The Doom Machine

by Mark Teague, Scholastic Inc.

Bestselling writer/illustrator Mark Teague presents a witty, vivid novel about Jack and Isadora, two kids who discover a spaceship and are taken aboard by aliens who plan to take over the Earth!

When a spaceship lands in Vern Hollow, Jack's hometown, he and his no-account inventor-uncle Bud are busy trying to fix a car driven by Dr. Shumway and her daughter, Isadora. Although Uncle Bud secretly knows the aliens are after one of his inventions, everyone is surprised when the space aliens capture seven of Vern Hollow's residents and take them into outer space on a wild adventure. . . . (more)

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens, Adventure, Middle Grade, Fiction, Fantasy

376 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2009

About the author

Mark Teague has delighted young readers with more than 20 picture books, and he has written many of them himself, including the popular Pigsty, Baby Tamer, and One Halloween Night. He is also the illustrator of Cynthia Rylant's beloved Poppleton series for beginning readers and the best-selling books by Jane Yolen, How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight and How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon.

Mark Teague's life changed when he moved from San Diego to New York City and he planted the seed for his first picture book, The Trouble with the Johnsons. Each of Teague's books start as "notebooks full of sketches and scribbles, strange little drawings and phrases that suddenly come together," Teague explains. And although he had no formal writing training, his endless imagination and understanding nature gives him a permanent place in the hearts of everyone.

Mark and his wife live in Coxsackie, New York, with their young daughter Lily, who has a great time watching her dad paint the pictures in his books.

Reviews

[Michael Jandrok · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's 1956, and the small town of Vern Hollow is about to be the epicenter of an alien invasion. Newspaper boy Jack Creedle is out on his route one morning when he sees a flying saucer land in the forest. But the tale he tells is met with skepticism, as Jack has had a bit of prior trouble with telling the truth, a trait that seems to run in his immediate family. Joined by a new friend, the stranded Isadora Shumway, Jack begins to get to the bottom of the saucer mystery, only to realize that the UFO sighting is just the beginning of a grand interstellar adventure that will take him from one end of the galaxy to the next.

"The Doom Machine" is written with gentle humor and a fond affection for all of the traditional tropes of 1950s-era pulp science-fiction. The characters are well-developed, the dialogue is crisp, and the plot careens along from one adventure to the next, leaving the reader clamoring for the next chapter. Author and artist Mark Teague keeps things moving right along, spicing up the text along the way with dozens of black and white illustrations depicting the action and scenery. The ending ties things up neatly, but leaves plenty of loose ends upon which to base a sequel.

Good job all around on this book. I'll admit that I have a personal fondness for this kind of pulp space-opera, but this book kind of transcended the genre in some ways. The story may be set in 1956, but the writing itself is fresh and lively, with just enough of a basis in hard science to keep the whole premise together. If you're like me and you can remember catching a few black and white sci-fi classics on Saturday afternoon TV, then this book is right up your alley. It might even be MORE up your alley if you dig on stuff like Andre Norton’s "Sargasso of Space” or Robert Heinlein’s “Have Space Suit, Will Travel.”

One last thing, the hardback version book is beautifully bound and illustrated with high-quality paper. I'm impressed all the way around. If you have read a few of my previous reviews, then you know I am a sucker for a great physical presentation. Good job, Blue Sky Press!

[Jayelee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spiders, grass, joe, space trash, third person point of view, very good book.

[Reading is my Escape · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two kids must save the world...  
Skreeps - 9 ft. tall alien spiders from the planet Skreepia. They land on Earth to obtain a "special item" from the ooman bings. They capture Jack, his Uncle Bud, Isadora, her mother (a scientist), and the town cop and his son. Uncle Bud has created a device that looks like a refrigerator but has the ability to create holes in space & time. The Skreeps want it so they can take over more planets, including Earth.
 
