, changed their minds. The new leaders discourage ‘smell’, the Zhuri’s form of emotion, because they think that smell was what created the past tragedy of planet Choom. Now they put that behind them, call their planet peaceful, and believe that when the humans come, their presence will create fear and anger, along with disruption to their ‘peaceful’ environment. Luckily for the humans, the Zhuri, along with the Ororo and the Krik, two other species on the planet, decide to let one family into their community to act like a test. But what the family quickly finds out is that there is more complications to the Zhuri and their government system than originally thought. But as the test’s deadline creeps closer, and as the Zhuri realize they just might disagree with system, there’s still the system itself. Can one small family in all of Choom save the human race? Should they even hope? Or will the plan get destroyed, just like their planet Earth?

One thing I did admire, whether the author intended it or not, was how the book made you think about life beyond Earth. About the possibility of aliens like the Zhuri, or the Ororo or Krik, simply waiting out there, waiting to be discovered. That’s all for today, and be sure to check back in on Thursday for a post about last minute Christmas gifts!