The Space People

by Eve Bunting

Two sisters are captured by visitors from another planet.

27 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1987

About the author

Also known as Evelyn Bolton and A.E. Bunting.

Anne Evelyn Bunting, better known as Eve Bunting, is an author with more than 250 books. Her books are diverse in age groups, from picture books to chapter books, and topic, ranging from Thanksgiving to riots in Los Angeles. Eve Bunting has won several awards for her works.

Bunting went to school in Ireland and grew up with storytelling. In Ireland, “There used to be Shanachies… the shanachie was a storyteller who went from house to house telling his tales of ghosts and fairies, of old Irish heroes and battles still to be won. Maybe I’m a bit of a Shanchie myself, telling stories to anyone who will listen.” This storytelling began as an inspiration for Bunting and continues with her work.

In 1958, Bunting moved to the United States with her husband and three children. A few years later, Bunting enrolled in a community college writing course. She felt the desire to write about her heritage. Bunting has taught writing classes at UCLA. She now lives in Pasadena, California.

Reviews

[Swankivy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a creepy story I read when I was a kid because it was in my teacher's classroom library. I remember it being pretty scary because it involved a protagonist trying to protect her little sister when they both got kidnapped by aliens. I'm pretty sure the aliens decided to bring them back home and drop them back off on Earth but it was in some unfamiliar place so they were just stranded in a foreign environment. And her sister had a stuffed animal that was somehow involved. I remember liking this one mostly because of how realistically told the protagonist's fear was . . . it all came through. But I didn't like scary stories so it was a little much for me sometimes. :)

[Julie Decker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A girl struggles to protect her younger sister when they get captured by aliens. It's the usual "mysterious craft beams up unsuspecting people for no clear reason" abduction, but the fear and desperation is unusually raw and connected for this one. I read it as a little kid and appreciated that the author hadn't tried to shield her audience from the terror a person would feel, especially since escaping the alien craft doesn't lead directly home again for these sisters. The plot seemed sort of oddly random to me, but the reality of the characters' terror and inner thoughts was appealing.

[Katie]

This is really more of a short story than a full fledged book. I thought
the descriptions of space people, "lots of silver people in black swivel
chairs by the windows", was hilarious.