Drawing on the experiences of his Vietnamese American family and his
love of '80s sci-fi shows, Jonathan Hill crafts a funny, insightful
graphic novel about the immigrant experience and the perils of middle
school.
Threatened with diminishing resources, Booger Lizk't and his family flee
their lizard community deep below Earth's crust to survive above among
humans. The Lizk't family of Elberon now passes as the Tomkins family of
Eagle Valley. "Tommy Tomkins" wears a human face to school but can't
seem to fit in no matter how he looks. The basketball team becomes a
pipe dream when bullies label him a bug eater, and only Dung Tran, an
immigrant from Vietnam and fellow outsider, sees Tommy for who he is
inside, which is nothing like the outer-space lizard invaders on TV's
hottest series. Can their friendship survive the truth? In his first
solo middle-grade book, award-winning creator Jonathan Hill perfectly
captures the sometimes dystopian drama of middle school while reminding
readers of the universal need for belonging.