I really enjoyed this as a children’s fiction novel, it had that feel that I was looking for and was engaged with the world being told. The characters had that element that I wanted and enjoyed the overall story being told. Muriel Ellis Pritchett has a great writing style and creating interesting characters.

On planet Delphi, a secret government experiment leads to babies born with supernatural powers. But when the government decide to take the children away from their parents, five rogue families flee Delphi taking their children to begin a new life on Earth in 1947. Seventy-five years later a descendant of one of the aliens from Delphi is researching her family tree for a class project.
This is such a great “I wish I had thought of that” idea for a book. It’s not unusual now to send off for a DNA analysis to see where we really come from, but can you imagine receiving results that show you are descended from aliens? As this is a children’s book, the implications for having alien DNA is dealt with from a child’s perspective but the author is still able to build tension as Astara tries to uncover her parents’ secrets by contacting a government agency, an action which is the catalyst for what happens next. There are so many names on Astara’s family tree that it’s hard to keep track of so many adult characters in the story, especially with the addition of characters from various government agencies who get involved.

I loved the concept of this book. As a writer and reader of middle grade novels for kids, the idea of a school genealogy assignment leading to an extraordinary revelation is something right up a sixth-grader’s alley for self-discovery and growth.

The first twenty-three chapters, written in solid italicized text, is when we meet the protagonist’s grandmother, Ammy, a pivotal character throughout the story. I was rewarded in Chapter Twenty-Four when finally meeting feisty sixth-grader, Astara. Her parent’s immediate resistance to her asking questions about her ancestors lets the reader appreciate Astara’s determination when she boldly writes to a government agency in order to get her answers. This letter becomes the catalyst for the story to unfold.

Since having been told, in detail, of the aliens’ arrival in the italicized chapters, I missed out on discovering those details with Astara as she works her family tree. When we first meet her, she claims agency in the chapters, but it lessens chapter by chapter as the story continues. With so many adult stories being interjected, it left Astara little room to grow. For instance, we don’t get to discover with her of what it would be like to have a superpower you never knew existed. That was unmined gold that kids love. Toward the end, we get an idea of how Astara deals with her powers, but her self-discovery is diffused with the inclusion of other children’s discoveries, and a plethora of newly introduced adult characters who end up saving the day.

For me, as a middle-grade novel, there were too many adults competing for the page. My hat off to the extraordinary middle-graders who beta-read for the author. Perhaps it would fit better under another genre? Super-high marks for the author’s ingenious story concept, her ability to weave a complicated story together, and her wonderful application of fact to a science-fiction novel. Her writing abilities are solid, and her style clever and entertaining with subtle humor scattered throughout.