Michelle Path (text), Charlotte Roberts (illus.), Xalien the Purple Alien, Rowanvale Books, August 2015, 32pp., $16.95 (pbk), ISBN 9781909902503
Michelle Path is an Australian children’s author with an impressive list of titles. Xalien and the Purple Alien is the first in her Purple Alien series.
Xalien the Purple Alien is an entertaining story about a delightful purple alien who crashes on Earth and befriends siblings Jessica, Adam and Sarah. The children work together to help Xalien fit in. There are many funny moments showing the differences between how the alien does things, and the way we do things on Earth.
This story will spark conversation about the possible existence of aliens, but also the importance of helping others, treating people kindly, and accepting differences.
Charlotte Robert’s bright, colourful illustrations work beautifully with the text. I particularly liked her depiction of the children disguising Xalien as a human- in a purple wig, a yellow disco dress, and white lace-up go-go boots.
Kids can watch Xalien the Purple Alien on the You Tube channel of Storytime Pup. There the book is shown on the screen and the text is read by a white dog called Storytime Pup. It works well as a read-aloud story, and would also suit early readers who would like to read it themselves.
Also currently available in this series are Xalien the Purple Alien goes to School, Xalien the Purple Alien goes to the Zoo and Xalien the Purple Alien and the Xmas Special.
Reviewed by Wendy Fitzgerald
