A good option for middle grade children that are looking for a spooky read, although I felt the ending was a bit lacking.

Couldn't get into this one. The story line was too random and all over the place. The main POV was irritating.
DNF. Not recommended.

I didn't enjoy this book at all and found it difficult to finish. There were some opinions/statements about women in this that I wouldn't recommend to any child of any gender.

Easily one of my favorite books of the year. Books billed as 'creepy middle grade' rarely live up to the hype. But this book was creepy in all the right ways. Smith has written a suspenseful and engaging story. You root for the main character, all while wondering if he's a reliable narrator. The ending was surprising but very satisfying. Highly recommend this book!

While good, this one didn't have the same spark as some of the other books Smith has written in the past.

The uniqueness of this science fiction/horror book is refreshing. Simon's alien abduction fears are palpable to the reader.

At a Glance
Category/Genre(s):
Middle Grade sci-fi horror

Age Range:
10-12

Plot Summary:
“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?” (source: Clarion Books)

Strengths:
Fast-paced
Beautifully designed cover
X-Files for kids
Definite creep factor

Full Review
There are so few creepy sci-fi books out there for kids, so I wanted to love this one. I think I had pretty high expectations going in, so that may have been why I have mixed feelings about this book.

Getting the right creep-factor balance in middle grade is hard. There are times where Ronald L. Smith knocks it out of the park in that regard. But there are other times, in an attempt to reign in the spookiness of the story I believe, Smith rushes through a scene, leaving the reader scratching their head. Now I know that I am an adult reading a children’s book, so I fully acknowledge that kids may like this tactic better than I do. So keep that in mind.

I did like the main character, Simon. I felt like he was relatable and the problem of parents just not listening is one that I feel like a lot of kids will get. I do feel, however, that some of his relationships were a bit stereotypical–his military father, for example, is painted as a hard-nose, muscly jerk that can border on abusive at times. While I think this type of relationship is relatable–that of a scornful and disappointed parent–I found myself feeling like the blame was tied strictly to the military aspect of the father instead of him personally. I would have like more dimensionality in his characterization.

The book is definitely fast-paced and was easy to read. I felt like the tension builds well throughout the story, but the ending definitely feels rushed. I would have liked an extra chapter or two leading up to the final scenes, so kids may feel a little confused by the abruptness of the end.

I do like that the fact that Smith has unabashedly written an alien abduction story for kids. And that he attempts to make it creepy. Many kids’ books with aliens go the more silly/funny route, so I appreciate what Smith is trying to do here. It would be a good introduction for fans of X-Files to pick up for their own kids.

Final Verdict
While not the most solid book I have read, I would recommend The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away to anyone who enjoys sci-fi and wants to introduce kids to a decent alien abduction story.

This very complicated story is about Simon who lives with his parents on a military based. His very successful older brother is away for the summer and Simon is left to play video games on his own. When his family takes a camping trip, Simon believes that he has been abducted by aliens. When he tries to cut out the tracking device, his parents decide he must get help (which comes in the form of medication). Additionally, Simon is a writer, and his own story is interspersed along with the rest of the story. I don't think my students will be persistent enough to follow this complex story line, even with the alien abduction part.

DNF at 7%

I really struggled with Simon's voice. My eyes actually hurt from all the rolling they did. He was really obnoxious and spent way too much time explaining things that did not need to be explained. I understand that some people might not be familiar with the military and how it works, but there were way too many details. He would also repeat information from a previous page, and most of the time it was about something insignificant.

I think this book sheds a negative light on military families and their children. I'm sure it's not easy for some to move around a lot, but not all families are like that. Some children enjoy moving and having the opportunity to see new things and make more friends. There are also families that request to stay in the same place so their kids can finish school. Simon makes it seem like he was forever scarred by the thought of moving. Again, I'm sure there are people that don't like it, but Simon's version was too unbelievable. I didn't feel sorry for him, or want to understand his feelings.

Also, for a book about aliens, this kid talks about his military childhood nonstop. Additionally, Simon knows really off-the-wall information, but then doesn't know the basics. He was able to describe his asthma and the medication with precision, yet the doctors used "white stuff" when he had an attack. One reviewer said he didn't know what sour cream was (didn't get that far myself), but he can tell you every detail about Area 51.

After a few chapters, I just couldn't do it anymore. I didn't even get to the owls and aliens, which is a bummer. I was really looking forward to this one, and I thought it would be fun to read to my son, but it's going to get a hard no from me. (The cover is awesome, though.)

Good one for the most part! I think kids 5th grade up who are in to alien stories will enjoy this book. The book does have some issues, but none most kids will give thought to, if they even notice. But it's a fun ride and I think I would have enjoyed this story as an 11 year old! Just too fun! Not real crazy about the parents, but don't really know many people who thought theirs were the greatest either. Dads were always rather standoffish when I was growing up and my daughter' generation dads don;t look so different. Eh, I still enjoyed the story! One really can't go wrong with alien abduction tales.

