Out of This World: Fiction and Nonfiction About Space, Aliens and U.F.O.s

You’ve probably heard the one about my father, Stephen Hawking, believing in aliens, and maybe even the mercifully niche conspiracy theory that he was an alien himself. Well, he didn’t and he wasn’t. Although he held the view that aliens might exist somewhere in the magnificent vastness of the universe, without clear proof he remained agnostic on the subject.

Therefore, in the fantasy adventure novels I wrote with my father about the reality, strangeness and wonder of our cosmic environment, I wasn’t allowed the luxury of introducing an extraterrestrial character. Not because my father was a killjoy, but for the very sensible reason that, despite the best efforts of the human race, we have yet to encounter or communicate with an alien.

No such restrictions apply to THE AREA 51 FILES (Delacorte Press, 304 pp., $14.99, ages 8 to 12), written by Julie Buxbaum and illustrated by Lavanya Naidu. A chapter book and graphic novel hybrid, it’s bursting with fantastical extraterrestrial life-forms.

Sky Patel-Baum, an orphan, is sent to live with her Uncle Anish in the secretive Area 51 complex in the Nevada desert. There, she makes friends, including Elvis, an alien migrant from Galzoria who appears to humans as a figment of their state of mind.

To Sky, he looks like an amiable young boy, wearing a T-shirt with a picture of her beloved grandmother on it. To others, he seems menacing or enormous, depending on what they project onto him.

Despite having made journeys of thousands of light-years, Elvis and the other peace-loving intergalactic migrants are not permitted to experience anything of the Earth other than the 60 square miles of Area 51. Sky soon learns that a bubble-based life-form, the Zdstrammars, have escaped — or were they kidnapped? She and her friends set out to investigate.