How To Properly Dispose of Planet Earth, strikes back

Happy Conklin Jr. has aged.  The first book in the series by Paul Noth, How To Sell Your Family to the Aliens was entertaining, quickly paced and a book that upper elementary aged and older could really enjoy. In How To Properly Dispose of Planet Earth Happy is 11 now and this book has gone all Empire Strikes Back on young readers.  Granted, readers that young won’t know what that phrase means, but you older readers surely know that phrase exemplifies an entry into a book or movie series that exceeds the one that came before it.

How To Properly Dispose of Planet Earth jumps out of the gate with a subtle nod to The Wizard of Oz, gives readers a quick refresher, or introduction to Happy and his life. We see that he traveled across space through a porthole in his sister’s compact, meet his wrestler-grandmother and learn that he’s in class beside a cute girl who he wants to be lab partners with.  The later one being the most difficult thing to conquer by far-and this is a kid who has been to alien worlds, been treated like a king and more.

What makes this second book so much better for readers of any age, is that it’s more personal. The first book was good, but it was good in its weirdness. How To Properly Dispose of Planet Earth is immediately more relatable for anyone who reads it, especially those upper elementary through middle school readers. Instead of focusing on Happy’s family we get to see how Happy is when he’s at school trying to be normal.

However, even at school, where he’s normal, things get weird and before long Happy’s sister appears. Not long after that, so does a black hole, his beard grows again, they draw a mustache on a lizard, get trapped on an alien world and they just might have to dispose of a certain planet called Earth in the garbage.

As chaotic and scattered as that rough overview is, How to Properly Dispose of Planet Earth is incredibly grounded. The struggles and difficulties that a sixth grade student has in real life will be evident to those who read this book. They’ll laugh to themselves throughout it and find themselves wishing that every book that they read is this entertaining.

If you’re a fan of The Rock, back when he was a wrestler; this book is the Rock Bottom for reluctant readers.    

It’s the Kryptonite for reluctant readers whose superpower is not enjoying books.

I also enjoyed the book as much as middle school will. Our third grader is just a little too enjoy it. By this summer he will have read it once and be on his way to re-reading it again. There are some illustrations on some pages, but this strength of it is in its words. It’s incredibly fast paced and is great for boys or girls who want something fun to read. Set against a school backdrop with a science-fiction paintbrush this book will make you believe that you really can travel to an alternate world through a tiny mirror. Of course, as long as you have a lizard with you and a member or two of your family is either chasing you-or there at the end to save you.