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Alien Secrets
Puck, expelled from yet another boarding school, is on her way back to her parents, who are doing alien research on Shoon. She's worried because she hasn't seen them in years and now she's in trouble.
On board "The Cat's Cradle, " Puck befriends Hush, a native Shoowa, who is also returning to his home in shame. He was entrusted with a symbol of freedom for his people, and now that treasure has been stolen. He believes the Soo is hidden somewhere on "The Cat's Cradle, " and he must recover it before they reach Shoon and before it can be smuggled off the ship. Puck is determined to help, even though it means putting her life in danger--danger from the crew, other passengers, and the ghosts who are haunting the ship. If she fails, neither she nor Hush can return home with dignity.r "Sure-fire entertainment for younger readers."
"--Kirkus Reviews, " pointer
*"This is a fast-moving space mystery that's filled with twists and turns and many surprises."
"--School Library Journal, " starred
*"A dynamic 1990s variation on the best of the 1950s{early 1960s juvenile science fiction by Heinlein, Norton, Bova, et al."
"--Booklist, " starred
On board "The Cat's Cradle, " Puck befriends Hush, a native Shoowa, who is also returning to his home in shame. He was entrusted with a symbol of freedom for his people, and now that treasure has been stolen. He believes the Soo is hidden somewhere on "The Cat's Cradle, " and he must recover it before they reach Shoon and before it can be smuggled off the ship. Puck is determined to help, even though it means putting her life in danger--danger from the crew, other passengers, and the ghosts who are haunting the ship. If she fails, neither she nor Hush can return home with dignity.r "Sure-fire entertainment for younger readers."
"--Kirkus Reviews, " pointer
*"This is a fast-moving space mystery that's filled with twists and turns and many surprises."
"--School Library Journal, " starred
*"A dynamic 1990s variation on the best of the 1950s{early 1960s juvenile science fiction by Heinlein, Norton, Bova, et al."
"--Booklist, " starred
Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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About the author
Annette Curtis Klause
10 books1,059 followersAnnette Curtis Klause broke new ground in young adult literature with The Silver Kiss, a book that is at once "sexy, scaring, and moving," according to Roger Sutton writing in the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. A vampire love story, Klause's first novel is a darkly seductive thriller with heart and message.
Born in Bristol, England, in 1953, Klause became fascinated with grisly things at an early age. "My mother read and sang to me," Klause explained. "But my daddy used to sit me on his lap and tell me the plots to gangster and monster movies. I knew all about Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Jimmy Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson before I ever saw any of their movies." Her father also let her speak to Willoughby, an imaginary little boy who lived down his throat.
When she was seven, Klause and her family moved north to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She recalls that her first experience with creative writing occurred when she was incapacitated with a twisted ankle at age eight or nine. Klause wrote a poem about her mother ironing and decided from then on to save all her poems in a notebook. Soon she was writing and illustrating her own books, mostly about a cat and the kittens she has. At age ten she and a neighborhood friend began making up plays and performing them on a tape recorder. "The plays usually involved some kind of humorous mistake," Klause recalled, "like a woman calling up a plant nursery instead of a nursery school for her child."
It was also about this time when Klause wrote her first (unpublished) bit of horror, The Blood Ridden Pool of Solen Goom. Each of the chapters ended with ". . . and more blood flowed into the blood ridden pool of Solen Goom." Increasingly she read fantasy and science-fiction books, in addition to Mark Twain and, as she got older, the beatnik books of Jack Kerouac. "I wanted desperately to be a beatnik," she remembered. She also read her first vampire book at age fourteen: Jane Gaskell's The Shiny Narrow Grin, which was Klause's initial inspiration for her first novel many years later. "I was smitten by the pale young man who appeared in a few suspenseful scenes," Klause related, "and became mesmerized with the whole concept of vampires." Initially, Klause responded to this fascination by writing poetry, which she described as "a pretentious, over-written, dreadful sequence of poems interspersed with prose called The Saga of the Vampire[also unpublished]." These early writings would later become invaluable for Klause when she set out on the journey of her first novel.
