The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away

In this delightfully creepy novel from Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award winner Ronald L. Smith, twelve-year-old Simon thinks he was abducted by aliens. But is it real, or just his over-active imagination? Perfect for fans of Mary Downing Hahn and Louis Sachar.

Twelve-year-old Simon is obsessed with aliens. The ones who take people and do experiments. When he's too worried about them to sleep, he listens to the owls hoot outside. Owls that have the same eyes as aliens—dark and foreboding.

Then something strange happens on a camping trip, and Simon begins to suspect he’s been abducted. But is it real, or just the overactive imagination of a kid who loves fantasy and role-playing games and is the target of bullies and his father’s scorn?

Even readers who don’t believe in UFOs will relate to the universal kid feeling of not being taken seriously by adults that deepens this deliciously scary tale.

What’s scarier: the aliens in the woods, or the adults who refuse to believe you?

• Alien Abduction: Twelve-year-old Simon knows the Grays are real. After a bizarre incident on a camping trip leaves him with a mysterious mark, he’s sure they’ve come for him.
• Spooky Mystery: Are the owls hooting outside his window just birds, or something more sinister? Simon has to uncover the truth before his own mind, and his family, turn against him.
• Not Believed by Adults: The more Simon insists something is wrong, the more his parents think he’s losing his grip. He faces a terrifying question: what do you do when the grown-ups who are supposed to protect you think you’re the problem?
• Military Family Life: Set on a sprawling Air Force base, where keeping secrets is part of the job. Simon is certain the answers he needs are hidden just beyond the barbed-wire fences.