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Crash from Outer Space: Unraveling the Mystery of Flying Saucers, Alien Beings, and Roswell
Award-winning author Candace Fleming sets her gaze on the mystery at Roswell, New Mexico, and the "crash from outer space" that set the United States on edge for decades. In 1947, during the early years of the Cold War, a field in Roswell, New Mexico was disturbed by a strange crash and smattering of debris. Some say the bodies of extraterrestrial beings were strewn across the ground, that a UFO had crashed there, and that the government was covering up the evidence in a massive conspiracy. But what really happened at Roswell? The infamous "crash from outer space" has become a fixture in our culture, inspiring a surge of UFO sightings and conspiracy theories. But at its heart is the story of military scientists, a city on the brink of the Cold War, and a debris field scattered with mystery. What was it that actually crashed at Roswell? Were alien bodies found? Was it Russian spies? Secret military technology? And did the government try to hide what they found?
272 pages, Hardcover
Published October 4, 2022
17 people are currently reading
142 people want to read
About the author
Candace Fleming
65books583followersI have always been a storyteller. Even before I could write my name, I could tell a good tale. And I told them all the time. As a preschooler, I told my neighbors all about my three-legged cat named Spot. In kindergarten, I told my classmates about the ghost that lived in my attic. And in first grade I told my teacher, Miss Harbart, all about my family's trip to Paris, France.
I told such a good story that people always thought I was telling the truth. But I wasn't. I didn't have a three-legged cat or a ghost in my attic, and I'd certainly never been to Paris, France. I simply enjoyed telling a good story... and seeing my listener's reaction.
Sure, some people might have said I was a seven-year old fibber. But not my parents. Instead of calling my stories "fibs" they called them "imaginative." They encouraged me to put my stories down on paper. I did. And amazingly, once I began writing, I couldn't stop. I filled notebook after notebook with stories, poems, plays. I still have many of those notebooks. They're precious to me because they are a record of my writing life from elementary school on.
In second grade, I discovered a passion for language. I can still remember the day my teacher, Miss Johnson, held up a horn-shaped basket filled with papier-mache pumpkins and asked the class to repeat the word "cornucopia." I said it again and again, tasted the word on my lips. I tested it on my ears. That afternoon, I skipped all the way home from school chanting, "Cornucopia! Cornucopia!" From then on, I really began listening to words—to the sounds they made, and the way they were used, and how they made me feel. I longed to put them together in ways that were beautiful, and yet told a story.
As I grew, I continued to write stories. But I never really thought of becoming an author. Instead, I went to college where I discovered yet another passion—history. I didn't realize it then, but studying history is really just an extension of my love of stories. After all, some of the best stories are true ones � tales of heroism and villainy made more incredible by the fact they really happened.
After graduation, I got married and had children. I read to them a lot, and that's when I discovered the joy and music of children's books. I simply couldn't get enough of them. With my two sons in tow, I made endless trips to the library. I read stacks of books. I found myself begging, "Just one more, pleeeeease!" while my boys begged for lights-out and sleep. Then it struck me. Why not write children's books? It seemed the perfect way to combine all the things I loved: stories, musical language, history, and reading. I couldn't wait to get started.
But writing children's books is harder than it looks. For three years I wrote story after story. I sent them to publisher after publisher. And I received rejection letter after rejection letter. Still, I didn't give up. I kept trying until finally one of my stories was pulled from the slush pile and turned into a book. My career as a children's author had begun.
I told such a good story that people always thought I was telling the truth. But I wasn't. I didn't have a three-legged cat or a ghost in my attic, and I'd certainly never been to Paris, France. I simply enjoyed telling a good story... and seeing my listener's reaction.
Sure, some people might have said I was a seven-year old fibber. But not my parents. Instead of calling my stories "fibs" they called them "imaginative." They encouraged me to put my stories down on paper. I did. And amazingly, once I began writing, I couldn't stop. I filled notebook after notebook with stories, poems, plays. I still have many of those notebooks. They're precious to me because they are a record of my writing life from elementary school on.