Klause's life was distinctly changed when she was fifteen and her father moved the family to Washington, DC, for career reasons. In high school Klause continued writing poetry. After finishing college in 1976, Klause went on to graduate school in library science. She took poetry workshops in college, but poetry was soon replaced by short stories once she graduated and started working in libraries. Klause began sending her work out to magazines, collecting numerous rejection letters. Several of her poems and a short story were published in anthologies and small magazine reviews, but it took several years of concerted effort to find her voice and her audience.
"I finally took a writing workshop with Larry Callen, a well-known children's writer," Klause noted. "I knew I wanted to write for young people. I'm still working through my own adolescence, so it seemed appropriate. I continued with further ones. I still go to the writing group Larry Callen introduced me to, and often chuckle about how an idea or action will affect the people in my group even as I am writing." Klause soon graduated from short stories, and with the help and encouragement of Callen, set to work on a novel. "I wanted to write for teenagers, so I thought back to what I liked to read at that age. In a way, I stole from myself with The Silver Kiss, because I looked at my old writing notebooks and found the vampire poem I had written as a t
Born in Bristol, England, in 1953, Klause became fascinated with grisly things at an early age. "My mother read and sang to me," Klause explained. "But my daddy used to sit me on his lap and tell me the plots to gangster and monster movies. I knew all about Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Jimmy Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson before I ever saw any of their movies." Her father also let her speak to Willoughby, an imaginary little boy who lived down his throat.
When she was seven, Klause and her family moved north to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She recalls that her first experience with creative writing occurred when she was incapacitated with a twisted ankle at age eight or nine. Klause wrote a poem about her mother ironing and decided from then on to save all her poems in a notebook. Soon she was writing and illustrating her own books, mostly about a cat and the kittens she has. At age ten she and a neighborhood friend began making up plays and performing them on a tape recorder. "The plays usually involved some kind of humorous mistake," Klause recalled, "like a woman calling up a plant nursery instead of a nursery school for her child."
It was also about this time when Klause wrote her first (unpublished) bit of horror, The Blood Ridden Pool of Solen Goom. Each of the chapters ended with ". . . and more blood flowed into the blood ridden pool of Solen Goom." Increasingly she read fantasy and science-fiction books, in addition to Mark Twain and, as she got older, the beatnik books of Jack Kerouac. "I wanted desperately to be a beatnik," she remembered. She also read her first vampire book at age fourteen: Jane Gaskell's The Shiny Narrow Grin, which was Klause's initial inspiration for her first novel many years later. "I was smitten by the pale young man who appeared in a few suspenseful scenes," Klause related, "and became mesmerized with the whole concept of vampires." Initially, Klause responded to this fascination by writing poetry, which she described as "a pretentious, over-written, dreadful sequence of poems interspersed with prose called The Saga of the Vampire[also unpublished]." These early writings would later become invaluable for Klause when she set out on the journey of her first novel.
Klause's life was distinctly changed when she was fifteen and her father moved the family to Washington, DC, for career reasons. In high school Klause continued writing poetry. After finishing college in 1976, Klause went on to graduate school in library science. She took poetry workshops in college, but poetry was soon replaced by short stories once she graduated and started working in libraries. Klause began sending her work out to magazines, collecting numerous rejection letters. Several of her poems and a short story were published in anthologies and small magazine reviews, but it took several years of concerted effort to find her voice and her audience.
"I finally took a writing workshop with Larry Callen, a well-known children's writer," Klause noted. "I knew I wanted to write for young people. I'm still working through my own adolescence, so it seemed appropriate. I continued with further ones. I still go to the writing group Larry Callen introduced me to, and often chuckle about how an idea or action will affect the people in my group even as I am writing." Klause soon graduated from short stories, and with the help and encouragement of Callen, set to work on a novel. "I wanted to write for teenagers, so I thought back to what I liked to read at that age. In a way, I stole from myself with The Silver Kiss, because I looked at my old writing notebooks and found the vampire poem I had written as a t
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
March 28, 2017
This is a pleasant easy read of only 217 pages. It was written for a teen audience (the heroine, Puck, is 13) but an adult reader of SF could enjoy it.
The relationship between the alien "Hush" and Puck is a high point of this book. Lots of other very interesting characters. I would recommend this to any reader over age 10.