This story is aimed at kids ages 9-12. It is a bit scary because the Skreeps are huge spiders (and well...yuck). The Skreeps fight each other constantly and threaten the kids and their families. Isadora is a great character, smart, logical, and willing to do whatever it takes to test a theory. Jack is a juvenile delinquent who can fix any car, and it turns out spaceships too. I liked the way the two of them worked together and/or fought throughout the story. Isadora is always smarter and braver, but Jack is clever in his own ways.
 
There is a lot of talk about time and moving outside time and always being somewhere. It gets a little confusing, but I don't think the author expected his audience to understand it, just accept it. Some kids are good at that.
 
The Skreeps are constantly trying to prove themselves better than each other, and the constant bickering leads to some funny scenes. The story includes an evil queen, rebels, heroes, pirates, prophets and prophecies, surprising monsters, and enough twists and turns to delight any sci-fi fan.
 
Teague is very creative and has written a wonderfully entertaining story. The giant spiders (Skreeps) are seriously creepy at times and may be too much for sensitive readers.

[LauraW · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly action and weird happenings, this is a typical adventure book for upper elementary/middle school kids. It is enjoyable and the characters are interesting, but it lacks the depth that would make it more that just good entertainment.

[Karissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got a copy of this book through the Amazon Vine program. After reading the synopsis I was hooked, this sounded like a fantastic book. It was a great read. Very amusing and would appeal to children and adults alike.

It's 1956 and Jack Creedle is a trouble maker, but he's a trouble maker who is really good at fixing cars and trying to hold his own paper route. One morning while delivering papers he sees a flying saucer land in the forest. Little does Jack know the Skreeps have returned and they are here to collect a special item. Ironically the special item is something that Jack's uncle Bud built and it just happens to be a time machine of sorts. If the Skreeps get there..uh..legs on it, it could mean the end of Earth. When Isadora and her mother get stranded in Vern Hollow they are sucked into the adventure with Jack and Bud. It is an adventure that will take all of the participants literally out of this world to Skreepia and beyond.

If you want to compare this book to something I would say think of it as a 1950's sit-com version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but suitable for all ages. This book is zany and crazy and full of intriguing characters. The characters are very interesting, the plot moves along at a great clip, and there is a lot of great humor. This is fun science fiction for kids (and adults) that has a bit of a pulp science fiction feel to it.

This book reminded me a lot of Philip Reeve's Larklight series too. It has that zany adventure through space feel to it. The book itself it very well put together and has some very nice sketches throughout that help readers to picture some of the more crazy creatures easier. This would be a great book to read to kids. The writing is easy to read and engaging. Teague does a great job creating a goofy but believable premise. The book wraps up nicely.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I hope to see more books from Teague in the future. If you like Daniel Pinkwater, the Larklight series by Philip Reeve, or are looking for a kid-friendly version of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy this is the book for you. Everyone should check out this zany space adventure.

[Melissa McShane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book; the premise is a clever take on the alien-abduction story, and though I was familiar with Mark Teague mainly as an illustrator of children's books, his collaborations have been good enough that I was willing to take a chance on this. Unfortunately, the concept isn't well supported by the execution. The third-person narrative veers between omniscient and limited in a way that comes across as awkward, as does the shifting POV, and some of the descriptions come across as too self-consciously clever. The pacing between sections is also irregular, as if Teague is rushing through one to get to another. I'm pretty sure this is intended to be a middle-grade novel, and the characterization bears this out; these are mostly stock characters, but with enough alterations that they don't seem like stereotypes (the smart science-kid is a black girl, the hero is tough and good-hearted, but also a redneck). On the other hand, some of the plot elements are harsh enough that they don't seem to fit. Example: the aliens are spider-like, carnivorous, and obsessed with food, and the human characters always have the threat of death hanging over them. That's all fine, but the alien captain is just a little *too* vicious and violent, the hero's Uncle Bud is maybe just a bit too selfish (the kind of selfish that gets other people killed)...it all seems just a little off to me. Ultimately, when I realized that I not only hadn't picked up the book for several days, but couldn't remember where I'd left it, I decided it was time to give it up.

[Zac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took us a while to co-read through this, but it was a fun ride. Gets bogged down at times but my 11 year old and I enjoyed it.

