Bookseller and debut author/editor Vania Stoyanova and author Rosiee Thor (Tarnished Are the Stars) unite speculative and contemporary authors in this blazingly funny and heartwarming YA anthology of interconnected stories about teens--alien and human--banding together.
Teenage aliens on a botched mission to bring home Hollywood-famous (and disguised alien friend) Max Spencer have crash-landed across the U.S. Their landings cause panic and the group is separated, but each receives unexpected help from teenage humans. The friends must regroup and find Max, who they presume is in danger. Meanwhile, Max is happily living on Earth and anxiously awaiting an awkward reunion.
Why on Earth is a splendid celebration of openness, interconnection, and found family. Empathetic human protagonists know the hurt of being prejudged: "The world makes assumptions about me all the time. Just like they're doing with those aliens," says a gay Black boy in "One Last Shot Before the End of the World" by Julian Winters. They, too, feel uncertain in foreign locales ("She's lost, just like I am. She doesn't understand me, like I can't understand her," observes a Brazilian teen in "Skill Issue" by Laura Pohl). The humans also fear ostracization, as do the aliens, like the trans guy who avoids coming out to his dad in "Impact Crater" by Maya Gittelman.
These diverse tales are warm and entertaining; there's a genderqueer species, a snarky AI trapped in a "Loud Mouth Bobby Bass," awesome jokes ("This shit never happened to the Love, Simon kids"), and tender exchanges between interplanetary friends. A wild ride. --Samantha Zaboski, freelance editor and reviewer