Themes

Ruth White's latest book, You'll Like It Here  (Everybody Does) is the third book - whoops!  make that the fourth book about aliens trying to cohabit with humans peacefully that I've read in the past year.     And in each one, it is the humans who are the aggressors.  So against conventional wisdom!

White starts the book off with a classroom invasion by a madman Soon after, the perfectly normal family of one of the students moves across country where they seem to settle in happily.  Then, things start to change.  The girl has an attack of gibberish.  Her older brother's professorial speaking style raises eyebrows.  Suddenly the family is under attack and they take flight in a see-through glider/space vehicle.  They arrive in Fashion City where they are assured, over and over again, "You'll like it here.  Everybody does."

White's pacing makes all the difference in this story.  She lets the reader realize that the family is "different"; that Fashion City is not what it seems; that the family may be trapped.  By feeding the reader details the way a pre-teen might notice them, White ups the suspense level. 

This is a gentler book than Pittacus Lore's story of interplanetary genocide.  White works hard to establish rapport between the reader and the characters.  But the best part of this book is that there is a possibility that the Blue family might return as they find their way through their strange new world.