"SUMMER ON EARTH is a fine way to start a middle-grader on science fiction. Taking place in the in 1978, there's a farm family, an alien, some actual science and some psuedo-science, and a great deal of humor. Plus at its core it's a sweet tale of first contact that is also about the welcome given a stranger, his integration in the family―that has the ring of truth in it, especially needed in these tough times."
——Jane Yolen, Nebula Award Winning Author of Twelve Impossible Things Before Breakfast

The night that eleven-year-old Grady Johnson looked out his window and wished upon a shooting star, his life changed forever.

Grady, his Ma, and younger sister Luanne are having a hard summer. Dad has died and the family isn’t the same. Though Ma is trying her best, Grady knows they don’t have enough money to get by.

The shooting star he saw was a space craft plunging to Earth, and landing at the back of their farm. Extraterrestrial engineer Ralwil Turth has one goal, to fix his power drive and go back home. But things don’t go as planned. Stuck in human form, he gets to know Grady and his family as he works on their farm. He starts to learn about what it means to be human, and the exotic charms of this planet like the taste of potatoes, and how amazing bugs are.

As Ralwil grows to care for Grady and his family, he comes up with a plan to help them, sure it will solve all their problems. But when trouble comes, the family’s survival and Ralwil’s very life are on the line.

Can Grady find the courage to help his family and save his friend?

Peter Thompson remembers how excited he was when he watched the live television transmission of the first astronaut stepping on to the moon. Since that moment, he began to appreciate the vastness of space and the possibility of the existence of alien civilizations.

Award-winning author of Living Proof, this is Peter’s first novel for young readers, born from his love of reading children’s books to his three sons. Peter Thompson grew up in Illinois and lives with his family outside of Chicago.