[H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teague's book is good - funny and fast-paced and full of action - and I loved the design of it - the thick pages felt so good in the hand! But - - its so very thick that I'm a bit afraid that it will be a hard sell to most kids... That said, its a nice bit of funny science fiction and I think much more successful than the most comparable book - Larklight (which I thought was entertaining but missed its market). The tone is just right with its fifties-era sci-fi movie setting, but if kids don't "get" the irony of the 50's setting, its still entertaining. I particularly like that the main boy character is so thoroughly from the wrong side of the tracks, and isn't noble - he's a rapscallion and a hustler who never "reforms" - and that Teague never really stops the action to give a lecture about being a better or more noble person, etc. He gives kids plenty of credit to decide who is really good, who isn't, who deserves to be cheered on and who doesn't, and I really like that. I've always thought Teague is a smart writer/illustrator who manages to balance the line between providing moral lessons in his humorous fiction without smacking his readers in the head with it. This novel-debut makes me hope for more - but next time I hope he makes it shorter, so this librarian can really sell it to the kids!

[ELLAM · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly, this book was garbage. The pacing was really slow during the beginning and middle, but then sped up by the end. The story kind of blurs by despite the excruciatingly slow pace. It was mentally taxing to read this. I felt real, physical pain when slogging through paragraph after paragraph. The story is cobbled together and the characters are flat and uninteresting. The plot sounds somewhat intriguing, but is executed terribly. Aliens taking over the world should be interesting. It felt more like I was slowly paging through a 1100 page novel about how “interesting” and “exciting” the world of snails is.

Only read this book if you hate yourself.

[Trevor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Genre: Humor/Fiction

I thought that this book was bad. It jumped around alot. At the beginning, it shows a town, out of nowhere(doesn't tell you the name either) and boom, one day a UFO came out of the sky and landed. Then all of the people left except 4 families. It was spread all across the news.

Next, it switches to some other people.

It was way to jumpy for me. It also did not have a lot of the five stanzas, and did not have much imagery. I would not read another book by this author any time soon, but if he improved his writing skills, then I would.

[Esther Keller · Rating 2 out of 5]

In 1958 Jack's little town is visited by aliens. While he tries to make a run of it with his uncle, and a mother and daughter who got stuck in town when their car broke down, they are kidnapped by the aliens and taken on an intergalactic adventure.

Too many characters, strange plot. I wasn't quite sure what to make of this. It was too long for the intended audience and just too strange. My biggest wonder: who's this book for?

[Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted this to be a good sci-fi read, but I just couldn't get into it. The pictures and subject suggest a book for younger students but the language is fairly difficult.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re a mildly delinquent boy with a knack for souping up flying saucers, Vern Hollow, N.Y. circa 1956 is a good place to grow up. Luckily for him, not to mention the world and the galaxy, Jack Creedle is the right boy at the right time and place. They’ve landed, and most of the town has fled in terror, but Jack still pedals his paper route and tinkers with cars at his uncle’s repair shop. Also, his mom goes on running a boarding house where, any given day, the guests might range from a hobo to a prominent Boston scientist and her brainy daughter.

On that particular day, another trainload of guests show up – the army, rarin’ to fight the saucerful of skreeps that have invaded the town. Meanwhile, the skreeps – who resemble giant spiders – are looking for a Special Item that they’re sure is hidden somewhere in town. Actually, the Special Item is a gadget that Jack’s Uncle Bud invented, which is the only thing the skreeps need to add Earth to their galactic empire.

Before you can say “Sputnik,” Jack, Uncle Bud, the scientist and her daughter, the town sheriff and his unpleasant son are all swept away on a space adventure involving shipwreck, spacetime anomalies, people-eating monsters, an arduous trek across an alien landscape, gladiatorial games, pirates, illusions, heaps of smelly garbage and a planetary revolution in the political, rather than astronomical, sense.

