“Humans have it all wrong about aliens.”

From Carlie Sorosiak’s Leonard (My Life As a Cat).

Despite being three hundred years old and made completely of energy, one alien has been looking forward to his one-month trip to Earth with lots of anticipation. The alien had spent decades preparing to take on a human body and take the of a park ranger in Yellowstone National Park, but when he gets distracted on his trip to the planet, he drifts off course and finds himself as a cat stuck in South Carolina. Rescued from a storm by a girl named Olive, the alien struggles to make sense of his unprecedented situation and figure out how to make it to Yellowstone for his limited pick-up window. Olive names the trapped-in-a-cat-body alien Leonard and helps him navigate her grandmother’s house and life. Leonard’s cat-ness and threatening mortality are a big issue, so he decides to tell Olive the truth about being an alien. When Olive leaves her computer open, Leonard jumps at the chance to communicate and types out his reality and his request to get to Yellowstone in time for his pick-up. Olive agrees to figure out a way to help Leonard make the trip and she begins to give the alien human lessons and experiences that he’s spent decades looking forward to. Together, Leonard and Olive experience a wide range of firsts that force them to step outside of their comfort zones, but one thing that becomes clear to Leonard is that life on Earth is more complex than he ever imagined.

This humorous sci-fi adventure will have readers captivated by the confused-yet-sweet narrator, but cat lovers will find the story especially hilarious. Sorosiak easily manages to create a story that is quick and full. Leonard (My Life As a Cat) is an unexpectedly genuine story about kindness, love, friendship, and humanity.