In second grade, I discovered a passion for language. I can still remember the day my teacher, Miss Johnson, held up a horn-shaped basket filled with papier-mache pumpkins and asked the class to repeat the word "cornucopia." I said it again and again, tasted the word on my lips. I tested it on my ears. That afternoon, I skipped all the way home from school chanting, "Cornucopia! Cornucopia!" From then on, I really began listening to words—to the sounds they made, and the way they were used, and how they made me feel. I longed to put them together in ways that were beautiful, and yet told a story.
As I grew, I continued to write stories. But I never really thought of becoming an author. Instead, I went to college where I discovered yet another passion—history. I didn't realize it then, but studying history is really just an extension of my love of stories. After all, some of the best stories are true ones � tales of heroism and villainy made more incredible by the fact they really happened.
After graduation, I got married and had children. I read to them a lot, and that's when I discovered the joy and music of children's books. I simply couldn't get enough of them. With my two sons in tow, I made endless trips to the library. I read stacks of books. I found myself begging, "Just one more, pleeeeease!" while my boys begged for lights-out and sleep. Then it struck me. Why not write children's books? It seemed the perfect way to combine all the things I loved: stories, musical language, history, and reading. I couldn't wait to get started.
But writing children's books is harder than it looks. For three years I wrote story after story. I sent them to publisher after publisher. And I received rejection letter after rejection letter. Still, I didn't give up. I kept trying until finally one of my stories was pulled from the slush pile and turned into a book. My career as a children's author had begun.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
April 25, 2023
Went on a friend trip to Roswell so figured I should read this book! Josh just happened to see it at the library and picked it up for me. Interesting to hear about the history of the Aliens at Roswell. Fun to go but didn't really convince me:) Impressed with how fully the town of Roswell has embraced all things aliens. Good for them. If you want more information, there is quite a large research library connected to the UFO museum in Roswell.
August 6, 2022
Who hasn’t heard the whispers, speculations and jokes about Roswell or Area 51? Candace Fleming tackles one of the most widely publicized UFO sightings and gives middle grade/younger YA readers a comprehensive look at the witness, news, military and government reports about the 1947 sighting, crash, and debris recovery in the area of Roswell, New Mexico. Her extensive coverage includes photographs and evidence from those who were directly involved and those who have researched this and other sightings since. And in the end? Readers will have to decide for themselves what they think about UFOs and UAPs. Most non-fiction books on this subject seldom exceed 40 or 50 pages but are generally widely circulated in libraries. Some 4th-5th graders may be ready for this more detailed and lengthy look at the subject and I’m certain that many 6th-8th grade students will be.
Thanks for sending me an arc of this intriguing book, Candace Fleming!
Thanks for sending me an arc of this intriguing book, Candace Fleming!
October 24, 2022
I am a big fan of the Scholastic Focus imprint.
Fleming's work on the Curse of King Tut and now Roswell make for excellent nonfiction high-interest reading, and her Roswell book does a great job of discussing topics like research, how we determine facts, and how one's belief (or desire for belief) of a topic can affect objectivity.
This is one heck of a story, and I would imagine it will be in growing demand from readers over the next few years.
Finally, I loved discovering that Fleming referenced a strange case from my home state. You can actually go see the car involved in that case at a historical society museum in Warren, Minnesota!
Fleming's work on the Curse of King Tut and now Roswell make for excellent nonfiction high-interest reading, and her Roswell book does a great job of discussing topics like research, how we determine facts, and how one's belief (or desire for belief) of a topic can affect objectivity.
This is one heck of a story, and I would imagine it will be in growing demand from readers over the next few years.
Finally, I loved discovering that Fleming referenced a strange case from my home state. You can actually go see the car involved in that case at a historical society museum in Warren, Minnesota!
June 5, 2023
Candace Fleming takes readers back to 1947 and describes what happened near Roswell, New Mexico that prompted local newspapers to start writing about flying saucers. She examines then how the story changed and morphed over time, and the evidence subsequent tellers cited for their version of the story. As she looks at this she reminds readers qualifications needed for reliable witnesses and or accounts, and asks readers if these tellers met those qualifications. She then looks into the most recent documents released by the United States government on UAPs and the events of 1947.
