My Teacher Is an Alien (My Teacher Is an Alien, #1) (2024)

I remember I literally couldn't put this book down. I read it at school. My sixth grade teacher noticed and borrowed it as one of her read out loud to the class books. The whole class loved it and after it was over they carried me around the class on their shoulders. Okay maybe the last part didn't happen but I was seriously popular for weeks cause kids wanted spoilers.

This book single-handedly made me fall in love with science fiction when I was in fourth grade (thanks, Mr. Juhas!). I reread this book dozens of times as a kid, but reread it for the first time in more than a decade over the last couple of nights.

One of the things I'd forgotten was that this book is written from the perspective of a sixth grade girl named Susan. In my opinion, her gender wasn't all that important to the story, but it's interesting to note that Coville chose to write from a girl's perspective for a science fiction story. For the time period, I don't recall that being done often.

Another reason I believe I forgot about Susan was that I had strongly identified with Peter as a child (and that was probably the reason Mr. Juhas had recommended the book to me).

As a writer, one of the things I look for is why I like a book, and this book has many lessons to offer. For example:

- most (if not all) of the chapters end on a cliffhanger, making the book hard to put down.
- there are multiple character triangles (Susan, Peter, Broxholm; Susan, Ms. Schwarz, and Mr. Smith; Susan, Peter, Duncan) that keep the story interesting. Each character has clear, individual motivations.
- the hidden messages deal with fears virtually every middle school student has: sometimes it's hard to broach tough subjects with parents, fear of how peers will react, dealing with schoolyard bullies, etc.

I'd recommend this book to any middle grade student who's ever felt like an outcast.

With that title, and that cover, this was a book that elementary Clint had to read. I remember having a lot of fun reading it even though I was doing so in my spare time, which interfered with reruns of Star Trek, Batman, and Gilligan's Island. (That makes me sound old, but they were reruns, keep in mind.) And I don't know if you pay attention to the news, but some of the teachers nowadays are definitely from another world.

So I really didn't have much of a life as a kid, but I remember ploughing through these one summer, probably when I had a twisted ankle and was couch-bound. Looks like he kept writing beyond the years I read him, but these were essential readings at the time. Miss you Scholastic!

What is there to even say? Bruce Coville is the reason I love reading, and the reason I love sf/f in particular. This was the most formative series of my childhood. The first book is pretty light and silly (the end of the series is quite a bit heavier), and utterly delightful.

I liked the third book, and I’m still waiting on Animorphs via inter-library loan, so I figured I’d see how much these cost on kindle. Turns out they are free via unlimited!

I’m not sure how the original edition of this was, but the ebook had a lot of typos. One of the images didn’t work, and the scans that did work were really dark. It’d probably be better to read this in print.

Still, those are minor issues I’m willing to overlook. Overall this was a fun, short read. If I was a stickler I could go on about how the characters were cliche archetypes for YA (bully, pretty girl, nerdy boy), but why? It worked at the time this book was written. They are archetypes that still resonate with the child I once was, so I’m not complaining.

This worked out well for me, because the end of this book is the beginning of the third book, oddly enough. The third book is Peter’s experience in space, so I may not read the second book at all.

Of course, when they are free . . .

My 11 year old son really liked listening to this audiobook, even after he read the copy that he owns. And I really liked listening to it with him!

I always set my expectations pretty low whenever I'm going into a middle-grade book that's not written by my idol, R.L. Stine. However, I really enjoyed this book.
The premise is fairly simple - Our protagonist Susan discovers her new substitute teacher is an alien, and must warn her fellow classmates and figure out a way to prevent themselves from being abducted!
This little book was well-written, very amusing, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It does feel a little flat at times, as some of the events are briefly summarized/narrated through the first-person POV, and there isn't much suspense to this either, it's mostly just fun with lots of humor. The characters are surprisingly well-done. I liked how the author implemented some more adult-type jokes in here, yet the book is pretty tame and age-appropriate.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this, except for the ending which felt just a little bit rushed and contrived. I did like one aspect of the ending, though, which was actually a little bit dark/sad.

In summary, this is a great book for kids and Goosebumps-loving adults like myself. I highly recommend this one.

I discovered that our local library OverDrive website had a bunch of fun children's books in audiobook editions, so I thought I would give this one a try. It's a fun, fast story and I enjoyed listening to Liza Ross narrate the story. I really like that it is told from Susan's perspective, instead of from a boy's.

