PRINCESS FROM ANOTHER PLANET

Unlike most teen girls who fantasize about being a princess, Gracie really is. Well, sort of. Her mother firmly believes she is Queen of the planet Pannadeau, having escaped to earth, making Gracie, Royal Miss of the Southern Seas and Premier Princess of Pannadeau. Add to that premise a rich girl cousin, horse-riding camp, cute stable boy, her ditsy dad who owns an antique shop, her five-year-old karate-chopping brother, suspicious limo driver, dead goats missing their brains and Maluxziad alien kidnappers. The result is an original blend of contemporary realism and alien fantasy that’s funny, puzzling and appealing with spot-on descriptions of teen behavior. The wrap-up has some overly convenient details but not the big question of whether the alien life forms are real. As Gracie’s mom says, “Reality is such a fluid concept.” These ETs, trying to abduct Gracie’s family, can also stand for “entertaining tale.” (Fiction. 9-12)