Perijee and Me

Ross Montgomery's Perijee and Me is a warm, funny and quietly heartbreaking story for 9 year olds about a lonely girl who finds a baby alien on the beach.

What happens

Caitlin lives on Middle Island with her mum and not much else. Her dad is a famous scientist who's always away on book tours. The only other person she talks to is Frank, who ferries her to school, has a glass eye and would rather be in the pub.

On the last day of term she invites her whole class to a summer party. They laugh at her. Nobody's coming.

There's something else she hasn't told her mum. The letters in books "flash and change" when she looks at them, and she's bottom of the class. She's been telling everyone at home she's top.

Then, after a storm and a meteor shower, she finds a tiny white prawn at Stinky Bay. It's covered in carved symbols. By morning it has frog's legs. A day later it's copied her, right down to the bobble hat and the wellies.

She names him Perijee (from a word in her dad's book, spelt a bit wrong, which feels about right). She teaches him words and counting. He eats everything on the island, including the bathtub taps. And he calls her family.

Oh, this one! It's a sister-and-baby-brother story wearing an alien costume. Caitlin is funny and prickly and so very lonely, and she'd do anything to keep him safe. Right from the first page you know Perijee won't stay small (she mentions, in passing, that this was "before he tried to take over the world"). That little bit of dread makes every sweet moment on the beach feel precious.

Frank is brilliant too. He hates Perijee, he says, while catching him a boatload of fish every single day.

There's a bit of mild swearing from the grown-ups, and a few moments where Perijee turns up covered in something's blood. Caitlin's dad is hard on her about her schoolwork, which might hit home for a child who struggles with reading.

If you've got a reader who's ever felt like the odd one out, they'll be firmly on Caitlin's side.

What to read next

For more Ross Montgomery, try Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable Door. It opens with Alex's essay for a school competition, which rambles gloriously off topic into why dogs beat cats and gets a big fat F.