We were perusing the children’s section of a Barnes & Noble on a family trip to the mall, when we came across a few featured tables piled high with great-looking books. I did what all modern Americans do, and I pulled out my smart phone to take photos of all the books that I wanted to read or wanted to buy for someone else. My husband then pointed out this book, The X-Files: Earth Children Are Weird, since we are avid X-Files fans and I still love picture books at age 38. I snapped a photo, but then I decided just to stand there and read it because then I could review it right away.

This book is a pleasant surprise, especially if you have been convinced by experience that a movie/show-to-book trajectory is a bad idea. Sure, there are plenty of crappily done Frozen 3: The Novel and what not, but this book is on a featured table at Barnes & Noble because it’s actually cute and worth adding to your future-sci-fi-geek-baby’s library.

It’s short. The illustrations are clean and nice (if not mind-blowing). The storyline is pretty much perfect as an elementary-age Cliff’s Notes on the point of X-Files. And creating future fans for the X-Files universe is always a good idea. (If you are living under a rock, I will tell you that The X-Files is a sci-fi TV show which has become two TV series plus some movies, comic books, and other related merchandise. The premise is that a couple of FBI agents–one a logical doctor and the other a believe-anything alien-theorist–are put on a team to deal with the secret, unexplained “X” files. Antics ensue (largely built around the story of Mulder’s sister’s disappearance in childhood as possibly being an alien abduction OR a government conspiracy), as do several seasons of episodic encounters with the unexplained, and, of course, a vveerrryyy slow romance. I reviewed the series HERE. Note that this book is not in direct correlation with the series, as the two characters representing Mulder and Scully are probably siblings, etc., but more embodies the spirit of the series with a cute, lighthearted twist.)

If you aren’t an X-Files fan, you’ll definitely be missing something here. You won’t hate the book, it will just seem a little straight-forward. But you’ll still like the twist ending and the bright colors and all that jazz.

I would recommend this book for exactly who it’s meant to be marketed to: parents who love X-Files and who also happen to have small children. I will probably buy one for my grandchildren one day, since my daughter regularly credits The X-Files theme music as a warm, fuzzy childhood memory.

There are a number of other books that would interest you if this one does, including others by Kim Smith and Pop Classics/Quirk Books: kids illustrated versions of E.T., Home Alone, and Back to the Future, not to mention A Die-Hard Christmas by Doogie Horner. I normally don’t like the movie-to-book thing because it isn’t done well, but these books have great illustrations and are very well reviewed.

_______________

I read The X-Files: Earth Children Are Weird, illustrated by Kim Smith, while standing in a Barnes & Noble, waiting for my family. It is available only in hard cover at this point, and has come out in the past year, from Pop Classics/Quirk Books.