I really like how Candace Fleming approached this topic. She does an excellent job of helping readers evaluate which are the most reliable accounts and what kind of evidence should be expected from reliable witnesses. She also acknowledges that there are things in this world that science and technology can't fully explain yet, like strange things in the sky multiple pilots have witnessed and recorded at the same time. The chain of how the 1947 events changed and morphed in the telling over time is kind of crazy and a great case study for why you need to carefully evaluate sources. Just based on the title I think this will be pretty popular with our students, and hopefully they will learn some important life lessons along the way about being discerning media consumers.
Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content. Theories about crashes and dead aliens abound, but none are really gory. Some actual plane crashes are mentioned in the government documents talked about but no gory details. Several conmen are exposed.
I really like how Candace Fleming approached this topic. She does an excellent job of helping readers evaluate which are the most reliable accounts and what kind of evidence should be expected from reliable witnesses. She also acknowledges that there are things in this world that science and technology can't fully explain yet, like strange things in the sky multiple pilots have witnessed and recorded at the same time. The chain of how the 1947 events changed and morphed in the telling over time is kind of crazy and a great case study for why you need to carefully evaluate sources. Just based on the title I think this will be pretty popular with our students, and hopefully they will learn some important life lessons along the way about being discerning media consumers.
Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content. Theories about crashes and dead aliens abound, but none are really gory. Some actual plane crashes are mentioned in the government documents talked about but no gory details. Several conmen are exposed.
August 1, 2022
**I received an advance electronic copy of this title from the publisher because I am a librarian and librarians are awesome**
Candace Fleming is great. This is exactly the kind of book I would have been into as a 9-11 year old. NGL, I'm into it as an adult, too. Not too creepy or sensationalistic, reliant on facts (so many primary and secondary sources!), and chock full of information about alien investigations.
Top-notch narrative nonfiction.
(Giving this four stars for reading it as an adult, because it wasn't Murder Among Friends . It's definitely written in a more popular/overview style than exceptional Sibert winners through history, but isn't that what Scholastic Focus is all about, anyway? No real complaints about this book, though. Could definitely book talk to upper elementary/middle schoolers no problem.)
Candace Fleming is great. This is exactly the kind of book I would have been into as a 9-11 year old. NGL, I'm into it as an adult, too. Not too creepy or sensationalistic, reliant on facts (so many primary and secondary sources!), and chock full of information about alien investigations.
Top-notch narrative nonfiction.
(Giving this four stars for reading it as an adult, because it wasn't Murder Among Friends . It's definitely written in a more popular/overview style than exceptional Sibert winners through history, but isn't that what Scholastic Focus is all about, anyway? No real complaints about this book, though. Could definitely book talk to upper elementary/middle schoolers no problem.)
April 7, 2024
Fleming is such a talent. If you have a reader that has been turned off to nonfiction due to gathering around a kidney-shaped table reading dry books with an alphabet letter on the back- grab one of her books. It reads like fiction, but is meticulously researched. It is amazing how she sucks the reader right in. This title is good for younger readers as well as older. It is an easy quick read. I rank her right up there with Jarrow and Sheinkin. Really looking forward to reading her next book, Enigma Girls.
November 22, 2022
So good!
November 27, 2022
Candace Fleming with another excellent nonfiction.
November 29, 2022
I learned a few more things that I didn't know before. This was a pretty good book and a fast read.
December 13, 2022
As usual, Fleming's research and writing is excellent for young adults. Unfortunately, I did not get the alien content that I was wanting :) I liked the methodology she presented for determining the veracity of claims. It is definitely something that could be taught to middle grade students.
December 10, 2022
The author looks at cases of ufo’s at explores the evidence supporting claims. A great look at how to think critically.
November 12, 2022
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
We all know about Roswell... or so we think. What really happened back in the 1940s, and how did this purported crash help give rise to the alien sightings of the 1950s and the interest in all manner of paranormal creatures in the 1970s and 80s? Fleming, whose Curse of the Mummy is the best overview of Howard Carter's archaeological dig at Tutankhamen's tomb I've read, does an excellent job of laying out all of the various events related to this one small crash, and the long, long trail of influence that these events, and their interpretations had!
