The True Meaning of Smekday

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In addition to renaming a lead character, the film version departed completely from the plot and continuity of the book in numerous ways. [10] Seeking a more worldwide scope, the screen adaptation had the Boov relocate the human population to Australia, eliminating large portions of the book that took place in Florida, Arizona, and New Mexico. [10] Significant supporting characters, such as Dan Landry and the Chief, did not appear at all, and the film took an entirely different approach in its resolution of the conflict between the Boov and the Gorg. The film also shied away from the more mature and complex aspects of the book, opting to be more kid-friendly. A marvelous and very funny science fiction comedy in which eleven-year-old Gratuity "Tip" Tucci tells the story of how Earth was colonized by aliens, and she ended up traveling cross-country in search of her mother in a flying car called Slushious, in the company of a conflicted alien named J. Lo. What a fun book!! I also highly recommend listening to this one on audio Bahni Turpin’s narration is Fantastic!!

As a reader, there's a certain type of book I dream about: one that somehow manages to be smart and funny and meaningful. Adam Rex's The True Meaning of Smekday is—wonder of wonders!—just such a book. Don't feel bad if you've never heard of it, however, because it also happens to be a kids' book. But it's one that can be appreciated just as easily by adults, who are just as likely to enjoy the novel's fantastic narrative voice and sharp sense of humor, and may get even more out of Smekday's central metaphor: the story follows precocious 12-year-old Tip after aliens land on Earth and claim it for their own. The Boov then force the human population to relocate—in the case of the residents of the U.S., first to Florida, then to Arizona. (Sound familiar?) Tip, however, is separated from her mother at the beginning of the invasion, and so must travel on her own, encountering on her way one of the aliens who, in fantastic Ford Prefect tradition, has christened himself with the human name of J.Lo. Further—utterly delightful—shenanigans ensue. This book is actually a very very long essay written by Middle School student Gratuity Tucci for a contest, the winning essay of which will be placed in a time capsule to be opened in 100 years - in 2113. In it, Gratuity (Tip to her friends) describes the invasion of the Boov and the subsequent relocation of all humans to Florida (and then to Arizona, as the Boov decide they want Florida for themselves). Tip's mother was taken by the aliens early on, and so 12-year-old Tip takes her cat and drives (yes, drives) off in search of her. Early on, she meets up with a stray handyman Boov, who reengineers her car to fly. Gradually, Tip and the Boov, who calls himself J.Lo, become uneasy friends and allies, as they avoid the Boov, meet all sorts of strange humans, and then find themselves dealing with an even more fearsome set of aliens, the Gorg. Two hours passed and I had to admit I wasn't good for anything except handing J.Lo tools that had been described really well beforehand. It was announced on June 20, 2012 that Tim Johnson was set to direct the film, with Rihanna and Jim Parsons voicing the lead roles, and the film would be released in fourth-quarter 2014. [5] Chris Jenkins and Suzanne Buirgy would produce, and writers Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember were signed to adapt the novel into a screenplay. [5] The title of the film was announced as Happy Smekday!; the project was retitled Home a year later. [5] [6]This is an extremely funny book - the dialogue, whether tongue-in-cheek or absolutely outrageous, is snappy and Tip and J.Lo are both loveable, if often irascible and just plain nuts. J.Lo speaks English with a distinctly Boovian and very ludicrous accent - when he first meets Tip and is bluffing her, he says, "Then...then...I will have onto shoot with my gun!" and when that doesn't work, he tries "NO GUN! So I will have to...have to...SHOOT FORTH THE LASERS FROM MY EYEBALLS!" Tip carries around an antique polaroid camera, and so the book is illustrated with drawings depicting the polaroids, messily taped into the book. Rex, Adam (August 23, 2007). Human Learning Video #42: The True Meaning of Smekday. YouTube (official promotional video). djmaxdare's channel. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.

