There's No Such Thing

by Bren MacDibble

When an alien falls to earth in Cody's backyard he thinks it will make a great pet. His neighbour Josh points out a few problems with keeping aliens as pets as he puts out the flames on Cody's garden shed. But Cody wants to try introducing his new pet to his mother anyway.

32 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2010

About the author

Bren lives in Kalbarri on the amazing Coral Coast of Western Australia.

Her first children's novel: How to Bee (2017) won multiple awards, The Dog Runner (2019) and Across the Risen Sea (2020) also won and were shortlisted in multiple awards. The Raven's Song (2022) written with the amazing award-winning Zana Fraillon, has recently been launched.

All her novels are packed full of wild adventures and feature children surviving environmentally changed futures. They are stories that don't mask the realities of the world children see all around them, but do offer hope, safe fictional exploration of climate issues and examples of resilience.

Bren grew up on the land in NZ, and hopes that while children enjoy these wild adventures with colourful characters, they're also acquiring ideas and language to express themselves in whatever future awaits. "It's only by talking about it that children can express their fears and develop the critical thinking they'll need to create the solutions in the future. The natural instinct to turn away from difficult discussions has not served us well so far.'