The Dark Side of Nowhere

This is a clever science-fiction novel, full of double-entrendres, about a 14-year-old boy who finds out the the true value of his friends and family members. The plot starts out a little slow, due to the main character's feeling about how BORING and ORDINARY his life is. Then, one day, everything changes. He finds out that he is really part of a group in the town of aliens, who have to take monthly shots (which he had previously thought were allergy shots) to maintain their human image. Jason and his friends are the children of an advance force sent before a planetary invasion of the Earth. As they undergo a process that turns them back into their "natural" forms, Jason wonders about his girlfriend, who is a normal human, and part of this group. He has to lie to her repeatedly, and finds that it gets easier and easier. But at a certain point, the realization of what he is doing wakes him up, and he decides to go against the alien group. He later comes to find that his parents also, were secretly sabotaging the alien group. I am a teacher, and HIGHLY recommend this book. I am not surprised to see that it has won a number of awards. Neal Shusterman is a VERY entertaining writer. His use of language contains a lot of double meanings which are quite funny. I would only recommend this book to younger readers with an extremely good vocabulary, or a lot of the meaning will go over their heads. This book would be of interest to anyone between grades 6-12, who is interested in science fiction, aliens, or how a boy's boring life could suddenly change. In addition, it would be of great interest to any kids who are anti-authority, or like to look for "kicks," as this is the character's prevailing attitude during the first two-thirds of the book. Extremely entertaining, yet teahces a good moral lesson, and kept me thinking about it for several days afterward.

Neal Shusterman is a skilled YA writer, with the ability to blend the surreal and the everyday. One of his better-known books, "Dark Side of Nowhere" is an unusually good kids' SF story, about a group of teenagers who begin to wonder what the strange secrets in their town mean.Billington is incredibly dull in the opinion of young Jason Miller. The only lull in his Norman Rockwell lifestyle is the sudden, violent death of his friend Ethan by appendicitis. But after that, things began to seem strange. The new girl Paula points out that not everyone in the world receives special allergy shots. Jason finds a picture of a classmate -- from the 1970s. A sinister janitor gives Jason and the other kids "training gloves" that shoot BBs like bullets from the fingertips. And then Jason's parents reveal the stranger-than-fiction truth to him: They, and the families they are close to, are all alien beings stranded on Earth.Now the janitor Grant says that alien ships are coming to conquer Earth, and strange changes are taking place in the bodies of the alien-human teens. Jason and his friends must learn more about the terrifying and beautiful alien beings that are their own species, and how to stop Earth from being threatened.It's the dream of every small-town boy who felt that his life is too incredibly dull to be believed, and that "you'll live nice, die nice, and your life will have been a nice waste of time." It may not be every boy's dream to find out he and everyone he knows is an alien, but it's an unusual adventure. Shusterman's writing varies nicely between everyday (burgers, breakfast, baseball, and a father who always calls him "son") and absolutely surreal (such as the scene with a certain transfigured character, a scene where the kids discover their body hair falling off). Jason is a likeable hero, very realistic. At first he mainly seems interested in breaking out of his dull life by being sarcastic and cocky, but when a real crisis arises he is an intelligent and resourceful person. Paula is pretty good as the human girl he has a sneaking liking for, and Grant is creepy and very believably alien. The kids around Jason are also realistic, although they seemed to be falling into line with him a little too unquestioningly.Fans of fantasy and SF will undoubtedly enjoy the haunting SF story "Dark Side of Nowhere," with its intriguing plot and good characterizations. Great read.

This story is about Jason, a boy who is captivated by the death of his best and closest friend Ethan, who supposedly died of a burst appendix . He and Paula, his girlfriend, investigate this mysterious case. They go to Old town house where surprises await for the two kids. After they went there many clues appeared before them like the killing of two local boys in the town and when suddenly the school janitor approaches Jason and tells him that he has gotten this surprise from him. Afterward he and his friend Paula tried to find the mystery of the missing people but they can't because someone is trying to prevent them from finding the clues that will automatically lead them to this case. The school janitor approaches Jason again, and he gives him this magical glove which can fire pellets when you tense any of your fingers. He then tells Jason to go to Old Town where he himself would be waiting for him. When he arrives there he sees the school janitor among many other children in the camp. Mystically the other children in the camp were exactly the same children that went to their church. This really creeps Jason out and then he sees that all of them had gloves like the ones he had and he gets worried about this whole case. He tells his parents about what happened and then his parents started to get freaked out at the whole case. They told Jason the truth about everything, what had happended to them before Jason had even been born. Jason freaks out and he doesnt know what to do. He tells Paula the breath taking secret... he was an alien!!!!!! She couldn't believe what had just come out of Jason's mouth, she was petrified. He then told her that the aliens were going to rule the planet. she got terrified and stopped seeing Jason. Will Jason and his fellow aliens conquer the Earth and make the earth people leave???? Neil Shusterman really exceeded his way of writing in this novel, he puts a bit of him in every page of this book. When you have finished reading a chapter you feel like if you want to read more more more and more. I would really recommend this book to people of all ages because it is a wonderful thriller filled with a magical touch that penetrates you into this book.

A boy looses one of his best friends because of appendicitis. he is living in what he thinks is the most boring town in the world, and can't get out. wait till his decition can affect the whole world, and see how important his town is now. It's not nowhere anymore.

I have read many books by neal shusterman, but thisis the very best, in fact the best book I ever read, I bet there are alot of adults who would love to read this book. I stayed up half the night and read it when I was supposed to be sleeping, if you like sci-fi or fantasy, you absolutly have to, with out a doubt read this. I am recomending it to every body I know.