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    SPHDZ Book #2!
    SPHDZ Book #2!
    SPHDZ Book #2!
    Ebook194 pages1 hour

    SPHDZ Book #2!

    By Jon Scieszka and Shane Prigmore

    3.5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The campaign is going well. The SPHDZ word is getting out. 1000's of kids have signed up to say they are SPHDZ. But things haven't gotten any easier for Michael K. The SPHDZ are still trying to blend in to our Earth culture, but not very successfully. They're still mixing up Thanksgiving, cartoon plots, holidays, and commercials. This makes it especially hard for Michael K. to both hide the SPHDZ from Agent Umber and accomplish the SPHDZ Mission. He's forced to enlist the help of fellow fifth graders, Venus and TJ.

    When they (Michael K. and the SPHDZ) are given the assignment to write and perform the school play, Umber thinks he's closing in on the aliens...the kindergartners playing the turkeys.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
    Release dateDec 21, 2010
    ISBN9781442412958
    SPHDZ Book #2!
    Author

    Jon Scieszka

    Jon Scieszka is best known for his bestselling picture books, including The True Story of the Three Little Pigs! and The Stinky Cheese Man. He is also the founder of guysread.com and a champion force behind guyslisten.com, and was the first National Ambassador of Young People's Literature. He lives in Brooklyn.

    Read more from Jon Scieszka

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    Reviews for SPHDZ Book #2!

    3.5/5

    53 ratings9 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. I liked going into the world with Michael, Bob & Jennifer. Some of the plots were mixed up with other plots, and some plots were messed around with . Except for the plot mix-up and mess up I really enjoyed it. It had some mature & non-mature parts in the story. My favorite part was when Michael K. meet the SPHDZ, and they wanted him to become one! Cannot wait to read the next book!
      Definitely a Good Read!
    • 3/5
      May be good for a reluctant reader. The references to the commercial slogans are funny.
    • 5/5
      Michael K. is a 5th grader who just transferred to a new school and is having a hard time making new friends because they are all aliens! They then have a mission and a hamster as their leader.Coming of age for boys5-6
    • 2/5
      Disappointing. I prefer the Time Warp Trio.
    • 3/5
      Everything that I didn't like about this story is why it will probably appeal to the most reluctant readers. The short choppy dialgue, the bizare situations, the ideas of aliens arriving in the form of pet hamsters.... all things my male reaers would enjoy.
    • 5/5
      Stars: ThemeAge: IntermediateThis book is a good example of the Science Fiction genre because it involves aliens and advanced technology, such as that used for hunting aliens. However, the author still makes the story feel real by using an average fifth-grader, with understandable emotions and reactions, as the main character.
    • 3/5
      Michael K. is the new boy in fifth grade. Being new is never fun but it's even worse when the other new kids in the class turn out to be aliens who have no concept of how to act like normal kids. They spout lines from old tv shows since Earth tv was beamed into their planet and is how they understand earthlings. Michael doesn't want to be associated with Bob and Jennifer or their commander, who is apparently the class hamster, but he cannot seem to escape them. For their part, they are innocently convinced that Michael K. is the help they need in order to save the Earth and keep it from being turned off. Silliness and outright goofiness abound here but there's not much explanation of the danger facing Earth that Michael K. so needs to help avert. The bumbling of Agent Umber (all the good color names were taken) is slightly reminiscent of Steve Martin's Inspector Clouseau with the chief difference that he does not, in the end, catch the aliens. Short and quick, this is the first in a projected series and seems almost to exist mainly to introduce the characters as there is little further explanation of the dire crisis facing our planet. There are ecological snippets scattered amongst the chapters, which perhaps give a clue to the ultimate crisis but it seems that further books in the series are needed for it to be stated explicitly.I'm passing this one along to the youngest son to see what his take on it is, given that he's within the target age range for it. I only wish my ARC had finished artwork so he could have the full experience. In any case, I suspect it will be welcome reading as he tries to read for a half hour a day for more than 50 days over the summer to earn an ice cream party when school starts next year.
    • 4/5
      Fifth grade was never this bad, was it? First day in a new school and the two kids sitting next to Michael K. are either the weirdest kids ever or they are space aliens. (Well they must be from outer space because Dillard Picklebury from my fourth grade class was the weirdest kid ever. But I digress.) Bob and Jennifer let Michael know right away, that they are spaceheadz from another planet. Michael wishes he was on another planet or at least not assigned to sit next to these two loonies. Despite his best efforts, he is repeatedly drawn into their company. He eventually starts to see things from their perspective. He finds himself saving them not only from the dangers of the local crosswalk, but also from the ever vigilant, often incompetent, Agent Umber, of AAA, the Anti Alien Agency. This book is a lot fun. It is full of good humor and many references to current catch phrases and slogans from television that young readers will be familiar with. References throughout the book are given to current websites created for the book, that will enhance the reader's enjoyment. Great fun, with situations that will amuse middle schoolers.
    • 2/5
      What the... what? I was so excited about this book, but now I'm just... confused. Michael K, new kid in school, gets stuck sitting with two very weird also-new kids in his fifth grade class. They keep telling him they're aliens (Spaceheadz, actually) and that they have to get 3.14 million people to become SPHDZ or the Earth will be turned off. Their only knowledge of the Earth is from commercials and television, so that's their frame of reference. I can get on board with the wacky. That's not my thing, really, but I know some kids go gaga for it. My problem is that it feels like half a story. And I know that it's the first book in a series, but... nothing really happened. We met the characters. They had some hijinx. And then it ended. There's no real urgency, "turning the Earth off" is never explained. Kids may still read it - it's got a good cover and an interesting premise and maybe they'll laugh at all the toilet paper, pickle phones, and head injuries. But I'm still just saying "What the... what?"**Important to note is that I'm reviewing from an ARC without the final artwork. Maybe the art will help me understand it?**

    Book preview

    SPHDZ Book #2! - Jon Scieszka

    section

    The two aliens attacked P.S. 858 before the first morning bell.