After reading this, I got into a discussion with a friend who loves to read books that debunk various sketchy beliefs, and Fleming managed to hit every topic that my friend brought up! I loved that there were plenty of primary source photographs, documents, and drawings that really brought the scope of the beliefs in extraterrestrials into clear focus. Readers who think that there really were aliens that crashed at Roswell need this book... mainly because it neatly debunks just about everything without making the reader seem silly for believing in the first place.
The formatting is perfect, and while the book is a little on the long side, it's a good choice to have in a middle school library for readers who want to take a deep dive into the history of aliens in US culture in the last 80 years. Unfortunately, I don't believe in anything (even though I grew up in the age of Bigfoot sightings, concerns over the Bermuda Triangle, and Leonard Nimoy's riveting television show "In Search Of"!), so I always dismiss things like aliens, ghosts, and cursed places without giving them too much thought. But my friend with whom I had the conversation about this book? Totally ready to pick this one up to see if there is any new information.
We all know about Roswell... or so we think. What really happened back in the 1940s, and how did this purported crash help give rise to the alien sightings of the 1950s and the interest in all manner of paranormal creatures in the 1970s and 80s? Fleming, whose Curse of the Mummy is the best overview of Howard Carter's archaeological dig at Tutankhamen's tomb I've read, does an excellent job of laying out all of the various events related to this one small crash, and the long, long trail of influence that these events, and their interpretations had!
After reading this, I got into a discussion with a friend who loves to read books that debunk various sketchy beliefs, and Fleming managed to hit every topic that my friend brought up! I loved that there were plenty of primary source photographs, documents, and drawings that really brought the scope of the beliefs in extraterrestrials into clear focus. Readers who think that there really were aliens that crashed at Roswell need this book... mainly because it neatly debunks just about everything without making the reader seem silly for believing in the first place.
The formatting is perfect, and while the book is a little on the long side, it's a good choice to have in a middle school library for readers who want to take a deep dive into the history of aliens in US culture in the last 80 years. Unfortunately, I don't believe in anything (even though I grew up in the age of Bigfoot sightings, concerns over the Bermuda Triangle, and Leonard Nimoy's riveting television show "In Search Of"!), so I always dismiss things like aliens, ghosts, and cursed places without giving them too much thought. But my friend with whom I had the conversation about this book? Totally ready to pick this one up to see if there is any new information.
January 24, 2023
My 5th grader son really wanted me to read this as he loved it. So I did. I really enjoyed it. It was well researched and well written. I would definitely read more books by Candace Fleming. Obviously, not super dense as it written with middle school/YA in mind but it covered a lot of ground and was enjoyable and interesting to read.
July 11, 2024
Candace Fleming is a wonderful writer of non-fiction books on a wide range of topics perfect for middle school readers through adults. I love her research process, her attention to the bibliography and sources and her explanation of real-world mysteries.
It all started in 1947.
William “Mack� Brazel sat on the front porch of his home on a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico, and saw red storm clouds, lightning sparks, and then a fiery object crash to the ground.
Roswell was where military weapons were tested as part of our defense during the Cold War with Russia.
The Fighting 509th was the only combat unit trained to drop nuclear bombs (p.5). The Los Alamos Lab was where bombs and explosives were developed-White Sands Proving Ground/weapons and testing. (climate of secretiveness, mistrust of enemy, hiding things that could upset the general public)
Mack, 8 year old son Vernon, and 14 year old daughter, Bessie, head to the location the next morning and find sticks, fishing line, balsa wood, and foil with unusual purple writing on it.
June 24, 1947 Pilot Kenneth Arnold (p. 13) saw 9 crescent shaped aircrafts that moved like “the tail of a kite� in unison (p. 14) at approximately 1,700 M.P.H.!
“It was like a saucer skipping across the water ”became the misnomer “flying saucer� (p. 17).
