Akiko in the Castle of Alia Rellapor by Mark Crilley Page B

moment later she was gone, and Bip and Bop with her. All at once it was very, very quiet.
    I took a peek out into the hallway. I could hear my father snoring. Or maybe it was my mother. (They
both
snore, can you believe it?) I went back to my room and spent a few minutes just looking at all my stuff: my schoolbooks, my Japanese dolls, the half-finished jigsaw puzzle I’d stopped working on months before.
    It was good to be back home. But it was also kind of weird. It was as if I’d gotten
used
to being on Smoo. I half expected to turn around and find Spuckler and Mr. Beeba in my closet, arguing about what I ought to wear to school the next day.
    It was hard to get to sleep that night. I kept wondering about things on Smoo, and what was going on there, and whether they’d be coming back to get me sometime in the future.
    After a few days, though, things slowly went back to normal. Soon I could go hours without thinking about Smoo, even whole days. Sure, sometimes I’d be sitting in the middle of Mr. Moylan’s class at Middleton Elementary and suddenly get this uncontrollable urge to stand up and shout, “Hey, everybody! I’ve been to another planet!” But, thinking it through, I knew there was simply no point in making everyone think I was crazy.
    In the end I guess I’ve gone back to being an ordinary kid again. But hey, there’s nothing wrong with being an ordinary kid, is there? I mean, I
like
it here on Earth, I really do. Take it from me: Nothing makes you appreciate this planet like being taken somewhere
else
for a few days.
    But I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t like to get another letter someday, inviting me back to the planet Smoo. I would. And if I do, well, let me tell you: I’ll be right there at my window at eight o’clock, ready to go.

About the Author and Illustrator
    Mark Crilley was raised in Detroit, where his parents sometimes wondered if he wasn’t in fact from another planet. After graduating from Kalamazoo College in 1988, he traveled to Taiwan and Japan, where he taught English to students of all ages for nearly five years. It was during his stay in Japan in 1992 that he created the story of Akiko and her journey to the planet Smoo. First published as a comic book in 1995, the bimonthly Akiko series has since earned Crilley numerous award nominations, as well as a spot on Entertainment Weekly’s “It List” in 1998. Crilley lives with his wife, Miki, and their son, Matthew, just a few miles from the streets where he was raised.

See where it all began in

    on the Planet Smoo

Join Akiko and her crew on the Planet Smoo!
    When fourth grader Akiko comes home from school one day, she finds an envelope waiting for her. It has no stamp or return address and contains a
very
strange message. . . . 
    At first Akiko thinks the message is a joke, but before she knows it, she’s heading a rescue mission to find the King of Smoo’s kidnapped son, Prince Froptoppit. Akiko, the head of a rescue mission? She’s too afraid to be on the school’s safety patrol!
    Read the following excerpt from
Akiko on the Planet Smoo
and see how the adventure began.
    Excerpt from
Akiko on the Planet Smoo
by Mark Crilley
Excerpt copyright © 2000 by Mark Crilley
Akiko on the Planet Smoo

Published by Delacorte Press
an imprint of Random House Children’s Books
a division of Random House, Inc.
1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036
Reprinted by arrangement with Delacorte Press
All rights reserved

 Chapter 1 

    My name is Akiko. This is the story of the adventure I had a few months ago when I went to the planet Smoo. I know it’s kind of hard to believe, but it really did happen. I swear.
    I’d better go back to the beginning: the day I got the letter.
    It was a warm, sunny day. There were only about five weeks left before summer vacation, and kids at school were already itching to get out. Everybody was talking about how they’d be going to camp, or some really cool amusement park, or whatever. Me, I