Text copyright © 2011 by Margaret McNamara. Jacket and interior illustrations copyright © 2011 by Mark Fearing.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  McNamara, Margaret. The three little aliens and the big bad robot / Margaret McNamara ; [illustrations by Mark Fearing].—1st ed.

  p. cm. • Summary: Three aliens set off to find a new planet for themselves but soon Bork and Gork have forgotten all of their mother’s good advice and only Nklxwcyz builds a home safe enough to withstand the Big Bad Robot in this story reminiscent of “The Three Little Pigs.” • eISBN: 978-0-375-98694-9

  [1. Extraterrestrial beings—Fiction. 2. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 3. Robots—Fiction. 4. Outer space—Exploration—Fiction.] I. Fearing, Mark, ill. II. Three little pigs. English. III. Title. • PZ7.M47879343Thr 2012 • [E]—dc22 • 2010050153

  The illustrations were drawn by hand and rendered digitally using collage techniques.

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v3.1

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  First Page

  Author’s Note

  About the Author and Illustrator

  For my three little siblings,

  because we always stick together —M.M.

  For Lily, my little alien —M.F.

  Once there was a mama alien who had three little aliens. They were called Bork, Gork, and Nklxwcyz.

  Bork, Gork, and Nklxwcyz grew up in an old-fashioned house in a snug, cozy crater on a tiny little planet.

  As the eons passed, their house got too crowded.

  “It’s time for you to go out into the universe and find a planet of your own,” their mama told them, giving each a hug. “But remember: watch out for the Big Bad Robot. It wants to chew you up.”

  So Bork, Gork, and Nklxwcyz took off.

  “Bye, Mama!” they cried.

  “Bye, kids!” she shouted back. “Always stick together,” she added. Then she sniffed a little bit. “And call me every once in a while.”

  The three little aliens traveled far and fast.

  “There’s a cute planet,” said Bork.

  “Too hot,” said Nklxwcyz.

  “How about that one?” asked Gork. “Too crowded,” replied Nklxwcyz.

  They darted around a meteor.

  “Are we there yet?” asked Bork.

  Just past the next bend, a big planet, swirling with dust, loomed into view. Bork spotted a shiny space rover zipping around its mountains and plains. “Awesome!” she said. “I’m going to live in that.”

  “Ma said to stick together,” called Nklxwcyz.

  But Bork had already zipped too far away to hear.

  Nklxwcyz and Gork traveled on. Nklxwcyz didn’t like the looks of the next planet, either. “Nowhere to breathe,” he gasped.

  “Picky, picky,” Gork said. Then, just ahead, he spied a giant planet with huge golden rings around it.

  He jumped on a passing satellite and caught a ride on a ring. “Whee!” he squealed. “This is what I call home!”

  “We can’t live on a ring that goes around in circles,” yelled Nklxwcyz. “We’ll get dizzy!”

  But Gork wasn’t paying any attention.

  Now Nklxwcyz was all alone. He traveled deeper and deeper into space until he spotted a massive blue planet, far out in the galaxy. It had thirteen moons, and refreshing breezes.

  “This faraway place is where I’ll build my home,” he said. “It will be safe from the Big Bad Robot.”

  Nklxwcyz found everything he needed to make sturdy walls.

  He gathered stardust to keep his home bright and found solar panels to keep it warm.

  Then he grabbed a tall, shiny telescope. “This’ll do for a chimney,” he said, though no one heard him.

  Rock by rock and row by row, Nklxwcyz built the perfect house. When he was finished, he sat down and locked the door.

  His house was not very zippy or cool, but it was very safe. And there was room enough for all three little aliens.

  “I hope they come to visit soon,” said Nklxwcyz.

  Then, one galactic dawn, there was a rumbling in the universe.

  It was the Big Bad Robot!

  Bork was so busy on her swirly red planet that she couldn’t hear the Robot’s call. She didn’t feel its giant footsteps as it leapt from star to star.

  And she didn’t see the Robot …

  … until it was right in front of her rover!

  “Little alien! Little alien!” bleeped the Robot. “Pull over! PULL OVER!”

  “Not by the wheels of my trusty space rover!” cried Bork bravely.

  “Then I’ll crack and smack and whack your house down!” meeped the Robot.

  And just like that, the Robot cracked and smacked and whacked Bork’s shiny rover into a hundred pieces!

  As fast as the speed of sound, Bork jetted away, the Robot close behind her. Just as the Robot was about to eat her up, she spotted Gork’s satellite house.

