“Sometimes the clouds inside my head get big and grey and swirly and then I hurricane through my eyes. Except I don’t literally hurricane through my eyes—I don’t actually have a weather system in my head.”

There’s nothing that 11-year-old Alex loves more than space and his dog Carl Sagan, named after his ultimate hero. Alex is on a mission, he’s going to record everything on his Golden iPod so that he can send it up into space, for other life forms, just like his heroes Golden Record in 1977. After making enough food for his Mother and booking his ticket, Alex is off on an adventure. Little does he know it will change his entire life.

Wow, this novel. This novel has the potential to make you laugh and cry, which isn’t something I thought I would say when I initially requested this from Netgalley for review. The blurb mentions that Alex would learn about his family and boy does he, but I’m getting ahead of myself in my excitement regarding the novel. This is a story of adventure, love, pain and seeing a world through a child’s eyes.

The novel is shown through Alex’s eyes and in doing so there is an innocence that makes the world more incredible, but his story all the more sad, as a young boy with dreams of space and a dog as his only friend and companion. Getting to visit his online friends at the Southwest High-Altitude Rocket Festival, or SHARF,  working on a rocket he hopes will reach and other life forms that are out there. Along the way, with some luck and kindness, Alex meets friends that will make all the difference to him and Carl Sagan (the dog).

The novel is set out in a diary form of Alex’s recordings, meaning that it is in a childlike spoken form, which worked really well to get into Alex’s head and really see and understand his perspective. The happiness is infectious and it’s hard not to smile along while reading and get excited. This novel, although sad, made me feel some hope in the world, for the people that would help a little boy try to achieve some of his dreams.

I gave this novel four stars. I really enjoyed reading a novel that was set for a younger audience and feeling the love that Alex had for his dog, his family, space. Despite the fact, there were times that I wanted to cry, this was incredibly uplifting it made me think a lot about family and childhood dreams. I’d definitely recommend this novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this opportunity.