They're Recycling Aliens

In the prequel, Ants in Space, Eva and Lara were surprised when they discovered Kweezy, the miniaturized leader of the ant-people in their garden. He traveled through space in search of teflon, an essential element for his planet’s survival.

After being reduced to ant-people size, Eva and Lara were taken on an exciting journey through space to visit Kweezy’s home planet. In addition to enjoying their visit, they were taught the importance of teflon to the continued existence of this advanced civilization.

After their return, the girls prepared a list of rubbish centres and dumps which contained recycle-ready teflon to assist Kweezy in replenishing the stockpile. The day of Kweezy’s visit finally arrives, along with the beginning of a delightful adventure. In this visit to Antanesta cousins Elliot and Joe, the reluctant believer, join the girls in their travel to the small  home of a friendly, advanced civilization. 

It is worth mentioning that, in addition to this being  a very fine tale, the topic of kindness is woven into the story. The fine art of teaching without preaching is in good form.

 I am always amazed at the versatility of the author G. J. Griffiths. His writings range from history novels to children’s books. In each genre, the writing is well-crafted. Mr. Griffiths has scored another winner by combining his writing skills with the outstanding illustrations of Gillian Tolentino and Elaiana Bastidas.

Note to US readers: Mr. Griffiths is based in the UK. The spelling of certain words reflect this fact.

Where to Buy They're Recycling Aliens

Amazon UK Link    Amazon US Link   Goodreads Link

The Story Behind The Story By GJ Griffiths

When I completed the first book in the series of Kweezy Capolza tales, entitled Ants In Space, it was with a sequel in mind that would follow up the end of the story when the girls had returned to Earth. They had promised to make a list for Kweezy of suitable sites where discarded non-stick pots and pans etc could be obtained. I thought it would be important at this point to extend the appeal of the books to boys as well as girls, and so Eva and Lara would need to be with their cousins Joe and Elliot on the day that the Antanestians returned to Earth to collect the Teflon-coated "rubbish". This gave me the opportunity to introduce two quite different personalities and also to extend the traits of the girls' characters in the book 2. I wanted to retain the humorous moments as much as possible and at the same time bring in a little more science & technology at a level competent young readers and first chapterreaders could accept. It was also important to me for the adults, (teachers, parents, grandparents) who maybe were sat reading with/to the children, to also find some amusement in the book.

Finally, in all my books to date, whether they were for adults, YA or children, I have tried to include something about looking after the environment, wildlife, or disadvantaged fellow humans - concepts important to me. So we have Lara attempting to explain the idea of Kindness to the war-mongering Kraxish, aided by her cool cousin, Joe.

While it risks coming across to readers as "a bit preachy" (a past reviewer's words) and turning other potential readers away from my books I am quite prepared to take that risk. After all it does no harm to remind people from time to time of the importance of being kind to other living things on this, our only, world. If it was good enough for the Dalai Lama and Jesus Christ then it's good enough for this atheist-scientist scribbler of stories!