Ben Archer and the Cosmic Fall

Rae Knightly's Ben Archer and the Cosmic Fall is a sci-fi mystery for 11 year olds about a boy who can't remember the scariest night of his life.

What happens

A month after something fell out of the sky near his grandad's house in Canada, Ben is still waking up in a sweat. He's been ill for weeks. His memory of that night is a blank. Everyone else calls it The Cosmic Fall, and the news can't stop talking about it.

The official story is a meteor. Readers find out very quickly that it wasn't. A secret agency has three spaceships hidden underground, along with the bodies of three white-haired aliens. And one of the agents on the case is not what he seems (keep an eye on his eyes!).

Meanwhile Ben is back at school feeling like an outsider. He has panic attacks. Two older boys call him Oddball. His mum lost her job looking after him and now works nights. And Grampa, who was with Ben that night, hasn't answered the phone in weeks.

So who is Mesmo? All Ben has is a name, whispered in his nightmare. You get a few clues before he does, and that's a big part of the fun. You can feel things closing in on him long before he can.

The chapters swap between Ben and the agents, and they're short and punchy. Ben's dog Tike is a star. He's stopped barking, he follows Ben to school and waits outside, and he seems to know far more than he's letting on.

It's written in American English (Mom, color, cellphone), which is handy to know for younger readers. There's some grown-up stuff around the edges too. Ben's dad has died, Grampa is in hospital after a heart attack, and a dead hiker's passport gets borrowed. None of it is dwelt on, but it's there.

What to read next

If your reader loves the idea of aliens hiding in plain sight, A Beginner's Guide to Ruling the Galaxy is a much sillier take. A boy called Gavin meets a new girl who claims his school for the Galactic League on her very first morning.