A good slightly scary book for kids who like suspenseful, alien story. I think certain kids will really enjoy this one.

This is one that really did not work for me. Simon has a fascination with aliens but one night, on a camping trip with his family, he believes he was abducted right after seeing an owl. But no one believes him - in fact they start taking him to a counselor and put him on medication, especially after he tries to remove an implant and his family thinks he was trying to harm himself.
So, my issues... First, the portrayal of Simon as "crazy" - the medications, the therapist, the evaluations, his assertive father - it was all forced and cliche to me and I think readers who actually struggle with mental illness would find it very offensive. Second, there was a massive build up - did he really see aliens, etc. Then, spoiler, with less than 10 pages to go the aliens land and then boom we skip forward many years to a Utopian society after the aliens came and rescued us from ourselves, the end. Nope - too much of a jump...

There aren't a lot of kids books about alien abduction, so I was interested to see how Smith would handle the subject. I was on board with the confusion and disorientation. For the first third we had a kid to whom something had happened. He is distraught, especially when his parents dismiss his story. It's unclear whether he's devolving into mental illness and the people closest to him seem more interested in keeping him quiet than understanding what happened to him. The bulk of the novel occupies a place of what you might call confirmation bias. The kid reads a thing about abduction experiences and - what do you know - that very thing happens to him. Immediately. We can read that as an over active imagination adding to his trauma. But then there's the final scene. The moment where, with little solid evidence, we move from uncertainty to a cut and dry "this is what's happening" The ending comes out of nowhere and is not particularly satisfying. A bit disappointing.

12-year-old Simon believes, wholeheartedly, in aliens - he's absolutely obsessed with alien abduction stories and worries that aliens will take him away. Simon's anxieties don't go over well with his parents, especially his straight-laced Air Force dad, who looks down on Simon's fascination with aliens and preference for fantasy stories and video games. Simon's dad would rather he toughen up, play sports, you know, toxic masculinity. Anyway, during a camping trip, Simon has a strange experience. Was it aliens? Or did he just have an asthma attack? Did aliens implant a tracker in him or is it just a tick bite? Simon's parents think he's going crazy but what if he's right?

A short and sweet look at a kid doing his best to cope with extreme anxiety. Also, aliens. Anxiety and aliens, not a good mix.

I have been wanting to read The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away since before I knew the title! Ronald. L. Smith mentioned his work-in-progress when I interviewed him in February 2017 to celebrate the release of The Mesmerist. I have been pacing the floors waiting for the ARCs to become available since then. Thanks so much to NetGalley and Clarion books for providing me with a review copy.

Twelve-year-old Simon is a bit quirky to say the least. He’s a biracial kid who lives on an Air Force base, still wets the bed from time to time, writes his own fantasy stories, and he’s TOTALLY obsessed with aliens. Scary aliens, like the ones who regularly visit earth and do experiments on humans.

Needless to say, Simon gets picked on by his peers and his macho Dad isn’t pleased with him either. After a strange run in with an owl on a camping trip with his parents, Simon worries that he’s been abducted. One sure sign- there’s a weird, unexplainable mark on his stomach now. He’s certain it’s an alien implant. Simon’s also dealing with memory loss associated with the event. How can he convince others that his encounter really happened and isn’t just the case of an overactive imagination?

This story is so deliciously creepy! It’s perfect for kids 8+ who like to feel a little scared when they read. Simon is very self-aware and honest with the reader about how he feels about his relationships with his peers, his older, athletic brother, and his parents. Readers will understand where he’s coming from and will deeply empathize with Simon when he’s not being taken seriously by adults in the midst of a terrifying crisis.

Thoroughly entertaining! I enjoyed the creepy atmospheric elements that Ronald L. Smith is known for plus the X-files vibe all the way to the last sentence. This book is completely different than the other stories by the author, and I hope to see more deliciously disturbing contemporary sci-fi from him in the future.

THE OWLS HAVE COME TO TAKE US AWAY releases on 2/19/19, so go ahead and preorder from your favorite bookstore or put in a request for it from your library.

Ronald L. Smith is the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award-winning author of Hoodoo, The Mesmerist, The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away, and Black Panther: The Young Prince. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Check out his website or connect with him on Twitter or Instagram.

Every time I come across a middle grade horror book, I get a hopeful quiver. I have read so many good ones that I expect middle grade writers to bring it and deliver a uniquely creepy experience. So when I came across The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away, I was all a-flutter.

You know where this is heading, right?

To be fair, there are good things about this book. For diversity, we have the fact that the main character is biracial and has asthma. For imparting a good lesson, the fact that he understands that there are different ways to be strong. He also recognizes that the males in his family behave in a way that is not right. I also appreciate the fact that he has a very supportive mother, and that she tries to get him help. All positives. Fantastic positives.

