Lone Star Book Blog Tour: Far Out! by Anne Bustard (review & giveaway)

Children’s Historical Fiction / Family / Mystery / Humor / Sci-Fi Inspired / 8-12 years

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Date of Publication: April 18, 2023

Number of Pages: 224 pages

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It’s 1964, the Space Race is well underway, and eleven-year-old Magnolia Jean Crook and the other residents of Totter, Texas, are over the moon about UFOs.

The whole town is gearing up for the First Annual Come on Down Day—in just one week, they are hoping to host any and all space aliens who would like to visit Earth. But right before the kick-off party, a meteorite goes missing—and MJ’s beloved grandmother Mimi, who is the vice president of the Totter Unidentified Flying Object Organization, is the prime suspect.

MJ is desperate to show the town that this Crook is not a thief. The only problem is that there is a lot of evidence against her, and Mimi herself isn’t helping things. She’s acting suspiciously, pulling disappearing acts, and worst of all, can’t seem to answer any questions about where she was or what she was doing.

But much like UFOs, extraterrestrial visitations, and sending people to space, the impossible has been known to happen.

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”Be curious.”

Far Out! by Anne Bustard is a sweet middle-grade fiction about one town’s reaction to the Space Race in the 1960s. Totter, Texas, is ready to welcome intergalactic friends during the first annual Come on Down Day in the fall of 1964, but disaster strikes when the meteorite on display is stolen! After eleven-year-old Magnolia Jean (MJ) Crook and her best friend, Nick Lawless, find the space rock in her grandmother Mimi’s shed, the game is now afoot!

While 1964 was a long time ago, several aspects of this delightful story are still applicable. Most people love adventure and solving mysteries, which is why so many old-fashioned books have stood the test of time, such as Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys and Sherlock Holmes. In Far Out!, Come on Down Day is only days away, and MJ and Nick must become amateur sleuths and gather evidence and identify suspects to determine who swiped the meteorite (twice!) and then framed Mimi for the crime. As the clues pile up and as Mimi languishes in the clinker, the mystery becomes as hazy as a nebulous cloud. MJ and Nick must accelerate their gumshoe efforts to oust the true culprit and set Mimi free.

Anne Bustard delivers a supernova of a story that is out of this world, far out, and right on! UFO sightings have captured the imagination for forever. This cleverly written tale is fiction, but the historical basis offers just enough truth to spark the interest to research real well-documented UFO stories and sightings. While Roswell, New Mexico, is super famous, what about the 1897 spaceship crash in Aurora, Texas, and the subsequent burial in a nearby cemetery? MJ and Nick and everyone else in Totter have certainly done their homework on otherworldly visits and now wait with welcoming hospitality for their outer space friends to show up on Come on Down Day.

Far Out! can be quite silly, but it does have a serious element that is relevant today. MJ’s Mimi has been showing signs of cognitive decline, and the characters in this sweet story treat Mimi and her increasing forgetfulness with respect and compassion. This reality does not dim the lightheartedness of the story but instead keeps it solidly planted on terra firma.

The author expertly weaves a quick-paced tale of both truth and fiction that will surely appeal to readers of all ages, throughout the ages. Far Out! has many takeaways, such as the price of greed and the unfailing tenacity of eleven-year-olds; however, a clear message is that while things change over the years, such as technology, innovation, and discoveries, some things remain the same, such as curiosity, friendship, and family. For me, Far Out! can be summed up in the famous words of Casey Kasem: “Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.” That is exactly what young Magnolia Jean Crook is doing as she continues to believe that visitors from outer space will one day land in Totter, Texas, and continues to love and care for her beloved Mimi, no matter what.

Is a sequel to Far Out! on the horizon? Sure hope so because the newly formed Crook and Lawless Detective Agency sounds like a sure-fire winner. Neato!

Anne Bustard is the former co-owner of Toad Hall Children’s Bookstore in Austin, Texas, and an MFA graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

She is the author of the middle-grade novels, Blue Skies and Anywhere But Paradise, as well as two picture books, RAD! and Buddy: The Story of Buddy Holly, which was an Ira Children’s Book award Notable and a Bank Street Book of the Year.

Hawaii-born, she divided her time between Texas and Canada.

FOR DIRECT LINKS TO EACH POST ON THIS TOUR, UPDATED DAILY,

03/21/23	Shelf Life Blog	Excerpts
03/21/23	Hall Ways Blog	BONUS Promo
03/22/23	Sybrina’s Book Blog	Author Interview
03/22/23	LSBBT Blog	BONUS Promo
03/23/23	Chapter Break Book Blog	Review
03/24/23	Reading by Moonlight	Review
03/25/23	All the Ups and Downs	Scrapbook Page
03/26/23	Forgotten Winds	Top Ten List
03/27/23	Boys’ Mom Reads	Review
03/28/23	StoreyBook Reviews	Playlist
03/29/23	The Real World According to Sam	Review
03/30/23	Rox Burkey Blog	Review