54 pages • 1 hour read
Adam RexThe True Meaning of Smekday
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2007A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Parts 1-2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2: “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Boov”
Part 1 Summary: “The True Meaning of Smekday”
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism.
A picture on the first page shows a family photo of Tip and her mom, Lucy, in 2011. The novel starts with an assignment prompt about “the true meaning of Smekday” (1). The winning essay will be buried in a hundred-year time capsule.
The next page is an essay by Gratuity “Tip” Tucci, an eighth grader at Daniel Landry Middle School. Tip describes “Moving Day” in June 2013 when she was 11: six months prior, an extraterrestrial species called the Boov took over Earth. A week prior, the extraterrestrials mandated that all humans in the United States relocate to Florida. Since March, Tip had been living alone in Pennsylvania with her cat, Pig. Lucy was beamed up to the spaceship by “signals from the mole on her neck” (5). Most people were relocating on rocketpods, but Tip wanted to drive herself.
As Tip drove, Pig panicked and got under the brake pedal. A Boov by the side of the road motioned for her to stop, but she couldn’t. The Boov leveled a gun at her that could vaporize matter. Tip floored the gas and escaped.