I do want to make a point. I am 67 so I review in a way for ME. I often pick YA novels when available to see what the kids are reading. So why only three stars? Well, as an adult reader I could see where a lot of things were going . Trust me, if I had read this at the age 0f 12---when I started SF---the rating would definitely be 4 stars.
Out of print now, but worth finding and giving to your teen----and read it yourself.
The relationship between the alien "Hush" and Puck is a high point of this book. Lots of other very interesting characters. I would recommend this to any reader over age 10.
I do want to make a point. I am 67 so I review in a way for ME. I often pick YA novels when available to see what the kids are reading. So why only three stars? Well, as an adult reader I could see where a lot of things were going . Trust me, if I had read this at the age 0f 12---when I started SF---the rating would definitely be 4 stars.
Out of print now, but worth finding and giving to your teen----and read it yourself.
July 17, 2022
Hilarious book with space and aliens and mystery and kindness and friendship!!!!
But NO! Don't butcher the name for it's actually..... let me formally introduce... Hushawa'shoonyashanyaha (+ touching the first of his three fingers to his nose). Or in short, Hush. He's just the most adorable spindly elongated tall little and good alien ever!!!! He reminds me a lot of O from Home from his style of speech, which can be a little hard to latch on, but it just makes you gawsh internally sometimes!! He's such a good alien.
So as the premise entails, Hush loses the iconic symbol of freedom of his people, and Puck, our girl that is puked> out of school (expelled), apparently due to her no so satisfactory grades, helps out and actually handles it quite well and for someone who got expelled for low grades, she has a pretty good head tackling this finding-the-Soo-in-a-hyperspaceship-filled-with-passengers task. She really is brilliant.
"But it's not too late for you," Puck said.
"There is still a chance." She felt better to think that at least one of them could land on Aurora with pride. "You can still find the Soo," she said, bouncing to her feet. "I'll help."
And from there, too, branches a rare friendship between an alien and a human.
4.5 stars
"May I present to everyone. . ." Michael hesitated. "Hush Wa Shoon Ya Shan Ya Ha." He stumbled over the name awkwardly.
But NO! Don't butcher the name for it's actually..... let me formally introduce... Hushawa'shoonyashanyaha (+ touching the first of his three fingers to his nose). Or in short, Hush. He's just the most adorable spindly elongated tall little and good alien ever!!!! He reminds me a lot of O from Home from his style of speech, which can be a little hard to latch on, but it just makes you gawsh internally sometimes!! He's such a good alien.
"I have failed my people. I am worse than Grakk feces." He walked away.
So as the premise entails, Hush loses the iconic symbol of freedom of his people, and Puck, our girl that is puked> out of school (expelled), apparently due to her no so satisfactory grades, helps out and actually handles it quite well and for someone who got expelled for low grades, she has a pretty good head tackling this finding-the-Soo-in-a-hyperspaceship-filled-with-passengers task. She really is brilliant.
"But it's not too late for you," Puck said.
"There is still a chance." She felt better to think that at least one of them could land on Aurora with pride. "You can still find the Soo," she said, bouncing to her feet. "I'll help."
And from there, too, branches a rare friendship between an alien and a human.
4.5 stars
March 4, 2017
I read this with an older cover, one which lowered my expectations and feelings about the story. Juvenile SF that is authentic, not parody or fantasy, is far too rare, so in that sense this is a treasure. But it's actually only a so-so book, unfortunately. And it's mostly a mystery, and I don't like mysteries, so, gosh, I honestly don't know whether I can recommend it or not, or whether or not I want to read more by the author. We'll see.
Was William Sleator unique?
Was William Sleator unique?
July 11, 2019
I picked up this book at the Little Free Library in Glacier Basin Campground at Rocky Mountain National Park.
So, I'm the wrong audience. Enough said.
So, I'm the wrong audience. Enough said.
January 7, 2019
Review episode over at Backlist & Chill Podcast https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode...
February 26, 2017
Interesting story with surprises and characters you aren't too sure about. The tech was integral to the plot and nicely done. Puck and Hush invoke sympathy but you don't get bogged down with how sorry they are for themselves. They are doers and not stupid about it like so many characters in YA. I would recommend this novel.