Jack gets to show off his flying saucer souping-up skills. Isadora, the smart girl, demonstrates superior aim with her throwing arm. They both pick up special abilities along the way, including the ability to communicate in alien languages (thanks to a carroty kind of thing that otherwise has no nutritional value), to pass invisibly through a crowd and to perform acts of healing. Her mom and his uncle also have roles to play, for the making or breaking of worlds upon worlds. The question becomes whether they can live up to a prophecy, started (apparently) by some slave deep in the mines of Skreepia, that says someone just like them will save the world. From itself, like.

I enjoyed this book so much that I shared this book with my dad. He felt it had a slow start and a weak ending. I couldn’t agree. I was entertained all the way through, but I guess I was somewhere in the middle of the book when it came home to me that I was experiencing something much greater than the apparent sum of its parts. It’s a really far-out adventure, brimming with imaginative detail and vibrant characters. Inwardly, I squirmed with evil pleasure as the skreepish characters acted according to their nature – completely unsavory, even at times a bit horrifying, yet somehow perversely relatable.

I also got a kick out of the way Jack instinctively knows what tools and engine parts do, without having any notion of what they’re named. Lines like “Hand me that squidgy thing with the red handle” (not a direct quote) made me laugh out loud. The way two very different kids came together to solve a galaxy-sized problem actually warmed me inside. Their remarks, at the moment when their doom seemed inevitable, touched me. And Ma Creedle’s line at the very end of the book gave me a satisfying feeling that the story goes on – although there doesn’t seem to be any sign of a sequel, so far.

This 2009 book is, as far as I know, the only novel by a children's book author and illustrator who has provided art for such books as Cynthia Rylant's Poppleton series, Shana Corey's First Graders from Mars series and Jane Yolen's Dinosaurs series. His own self-illustrated books include The Field Beyond the Outfield, How I Spent My Summer Vacation, Frog Medicine, and Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters from Obedience School.

[Hung Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Doom Machine” by Mark Teague is an amazing book that definitely deserve more recognition. This book was recommended and lended to me by a friend when I was clueless on which book to read for the IRP assignment. There is an old saying, “don’t judge the book by its cover”, sometime it’s not true, because this book is astonishing from the cover to it plot. The cover was definitely different from what it was online. It have a plain black cover with the title “the doom machine” in red and normal font vertically in the middle of the black cover. The cover gave a mysterious vibe that is a perfect combination with the title. I would recommend this book to any individuals with the interest of fictional, mystery, a bit of humor, and creepy yet adventurous topic. Another recommendation would be who like movies such as The Maze Runner, Kong: Skull Island, and Race to Witch Mountain, because they provide similar story with a bit more creepy and less PG-13. In the beginning of the book, page 3 and 4, Mark Teague use the literary device that is foreshadowing when he describe Jack’s knowledge on car and his understanding about Mr.Vandestar’s problematic car. And then he mentioned that Jack was the one who done most of the engine work that was supposed to be done by his crooked uncle. It foreshadowing how he going to use his skills set to hotwire the spaceship. Another usage of literary device was third-person-omniscient point of view, unlike many other fiction books that the primarily focused is on the protagonist’s thoughts and feelings. Mark Teague decision of using third-person-omniscient give this book a more diverse perspective. He gave the audience options for different characters by making them more understandable. It also help with the flow of the story as it made it easier to capture moments of the story. Multiple similes were used in the beginning of page 190 to compare the new environment that the group is in. More specifically, they are comparing the plants they witnessing to the what they’ve known. This is important because it shown the setting of the places they going through, and how Mark Teague is able to focus on such small details. It also help with the pace of the story at the moment, a slow pace after and before a tense scene. Mark Teague did an excellent job on this book like many others of his. I like “The Doom Machine” and would definitely recommend the book to anyone.

[Alba Arango · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack Creedle, and the town of Vern Hollow, have been invaded by aliens. Well, not invaded per se, more like under the watchful eyes of creepy, giant spider aliens who are after Uncle Bud’s invention—a refrigerator-looking machine that actually can create holes in space and time. But, when Jack, Uncle Bud, Isadora Shumway and her highly-respected scientist mother are kidnapped by the spider aliens, things really get crazy.