Overall, I thought the plot was a bit silly, but I liked it anyway. I see, now that I've gone on Goodreads to post this review, that this is just the first book in the My Teacher is an Alien series. I may have to look for the other books.

This was one of my favorite books as a kid and I’m pleased to see students continue to check it out, as well as Coville’s newer books. It held up on re-read much better than expected – it’s really a suspenseful and well crafted story. Good use of the evil teacher trope. Mr. Smith has some very creepy standoffs with Susan as he stays in character as their teacher. Trying to balance supernatural threat with the pressure of daily life is always a great lens for the experience of being young - I like the way that saving the world and doing a clarinet solo are equal pulls on Susan here. This is a solid entry in the “wacky-school-life” genre or it could be a gateway to harder sci-fi.

I liked the book because it was all about a teacher that was actully alien.

3.5

I completely forgot this book existed until I saw this cover. What a classic.

1.I love this book. It`s very interesting. for example, on page 93. When Duncan,Peter and Susan was spying on Mr.Smith. Duncan went in a room and saw a breif case. He opened it and he started to scream very loud because an alien head poped up and started to talk in a weird language. Another is that on page 51. When Peter and Susan was in the middle of the attic. They saw Ms.Schwartz frozen in a rectangular see through box.
2. I would reccommend this book to my brother Mohamed. I would reccommend this to my brother because he loves mysteries. He likes to find things and figiuring them out just like Susan. He also, likes watching Law and Order. Law and Order is about mysteries.

3.This book was not challenging for me. It was not challenging for me because, while my brother watches Law and Order I have to predict what happens. Predicting is another form of comprehension and i used that to understand.

4. Peter is in 6th grade. He is a "geekoid" thats what people say. He loves reading books he don`t like watching tv and people tease him about it. He has glass, blond hair and brown or green eyes. He has one friend and thats Susan.

Grade Level: 6th to 8th

This science fiction book is about an alien that comes to Earth, poses as a teacher, and has a plan to abduct students for study. The main character, Susan, discovers he is an alien and the book unfolds with her attempting to foil the aliens plan. The book is not very long, but very easy to read. The dialogue includes internal monologue from the main character.

This book can be used to discuss unlikely friends (Peter and Susan), the possibility of aliens, or the process of solving a mystery. The book genre is difficult to place into a curriculum that is based on other content areas, but an imaginative teacher would be able to incorporate this book into a class lesson that could span multiple subjects. Some science can be incorporated with a look current technology and possible future technology. In addition, this book can create a discussion about aliens and what they might discover when they visit Earth, allowing students to have a larger view of the world.

The plot is predicable , but I love the villain.

Alright, today we branch off slightly for something I've been wanting to do for a bit. Earlier this year I covered a short story collection hosted by Bruce Coville. He was a decently big deal in the middle grade/YA scene back in the 80's and 90's, having tons of works and series. I've been meaning to dip into his major work and I figured this is a good place to start. This little series is well regarded, especially the last one which I already know will be very interesting. I got that one at a used book store so I was now obligated to go through the rest.

I wanted to get one more casual read in before December comes so and this was my choice. No idea how fast I'll get through these, but either way this was a solid start. I was gonna say this was a nice shift but Animorphs already gives me secret alien action but whatever. Anyway, the story is pretty simple.

Susan Simmons get a new teacher at the start of the new semester, and the old teacher mysteriously seemed to quick. The kids loved Mrs. Shwartz but Mr. Smith is another story. He's not horrible but he is fairly strict, mostly on orders from the principal and oh boy we'll touch on that. One day he takes a note Susan wrote and basically she sneaks into his house to get it back, assuming he brought it with him I guess, and through sneaking is how it discovered that her teacher is indeed an alien.

Even worse, one who plans to kidnap 5 kids, the best, the worst, and most average and she must team up with local nerd Peter to stop him. So criticisms up front. Some parts can feel forced, like how it is discover Smith is an alien. Susan is a blank slate for most of it, especially compared to others. The ending kinda works but feels very abrupt and rushed. While the gap in release (1989 and 1991) makes it seem like a regular book that got a sequel by chance, this basically has a cliffhanger setting up for a sequel. I suppose it just took a bit to prepare. Book 3 came out in 1991 as well and 4 was just a year later, so yeah, that time was to work on all the rest so yeah, thought of ahead of time.

But it still could have been slightly less rushed an ending. We don't find really enough about what is going aside from the basics. It is hinted that he may not be so evil which is good, and the sequels do go further, I know that. So it's not a big deal. There's a few "kids don't say that moments" and I think that's it.

