Tuesday April 7, 2026
Adventures of the Little Space Alien
My twin brother and I were always drawing when were little. We had a small table under the overhang of the kitchen’s peninsula where we would entertain ourselves on the unused side of copy paper my dad brought home from his work—he was a proofreader and copywriter by day and a musician by night. Media of choice were Crayola crayons and colored markers. Sometimes we would draw on lined paper.
My mom, who had a job as a librarian at a synagogue, took us to work with her sometimes on Sundays. She also took us to many a storytime program at our local library. We were constantly being read to. It started with my mom reading me a bedtime story (usually a book checked out from the library—often about mummies) and my dad reading my brother a story (it was always either The Monster in the Cave or The Berenstain Bears: Trouble With Money). Soon tired of being made to read the same two books every night, Dad started entertaining my brother with stories from his childhood. And when I heard that this was happening, I had to be a part of it, too.
Somewhere along the way my brother and I got into writing down our own stories.
I’m pretty sure this was the very first book I made. I stole the title from a book my mom had checked out for us about making up your own stories. My alien, on the other hand, was modeled after a Waffle Block toy I coveted in the preschool playroom. I was looking for him recently, but I don’t know what happened to him!
You’d think based on the title that he was straight out of a Ridley Scott film. This is, in fact, not the case.
Too young to write myself, I dictated the words to my mom.
Very 2026 of him
Just a wholesome lad doing wholesome activities.
I thought he was from Xenon, but okay lol!
I used to really like going to the grocery store with my mom.
This alien eats a lot.
Awww...breaking the fourth wall
21 books featuring The Little Space Alien followed this first episode. Looking at them now, they’re a kind of sweet, touching chronicle of important events in the life of a six to seven-year-old. The Little Space Alien became a stand-in for myself:
The Little Space Alien Goes to School
The Little Space Alien Goes to the Doctor’s Office
The Little Space Alien Goes to the Flower Store
The Little Space Alien Buys a Pet
The Little Space Alien Goes to Egypt (which btw I did NOT do, but was obsessed with)
The Little Space Alien Goes to Pizza Hut
The Little Space Alien Goes to the Bakery
The Little Space Alien Paints a Picture
The Little Space Alien Buys a New Car (My family must have gotten a new car is all I can say…)
The Little Space Alien Has a Thanksgiving Dinner
The Little Space Alien Goes on a Hike
The Little Space Alien Plays on the Cleveland Indians (which, also, I didn’t do in real life…)
The Little Space Alien Goes to the Art Museum
The Little Space Alien Goes to the Natural History Museum
The Little Space Alien Has a Birthday
The Little Space Alien Bakes Cookies
The Little Space Alien Goes to a Farm
The Little Space Alien Makes a Quilt
The Little Space Alien Goes to the Beach
The Little Space Alien Has a Halloween Party
The Little Space Alien Celebrates Hannukah
A page that made me cackle.
I’m so glad my mom copied my words down verbatim and didn’t question what this pet store was selling:
“Then he [Alien] looked at the fish. He saw five fishes in a tank. He saw one big bass, six guppies, a long skinny fish, seven baby salmon, a flathead skinny fish, a dotted fish, a tangled-up head fish, one tiny fish, two baby fish, a big-tailed fish, a sad fish, and a big salmon. He asked the manager to help him.”
Two books that I loved and read over and over were The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle) and The Missing Piece Meets the Big O (Shel Silverstein). Both involve the main character going through a somewhat repetitive journey like the Alien is going through here is The Little Space Alien Buys a New Car.
“Uh oh. Time to get a new car.”
Hahahahahahaha!
I’m really grateful to have these books. They’re a reminder that art doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes I still feel like I’m a little space alien. I think it would help everyone to look at the world through those fresh eyes, like we were encountering our lives again for the first time.
