Skip to Main Content

About The Book

Michael K. just started fifth grade at a new school. As if that wasn’t hard enough, the kids he seems to have made friends with apparently aren’t kids at all. They are aliens. Real aliens, who have invaded our planet disguised as school children and a hamster. They have a mission to complete: to convince 3,400,001 kids to BE SPHDZ in order to save the world! But with a hamster as their leader, "kids" who talk like walking advertisements, and Michael K. as their first convert, will the SPHDZ be able to keep their cover and pull off their assignment?

Several websites mentioned in the book will be live…giving readers a full interactive experience.

About The Author

Photo Credit:

Jon Scieszka is the creator of Trucktown, including the New York Times bestselling Smash, Crash!, and the author of The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!, the Time Warp Trio series, Caldecott Honor Book The Stinky Cheese Man, and many other books that inspire kids to want to read. He has worked as an elementary school teacher and is the founder of GuysRead.com, a literacy initiative for boys.

About The Illustrator

Shane Prigmore is an accomplished professional in the animation, film, and illustration fields. Shane won an Annie Award for his design work on the stop motion feature Coraline. He has also contributed his numerous talents to such projects as: How to Train Your Dragon, The Croods, Rise of the Guardians, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and The Iron Giant...to name a few. Shane resides in Los Angeles.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (June 22, 2010)
  • Length: 176 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781416987055
  • Grades: 2 - 5
  • Ages: 7 - 10
  • Lexile ® 580 The Lexile reading levels have been certified by the Lexile developer, MetaMetrics®

Browse Related Books

Awards and Honors

  • Iowa Children's Choice Award Nominee
  • Maine Student Book Award Reading List
  • California Collections
  • North Carolina Children's Book Award Nominee

Resources and Downloads

High Resolution Images

More books from this author: Jon Scieszka

More books from this illustrator: Shane Prigmore

More books in this series: Spaceheadz