Andy and the Alien

Sweet Valley Kids #29

by Francine Pascal (Creator), Molly Mia Stewart, Ying-Hwa Hu (Illustrator)

Andy Franklin has heard that UFOs have been seen at Secca Lake, and he thinks it might be true. His classmates don't believe in UFOs, and they won't stop teasing him. But when Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield follow Andy into the woods during a school trip to Secca Lake, they see some very mysterious things. Could Andy be right? Are there aliens at Secca Lake?

Genres: Childrens, Fiction

74 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1992

About the author

Francine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.

Reviews

[Tiffany Spencer]

Andy and the Alien
Liz and Jessica are practicing for the three-legged race coming up on Field Day. They hope they’ll win first prize. They even practice getting on the bus with their legs tied together. They don’t quite make it. (At least they don ‘t fall flat on their faces). Field Day has contest, a picnic, and nature walks (to name a few activies). When they get to school, Lila is teasing Andy and tossing paper airplanes at him and telling him an alien might land on him. Then Jessica joins in and says her airplane is from Venus. Liz likes Andy. Jessica think he’s nerdy. For the past few days, he’s been bring in books about UFO’s. Jessica asks if he thinks there will be UFO’s at Secca Lake. He says a lot of people have reported seeing lights and hearing strange noises. Jessica says she hears a strange noise and it’s HIM. Liz wonders why they tease him. Amy says he’s too serious and believing in UFO’s is dumb. Andy says UFOs are probably friendly and want to learn more about them. They tease him a little more about him inviting them to a party, making contact with them, and bringing them in for show and tell. Andy tho says seriously he and his equipment are ready should they meet any aliens at Secca Lake. (Is it crazy that I kinda want there to be some at Secca Lake too? It would make this book sooo interesting! But I know I’m gonna be let down.)

The twins notice Andy loaded down on the bus with his UFO books, a camera, and a tape recorder. They ask if he’s going to take pictures. He says and record them too. They all think he’s STRANGE! Charlie takes his lunch. He tells him maybe an alien took it. Then Jerry joins in on it. All the other kids just watch. Caroline has to go tell Mrs. Otis and she has to threaten that they won’t go anywhere until they give Andy his lunch back. When they get there some of the other classes go on nature walks (the fifth graders) and survival trails (the third graders). The second graders start off with the games. The first is sack racing. Andy is having trouble with his bag and Liz sees Jerry and Charlie and hop they don’t try to trip him. It’s not long tho before Andy trips. Liz is in the lead. Then Todd and Amy catch up. Amy’s bag slips. Liz goes past her. Todd is in the lead and wins. Liz and Amy come in second. Jessica comes in fifth behind ken. Everyone is laughing at Andy.

The next game is the egg toss. Charlie asks Andy to be his partner. Eggs start to drop after five feet. Charlie takes the egg and *accidently* throws it at Andy’s chest. He says an alien must have taken over his aim. Andy tells him he can make fun of him but one day he’ll believe in aliens too. At lunch, all the girls tease Andy about brining space rocks for lunch. The guys shoot ray guns around him. Andy gets up and walks off. He says he’s going to go look for UFO’s. Some of the other kids follow him and they all walk into the woods. After a while, Jessica says she wants to go back. She’s bored. Liz says they have to stay with Andy. They should all stick together. Todd agrees. Jessica looks at the forest and realizes she doesn’t know how to get back to the lake and starts to hear strange sounds. Then she starts to think what if there really are aliens in the woods.

There’s a clearing and inside it is a sunny meadow. Andy see’s something shiny in the distance but its hard to tell what they are. When they get closer, they see a dish antenna that rotates, various things with needles, gadgets that swayed back and forth, and rows of white, wooden, boxes. There’s also something that looks like a lamp. Then there hear buzzing noises. They look to Andy for an answer. He says it’s a probe. As in an alien probe sent to collect data from earth. The others think you have *got* to be kidding me! Jessica says they should get out of there and tell the teachers. Andy wants to take pictures first. Jessica bumps one of the pieces and it starts to click and then whine. Then Charlie bumps a piece and it falls on it’s side. Jessica accuses him of breaking it. Andy stares at the probe and says they’ll be mad. Charlie asks if they think they’ll come for them. Andy just shrugs. Charlie says if they come for him they’ll come for Jessica. Todd says maybe they can fix it. Jessica says they should just get out of there. Liz goes pale and sees a figure coming toward them in a space suit.