Read
December 10, 2012Knowing what the future would look like would probably be surprising to us all, but to go into the future with aliens would be freaky and I suppose, unnatural. Annette Curtis Klause in her book Alien Secrets takes us on a journey in the future with Puck who just got kicked out of boarding school on Earth and is being send to her parents. This science fiction story is told in third person. The setting is taking place in the space on the spaceship. Traveling back to her planet Puck becomes friends with Hush who confides in her. He tells Puck that he is bringing back home Soo (scared artifact) which symbolizes freedom. However, the Soo gets stolen from him room on the ship and Hush feels like he has failed his people. Puck and Hush while searching for the Soo start to notice strange things happening on the ship. Passengers start to see ghosts, things are starting to disappear and someone gets murdered. Puck and Hush are on their mission to solve the mystery.
This is a good book which takes a reader on a fun and mysterious journey with many twists, turns and surprises. The characters are sensitive and intelligent which demonstrated the positive values that children reading this book can gain. This book is good to be used in a classroom because the reader is introduced to ordinary characters living in a different world from where child can build in their imagination. This science fiction story would also keep child’s interest as they would be exploring the world that is different from ours. The spark of imagination that this book can create in child’s mind might lead them to be more creative individuals.
This is a good book which takes a reader on a fun and mysterious journey with many twists, turns and surprises. The characters are sensitive and intelligent which demonstrated the positive values that children reading this book can gain. This book is good to be used in a classroom because the reader is introduced to ordinary characters living in a different world from where child can build in their imagination. This science fiction story would also keep child’s interest as they would be exploring the world that is different from ours. The spark of imagination that this book can create in child’s mind might lead them to be more creative individuals.
Read
January 28, 2015So this was probably one of my first sci-fi books, which is perhaps why I still like it. I was ready to be too old for it and add it to the sale box, but find that maybe I still like it enough to keep. I blame this on having read and enjoyed it as a kid. We always like things better when we enjoyed them as children first.
One thing that frustrates me, though, is that I never had a moment like Puck, where I realized that Job X was the coolest job ever and that's what I want to be when I grow up, no question. I did the usual childhood waffle (Author! No, astronaut!! No, librarian!!! No, musician!!!! No, president!!!!! No, owner of a private island!!!!!! No, veterinarian!!!!!!!), but that's as far as I ever got. I'm still kind of in the midst of that waffle (though I've at least eliminated astro-naught (ha!) and politician from the list), and find myself getting no closer to an answer. Woe. But I fear I've lost you, random review-reader. My point is that seeing someone else have this moment of clarity makes me feel frustrated at my lack of clarity. And perhaps a wee bit jealous. But mostly frustrated. Pretty much a personal issue that has nothing to do with the book's plot, characters, or writing.
Conclusion: Engaging enough that I'm not ready to sell it off just yet, though goodness knows I could use the space and the cash. But perhaps not appropriate for the average adult reader. Unless you need a break from all that depressing grown-up cra– I mean, driv– I mean, um… stuff.
One thing that frustrates me, though, is that I never had a moment like Puck, where I realized that Job X was the coolest job ever and that's what I want to be when I grow up, no question. I did the usual childhood waffle (Author! No, astronaut!! No, librarian!!! No, musician!!!! No, president!!!!! No, owner of a private island!!!!!! No, veterinarian!!!!!!!), but that's as far as I ever got. I'm still kind of in the midst of that waffle (though I've at least eliminated astro-naught (ha!) and politician from the list), and find myself getting no closer to an answer. Woe. But I fear I've lost you, random review-reader. My point is that seeing someone else have this moment of clarity makes me feel frustrated at my lack of clarity. And perhaps a wee bit jealous. But mostly frustrated. Pretty much a personal issue that has nothing to do with the book's plot, characters, or writing.
Conclusion: Engaging enough that I'm not ready to sell it off just yet, though goodness knows I could use the space and the cash. But perhaps not appropriate for the average adult reader. Unless you need a break from all that depressing grown-up cra– I mean, driv– I mean, um… stuff.
September 7, 2011
i bought this book last March and have stopped reading it after a few chapters...
i don't know. i found it dull and unexciting.
i don't know. i found it dull and unexciting.
