(Cover picture courtesy of Gordon Korman’s website.)

School sportswriter “Chipmunk” Adelman knows he’s got a scoop when he finds out that his hometown will play in the Waterloo Slapshot league. The Marsers have never had their own team, but with an ex-NHL player for a coach, they’re headed for stardom. But the Stars are in for a big surprise when they hit the ice and suddenly realize they stink! They’ve got a defenseman who only skates backwards, a star player who wants to be on another team, and a coach who calls everything a whatchamacallit. If they don’t get their game in gear soon, they’ll be booted from the league. This new series by veteran writer Gordon Korman will have kids cheering for the Marsers as they scramble to improve their game and stay in the league!

Gordon Korman’s sense of humour is literally a laugh-out-loud one.  That’s a phrase that’s lost a lot of meaning since the invention of texting, but it really is true.  There are times when you will quite literally laugh out loud at some of the antics the characters get up to, especially Chipmunk.  Even though these books are for 10-13 year olds, I still re-read them every year and still laugh out loud in some parts.  Now that is the mark of a good book!

Given that The Stars from Mars sort of has a cliché premise, the characters are surprisingly well fleshed out.  Well, the kids are.  Alexia, Chipmunk and Trent are all three dimensional and very sympathetic.  Boom Boom Bolitsky, the coach, is mostly their for comic relief and he serves his purpose very well.  You may not understand all of what he says, but Gordon Korman sets things up so you can at least get the gist of things and why it’s so funny.

The Stars from Mars is definitely a good light-hearted, fast read.  At only 145 pages, it’s a quick read, but more importantly, it’s very enjoyable.  This is the kind of book you should read if you’re feeling miserable one day.  I guarantee it will cheer you up.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

Amazon*    Barnes and Noble*

*Only available as a used book.