Book excerpt: Fellow sixth graders, an alien and a human, become unlikely friends in this hilarious, fast-paced, and accessible first book in the sci-fi series Sixth-Grade Alien from the bestselling author of Aliens Ate My Homework, Bruce Coville. Sixth grade can be tough. But starting sixth grade as the only alien on the planet seems impossible. When Pleskit Meenom, the son of the first alien ambassador to earth, finds out he’s going to public school, he’s less than thrilled. Especially after what happened on their last planet. Tim Tompkins, on the other hand, couldn’t be more excited to meet a real alien—even if some of his classmates are warier of the first purple kid in their class. Tim is determined to befriend Pleskit and secretly hopes he may have finally found someone who feels as out of place as he does. But when angry mobs, cultural differences, and intergalactic plots get in the way, their friendship—and maybe even the planet—could be in danger.