June 25, 2024
This YA novel was selected by one of my students for us to read together. Puck is a girl around 12 years old. She has been expelled from school for bad behaviour and poor marks. No one is sure what to do with her so they send her back to her parents who are living and working on a remote planet. While onboard the space ship, she befriends an alien, Hush, who is heading back to the same planet after years (centuries?) of enslavement by another alien race. Hush has been entrusted to return a treasured relic to his people and negotiate a return to their planet. The relic goes missing and Puck and Hush work together to solve the mystery and recover the statue. Hush encounters lots of discrimination, xenophobia and hatred from fellow passengers. Investigates a little bit of what it means to be enslaved, freed and obliged to help those who helped to free you and not really being free.
October 2, 2018
A human called Puck and an alien called Hush are both young misfits in their own ways, but while traveling home in a spaceship called Cat's Cradle they become fast friends who work together to try to recover a stolen artifact that could prove to be invaluable to both the friends' cultures. I especially liked the real cats who wondered about the hidden passages of the ship and assisted Puck in her adventure, without ever speaking a word. This is a fun coming-of-age science fiction mystery for readers aged 10 and up.
January 10, 2024
**
Puck is traveling home to her parents when she encounters an alien, Hush. Hush has been entrusted with an important item of his people, and is devastated when it goes missing. Together, Puck and Hush try to unravel the many mysteries aboard the spaceship.
While the two main characters were endearing, I'm not a huge sci-fi fan, and this book was obviously written for a younger audience in comparison to Klause's other works. Despite its short length, I found myself losing interest and struggled to finish it. Not a bad book, but just not for me.
Personal history: Borrowed from library.
Puck is traveling home to her parents when she encounters an alien, Hush. Hush has been entrusted with an important item of his people, and is devastated when it goes missing. Together, Puck and Hush try to unravel the many mysteries aboard the spaceship.
While the two main characters were endearing, I'm not a huge sci-fi fan, and this book was obviously written for a younger audience in comparison to Klause's other works. Despite its short length, I found myself losing interest and struggled to finish it. Not a bad book, but just not for me.
Personal history: Borrowed from library.
July 13, 2020
When thirteen year old Puck befriends an alien on her way home from Earth, she finds herself involved in a mystery of trying to recover a stolen relic that belongs to the alien's race. But along the way, they must outsmart as inter-galactic hit man and smugglers as well as endure the ghosts that protect the relic.
May 31, 2018
I'm sorry, but... 'Sub zero'? As an exclamatory? No. Stop this trash.
January 1, 2019
Classic space-faring adventure with great characters and a story full of twists! Just as good as I remember it as a kid.
June 13, 2021
YA books have improved greatly over the years!
November 5, 2023
A nice whodunnit in space. You can pretty much tell who the villain is from the get go, given the way she's described.
September 11, 2024
One of my childhood gateways into SF.
January 29, 2022
A cute story with a magic world I'd love to explore more of.
March 5, 2009
I must have tried starting this four or five times, and I never got beyond Chapter Two. I couldn't invest in the shallow protagonist characters. Any effort I spent on exploring the world was stillborn by the silly alien names. I might possibly have enjoyed it if I'd found it when I was twelve, but as an adult this book was practically unreadable. There was nothing to hook me, nothing to care about. Klause, in other books, has used to great effect creatures like vampires or werewolves to embellish the real world, casting them as mirrors to highlight the human element she's focusing on. She bypassed embellishment with Alien Secrets, ambitiously removing from the real completely and trying to create an entirely new world, and the result fell flat.
The protagonist twelve-year-old twee troublemaker was such odd choice of character for author who's known for her making her mark characterizing teens on the cusp of adulthood -- I can't imagine reader who loved her debuting The Silver Kiss going on to read this. One and half to two stars; I couldn't stand it but it might be a better match with the right audience.
Related reviews, in reading order:
#1 | Blood and Chocolate
#2 | The Silver Kiss
#3 | Alien Secrets
#4 | Freaks: Alive, On the Inside!
The protagonist twelve-year-old twee troublemaker was such odd choice of character for author who's known for her making her mark characterizing teens on the cusp of adulthood -- I can't imagine reader who loved her debuting The Silver Kiss going on to read this. One and half to two stars; I couldn't stand it but it might be a better match with the right audience.