What I liked: GREAT characters! All the main characters are different with their own individual quirks and attitudes. The plot is solid and interesting enough (who doesn’t love a group of hapless earthlings who have to save the Earth from alien invaders?).

What I didn’t like: Teague writes the story from many points of view, and each time we shift from one to another, there’s a scene break. Sometimes there’s two scene breaks on one page. It got tiresome by chapter five. I appreciate trying to write the story from multiple points of view, but there are better ways to accomplish that. It was also unnecessarily long. 376 pages that could easily have been told in 250.

An okay read, but nothing spectacular.

3.5 out of 5 stars

[Stacey Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story had a lot to it...strange other realities, time travel, aliens. When their car breaks down a scientist and her daughter end up at Mrs. Creedle's rooming house overnight. Her son Jack Creedle has a bad reputation, well deserved as he is constantly pushing the limits and causing trouble. But that works to his advantage when he ends up on a spaceship kidnapped by aliens who want the special device his uncle Bud invented in his garage. They've traveled light years to find it....but they need Bud to know how to work it. I jumped ahead a bit. Through crazy circumstances the scientists and the local sheriff, his son, Jack and Bud get kidnapped and have an outrageous adventure trying to escape and get back to Earth. They are prisoners but have some help aboard the ship. As they learn more about their captors, who resemble giant spiders and are lead by an evil Queen, they decide they have a mission to stop the tyranny of these unruly aliens. Close calls and twists in time make the book a page turner. I wanted them to succeed in destroying the Skreeps!

[Terry]

Mixed feelings. I loved the Twilight-Zone feel to the story and the 1950s setting. Jack and Isadora are a good team. While Jack and Uncle Bud have their issues, neither is "all bad." Read the full revie at the Reading Tub.

[Karen Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creative, engaging storytelling.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good, despite the spiders

[Ginger Rogers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dnf

[Narzack · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's alright. Wouldn't read it again, but it's inoffensive.

[Bharath Raj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good book i will recommend this to Sci-Fi lovers

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot. I liked that the book didn't take long for the action to begin. I love the space concepts! I also really enjoyed the part when they were on Hellebeezia, concepts like that intrigue me. I appreciate the inclusion of people of color! On top of that, one of the people of color is a female doctor! During the time the book is set in, that is not very common. The ending felt a little rushed, though.

[Jeannie Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teague Rockets into Outer Space for Kids

Published for ages 8-12, Mark Teague’s Doom Machine novel is a Science Fiction outer-space story for all ages. I just loved this old-fashioned retro 1950’s small town America story filled with humor, adventure, and science, accompanied with great black and white illustrations drawn by the author himself.

It’s 1956 in a town called Vern Hollow, a Mayberry RFD kind of rural community with a delightful cast of characters . Our very young hero, Jack Creedle is a juvenile delinquent always crossing the line of obedience and is forever running from the law complete with hightop sneakers. However, he is also the best crackerjack auto mechanic in the county who can hotwire or rev up any vehicle made, with or without wheels. Jack’s ornery sarcastic mom runs the town Inn, and Jack helps by earning his keep as a paperboy. Getting up at the crack of dawn each day to the crowing of his cranky old Rooster named Milo, Jack tosses the news from his bicycle onto every resident’s porch before school.

Enroute to Boston, Isadora Shumway and her astrophysicist mother crawl into Vern Hollow in a limping old woody station wagon in need of dire repair. Finding it unusual that the only town monkey wrench is a child, and upset that the job will take a few days to fix, Isadora and Mrs. Shumway settle in to the Inn to wait until Jack can find auto parts to do the job.

One day as Jack is delivering the daily news, the sky is suddenly filled with a strange and eerie light. The town folk look up and see their very first authentic flying saucer. An alien soon appears on national television letting America know they are here, and they are real! Hell breaks loose in Vern Hollow and the US army comes to set up base in Jack’s living room, informing him that there is an alien invasion and that the woods around the town are swarming with giant alien spiders called Skreeps. They have come from light-years away from a far galaxy, for a secret item. A mechanical invention that they know exists on earth and was created to help them with a most perplexing space travel problem.

