In Friday’s lively debut, four trailblazing middle schoolers—Mattie, twins Nova and Rora, and Parker—find themselves facing off with military and government astrophysicists in a battle to save planet Earth. When Mattie and friends stumble into a terrifying battle between unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), complete with a near-death experience thanks to a Tiamaxus—a chilling alien weapon nicknamed the T-Max—they also encounter a blue-blooded warrioress named Zakara and her floating robot, Cache. When Zakara is mortally injured protecting the children, they’re forced to reprogram Cache to try to save her life, launching them into a deadly race against time. Friday introduces readers to a fun, intelligent middle grade adventure with a satisfyingly diverse team of kids, all of whom are well-versed in coding, drone technology, and scientific research. Despite the story’s setup, the characters acknowledge their situation is unusual, making them a very down-to-earth group stuck with an out-of-this-world problem. Mattie emerges as a leader of sorts, but each member of the foursome contributes in their own right, whether it’s Nova’s robotics expertise, Rora’s social media know-how, or Parker’s drone skills. Adult readers will relish Friday’s emphasis on ingenuity and teamwork, as the group must collaborate with the government—while deciphering who they can actually trust—in order to save thousands of lives.
Most encouraging here is the variety of interests this diverse group holds, all largely centered on the field of science. The kids are bright, capable of such ingenuity as building robotic arms and devising a communication code to throw off the officials tracking their every move, and their resourcefulness secures them several big wins along the way. Middle grade readers will appreciate the thrills, too, as Friday delivers an exciting medley of daunting weapons, military drones, and death-defying chases, culminating in an ending that will appeal to sci-fi fans of all ages.
Takeaway: Ingenious group of middle schoolers face down an intergalactic threat.
Comparable Titles: B. Random’s Alienship, Matt Guzman’s Rieden Reece and the Broken Moon.
Production grades
Cover: C
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
Extraordinary characters headline this brisk, unputdownable SF romp.
Tweens and an otherworldly robot may be a small town’s only defense against a planet-destroying alien in Friday’s debut middle-grade novel.
A bizarre purple glowing object flying through the dense woods near her Oregon home unnerves 11-year-old Mattie James. She’s reluctant to call it a UFO, or to even mention aliens, but she’s still eager to know what’s out there. Surely, her best friend, Nova Diaz, and the new kid in school, Parker Wu (who has a drone), can help her find out. But the kids—soon joined by Nova’s twin sister and aspiring social media influencer Rora—find much more than they anticipated: a fight between aliens with a strange robot in the mix. The confrontation ends with the robot damaged and missing nearly all of its memory. Mattie and Nova, members of their middle school’s robotics club, think they may be able to fix “Cache,” as Nova dubs the robot. The tweens want to make sure that Earth is safe from an extraterrestrial creature that Cache claims is powerful enough to annihilate the planet (“This situation is suboptimal”), but covert alien-hunting government agents may foil their plans. Friday’s story boasts a wonderfully diverse cast, including Auntie Taj, a 3-D animator watching her beloved niece Mattie while the girl’s parents are away; Rora, who, quite unlike her sister, is one of the most popular kids in school; and the intriguing aliens, both good and evil. The story makes room for several nods to SF pop culture, especially the Star Wars franchise (there’s a broken robot in a backpack and a crucial hologram recording). It’s all in service of a boisterous narrative (boasting stellar action sequences) of friends sticking together. It’s convincing, too; Mattie, Nova, and the others are realistically aware of their skill sets and their limits as they overcome such obstacles as nosy government types and school detention.