J-Lo, the alien character is charming, and I wish he could be my own friend. Rex put a lot of emotion into that lovable squat fireplug, and my only "J-Lo" related dismay is that while readers of this book might know that J-Lo named himself after a popular earthen star, hopefully making himself more acceptable to the people he would soon conquer, lots of OTHER people (here I speak of foolish non-readers of this book) might get the wrong idea of ME, Paul Tobin, when I'm out in public and suddenly say, "Boy, I really like J-Lo!" Tip journeys across the Boov-controlled United States with her cat Pig and J.Lo, unsuccessfully seeking her mother at Florida's "Happy Mouse Kingdom," and continuing west to Roswell, New Mexico and Arizona. There, Tip and J.Lo, together with a wise old junk dealer named Chief Shouting Bear, must prevent politician Dan Landry from incompetently reaching a disastrous accommodation with the invading Gorg. In the face of certain death or enslavement by the Gorg, Tip finds her own way to defeat the powerful aliens, saving humans and Boov alike. Smekday is definitely a feel gooder with smarts. The story is structured as an essay entitled “The True Meaning of Smekday” being written by 11 year old Gratuity Tucci (aka Tip) for a contest. The winner of the contest will have their essay placed in a time capsule to be opened in 100 years. Because of her unique experiences during the Boov invasion, Gratuity decides to write her essay so that future kids will understand what really happened. urn:lcp:truemeaningofsme00rexa:epub:2435ab5b-be10-40be-9e8c-0ebc833337f8 Extramarc UCLA Voyager Foldoutcount 0 Identifier truemeaningofsme00rexa Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t8v990q4m Isbn 0786849002 I remember being really excited at this point. Could I possibly be hearing right? Were the Boov about to leave? I was so stupid.

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It's been a year since the aliens left, and the National Time Capsule committee is collecting essays on The True Meaning of Smekday, one of which will be chosen to go into the capsule and unearthed in one year. Character-wise, I didn’t always find Tip to be quite that believable. She often comes off more as a cynical old man than a twelve-year-old girl, which I think is partly her complicated relationship with her mother (with Tip sometimes having to play the mother role herself) and partly the author creeping into the character. J.Lo is about as silly as an alien character who names himself J.Lo would be, but I enjoyed the way his and Tip’s friendship develops over the course of the novel from grudging allies to almost family. The Boov and Gorg cultures are also well-developed, and it’s surprisingly science fiction heavy for a middle grade book. (A little too sci-fi for me, truth be told, but I like the idea of a female lead in a genre that’s often male-centric.)

Adam is nearsighted, bad at all sports, learning to play the theremin, and usually in need of a shave. He can carry a tune, if you don't mind the tune getting dropped and stepped on occasionally. He never remembers anyone's name until he's heard it at least three times. He likes animals, spacemen, Mexican food, Ethiopian food, monsters, puppets, comic books, 19th century art, skeletons, bugs, and robots. The story is narrated in first person by a 12-year-old girl in eighth grade, and takes the form of a school-assigned essay intended for submission to a national competition, and expected to be stored in a time capsule to be opened in 100 years. Although it's a bit long for a read-aloud, I can't help but think kids would roll every time J.Lo opens his mouth. Especially if I could get my Latka-from-Taxi voice down just close enough. That's what J.Lo sounds like in my head: Latka. With a touch of Stitch, of "Lilo &" fame. a b c "Jim Parsons and Rihanna to Voice DreamWorks Animation's Happy Smekday!". DreamWorks Animation. ComingSoon.net. June 20, 2012. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014 . Retrieved June 20, 2012. urn:oclc:355281636 Scandate 20110419171107 Scanner scribe9.shenzhen.archive.org Scanningcenter shenzhen SourceIn the meantime, this is a quality, quality children’s book that adults should enjoy as much as their kids. If you are still not convinces, I will leave you with the two stars of the book breaking down the 10 reasons why you should read this. Enjoy!! If you only read one alien-invasion-slash-road-trip-slash-buddy-comedy-based-piece-of-YA-lit-that-crosses-several-boundaries-into-the-realm-of-best-work-of-fiction-for-a-specific-age-group this year, then make it this one. Please. I think I'm going to memorize this line. And next time someone asks me a question I don't want to answer, I'm gonna hit 'em with the Boov. Bahni Turpin does a wonderful job voicing Gratuity "Tip" Tucci, really giving me a great sense of the character's humour, determination, integrity and love. As far as J.Lo was concerned, once I got over my initial surprise over his odd sentence construction and accent, I really enjoyed Ms. Turpin's interpretation of this character, too.