The adventure soon begins as Jack’s uncle Bud, who is a secret rocket scientist and brilliant inventor, is taken hostage along with Jack and the Shumways. The aliens find their device, built by Uncle Bud for an unknown Mr. X who promised to pay big if built correctly, and whisk them all up into outer space for the greatest sci-fi extravaganza for kids I’ve seen in years. Their new home is the flying saucer of wonders filled with ugly spiders manning the navigation across the universe. Zipping past stars, diving into black holes, flying without gravity inside time tunnels, are just some of the scary and exciting escapades Isadora and Jack experience as they finagle and escape from some pretty tight jams and death defying stunts. Their mission is to save Earth, and themselves by using Uncle Bud’s Doom Machine to unravel the mysteries of space travel at the hands of some not so benevolent very big spiders!

I felt greatly entertained and was delighted with this fun story of an intergalactic journey to outer space. Two thumbs up, l look forward to another book by this author.

[Amanda Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Verne Hollow, NY 1956.

Jack Creedle, normal paper delivery boy with a bad arm; Bud Creedle-inventor of the detabalizer-time machine and Jack's uncle; Isadora Shumway & Dr. Shumway, traveling through Verne Hollow heading to Boston-also a Scientist; and several other back up characters get kidnapped by Aliens called Skreeps. Skreeps are spider-like aliens who intend to take over Earth as well as the entire galaxy, all they need is to get their hands on the destabalizer!

Fastforward...
Skreeps land on Arboria, an alien planet, and Jack, Isadora, and other human "Joe" who stowed away on the space ship, escape. During their stay on Arboria, they encounter many strange creatures and live through several life-threatening situations. Ultimately, they find themselves leaving Arboria on a ship with space pirates and make it to Skreepia-yes you guessed it-the planet of the Skreeps. Meanwhile, Bud and Dr. Shumway have traveled to Skreepia with the Skreeps and are set up to be killed by alien creatures. The kids come to their rescue and fulfill some sort of space prophecy. The bad guys are erased and the good guys win. What seems like many lifetimes, once they are returned to Verne Hollow, only about 10 min. has elapsed. This is the short, obvious summary. On a deeper note, I felt this book conveyed what it means to be at war with others, how a society suffers, and how being positive or having hope can get you through dark times.

Though I appreciate the lesson learned, this book was just okay for me. I felt it lingered on and on and I was ready for it to be over.

I would suggest this title to Advanced 3rd graders, otherwise probably 4th-6th graders. *Minor caution, this book does contain the words ass and arse and a few characters call each other names like stupid, etc. May not want to recommend it to parents who are very concerned about these types of things.

I would suggest this book if you "Starcross" by Philip Reeve because of the space travel adventures and the element of space pirates. Also, you might like it if you like "Zita the Space Girl" by Ben Hatke because characters in the book travel through space portals and have adventures on alien planets.

[Ahmad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Initially this book was really good. Started getting a little drag in the middle. The end was OK. Probably won't read a sequel if it comes out.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the art in this book. I even really liked the concept. It was like an old black and white Sci-Fi movie--i.e. The Day the Earth Stood Still or War of the Worlds etc, especially with the 1950s setting, but it came off a little more like Plan 9.

The main problem I had with this novel is in the characters. Jack was cool at times--mostly when he was rebuilding a car or an alien spaceship--then he was beyond cool, but that was a total of 10 pages. The rest of the time he was kind of annoying. Isadora, his young, scientific co-protagonist and her mother were just a little too annoying. Always acting logically, never really showing feelings. Then there's Bud Creedle, Jack's Uncle. He's built an amazing device that aliens want. He's kind of a mad scientist type, but with NO IMAGINATION. What does he want for his amazing invention--to rule the universe, to change the world, fame? Nope, he just wants 1 million dollars. Seriously, that's all he's in it for.