Brazel shows Sheriff Wilcox the debris, but there is not a lot of the material there. When a news article appears in The Roswell Daily Record, General Roger Ramey dispels it as a weather balloon (p. 35). Brazel said that the materials did look ordinary, but that he was sure that it wasn’t a weather balloon (p. 39). The Air Force stated that saucers from outer space do not exist.
Fleming does a wonderful job with the research and explanations, showing that people were suspicious of the government and not used to incorporating the scientific method into their thinking, which fed the interest of alien reports. The Air Force continually presents alternative explanations such as that the object that crashed in 1947 was a weather balloon. The truth is more involved, as the reader will find out. Also, the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program AAITP Luis Elizondo oversaw the program-Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, UAP moves faster than the speed of sound, moves in ways not physically possible, he renamed and shared his concerns with The New York Times in 2017.
August 2020 Department of Defense-creation of Unidentified Phenomena Task Force to Protect National Security
Report 6/25/21 144 Navy sightings of UAP between 2004-2021 and no further explanation.
(Gwinn-Casey Notes for booktalks)
It all started in 1947.
William “Mack� Brazel sat on the front porch of his home on a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico, and saw red storm clouds, lightning sparks, and then a fiery object crash to the ground.
Roswell was where military weapons were tested as part of our defense during the Cold War with Russia.
The Fighting 509th was the only combat unit trained to drop nuclear bombs (p.5). The Los Alamos Lab was where bombs and explosives were developed-White Sands Proving Ground/weapons and testing. (climate of secretiveness, mistrust of enemy, hiding things that could upset the general public)
Mack, 8 year old son Vernon, and 14 year old daughter, Bessie, head to the location the next morning and find sticks, fishing line, balsa wood, and foil with unusual purple writing on it.
June 24, 1947 Pilot Kenneth Arnold (p. 13) saw 9 crescent shaped aircrafts that moved like “the tail of a kite� in unison (p. 14) at approximately 1,700 M.P.H.!
“It was like a saucer skipping across the water ”became the misnomer “flying saucer� (p. 17).
Brazel shows Sheriff Wilcox the debris, but there is not a lot of the material there. When a news article appears in The Roswell Daily Record, General Roger Ramey dispels it as a weather balloon (p. 35). Brazel said that the materials did look ordinary, but that he was sure that it wasn’t a weather balloon (p. 39). The Air Force stated that saucers from outer space do not exist.
Fleming does a wonderful job with the research and explanations, showing that people were suspicious of the government and not used to incorporating the scientific method into their thinking, which fed the interest of alien reports. The Air Force continually presents alternative explanations such as that the object that crashed in 1947 was a weather balloon. The truth is more involved, as the reader will find out. Also, the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program AAITP Luis Elizondo oversaw the program-Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, UAP moves faster than the speed of sound, moves in ways not physically possible, he renamed and shared his concerns with The New York Times in 2017.
August 2020 Department of Defense-creation of Unidentified Phenomena Task Force to Protect National Security
Report 6/25/21 144 Navy sightings of UAP between 2004-2021 and no further explanation.
(Gwinn-Casey Notes for booktalks)
October 30, 2022
� Aliens
� Area 51 / Roswell
� Conspiracy theories (of the delightfully kitschy postwar variety)
� Candace Fleming & her signature brilliance in boiling down the unusual and possibly supernatural into just the facts while holding up a mirror to humanity’s hubris & knowledge gaps in a way that truly gets kids learning to think critically.
As always, thank you Scholastic for providing an ARC to #BookAllies.
CRASH FROM OUTER SPACE starts in Mac Brazel's field in 1947 (the debris heard round the world), and goes through today's current dialogue on Area 51, Roswell, life on other planets, and what the government knows.
Usually these books are written by a bemused skeptic or a rando you just know is a middle-aged dude living in his mom's basement with an 80s granny square afghan and a tinfoil hat. (Which certainly doesn't detract from their entertainment value, just maybe not for middle grade readers).
Enter Candace Fleming's carefully-researched (tons of photos and documents to keep a reluctant reader engaged, to navigate us through 70+ years of lies, truths, misunderstandings, and unknowns.
