An excellent review of Kevin Emerson’s Last Day on Mars from Elizabeth Bird at School Library Journal - read the rest of the review here, and find out more about Last Day on Mars, including how to order your copy, over at walden.com!

A fantastic review of Kevin Emerson’s Last Day on Mars from The Horn Book! Catch the full review in the July/August issue.

Discover more about Last Day on Mars at Walden.com - and grab your copy today at your local bookstore!

BLOG TOUR: Last Day on Mars, by Kevin Emerson

It is Earth Year 2213—but, of course, there is no Earth anymore. Not since it was burned to a cinder by the sun, which has mysteriously begun the process of going supernova far sooner than anyone expected. The human race has fled to Mars, but this was only a temporary solution while preparing for a second trip: a 150-year journey to Aaru-5, a distant star, humanity’s best guess at a good spot for a new home. 

Liam Saunders-Chang is one of the last humans left on Mars. The son of two scientists who have been racing against time to create technology to ensure humanity’s survival, Liam, along with his friend Phoebe, will be on the last starliner to depart before Mars, like Earth before it, is destroyed.

Or so he thinks. Because before the last day on Mars is over, Liam and Phoebe will make a series of profound discoveries about the nature of time and space and find out that the human race is just one of many in the universe locked in a dangerous struggle for survival. Kevin Emerson has written the first book in an ambitious space epic—a powerful, emotional, pulse-pounding story of the final days of humanity’s first home beyond Earth, and the desperate search for another.

Today we welcome Last Day on Mars to our humble spaceport in the midst of its extraterrestrial Blog Tour. Scroll down to read our review of this instant sci-fi classic, and to find out more about its author, Kevin Emerson - and if you’re into super fun science projects and creative inspiration, check out our Last Day on Mars educational guide at Walden.com (find it under the Learn tab on the Last Day on Mars book page)!

The Walden Media Tumblr’s Tumblrer Reviews Last Day on Mars!

Captain’s Log, Stardate 41...um...February 3rd, 2017.  I can’t help thinking of Star Trek as I reflect on Kevin Emerson’ ridiculously exciting space adventure, Last Day on Mars.  Beyond the obvious reasons for this (i.e. starships and humans in space), Mars evokes a certain spirit that is central to the Star Trek franchise: the human spirit.  As with our friends aboard the Enterprise, humanity, and the existential crisis thereof, is the driving force behind the plot line of Last Day on Mars.

The story begins with protagonist Liam and his friends bidding their beloved home planet of Mars a final farewell.  Liam bemoans the flippant attitude assumed by the adults on Mars, who still view Earth as their true home.  Not so for Liam and his friends, all of whom were born on Mars, and never knew another planet as their own.  Liam’s parents, grandparents, and teachers provide details of his Earthly identity, including his many and varied ethnic heritages, but it all means very little to a young teen who knows Earth and its borders, nations, and cultures only through maps and images.

From the start, Mars asks us to think deeply about human identity, and how we define ourselves by those borders.  Liam mentions early on that crisis forced humanity to unite in their escape from Earth; on Mars they are divided only by Colonies, all of which have spent the past several years in a combined effort to transport humanity safely from Mars to their new permanent home on Aaru.  For nearly 20 years, humans have known no borders.  Will they establish new ones on Aaru?

The question we are left with at the end of Mars, and indeed throughout the entirety of Mars as well, is one of raw survival.  Much like the Enterprise and her 5-year mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before, Liam and his fellow “Martians” are ultimately preparing for a long journey into deep space, on which rides all hope humanity has for survival.  No one knows what to expect on Aaru, or if they’ll even survive the trip - and when Liam and Phoebe find themselves stranded on Mars as their ride to Aaru pulls away, those questions become even more real.  Will they make it off of Mars?  Will they catch the starliner zooming away with their friends and family on board?  Will they ever make it to Aaru?  But like all good protagonists in sci-fi stories endowed with the preternatural tenacity of the human spirit, Liam and Phoebe never challenge the most important question of all: is it even worth trying to beat the odds and survive?

Captain Kirk famously beat Spock’s impossible no-win Kobayashi Maru test in Star Trek by, in all of his pure and unabashed humanity, finding a loophole.  And you can be sure that Liam will face plenty of his own Kobayashi Marus with the same cunning and spirit in Last Day on Mars.

About the Author, Kevin Emerson

Kevin Emerson is the author of The Fellowship for Alien Detection as well as the Exile series, the Atlanteans series, the Oliver Nocturne series, and Carlos is Gonna Get It. He is also an acclaimed musician who has recorded songs for both children and adults. A former K-8 science teacher, Kevin lives with his family in Seattle. Visit him online at www.kevinemerson.net.

Coming February 14th, 2017 from Walden Pond Press x

Kevin Emerson’s Last Day Mars, which debuts February 14th, 2017, is officially Kirkus starred! Check out the review and stay tuned for more ~*aliens*~