The Train from Outer Space


Young Adult - Sci-Fi
300 Pages
Reviewed on 08/01/2016
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

Author Biography

How did this book come about? I was sitting at my kitchen table one morning, took yellow pad, and wrote these words:
A young boy and his dog go out to the field behind his house and finds a huge train on a track and a small mountain with a tunnel in it, none of which was not there yesterday. When looking into the tunnel it was like looking into deep space and the train looked eerily alive.
Miss Southgate and I took that one paragraph and wrote a screenplay from it. It is from that screenplay that we wrote this book. The book however is somewhat different than the screenplay so we plan sometime in the future of making the screenplay matchup to the book. That one paragraph was the seed of this award-winning book. Why did I write that one paragraph and what inspired me? I, nor anyone else, has been able to figure out how my weird mind works! I have no answer why that popped into my mind that morning. I’m sure many writers have had similar experiences.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Sefina Hawke for Readers' Favorite

The Train from Outer Space by Alan Sproles and Lizanne Southgate is a young adult science fiction novel that follows two young boys as they journey to save planet Earth. Brady is a young boy barely coping with the loss of his father; Brady’s grief has caused him to push away the people that care about him most. This all changes when Brady’s dog steals a mysterious glowing tube off a bio-mechanical train that almost runs Brady over one night. This single event results in the renewal of Brady’s friendship with Franky as the two boys try to figure out what happened. However, they only uncover more mysteries as they soon find an actual alien life form on Earth. Their discovery begins a game that leaves the fate of Earth hanging in the balance.

Move over Captain James T. Kirk and General Jack O'Neill and make room for Brady and Franky. The Train from Outer Space by Alan Sproles and Lizanne Southgate is the perfect book for young adults as the main characters are the same age as the target audience. This makes it easier for readers to relate to the characters. This book will appeal most to young adults who enjoy stories about aliens. The Train from Outer Space by Alan Sproles and Lizanne Southgate is filled to the brim with all sorts of plot twists and turns that keep the reader guessing the entire time. My favorite part was when Brady and Franky first discover the alien called Lil Dude, as this is the moment that the alien adventure really kicks off.