Boon On The Moon

The Barnetts are a contemporary clan: Mr. Barnett is Anglo; Mrs. Barnett (the former Bianca Barcelona) is Latina; Boon’s teenage brother, Taji, is adopted from Kenya; and Boon himself is a one-of-a-kind.

Also moving to the moon is Boon’s crabby partner-in-crime: José Ignacio, a seven-foot-tall, old-school robot. In reality, José Ignacio is a twelve-inch toy, but in Boon’s fantasy life, the robot is one half of a danger-seeking, dimension-hopping duo.

Danger is looming as a stellar phenomenon wiggles to life in open space and starts bombing the lunar city with chunks of gobbled planets. Colonists pile into the lunar life-raft to escape—except for the Barnetts and their friends, who get left behind.

Boon insists he knows how to save everybody, but here’s the problem: people tend not to believe him about stuff. His parents have been lecturing him for a while now on the dividing line between using his imagination for fun and using it as an excuse for bad behavior. Suddenly it’s the dividing line between life and death.

"A boy and his robot move to Earth’s moon in John Huddles’s wonderful Boon on the Moon. There’s a raw, childlike joyfulness to Boon’s story; his unabashed enthusiasm for discovery is infectious. Combining innocent wonder with hard science, Boon on the Moon is a terrific and memorable science fiction tale." —Peter Dabbene, Foreword Reviews 

"Boon on the Moon is a work of children’s fiction focused on science fiction and space travel, and it was penned by author John Huddles as part of The Booniverse. The central titular character is Byron ‘Boon’ Barnett, a highly imaginative boy who is often told off for getting carried away by his own overactive thoughts and excitable temperament. But when Boon gets to board a rocket ship and move with his family to a new lunar colony called Cosmopolis, excitement is the order of the day. That is, until Boon realises that a huge disaster is brewing, one which will see him face life or death challenges to save his brand new homeland. Author John Huddles has a great sense of what will captivate middle grade readers in this fun and high-octane adventure novel, especially for those extra-active and rambunctious boys who usually wouldn’t want to sit down and read a book. Byron ‘Boon’ Barnett represents his audience well, and the narrative is chock full of fun moments of Boon getting into trouble and getting totally carried away with the adventure of it all. But the plot is also well balanced, and it gradually develops into a strong story with high stakes consequences and plenty of new ideas to discover once readers are invested in the events unfolding. I liked the overall message and what Boon and his behavior represent, and the space-age world in which the story is set is sure to be a hit. Overall, Boon on the Moon is a fantastic tale for MG readers to devour." —K.C. Finn, Goodreads

"A boy and his robot move to Earth’s moon in John Huddles’s wonderful Boon on the Moon. Byron “Boon” Barnett’s dream comes true when his father gets a job opportunity on the Moon; with some lobbying from Boon, the whole family is soon on their way. Boon gets right to exploring the Moon with his robot, Jose Ignacio, and is soon confronted with several hazardous situations, foremost the arrival of a “White Worm”—a part black hole, part wormhole destructive force of nature. A series of exciting rescues by Boon, and ingenious scientific thinking by his family, avert the crisis, saving humanity from a terrible fate. Boon’s relationship with Jose Ignacio is special: to everyone else, Jose Ignacio is just a twelve-inch-tall toy robot, but to Boon he’s a seven-foot-tall giant. In Boon’s mind, they banter and bicker like a comedy team, and the reproachful robot serves as foil and sounding board for Boon’s schemes. The ultimate fate of Boon’s imaginary friend is a poignant instance of growing up. Italics emphasize bits of dialogue throughout, an enjoyable oral element through which the book begs to be read out loud. This technique makes conversations more emotional, humorous, and realistic, as when Mrs. Barnett discusses Boon, saying, “Get rid of his fears? I’ve been working his whole life to get some fears into him!” Novel features—like the moon’s Worship Dome, which is equipped with a hologram generator so its interior can look like any house of worship; and space art, which uses a laser to create images on celestial objects—amplify the immersiveness of Boon’s future world, one that’s full of advanced technology. There’s a raw, childlike joyfulness to Boon’s story; his unabashed enthusiasm for discovery is infectious. Combining innocent wonder with hard science, Boon on the Moon is a terrific and memorable science fiction tale." —Peter Dabbene, Foreword Reviews

"Exemplary characters enliven a comical lunar romp Huddles’ literary debut is a brisk, delightful story. The prose and action are fast-paced and often funny: A bus that swerves to avoid a crashing meteoroid contains passengers “of the screaming variety.” This book launches a prospective series featuring Byron, and the time-jump ending is a clear setup for a sequel." —Kirkus Reviews

"A young troublemaker on Earth has a chance to be a hero on the moon when he and other colonists face a natural disaster in this middle-grade SF tale. Byron Barnett’s stirring imagination—and a device he calls a “biomass transducer”—allow him mentally to visit the moon and converse with Jose Ignacio, a 12-inch toy robot he sees as 7 feet tall. But the Arizonan’s love of adventure sometimes clashes with his parents’ rules. When he defies parental orders and spends his Saturday spelunking, he gets stuck and needs police assistance. Now he’s in legal trouble for excessive use of emergency and utility services. To avoid a hefty fine and hard labor, the Barnetts accept the judge’s third sentence option, “corrective exile.” It’s on the moon, and the entire family can go, as Byron’s engineer father already has a job offer pending there. Along with his parents, the almost 10-year-old Byron and his older brother, Taji, make the move, and he’s soon taking the “lunar school bus” to school and sometimes exploring his new world on his own. But threatening everyone on the moon is an approaching white worm, a space phenomenon that’s part black hole, part wormhole, and all catastrophe. As meteoroids rain down on the moon’s surface, Byron tries rescuing the people, including his family, who missed the lunar evacuation. Huddles’ literary debut is a brisk, delightful story. Though Byron is the undisputed protagonist, each Barnett is well-established. For example, the Barnetts adopted Taji, who is Swedish Kenyan, as they had been friends with his late parents. The highlight, however, is the friendship between Byron and José Ignacio. Byron is unquestionably imagining their conversations, and the generally reluctant José Ignacio is his apparent conscience. Huddles caters to his younger middle-grade readers, defining some of the big words, providing occasional reminders that Jose Ignacio is a toy, and italicizing dialogue when people are speaking via space helmet intercom. The prose and action are fast-paced and often funny: A bus that swerves to avoid a crashing meteoroid contains passengers “of the screaming variety.” This book launches a prospective series featuring Byron, and the time-jump ending is a clear setup for a sequel. Exemplary characters enliven a comical lunar romp." —Kirkus Reviews

John Huddles is a graduate of the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, as well as Johns Hopkins University’s Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington D.C. and Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he was editor-in-chief of the university’s student magazine and was named one of Brown’s first ever undergraduate Writing Fellows.