Lan's family comes to the Planet Choom. They have to convince the Choom government to allow last shipload of humans to live on the planet. They have no where else to go. If they don't succeed the human race is doomed. No pressure. Lan struggles in school faced with the prejudice of his classmates. On Choom "everyone agrees" emotions are bad. But Lan is able to make friends who help him. ( )

A great book for students to reflect on isolation and outcasting. Students can gain a better perspective on how new students might feel in a new school and creates a mirror for students that have gone through that. The book also includes a dystopian type government, which can be difficult for students to process, but can be beneficial to expose them to with the right guidance. ( )

Lan is one of the last remaining humans that managed to escape planetary collapse. He ends up on planet Choom, trying to convince the resident alien species that humans should be allowed to stay. Funny, heartfelt, all about emotion. Good mental health message in the background as well. ( )

This book has a lot of interesting points of discussion. If a planet promises refuge, do they have to keep that promise if government changes hands? If emotion has caused what amounted to genocide, is it safer to eliminate all emotion? Since humans are guilty of such destruction in their history, how can humans as a species be trusted? What's the value of art and humor in a culture? And so on.

But what I found most compelling in this book was the how the main character was written to be non-gender specific. I immediately assumed Lan was female, and it wasn't until I was a third through the book that I realized it hadn't been specified. I kept Lan female, because that worked for me. Whatever suits the reader would fit, though. Very clever, Geoff Rodkey.

I looked into this book because it was an honor for the 2020 Odyssey award (best audio). I listened to some of the audio, but there was nothing that really stood out to me. I preferred reading the book. I'm glad that award put this book in my sights, though. Even without trying to discuss a thing, it's a fun read. And again: Very suave with how the main character was written. ( )

A funny and sweet immigration story that doesn't beat you over the head with the message. ( )