The stunning new 10+ story from the bestselling and award-winning author of TIME TRAVELLING WITH A HAMSTER, for anyone who loved the humour of WALL-E, the action of STAR WARS and the deeply touching emotion of ET.
A small village is rocked by the disappearance of Tammy, 12. Only her twin brother, Ethan, knows she is safe – and the extraordinary truth of where she is. It is a secret he must keep, or risk never seeing her again.
But that doesn’t mean he’s going to give up.
Together with his friend Iggy and the mysterious (and very hairy) Hellyann, Ethan embarks on a nail-biting chase to get his sister back…that will take him further than anyone has ever been before.
Selected for Read Manchester – every Year Six child in Manchester was gifted a copy in June 2020 for the city’s first “transition read.”
For the location of The Kid Who Came From Space, I left my beloved north-east coast and ventured further inland, to the wild and dramatic landscape of rural Northumberland. This is because early drafts of the story had featured an alien monster lurking in the depths of a lake, and the biggest lake in the north (and indeed in the UK) is the man-made Kielder Water, constructed from a flooded valley in the 1980s.
Kielder Water
It became apparent as I wrote, however, that the alien story that I was discovering was very different and the huge, scary crocodilian monster was abandoned in favour of the humanoid, hairy and rather friendly Hellyann! Meanwhile, I liked the Northumbrian location, so that remained.
Aliens-coming-to-earth stories are so common that they are almost a cliché. I was worried that readers would think I was ripping off the hugely successful film, E.T., until I was reminded that E.T. is nearly forty years old!
The wooden jetty where Ethan and Iggy meet Hellyann!
The area around Kielder is very popular with amateur astronomers because of the intensely dark skies. I gave one of the villains in the book a job at the excellent Kielder Observatory.
Also, the pub in the book is based on the real village pub, The Angler’s Arms. I changed its name to The Stargazer.
In “The Kid Who Came From Space” Iggy Fox-Templeton is the proud owner of his beloved chicken Suzy, who he has trained with commands, like a dog. Is this really possible?
Of course it is! Check out this YouTube video!
"Ross Welford is superb. This tense, rip-roaring, witty adventure is underpinned by a moving examination of love and loyalty."
The Daily Mail
"Original, amusing and gripping. Welford is a remarkably entertaining storyteller"
