See You in the Cosmos

The main character of this book is a boy named Alex. His dad died when Alex was 3, and his Mom does not care what he does as long as it does not interrupt her TV time. He also has a dog named Carl Sagan, after his favorite astronomer. He dreams of launching his golden iPod into space so other intelligent aliens can learn about life on Earth and visit. At school, he took an ancestry test, which revealed that someone was living in Las Vegas and had the same name and birthday as his dad. He went to this Rocket Festival with friends he made on the train, Zed, who didn't speak, and Steve. At the Rocket Festival, you could launch your rocket. There were also a lot of competitions, and the winner won 50 thousand dollars. Unfortunately, he did not win because it fell apart in the air. After his Rocket failed, they went to Las Vegas, and he decided to try to find his dad.

This book shows that you should believe in your dreams and keep working towards them. In the book, Steve says some very mean things about Alex's dream. However, after encouragement from his half-sister, Alex decides to continue to try to achieve his dream. I liked how there was always something happening in this book; there was always a new plot twist that kept the book interesting.