Related reviews, in reading order:
#1 | Blood and Chocolate
#2 | The Silver Kiss
#3 | Alien Secrets
#4 | Freaks: Alive, On the Inside!
November 15, 2010
Have you ever thought about aliens? How about riding on a space ship through hyperspace? Well probably not, but if you have then you should read the book Alien Secrets by Annette Curtis Klause. It is a good book.
It all started out with a girl named Puck who was traveling to the planet Aurora to see her parents. She is feeling discomfort the whole ride because she thinks an alien is sabotaging the ship. Nobody knows what is going on, but Puck is determined to find out. From mysterious figures in the dark, to random screams. This book will keep you reading on the edge of your seat.
Puck is the main character in the story. Then there is Mizzer Cubuk who is the alien accused of the sabotage. There is also Puck’s friend Michael who works on the ship as a tour guide. The captain of the ship, Captain Biko is who Puck thinks knows more than she wants people to know.
Another aspect of the book is the author’s style of writing. It is suspenseful and hard to put down when you get into it. There is some action, but it is mostly just a big mystery. This book is almost addicting to read.
In conclusion, this book will keep you reading from start to finish. If you stop reading it, you will be left in awe or confusion about what will happen next. You will never know unless you read the book.
It all started out with a girl named Puck who was traveling to the planet Aurora to see her parents. She is feeling discomfort the whole ride because she thinks an alien is sabotaging the ship. Nobody knows what is going on, but Puck is determined to find out. From mysterious figures in the dark, to random screams. This book will keep you reading on the edge of your seat.
Puck is the main character in the story. Then there is Mizzer Cubuk who is the alien accused of the sabotage. There is also Puck’s friend Michael who works on the ship as a tour guide. The captain of the ship, Captain Biko is who Puck thinks knows more than she wants people to know.
Another aspect of the book is the author’s style of writing. It is suspenseful and hard to put down when you get into it. There is some action, but it is mostly just a big mystery. This book is almost addicting to read.
In conclusion, this book will keep you reading from start to finish. If you stop reading it, you will be left in awe or confusion about what will happen next. You will never know unless you read the book.
Read
March 23, 2012Alien Secrets
by: Annette Curtis Kluase
Let me start off by saying I didnt really like this book. I thought it was awfully childish. Puck has been expelled from boarding school on Earth, so she's being sent back to her parents on planet Aurora. He's on the same space liner as a Shoowa alien named Hush. Since Puck is the only other teenager on the ship. He was bringing home the Soo, a sacred artifact that symbolizes freedom. The first night on the ship it was stolen from his room. He feels like he has failed his people. Puck thinks that the Soo may still be on the ship, so she decides to help Hush look for it. claims to have seen ghosts. The strange hyperspace navigator also sees ghosts. Then there are the two strange ladies who are very antagonistic toward Hush. Mister Cubuk, who always is sneaking around and poking his nose into things is also a problem.
I would recomend this book to a younger audience. I would recomend it to them because the book seems childish.
by: Annette Curtis Kluase
Let me start off by saying I didnt really like this book. I thought it was awfully childish. Puck has been expelled from boarding school on Earth, so she's being sent back to her parents on planet Aurora. He's on the same space liner as a Shoowa alien named Hush. Since Puck is the only other teenager on the ship. He was bringing home the Soo, a sacred artifact that symbolizes freedom. The first night on the ship it was stolen from his room. He feels like he has failed his people. Puck thinks that the Soo may still be on the ship, so she decides to help Hush look for it. claims to have seen ghosts. The strange hyperspace navigator also sees ghosts. Then there are the two strange ladies who are very antagonistic toward Hush. Mister Cubuk, who always is sneaking around and poking his nose into things is also a problem.
I would recomend this book to a younger audience. I would recomend it to them because the book seems childish.
June 18, 2012
My first two experiences with Annette's books were Silver Kiss and Blood and Chocolate, which I loved dearly, but this one, not so much. I enjoyed the idea of the story, but there were parts were I was confused, and I felt that something had been left out on accident. Near the end, there was a part where a character seemed to appear out of thin air, and I reread the page a couple of times, but there was no mention of the persons entrance when they were suppose to be in another room. Not a big deal really, but the whole book just made me feel a little lost, as though I was reading book 6 in a series, never having read the previous ones, obviously. All in all, I would still recommend her other two books that I have read, just maybe not this one, although I will, just to see if others feel the same way, or if I'm just tired.