There were good ideas. The idea that a guy who can rebuild a car that will run faster than lightening and run moonshine can also build an amazing contraption that is beyond any alien tech in the galaxy is cool. The idea of tunnels through space and time, while not new to Sci-fi, is a good one, and it's even well-executed in this novel. The idea of a 1950s cast is cool. Using actual flying saucers--cool. But the fact that the character I cared the most about was a minor character on the planet Helebezia, and that the ideas presented on Helebezia were so cool they could sustain an awesome novel in themselves keep this book from getting up to 3 stars. Hell, if the author had handled the Hellebezia stuff properly and maybe reconsidered some of his characters I could give it 5 stars.

Teague shows a lot of promise with great, crazy ideas, but the characterization in this novel just fell flat for me, and took away from the whole experience, and so it falls to 2 stars.

[NICOLE SCRIBNER · Rating 4 out of 5]

the doom machine, by MARK TEAGUE was an interesting book for today's youth- as well as people, such as myself to pass the time away. It wasn't anything magical so I didn't give it a five star. But it was an interesting play on words. I took lots of sticky notes like my children do in school. You will note that quite a few words are mispronounced upon the aliens arrival. Just like the author wanted to put more emphasis on himself and not the title. I guess because the story winds up not being gloomy in the end after all- maybe that's why the title is lower cased.

Anyway, an ordinary boy by the name of Jack Creedle who delivers papers for the Sentinel to stay out of trouble, lives with his mother and his Uncle Bud at the Pines Boarding House. However, he always seemed to find trouble. In fact, he wound up in juvenile detention because he broke into school on a bet. However, this wasn't the worst of his troubles. Some out of towers- a scientist mother, and her daughter- Isadora Shumway also add appeal to the story. They get stuck when their car breaks down in this little town of Vern Hollow, after an alien invasion, and that is when the real adventure takes place.

The alien Skreeps want something that we have, and they will stop at nothing to get it. In fact, in obtaining their special item from Bud Creedle, they also take with them hostages on their return trip to Skreepia- which is a journey in and of itself.

I invite you to read Mark Teague's play on words, and allow Jack Creedle and Isadora Shumway to take you on a journey from earth and the many places they will embark in space, not only to save their planet that's in danger, but also Jack's scheming Uncle Bud and Isadora's mother, and a few other people we probably would have left in space if it was our journey- like Grady Webb, and Sergeant Webb.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed by Kira M for TeensReadToo.com

The year is 1956, and Jack is a good-natured, former juvenile delinquent who is great at fixing machines, particularly cars. One morning while out delivering papers, Jack notices a spaceship land in the woods.

When a group of spider-like aliens attack his house and try to steal one of his uncle's inventions, chaos ensues. In the process, Jack, his uncle, Bud, the sheriff, the sheriff 's son, a scientist stranded in town while traveling, and her daughter are taken along with Bud's machine.

The aliens have discovered that his uncle's machine is not a refrigerator but a dimensional field destabilizer, a device that can rip holes in space in order to venture wherever the traveler wants to go. With this device, the aliens hope to easily access Earth and destroy it.

Will Jack and his companions escape in time to stop the aliens from destroying Earth?

An action-packed science fiction adventure. The characters are entertaining and well-developed. The plot is gripping and fun to read. Readers who like aliens, science fiction, adventure, and apocalyptic stories will enjoy reading THE DOOM MACHINE.

[Erin Sterling · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's 1956 in the small town of Vern Hollow and a well-respected scientist and her smart, logical daughter are getting their car fixed by mechanical whiz kid Jack and inventor uncle Bud during an alien invasion. In their attempt to get away from town, they get stopped by a cop and his mean son Grady...and happen to bump into the alien skreeps, giant spider-like creatures, who capture them. It turns out that an invention of Bud's with them that was with in the car is a "Special Item" that could bring about destruction of the world and thus could give skreeps complete control over all of space. Such begins a crazy adventure into space, alien territory, and a galaxy overrun by a ruthless queen skreep. While the tale begins as a sort of science fiction farce without clear direction, the heroic journey of two brave kids as they navigate space and time facing aliens and beasts of all nature and with a prophecy that they will save the galaxy lingering over their heads is action-packed and engaging. Received a starred review from School Library Journal.