Shout-Out: Terra by Mitch Benn

This is another book I've heard nothing about that came in to the store recently.  It comes with an amazing recommendation by Neil Gaiman on the cover, "I found myself thinking of Roald Dahl, Douglas Adams & Terry Pratchett.  Wise, funny, and above all, human".

No one trusts humanity. No one can quite understand why we're intent on destroying the only place we have to live in the Universe. No one thinks we're worth a second thought. And certainly no one is about to let us get off Rrth. That would be a complete disaster. But one alien thinks Rrth is worth looking at. Not humanity, obviously, we're appalling, but until we manage to kill every other living thing on the planet there are some truly wonderful places on Rrth and some wonderful creatures living in them. Best take a look while they're still there. But on one trip to Rrth our alien biologist causes a horrendous accident. The occupants of a car travelling down a lonely road spot his ship (the sort of massive lemon colored, lemon-shaped starship that really shouldn't be hanging in the sky over a road). Understandably the Bradbury's crash (interrupting the latest in a constant procession of bitter rows). And in the wreckage of their car our alien discovers a baby girl. She needs rescuing. From the car. From Rrth. From her humanity. And now eleven years later a girl called Terra is about to go to school for the first time. It's a very alien experience...

"Terra" is a charming and hilarious satirical fable. A story about how odd and alien we are. And a story about how human odd aliens are. It tells the story of a girl who grows up in a very different world, who gains a unique perspective on our world and a unique perspective on her new home. A girl who can teach us and them a lot. A girl living in an extraordinary world that is spiralling into a terrible war.

Here's the book trailer, if you need more incentive.