The rest is solid. The story itself is nothing too new or deep (mostly) but it works well. It's well paced, making it clear he's an alien early on as we can have fun wondering what to do, building up what he wants to do and such. Pacing is steady and it escalates well once other kids get involved. Climax is alright with good setup and payoff, just rushed to the finish.

The writing is decent with some vocabulary words. Another theme to add to the Spongey Review Bingo. Susan does have a good "Voice" leading to some funny moments. There's some wild moments here, which you will see on Twitter after this goes on. Susan is a bit blank but they make up for it a bit later and with others.

There's a typical bully kid named Duncan who ends up getting a bit nicer later on. The nerd Peter is pretty interesting, very likable and sympathetic as we get hints his home life isn't perfect. This leads to an interesting moment at the end that was an interesting way to end this for him. He's got Watch/Tobias energy going on. The kids make a good team, and they're self aware enough to know no adult will beleive them, so they don't try. Geez even pre Goosebumps Bruce knew what to do.

There's interesting commentary with Mrs. Schwartz. She goes against the usual curriculum so making things more fun, and letting them read what they want and showing more fun classics and even saying the book the school assigned them isn't actually good. The principal didn't like this and the new guy gives him a chance to force them into all work and no play. A bit of a stab at the public school thing here and the Western canon which I can certainly appreciate.

It's not super deep or anything but it's there. So this mostly was a good mix, with a touch of that stuff, good pacing, mostly solid characters that can have a bit of depth and fine writing with decent humor that makes up for some forced moments and a rushed ending. And hey it still delivers an interesting final note that makes me interested in the sequels.

It's not the next YA classic (yet) but it does manage to do what it does well while at times offering a bit more. It's a fun read and I'm hoping for big things out of the rest as this showed me plenty of potential. This Bruce guy seems like a fine fellow.

And that's about it. I wanted to do this early and fit in something else too but I wasn't up for it so this is it. December I have at least a couple Christmas read ideas and they may be it, but we'll see. See ya then.

I've had to fight my now 1st grade son for two years about reading this book. Ever since he came across it in a box he's been on me to read it too him. I told him last summer that in 2017 we could read it. On January 1st he brought it up and I agreed. My main concern was that he wouldn't understand much of the 6th grade setting or storyline. It was no problem, he loved it but 3rd grade age would probably be the sweet spot. This is the first book in awhile, other than Spider-Man that he brought up to other family and classmates on a regular basis. His excitement was heartwarming.

Now to the book. There are three main characters, Susan(smart girl), Peter(skinny, sci-fi lover), and Duncan(bully). Each character feels incredibly real for a grade school level story. I remember loving Peter when reading as a child but Susan is the star. The story is told from her perspective. Duncan is a good character but not really a focus until later books. Lots of fun mystery and light suspense. I had forgotten the ending so I got to enjoy that a second time. What a fun story.

I loved this series as a child and my son loved this book now. I give My Teacher is an Alien a full 5 substitute teachers rating for any grade school age kid.

Bruce Coville is the author we all agree on in our house. Parents, four year old and six year old all agree that his books are great. Last year we went through the Space Brat series and Monster of the Year and the boys had fun. They are WAY more into this book though, with them begging for us to keep reading at the end of each chapter and making all sorts of wild guessed about where the story is going.

The story is about a girl named Susan who accidentally finds out her teacher is an alien who will be stealing five children from his class and taking them back to his home planet with him. She teams up with smart kid Peter (and occasionally class bully Duncan) to figure out a way to stop the alien. There is crazy sci fi, music education and tons of suspense in this story.

I read this book several times as a kid, and it totally holds up on reread. We immediately started My Teacher Fried my Brains (the next book in the series) upon finishing this one. The pictures are fun but my kids do wish they were in color (those savages!). Can't wait to read the rest of this series with them.

Lu quand j’étais en primaire, et retrouvé il y a peu dans mes affaires, je me suis fait un plaisir de relire ce livre qui m’avait fait découvrir et adorer la science-fiction quand j’avais 8 ou 9 ans !

Coville is one of the many writers i can credit my early love of reading to, especially sci-fi and fantasy. Even 30 some odd years later, i still get a kick from his easy, yet entertaining prose. this was a real fun trip down memory lane.

It may be partly due to nostalgia, but this was one of my favorite books as a kid, and I had a lot of fun now reading it to my son. I think it still holds up well. Highly recommend!

The audiobook has a really fun, terrible song at the end. Highly recommended for my fellow end-stage Gen-Xers.