It also had a nice quick pace for most of the story. The interactions between all the characters felt realistic (even if they were also a bit sad). I felt for Simon and what seemed like his general anxiety over things.

Unfortunately, there's this portrayal of mental health professionals as just wanting to shove drugs down your throat that really makes me wince. Things we read as kids make an impression, and we already have enough of a stigma against getting help when you need it as it is. The author could have handled this in a more positive fashion without changing the outcome of the story. That's a thing that really chafed me.

The story felt a little unfinished. I was genuinely surprised that it ended when and how that it did. The story within a story felt unnecessary and always jerked me out of the larger, more important story. The epilogue was interesting though.

Overall, The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away wasn't a bad read, but it falls far short of what I was hoping for.

3.5 stars for this middle grades novel. I teach 5th grade, so I read a LOT of middle grades literature. I had high hopes for this one, thinking of a few kids, specifically, that would devour it. It is a mixture of sci-fi and horror, but several parts of this book seemed a little too much for younger kids. I think this would be better serve as a YA title for content. I think all kids will relate to the fact that adults didn't believe Simon. I know a lot of young kids feel like their voice is unheard by adults. I wouldn't recommend this to my 5th graders, but kids in 7th grade and above will find this enjoyable.

What I did not enjoy was the "book within the book". I was distracted from the main story, as an adult, so I know that middle grades readers will struggle with this as well. I found myself skimming that portion to get back to the story.

The book did seem very well researched. The main character knew a lot about aliens, and I really think the author knocked it out of the park in terms of accurate information (as much as alien information can be accurate, I should say). There are some topical issues within the story (the mental health angle) that are relevant to our kids in today's society, which makes the main character relatable.

Thank you to Clarion books for an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away by Ronald L. Smith is a middle grade scifi/horror story featuring alien abductions. The main character Simon has a fear about aliens after picking up his parents books with the subject.

Simon’s father is in the Air Force and his whole life he is used to being on military bases instead of out with the rest of the world. This however doesn’t stop Simon from having an active imagination as he writes stories hoping to become a young author.

When out camping with his parents Simon heads off into the woods by himself to gather firewood when he sees strange lights through the trees. The next thing Simon knows his parents find him passed out and he is sure he’s been abducted but is it real or just his overactive imagination?

Reading The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away I could tell that the author has done a lot of research into the area of alien sightings and abductions since I’ve read a lot of the same subject matter in the past. It was fun to see how this young boy took it all so seriously and had studied up on the subject giving it all just the right combination of chills and thrills. There was one scene I questioned might be a little too much for the age range and the end seemed a bit rushed but overall I thought it was well done.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

The main character is a military dependent (young boy) who has always been infatuated with aliens and when he goes on a camping trip with his family something happens and he thinks he was abducted. His family doesn't believe him and starts taking him to a psychiatrist. The kid gets increasingly upset about the alien abduction and realizes that it's happened again. He stops taking his meds, joins an alien believer group on the base, and tries to cut out the alien implant. I like that the kid writes fiction to help him cope, but the dual storyline got a little confusing at times. The story wraps up too quickly and neatly, but he does kind of get to say, "I told you so".

I'd never read anything by Ronald L. Smith before, but when I first heard this middle grade sci-fi/horror was releasing, I got so excited! I was terrified of aliens as a kid, so naturally, I'm totally fascinated by the whole idea of them (and abduction stories) as an adult. Plus, aliens + owls? Major Fourth Kind vibes (not that the film is where the idea originated, but still), so altogether, I was super stoked to read this! On top of everything else, a biracial kid with asthma as a main character, and a book that takes the time to seriously tackle toxic masculinity? There's just so much good stuff going on here, y'all.

Unfortunately, it's not all good: the writing is okay, but not my favorite, and there are some issues that never get addressed, like Simon's father's total absence most of the time (and his emotionally abusive nature when he is around), or Simon's paralyzing fear of mental health professionals and medications (which could be great if he grew to learn that they are super helpful for some people, but instead, they're vilified to the end). I know some books are just for fun, and that's great for a lot of readers, but as a mom and children's librarian, it's hard to watch an author sail right past these opportunities to shed light on some really heavy (and important!) topics for kids while telling the story.

The other issue — and this was the biggest reason my rating isn't particularly high — is that Simon is writing a fantasy novel, and we're periodically forced to sift through a chapter at a time of that. This is a totally personal issue, but I hate the "books inside of books" trope, especially when the inner-layer "book" is COMPLETELY UNRELATED to the story we signed up to read. It just comes off as pointless filler and it's frustrating and disjointed.

All in all, not my favorite MG horror by any means, but it had its fun moments and I flew through it. I'm not sure it's the first thing I'll be recommending to kids based on the problems that aren't ever addressed, but with the right reader, I could see this being a world of fun and creepiness.

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Clarion Books for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!