The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen D. Randle

Ginny is reluctant: she doesn’t know how, and she is slightly afraid of what they might uncover. Caulder wants Ginny to help him draw Smitty out of his shell. She doesn’t understand why he insists on being silent Caulder can’t explain it either, although he knows it dates to an early childhood accident. Ginny learns that under his affectless shell, Smitty is a kind and sensitive young man. As she observes how complicated and painful it is for Smitty to communicate, she sees her own relationships in a new light, appreciating their effortlessness. Ginny finds a poem written and then destroyed by Smitty, signed “Michael.” Smitty points out to her that he always signs his own writing “Michael,” and Ginny understands that he regards “Smitty” as a persona, created for him by others. Smitty proves adept at communicating without speaking. Eventually, she agrees to go to Smitty for math tutoring. Ginny instantly likes Caulder, and they become friends, but when he suggests that Ginny meet “The Alien,” she is reluctant. Soon afterward, Ginny meets her neighbor, Caulder, a likable boy who has made himself less than popular by standing up for Smitty whenever anyone teases or bullies him. A girl in Ginny’s class, Hally, explains that everyone calls Smitty “The Alien.”

His face is expressionless, but handsome, and despite never speaking in class, he has become an Honor student. Feeling like an isolated outsider, Ginny encounters Smitty, a boy who never speaks-even when spoken to-never makes eye contact, and never allows anyone to touch him. Back in her old school, Ginny was “almost” popular, but it is harder to be the new kid. At the same time, Ginny’s family is moving across the country, and Ginny is starting her senior year at a new school.

Her older brother, Paul, is her best friend, but he’s going to college.

High-schooler Ginny Christianson is going through a period of upheaval. The Only Alien on the Planet was a 1995 American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults. Randle, follows new-girl-in-school Ginny Christianson as she tries to connect with Michael “Smitty” Tibbs, a handsome and academically-talented boy who never speaks, and is known to his classmates as “The Alien.” With Smitty’s longtime friend and protector, Caulder, Ginny manages to break through “The Alien’s” emotionless façade, uncovering his traumatic experience of abuse at the hands of his brother, Russell. The Only Alien on the Planet (1995), a young adult novel by American author Kristen D.

The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen D. Randle