I.S. Noah’s PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICHES FROM OUTER SPACE! is a young adult romp. Violet and Pamela are teenagers looking to re-establish the school newspaper, which closed down years before. They, together with Brad and Willys, go on a hike through Sasquatch country in rural Oregon, during which they come across a flying saucer. Shortly, aliens called Goobexes reveal themselves: they are over ten feet tall, look to all the world like PB&J sandwiches with slits for eyes, and are looking for a missing Goobex—which is unfortunate, given that Willys ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich he found inside the saucer just a few hours previously.
From its West Coast setting and sci-fi-come-home trappings to its juvenile ensemble of main characters, the novel is deeply infused with the family-friendly science fiction outings of 1980s cinema such as E.T. or The Flight Of The Navigator. The cinematic feel provided by the luscious descriptions of flying saucers and the like is quite pronounced. The half-friendly, half-unfriendly chafing between schoolkids puts one in mind of The Goonies, while the material on the Sasquatch (which the powers-that-be, of course, know all about) leans heavily into some of the more light-hearted episodes of The X-Files. The dialogue between the children is natural-sounding and appropriate.
Tonally, however, the novel presents a peculiar mixture of material. The general premise, which is conveyed in the title, is plainly meant to appeal to far younger children than the rest of the story—which, based on its length, reading level, and general complexity, is more likely to find favor with middle graders and teenagers. So too is the cultural referencing. The president’s incompetent, Trump-esque manner, the multiple references to fake news, the trope of “Men in Black,” and the James Bond trappings of the FBI’s headquarters (Do they really have revolving sofas going through hidden doors in the walls and preposterously convoluted equipment and procedures for conducting medical scans?) are all going to be lost on younger children. Pacing also presents problems; episodes such as the group’s “processing” offer little diversion and bring plot development to a standstill.
There is, of course, the book’s subtitle to contend with: the novel is presented as “A Twenty-First Century Fairy Tale,” which excuses the lack of verisimilitude. But while there are many passages here that in isolation provide diversion, the extent to which readers will enjoy the whole depends on their capacity for ridiculousness and gentle satire.
I.S. Noah’s PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICHES FROM OUTER SPACE! (A TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY FAIRY TALE) contains many lively passages, but it could benefit from more judicious editing.
~Craig Jones for IndieReader