The Kid Who Came From Space

Ross Welford's The Kid Who Came From Space is a sci-fi mystery for 11 year olds about a boy whose twin sister vanishes on Christmas Eve.

What happens

Ethan and Tammy Tait are twelve. A few months ago they moved to Kielder in Northumberland, where Mam and Dad run the village pub. On Christmas Eve they have a row. Ethan yells "I hate you!" and Tammy cycles off without him. Minutes later he finds her bike in a ditch with its lights still on.

Four days later the house is full of police, reporters and other people's shepherd's pies. Then Iggy turns up on the doorstep in a flat cap and shorts (in the snow), holding a fishing rod and his pet chicken, Suzy. Would Ethan like to go fishing?

What they find on the reservoir is not a pike. Something invisible skims across the water and tips their canoe over. Iggy's leg is ripped open by a fishing hook. And then someone appears on the jetty. She's small, covered in silvery fur, with a tail, a twitchy nose like a hamster's and a smell like blocked drains. She heals Iggy's leg in seconds.

Her name is Hellyann, and her warning is chilling. Say nothing, or Ethan will never see his sister again.

Almost the first thing you read is Hellyann's side of things, somewhere far away, standing in front of a brand-new exhibit behind an invisible barrier. A frightened human girl who says her name is "Ta-mee". So you know more than Ethan does right from the start, which makes it even harder to put down.

Ethan's guilt about those last words to Tammy is so real it aches. Iggy is a joy, with his odd words ("malarkey") and his very obedient chicken. And Hellyann, who says she has "the curse of having feelings", is a wonderful mix of scary and sweet.

Just so you know. A missing-child story can be hard going for some readers, and there's a nasty hook injury with plenty of blood on the jetty. There's also a bit of giggling over the fact that Hellyann doesn't wear any clothes.

What to read next

If your reader wants more ordinary kids stumbling on something impossible, try Into the Sideways World, also by Ross Welford. Willa is twelve, lonely at school and frightened by the war on the news, until a new boy called Manny turns up.