Neither side's hands are clean, and neither side had facts reported 100% accurately, and the reader will keep turning the pages to find out who said what next.
Hoaxes and cover-ups are presented as, "Here is what else is going on (socio-politics) that might have made them want to/feel like they had to say this,"; "Here is what a rumor mill echo chamber can do," etc.
Fleming, a frequent flier on the various book award lists, is excellent in telling the "don't quite fit into logical narratives" stories in a way that makes kids understand that a tiny sliver of the unknown can sound absurd, and that human knowledge is eternally finite so we must always keep digging for details.
It's not clear what Fleming believes, but it IS clear she wants the reader to make up their own mind. It's not just that this book is cool (I mean, obviously, it's about aliens) but it teaches some very solid lessons about drawing your own conclusions and digging deeper than the surface. These cognitive skills will be critical for this upcoming generation.
And congratulations to Candace for the well-deserved #Cybils2022 nomination! The blogger who recommended you clearly has excellent taste.
� Area 51 / Roswell
� Conspiracy theories (of the delightfully kitschy postwar variety)
� Candace Fleming & her signature brilliance in boiling down the unusual and possibly supernatural into just the facts while holding up a mirror to humanity’s hubris & knowledge gaps in a way that truly gets kids learning to think critically.
As always, thank you Scholastic for providing an ARC to #BookAllies.
CRASH FROM OUTER SPACE starts in Mac Brazel's field in 1947 (the debris heard round the world), and goes through today's current dialogue on Area 51, Roswell, life on other planets, and what the government knows.
Usually these books are written by a bemused skeptic or a rando you just know is a middle-aged dude living in his mom's basement with an 80s granny square afghan and a tinfoil hat. (Which certainly doesn't detract from their entertainment value, just maybe not for middle grade readers).
Enter Candace Fleming's carefully-researched (tons of photos and documents to keep a reluctant reader engaged, to navigate us through 70+ years of lies, truths, misunderstandings, and unknowns.
Neither side's hands are clean, and neither side had facts reported 100% accurately, and the reader will keep turning the pages to find out who said what next.
Hoaxes and cover-ups are presented as, "Here is what else is going on (socio-politics) that might have made them want to/feel like they had to say this,"; "Here is what a rumor mill echo chamber can do," etc.
Fleming, a frequent flier on the various book award lists, is excellent in telling the "don't quite fit into logical narratives" stories in a way that makes kids understand that a tiny sliver of the unknown can sound absurd, and that human knowledge is eternally finite so we must always keep digging for details.
It's not clear what Fleming believes, but it IS clear she wants the reader to make up their own mind. It's not just that this book is cool (I mean, obviously, it's about aliens) but it teaches some very solid lessons about drawing your own conclusions and digging deeper than the surface. These cognitive skills will be critical for this upcoming generation.
And congratulations to Candace for the well-deserved #Cybils2022 nomination! The blogger who recommended you clearly has excellent taste.
October 21, 2022
First sentence: On the evening of June 13, 1947, William "Mack" Brazel sat on the porch of his tiny ranch house near Roswell, New Mexico.
Premise/plot: In her newest nonfiction book, Candace Fleming spends time unpacking ALL the many, many stories surrounding "Roswell" and the "crash from outerspace." Layer by layer, decade by decade, source by source, witness by witness. It is a story of how a narrative is crafted and framed. It is a story that asks quite a few thought-provoking questions. Can you just take a person at their word? Is something true just because someone claims to have witnessed it? How much weight do you give to sources--whether a source be a person's eye-witness account, a person's diary, a photograph, a video? How do you know what sources to trust? What would motivate a person to lie? Do investigative reporters make mistakes? How easy it is to be fooled...and how painstakingly careful one needs to be.
My thoughts: I enjoyed how she chronicled the story growing and growing and growing from the 1940s to the present day. How it became this almost epic, mythic STORY that lives and continues to live in our culture. She chronicles the writers--authors and reporters--that have covered this story, this mesmerizing, fascinating story. One message I took away from the book was that it isn't enough for sources to appear to be true and trustworthy. Critical thinking--no matter your age--is always a good thing.