  “Gork! Gork! Help me!” she cried.

  But Gork was having so much fun surfing on the rings of his giant planet that he didn’t hear Bork’s cries. He didn’t see the Robot chomping on comets and ripping open black holes … until the Big Bad Robot caught Gork’s satellite in his huge metal claw.

  “Little alien! Little alien!” it broinked. “COME OUT OF HIDING!”

  “Not by the orbit of this ring I’m riding!” cried Gork stoutly.

  “Then I will shatter and clatter and scatter your house down!” groinked the Robot.

  And before Gork could fly beneath the radar, that Robot clattered and scattered and shattered Gork’s satellite into a thousand pieces.

  Gork barely escaped. “Over here!” called Bork. “Stick together!”

  At the speed of light, Bork and Gork blasted out into space, with the Big Bad Robot getting closer all the time.

  “Where can we hide?” asked Gork.

  “Let’s find Nklxwcyz!” cried Bork. “He’ll know what to do.”

  Nklxwcyz had heard the Robot’s roar. He had seen what was going on with his brother and sister through his telescope. And he was ready.

  He flashed his solar panels halfway across the universe.

  “There he is!” cried Bork and Gork. And they zoomed to Nklxwcyz’s house as fast as a hurtling asteroid.

  “Get inside!” cried Nklxwcyz. “No time to waste!”

  No sooner had Bork and Gork slammed Nklxwcyz’s solid space-rock door than they heard the Robot rumbling.

  “Little alien! Little alien!” he queeked.

  “Not by the slime on my chinny chin chin!” cried Nklxwcyz.

  “Then I will smack and crack and whack your house down!” zeeped the Robot.

  The Big Bad Robot bashed and crashed Nklxwcyz’s strong, solid house.

  Nothing happened.

  Then it pounded and smashed. Really hard.

  Not a crack.

  Then it loaded up its triple blaster and zapped that house but good.

  That house would not fall down.

  So the Robot forced its way into the little alien’s house, right down the chimney!

  The aliens covered their ears and waited for the Robot to chomp them up.

  But halfway down the telescope, that Robot got stuck tight.

  It strained and it struggled. It moaned and it groaned. Nklxwcyz’s house shook and shuddered, but did it fall down? It did not!

  The Robot gave one more mighty cry and burst into a million pieces!

  “Cool,” said Bork.

  “Awesome,” said Gork.

  “Just as I planned,” said Nklxwcyz.

  “There’s just one thing missing,” said Bork.

  “Phone home,” said Gork.

  So Nklxwcyz did.

  “Ma,” he said, “we have the coziest house in the galaxy. Won’t you come over and tuck us in?”

  And she did.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  This book is not a science book, but there is a little bit of science in the aliens’ travels. The aliens and their mama live on Mercury, the smallest planet, which is closest to the sun. When the aliens leave home, they pass all the other planets in our solar system, in order of the planets’ distance from the sun. They start by zipping past Venus, which is the brightest planet in our night sky. Next they pass Earth, our home, the watery blue planet; and after that comes Mars, the red planet. Then the two alien brothers fly by the fifth planet from the sun, Jupiter, which is made of gases, and come to Saturn, with its glorious rings. The last little alien passes Uranus, whose atmosphere is icy, and finally settles on Neptune (where winds blow as fast as 1,290 miles per hour!), the farthest planet from the sun.

  Mark Fearing researched the planets so that he could depict them as accurately as possible, and based their coloration on photographs provided by NASA. All eight planets are shown on the endpapers, though the d istance between them is not to scale. For more information about our solar system, visit www.nasa.gov.

  MARGARET McNAMARA has published many books for children, among them How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?, illustrated by G. Brian Karas, which won a Christopher Award, and the popular Robin Hill School books, a series of early readers. Margaret lives with her family in a big brick building with two cozy elevators in New York City, where she is at work on a new book for Schwartz & Wade, George Washington’s Birthday.

  MARK FEARING is the illustrator of The Book That Eats People, by John Perry, called “irresistible” by Publishers Weekly and a “hilariously dark story” by School Library Journal. He has studied here and there, and worked there and here. He likes ice cream, and he loves to draw. Mark lives outside Portland, Oregon, in a house crowded with a bazillion books, two dogs, a cat, a daughter, and a wife who all help keep the big bad robots at bay. Visit Mark online at markfearing.com.

 

 

  Margaret McNamara, The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot

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