It has a gun with white smoke puffs coming out of it. Lila yells RUN but Liz can’t move. Jessica pulls at her hand and they take off running with the others. When they look back, they can’t find Andy. Jessica starts to cry. They’ll never see him again. Liz starts back to the clearing. Jessica tries to stop her but she says Andy might need their help. Andy is just standing there watching the alien approach. He starts to talk to it and then points to the broken equipment. He then points into the woods. They’re amazed! He isn’t even scared. They seem to be having a conversation about the equipment. Then it raises it’s weapon. Todd says maybe there are more in the box and he’s about to let them out. Lila says that’s dumb but she sounds unsure. They say they’ll never make fun of him again for being so brave. The ailen points in the direction he came and they wonder if Andy is going with him. He puts his hand on Andy’s soldier. They think he’ll take them back to his planet and put him in the zoo. Liz says he’s going to save him and goes into the clearing before they can stop her.

The alien starts to remove its hood. It looks like a human being. The other run up to join her. The alien says it’s name is Mr. Lowman. Andy laughs at them. The man says he’s a park ranger and the boxes contain bees. He has to wear a suit so the bees won’t get him. Lila says she knew that but Andy says he begs to differ. They all think Andy’s brave because he stayed to tell the park ranger, they knocked over his equipment. They ask if they damaged anything but he says they didn’t. He then explains how the weather equipment works. Then when he’s done tells them they better be getting back to the lack. He escorts them back and shows them the trail markers.

Mrs. Otis is happy to see them. Charlie blames Andy. The park ranger says don’t call his theory about alien’s stupid. There have been some strange sightings even tho there’s been no proof. They then have the three-legged reace. Liz and Jess run together perfectly and win.

My Thoughts:
This was fun!!! I knew there’d be a logical explanation at the end and take all the fun out of it tho. But I REALLY wanted there to be an alien! A REAL ONE! I even wanted ANDY to be the alien. Maybe lead all the others into the woods and they see the equipment. They ask him what it is. Then they say how do you know and he goes “Cause I put it there”. They’ll look at him like “Yeah right. There are no aliens”. He’ll get this look and smile at them and ask “Are you sure about that?” Then he starts to pull off his head! MAN I would have liked that ending! This wasn’t bad but it needed a crazy twist.
Rating: 6

[Ruvi Perera · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not like how throughout the book Andy was getting bullied by the other kids.

[Kylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s Field Day at Secca Lake for SVE, and Andy thinks there’s a high chance that they’ll see an alien or two up there. And of course everyone teases him (except Liz) because he’s just so serious about it 🤷🏼‍♀️ He brings a ton of equipment and of course, falls over in all the races. Even Winston makes fun of him 🤦🏼‍♀️ Charlie the bully partners with him in the egg races and hurls an egg at him, and it’s just too much. But Andy is defiant. I admire him. At lunch time he goes off to look for aliens, and a bunch of kids go after him to tease him. Of course they get lost, but Andy finds some buzzing equipment and announces it’s a probe. The kids start to het scared, and when a big suited alien arrives, they all run and hide - except Andy. Of course, it’s the park ranger checking on his bees and weather machine, which Andy knew the whole time - fooled ya! The park ranger leads them back and the kids reluctantly admit Andy stayed cool under pressure. Oh and Liz and Jess kill in the 3 legged race 👯‍♀️
My rating - 3/10 - I definitely don’t love the ones where they make fun of the ‘nerds/etc’, even when they predictably get their revenge. As an adult (and Mum) it’s just sad 😞

[Holly Letson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andy is a classmate of the twins', who very much believes in UFOs, aliens, and other such things. He is sure he will see some during the field trip to Secca Lake on field day. But, nobody else believes in these things, so they tease the heck out of him.
While at Secca Lake, Andy wanders into the woods, looking for paranormal things. He is followed by everyone else. He comes across some equipment in the forest, and convinces the others that it's an alien probe. Two student end up knocking one piece of the equipment.
Everyone, except Andy, runs off. So, when a park ranger approaches, they fear it may be an alien. In reality, the equipment is for maintaining bees and weather, and everyone finds that out right before the return.
After the return, they have a 3-Ledded race, which the twins easily win.
-----------------
The SVK books are an easy read. But, I only own a few more of them. Will probably be reading those soon.

[Tara Calaby]

I think this one does a good job of replicating the kind of contagious fear that kids fall prey to, although I do wish that the teacher did a better job of calling out the bullying behaviour towards Andy. I actually preferred the sub-plot of the field day sports, because of the rush of nostalgia associated with three-legged races, sack races and so forth. I could almost smell the hessian sacks!

[Afnan Aldimasi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did find it somehow interesting. However it suites younger people.

[Robyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I barely remember this story, but I liked the mystery behind it.

[Sheila Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember the cover but just not the story