    They waved their slimy purple tentacles. They blasted laser bolts into the air. And, weirdly enough, they waved large shopping bags decorated with orange pumpkins.

    A whole pile of kindergartners ran screaming into school.

    A couple first and second graders tried to hide behind the monkey bars.

    It was chaos, panic, and more chaos.

    Michael K. and most of the fifth graders stood back in their usual corner of the playground. They were trapped. Caught between the metal chain-link fence on either side and the fearsome purple and orange aliens in front of them.

    We are going to die! yelled Ryan.

    Every man for himself! yelled Jose.

    The aliens slimed closer, cutting off any escape.

    That’s when Michael K. saw the third little hamster-size alien poking his head out of one of the shopping bags. He suddenly knew exactly who these aliens were.

    Oh, no, said Michael K.

    The little alien waved a tentacle at Michael K.

    Classmate Venus saw the little wave to Michael K. Venus gave Michael K. a punch in the arm. What the heck is going on? Do you know these aliens?

    Well, said Michael K. Not really. Kind of. Maybe?

    What? said Venus.

    The aliens raised their laser blasters.

    Michael K. shook his head in confusion.

    How had this gone so terribly wrong? The Spaceheadz had been getting better at blending in lately. Maybe they still weren’t completely good at acting like real people. And the sphdz.com website wasn’t getting as many hits as they had hoped. . . .

    But that was no reason to completely freak out and just go all alien-blaster-attack crazy on everybody.

    This would completely blow their cover.

    This would be sure to attract the Anti-Alien Agency, AAA for short.

    This would be sure to get Earth turned off.

    There was no way Michael K. was going to be able to fix this mess.

    The first bell rang.

    Mrs. Halley appeared in the back door. What in the world?

    The alien with the funny hair turned toward Mrs. Halley.

    Michael K. covered his eyes.

    Michael K. knew that life on planet Earth might soon be over.

    He just didn’t want to see it end this way.

    section

    The giant chicken stood by the side of Fourth Avenue.

    He swung a large red cardboard arrow so that it pointed to the new restaurant.

    picture

    Sergeant Sanders’s Alabama Fried Chicken.

    It wasn’t really a demotion, Agent Umber felt. It was just continuing his usual AAA agent duties. Under cover. Under very deep cover.

    Umber swung the red arrow. He gave a few chicken-head nods. Just to give the full chicken effect.

    Baawk, baawk! screeched someone driving by.

    So the chief had reassigned him. Said he was saving Umber for something special.

    Not a big deal. It just paid less than a full agent position. And the hours were a lot less than a full agent position. So Umber had found the chicken job on his own. So Umber was working a bit of a side job.

    But the bad news was that the official pizza parlor mistake had been posted for all the AAA agents to see on the antialienagency.com website.

    And the report had officially been named the Pizza Problem.

    And Agent Hot Magenta’s comments on the Agent Buzz were way out of line.

    Those pizza guys could totally have been aliens. They sure looked alien.

    Baawk, baawk!

    How had it ever come to this?

    Protecting the world by standing on Fourth Avenue in a chicken suit.

    It had all started for Umber back in 1933, before he was even born. It had started with flashing lights moving across the deep purple New Mexico night sky.

    Agent Sienna, Umber’s dad, back then a young man with a bright future in the Agency, saw the red and green flashing lights racing across the sky.

    He said the lights were moving too fast to be a jet. He said the lights turned into a large, saucer-shaped object. He said the saucer hovered over him and gave off a low hum like a thousand tuning forks. He said bright white lightning surrounded him and froze him. He said he was lifted into the air and sucked into the saucer. He said he was turned into a giant doughnut.

    Agent Sienna could only remember getting dunked, then turning human again.

    His AAA Time Clock showed that he was missing from his New Mexico watch post for seven hours. So Agent Sienna was relieved of active duty by the first AAA chief.

    picture

    Fired. Disgraced.

    They said no one had ever been turned into an alien doughnut.

    They said he must have just left his post.

    When Agent Umber was little, he had always wondered why his dad was so jumpy around flashing lights, and Frisbees, and doughnuts. Then Umber read the Sienna Coffee Break File. Then he knew why.

    picture

    And that’s why he had worked so hard to become Agent Umber, of the AAA—to clear his family name.

    And now he might never get that chance.

    But he was still an AAA agent.

    And so he would still protect and serve and always look . . .

    Baaawk! clucked another Fourth Avenue driver.

    An empty Coke can sailed through the air and bounced off Umber’s chicken head.

    . . . up.

    picturesection

    Now, just one minute," said Mrs. Halley.

    But the aliens didn’t give Mrs. Halley one minute. They reached their slimy alien tentacles toward her. They turned their blasters on her.

    Venus punched Michael K.’s arm. Do something!

    It was too late to do anything. The aliens raised their tentacles. The aliens aimed. The aliens yelled:

    picture

    Trick or treat!

    picture

    Michael K. peeked through his fingers covering his eyes. What?

    The rest of the fifth graders and Mrs. Halley stood frozen in stunned silence.

    Give us all-new, superflavor treats, said one alien.

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