Read this book with my students. I love a good light read. This book was HILARIOUS and we had such a good time reading it. The plot twist at the end was BEYOND predictable. Amazing! The character development?? AMAZING. I CRIED at the end.

5/5!!!

Fun kid's book with a twist at the end.

I can't begin to say how much I ADORE this book! This was one of the reads that made my childhood! A student is suspicious about her sixth-grade classes new substitute teacher. He shows that he is preternaturally strong and other habits she finds..'off'. No one will listen to her or take her seriously except the classroom 'nerd' (this was during a time when it was a very, very bad thing to be a 'nerd'. Or even be called one. i.e. the 1980s). Soon, both students begin to track the teacher, following him home, and in the major climax of the book -- somewhat ruined by the front cover that I still think is awesome -- they find out that their wildest ideas are true and that their sub has definite plans for each and every one of their classmates! Can these two sixth-graders save their school, and ultimately earth, from an extraterrestrial threat? You'll just have to read to find out. Coville's writing is so skillful and playful that his sense of humor, comedic timing and slow building of suspense was like nothing I had read before (I think I read this when I was in fifth grade). CBS Storybook after Saturday morning cartoons would showcase some of his earlier stories as animation. My first time reading this title was in my school library. I eventually bought it at the mall some years later, forgoing on the new edition just so I could get the awesome front cover I remembered from elementary. I also read more of "My Teacher Is An Alien" series. Coville is awesome. Check him out. And from his bibliography on Goodreads, I have more catching up to do! *Laughs maniacally*

Rereading this classic series thanks to Humble Bundle and wanting to get my 2019 reading count off to a good start. It's still odd to be reading this because when I was a kid I didn't realize it was a series so the first book i read was

and I think I even read

before I finally found My Teacher is an alien. I think that says a lot to how standalone MTFMB is. As for the original in the series. It's good fun and I appreciate how simple it is but doesn't feel. I never feel condescended to and aside everything here is functionally relatable, although seeing how my high school looks now I think about how locked in schools are and if kids today can relate to the open concept schools I grew up with.

When Mr. John Smith starts teaching the sixth grade, Susan Simmons assumes that Ms. Schwartz was fired for her radical teaching methods. Mr. Smith is anything but radical. He brings back the standard reader, vetoes the annual class play, refuses to read a fun book aloud, and hates music. When he unknowingly picks up a nasty note Susan writes, she tries to get it back during recess. This doesn't work so she follows Mr. Smith home. Hearing what sounds like a cat in a blender and finding the door unlocked, she enters a house devoid of furniture. Upstairs she finds Mr. Smith sitting in front of a makeup table. Susan watches as he peels his face off revealing lime green skin and orange eyes. When Susan tells Peter Thompson, an avid reader of science fiction, he thinks she's poking fun at him. Then, he thinks she's playing a game. Peter suggests that they go to Smith’s (aka Broxholm’s) house seeking evidence. What they find in Broxholm’s attic shocks them straight into another reality!
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com

It's been...I don't know...over 20 years since I read this? I read a lot of books in middle school, and this was one of my favorites, and it's one of the few I still very clearly remember. I also remember the feeling of pure EXHILARATION reading it; it was definitely one of the first to so completely and utterly grab me the way it did. I loved this series then, as a middle-schooler, the way I love Dune, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Patrick O'Brien now.

Perhaps most importantly, this book and its follow-ups played a major role both in my then-developing love for (good) science fiction, as well as in my more general development as a read-a-holic.

I haven't gone back and re-read it, and I doubt I ever will, partly because I like it better as a warm memory. Maybe when my kids are old enough to read I'll gift it to them, and I'm sure they won't object if Daddy borrows it for a little bit.

The book i have read was,"My Teacher is an Alien".It was a very interesting book that was about students wanting to find there teacher that was nowhere to be found.And they had gotten a new teacher his name was,"Mr.Smith".They did not like him and they would go to his house and they would get information about him being an alien,also they would get information about there missing teacher,"Mrs.Schwarts".So they just kept going to see Mrs.Schwarts and take pictures of alien things so they can have proof.Mrs.Schwarts had told them that at the day of the concert for there school Mr.Smith was going to steel five kids so the kids needed to get help to stop him.I would rate the book I had read,5 stars because I really liked the book.The genre is Bruce Coville.It was easy to read because,it was very interesting so i didn't get bored,also because it didn't have a bunch of pages.The characters were dynamic because they were really interesting.