August 3, 2014
This book was one of my very first brushes with science fiction. I discovered it when I was in middle school and I asked the librarian to point me to something new. I found myself sucked in almost immediately by the choice of the name Puck for the main character, based on the character from William Shakespeare's Midsummer's night dream.
The story itself has equal parts mystery, adventure, and silly pranks that delighted me as a young girl. Especially since the protagonist was a young girl, who would come to be a hero. I don't remember exactly how many times I checked this out from the library at my school before obtaining my own copy. A copy that still sits on my shelf and I reread whenever I am feeling nostalgic.
A very good read for young teenagers. Might be a little scary for anyone under the age of eight, given the intensity of some of the chase scenes.
The story itself has equal parts mystery, adventure, and silly pranks that delighted me as a young girl. Especially since the protagonist was a young girl, who would come to be a hero. I don't remember exactly how many times I checked this out from the library at my school before obtaining my own copy. A copy that still sits on my shelf and I reread whenever I am feeling nostalgic.
A very good read for young teenagers. Might be a little scary for anyone under the age of eight, given the intensity of some of the chase scenes.
February 22, 2009
This was a fun and quick read. (Started it yesterday and finished this morning.) The protagonist is Puck, a thirteen-year-old girl who has been expelled from her boarding school on Earth and must travel to the planet Aurora where her parents -- the Goodfellows -- are working as xenobiologists. Aboard the tramp freighter she is traveling on, Puck meets Hush, a young Shoowa (natives of Aurora which they call Shoon), who has been traveling to his home planet bearing a treasured artifact. Unfortunately, shortly before boarding the freighter, the artifact was stolen from him. Puck and Hush set about to locate and recover the artifact, building a close friendship along the way.
December 8, 2012
Alien Secrets is a thrilling science fiction adventure book for kids. The book is about a Puck, a teenaged girl, who takes a haunted spaceship to Aurora. Onboard Hush, a double-jointed alien with a conehead, loses his prize possesion, the Soo. The Soo is a shimmering crystal-like object. Puck and Hush, who are now friends, have some very strange encounters, including coming across one of Hush's enimies, on their journy to find the Soo. The Grakk, Hush's enemy, threatened to kill anyone who tried to stop her from getting off the ship.
April 30, 2013
I've read this book quite a long time ago for a school book report. I did not like this book. At all.
Let me just say, the whole story is just really boring and unexciting. This wasn't entertaining at all. I would have put this book down after reading the first chapter, but I had to go through the whole damn thing because I had to read this trash for school. That was just pure torture for me.
I would not recommend this book to anyone, except my worst enemy. Do not read this book! I'm warning you!
Let me just say, the whole story is just really boring and unexciting. This wasn't entertaining at all. I would have put this book down after reading the first chapter, but I had to go through the whole damn thing because I had to read this trash for school. That was just pure torture for me.
I would not recommend this book to anyone, except my worst enemy. Do not read this book! I'm warning you!
April 5, 2011
Fun and gripping book, even though it was written for kids. I definitely got caught up in the characters, and kept wishing I could render to paper the images I saw in the descriptive environments. I especially liked the interactions between Puck (the main character) and Hush (the alien she befriends). The cats that inhabit the ship (which will be explained shortly into the book) are amusing secondary characters too.
July 31, 2022
This was pleasant but lacked the excitement or drive of other books I've read by Klause. Possibly she works best in a YA rather than child field, or maybe realist fantasy rather than full SF. Puck, however, was an engaging and likeable character, believable, and the SF world was an interesting one. I enjoyed the characters and the story, but sometimes felt the mystery was a little overt. Also seemed to lose its zest about halfway through once fully friends with the alien.
August 23, 2012
I read this book in 8th grade and I think it's perhaps the first time I'd ever read a science fiction novel (I've watched it on tv and in movies, don't kid yourself). I really loved the character Puck. She's funny and the story really interested me. There's even ghosts tossed into this sci-fi book. Puck was a great character in the series and I loved this read. It was simply a good read to my 13 year old self!
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