I also loved the use of photographs!
Premise/plot: In her newest nonfiction book, Candace Fleming spends time unpacking ALL the many, many stories surrounding "Roswell" and the "crash from outerspace." Layer by layer, decade by decade, source by source, witness by witness. It is a story of how a narrative is crafted and framed. It is a story that asks quite a few thought-provoking questions. Can you just take a person at their word? Is something true just because someone claims to have witnessed it? How much weight do you give to sources--whether a source be a person's eye-witness account, a person's diary, a photograph, a video? How do you know what sources to trust? What would motivate a person to lie? Do investigative reporters make mistakes? How easy it is to be fooled...and how painstakingly careful one needs to be.
My thoughts: I enjoyed how she chronicled the story growing and growing and growing from the 1940s to the present day. How it became this almost epic, mythic STORY that lives and continues to live in our culture. She chronicles the writers--authors and reporters--that have covered this story, this mesmerizing, fascinating story. One message I took away from the book was that it isn't enough for sources to appear to be true and trustworthy. Critical thinking--no matter your age--is always a good thing.
I also loved the use of photographs!
November 21, 2022
Crash from Outer Space brings to light the space craze that has gripped America for decades, reminding us that "news" can't always be substantiated. What is fact? What is fiction? Is it always that easy to sort out. Fleming brings to light as many of the details and stories from a 1947 crash as she can find, with the story twisting and turning as ufologists seek to adjust and prove theories or accounts. While the details are intriguing and occasionally compelling, Fleming shows us holes and strategies for considering the accounts or facts presented to us. She leaves us hanging in the end, but isn't that the point of this exercise in high-level reasoning?
Clever & interesting, but with a sort unprofessional feel to the design. Deep enough into a complicated subject that it probably wouldn't be wildly appealing to youth who don't find the topic overly interesting.
Read as a nomination in the nonfiction book award category as a panelist for Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards (Cybils Awards).
Clever & interesting, but with a sort unprofessional feel to the design. Deep enough into a complicated subject that it probably wouldn't be wildly appealing to youth who don't find the topic overly interesting.
Read as a nomination in the nonfiction book award category as a panelist for Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards (Cybils Awards).
December 14, 2022
This was such an interesting, well-written book. We’ve all seen Independence Day and heard about Area 51 and Roswell. But most of us don’t actually know where all of this originated. I was fascinated to read about the conflicting accounts and the impact of media and mass culture. This book is worthy of a read even if you don’t care about extraterrestrials because it provides such insightful descriptions of critical thinking and evaluating claims� and also human nature and psychology� obsession, delusions, and the truth. The nature of reality. There’s so much grist for the mill here. One shortcoming of this book, imo: it should’ve had more on recent UFO developments for a book published this year, I found it odd that it basically cut off with Obama. There’s more that could’ve been explored, and it strikes me as weird that it is just missing.
January 22, 2025
This is a historical review of mainly the Roswell incident, but also some others. What I most appreciated was the author presenting the story, then asking questions about the reliability and authenticity of information. She also presented context of what was going on at the time (Cold War, Space Race, movies, TV etc.) that would help kids realize how and why rumors start.
I also appreciated that she never said anything was true or untrue, really making kids think about evidence and information literacy.
I think kids interested in UFOs and also true crime would like this ...anything where evidence is presented and you have to decide something. I don't have strong feelings about aliens or UFOs so some parts were not that interesting to me personally, but it was a fast listen and I would read others in this series.
I also appreciated that she never said anything was true or untrue, really making kids think about evidence and information literacy.
I think kids interested in UFOs and also true crime would like this ...anything where evidence is presented and you have to decide something. I don't have strong feelings about aliens or UFOs so some parts were not that interesting to me personally, but it was a fast listen and I would read others in this series.
January 19, 2023
The curious world of UFOs. Fleming dives into the stories, investigations, secret documents, government cover up, people and places, and everything in between for a middle grade audience who also asks the questions about seeing objects in the sky. What do people say? What does the government say? What organizations exist for those that believe and what is the world doing about it to document or talk about flying saucers and little green men?
