Everything Interesting Keeps Happening to Ethan Fairmont [Ethan Fairmont]
by Nick Brooks
Intermediate, Middle School    Union Square    240 pp.
11/24    9781454947134    $16.99
Paper ed.  9781454947141    $8.99
e-book ed.  9781454947158    $9.99

Aliens have invaded and plan to leach all of the energy from planet Earth. Even worse, they have kidnapped Ethan Fairmont’s guinea pig, Nugget. In this final installment of the trilogy, middle-school tech wiz/inventor Ethan and his squad of friends try to protect their six-eyed, tentacled alien friend, Cheese, and his family from the reptilian light-thieves who have destroyed Cheese’s planet. Led by Krawq from the planet Terylya, the light-thieves will return Nugget if Ethan hands over Cheese. Ethan, knowing he cannot stand up to an alien invasion and save his planet on his own, learns to rely on his loyal friends. “None of this would have been possible without the whole team,” he says. Brooks’s first-person narrative emphasizes action and dialogue. Ethan and his squad are believably drawn middle schoolers, with squabbles and a bit of romance that lend humor to their serious business. With echoes of Men in Black and E.T., Ethan’s exploits are all good-natured science-fiction fun. Spoiler alert: be prepared to get teary-eyed during the final scene between the boy and his alien pal.

From the March/April 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.