When I was younger, I was an avid reader. Before Netflix and Hulu were at the tip of my fingers, I would spend hours upon hours reading books. This foreshadowed my current condition, spending hours upon hours binge-watching movies and TV. Recently I have found it hard to commit to reading a book for fun because I read so many for school that when I have free time, I find it so much easier to either watch my favorite TV show or listen to a podcast.
Last summer, however, I found a book that I really wanted to read called “Everyone’s a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too” by Jomny Sun (his real name is Jonny Sun but he goes by Jomny for ~aesthetic purposes). I had been following Jonny Sun on Twitter for awhile because of his hilarious tweets. He was sarcastic and ironic and all-around hilarious. When his book was published and everyone started posting photos of it, I knew that I had to have it. Sun has stated previously that he was inspired to write this book because of Twitter and the funny, relatable tweets he would post. As you read through the book you will notice that the dialogues in the book could be tweets of their own because of their shorthand syntax and colloquialisms.
From the outside, his book looks like a children’s book. Words are misspelled; there are drawings and cartoons which go alongside the words but the book is more of a loosely formatted, long comic book. Once you start reading it, however, more adult themes start to emerge. By adult themes I mean he talks about what it means to be unique, why we are afraid of some things, why we love other things, and how we can all become better people. It’s hard to explain the book without giving it all away but I’ll show you a few pictures.
This photo is the very first photo of the book and it sets up the plot. Basically, these aliens are sending one of their own to explore this mysterious place called “earth” and they want to discover what it means to be human.
This next photo is also from the beginning of the book. The alien is talking to a snail and is trying to figure out what exactly the snail is. The snail’s response is silly but also relatable. Most of us believe that we don’t have a big enough voice to make a difference but the truth is we are able to make differences in our communities that extend to larger communities. Although we may not see it, our small voices do make a difference.
I know this book may seem silly at first but I have found deeper meaning in it. It’s a great book for all ages to read and once you’re done, you can color it in if you want. Take a break from whatever is stressing you out at the moment and read a few pages of this book, I promise you won’t regret it!
Cover photo from CBC
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