During the summer of 1960, five imaginative, adventurous 13-year-olds, free from computers, cell phones and social media, suddenly must grapple with the loss of childhood security in this small Ohio town, first person, coming-of-age story. A tsunami of science fiction movies, Cold War paranoia about Russian missiles, and an explosion, trigger a joyful boyhood adventure while an insightful examination of friendship, race, and trauma weaves between the five of them, their neighbors, a grandfather, and the aliens they become determined to find.
The book is dedicated to the son of Mississippi sharecroppers with whom the author spent hundreds of hours on the back steps of his family’s tavern. Straight-forward storytelling for ages 10 to adult.
“Daniel Babka’s LIGHTNING BUGS AND ALIENS is a sci-fi novella that remains engaging from start to finish through suspense and fluid prose.”
– Indie Reader
The Book Report 