It's a cool little book with plenty of photos of both documents and images to let readers figure out what they think bringing in Unsolved Mysteries stories and her own visits to the Roswell museum.
It's like a kid starter pack to Mary Roach's works (like Spook).
It's a cool little book with plenty of photos of both documents and images to let readers figure out what they think bringing in Unsolved Mysteries stories and her own visits to the Roswell museum.
It's like a kid starter pack to Mary Roach's works (like Spook).
November 18, 2022
I had a lot of fun with this book, which also does a great job of demonstrating skeptical techniques as well as curiosity. It follows the information as the public knew it and has good pictures (only black and white -- I did wish for some color) to break up the text a bit. It really shows why some people wanted to believe, and how many of them weren't wrong to do so, as well as when some people were persuaded too easily because they wanted to believe.
The final conclusion is pretty clear that Roswell probably didn't have aliens crash into a farmer's land, but there are still flying objects that no one can identify.
The final conclusion is pretty clear that Roswell probably didn't have aliens crash into a farmer's land, but there are still flying objects that no one can identify.
April 30, 2023
This book recounts the events surrounding the 1947 Roswell UFO incident and the ensuing investigations and speculations. The author presents a wealth of information in a concise manner, along with carefully chosen visuals such as photographs, documents, and cartoons. The book invites readers to decide for themselves whether aliens are involved or not, as research into the incident continues to this day. I highly enjoyed this book as it was informational for me about the UFO incident in 1947 and I am a huge fan of science fiction. This book could get children interested in learning about science and all the questions it has.
November 28, 2023
Crash from Outer Space is a great book for kids interested in aliens or supernatural phenomena. It offers various view points, includes several primary sources, and allows kids to make up their mind about the evidence about aliens, all while coaching them about the trustworthiness of various kinds of evidence. This book also offers great historical context from the past 7o years, which explains why some people distrust the government and are more prone to believe conspiracy theories. This book is well researched, documented, and written.
March 16, 2025
An excellent and thorough discussion of the Roswell Incident, and related sightings and events with some photos and a complete bibliography organized by primary vs. secondary sources. Intended for readers aged 9-14, I would also recommend it for older teens and adults. This book not only presents the stories, theories, hoaxes, and facts, it also touches on the cultural, societal, political, and scientific developments that led to them. I highly recommend!
November 4, 2022
UFO-ology! An overview of UFO conspiracy theories and events from Roswell, NM (1947) -- was it really just a top-secret weather balloon? -- to the 2021 government Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force Report. There may be unexplained phenomena in our skies but we seem to have no proof of alien beings. Not yet anyway!
December 30, 2022
I really liked this one, but I would’ve liked way more depth from it. It was a terrific read that was well told and beautifully organized, but there were so many parts where I was like, “Ooh, what’s the story there?� That said, it is a book produced for Book Fairs so it’s meant to be catchy, splashy, and engaging. It succeeds wonderfully at that and I could easily see using this for book groups.
March 22, 2023
This was a good book, touched on the classic story of Roswell and also unloaded on some speculation that there were several versions of the story that were false and made Roswell bigger than it should have been. I personally don’t believe those claims, I feel the government is great at creating illusions about the truth, but it was interesting to see other perspectives.
October 4, 2024
I wanted to like this more, but it's really a 100 page book that's been stretched to 300 with some help in the font department. It occasionally tantalizes hints of a substantive story, but ultimately is too watered down with false leads and some smoke and mirrors sensationalism to really deliver. The intended middle grade audience may find it interesting but not riveting.
February 13, 2025
Being unfamiliar with the history of Roswell, I was enthralled by this story and I thought Fleming did a great job of balancing between thoroughly debunking many of the myths that resulted from the "crash" while at the same time, inserting just enough interesting details to leave readers with questions and keep the mystery alive.
July 28, 2022
🛸👽Wow! Students will love reading #CrashfromOuterSpace! 👽Engaging text and photos throughout! In Roswell, New Mexico-1947, did a UFO crash, was there a conspiracy??You will be left looking to the sky at night and deciding for yourself! #bookposse @candacemfleming @Scholastic
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