Have you seen this crew? Meet the aliens

What has ten arms, a taste for trouble, and an enormous pile of stolen books?

This naughty crew of aliens!

These bandits have been jumping from galaxy to galaxy, helping themselves to whatever they like.
If you’ve ever wondered where your odd socks or the last biscuits in the tin have vanished to, there’s a good chance these sneaky extra-terrestrials are behind their disappearance.

Once the aliens have scooped up their chosen items, they zoom away in their spaceship, never to be seen again. Until now…

Hubble the Moon Librarian came to work one day and found the library shelves were almost empty.
Soon after, the Rocket family spotted a strange ship on their radar, and the Space Chase began!

 
Dusty is the leader of the group and decides where the aliens are going next. He first had the idea to raid the Moon Library after the crew picked up a random signal and watched astronaut Tim Peake reading a bedtime story on Earth television. Dusty is also a bit of a grump: he might be in a mood because he is named after space dust, or because he fell in a massive puddle of slimy green gunk down in the basement of the ship again.

 
Tina pilots the aliens’ space ship. She’s a whiz behind the controls, so the Rockets are going to have to act fast to catch up. Tina is a fan of any gizmo or gadget that makes it easy to swipe stuff – watch out for her grabber! Tina shares a name with Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to go into space.

Eris may look big and fearsome, but he’s really a gentle giant. When Eris was small – well, smaller – he dreamed of travelling all over the universe and making lots of friends. Perhaps this summer he will meet some more friends with regular hobbies like reading, or gymnastics – anything that doesn’t cause another high-speed chase sounds good to him! Eris shares a name with the second-largest dwarf planet in our Solar System.

Hal is the ship’s co-pilot and helps Tina get the crew to their next destination. Hal’s other Very Important Job is finding new places to keep all of the stuff the aliens have pinched during their travels. Space on board the ship is getting a bit tight, so finding the missing books is going to require the Rockets’ best detective skills. Hal was named after Halley’s Comet, which you’ll next be able to see from Earth in 2061.

 
You can help the Rockets save the missing books from this cheeky crew by taking part in the Summer Reading Challenge!

Will the Rockets find the alien ship before it vanishes from the radar?

Will the aliens learn that once you have a library card, you can borrow all the books you could ever desire?

Will Hubble the Moon Librarian ever get to sit down for five minutes and drink their space cocoa?!

There’s only one way to find out: join Space Chase at your library this summer and get reading!

More Space Chase fun

Meet the Rockets: Leo and Cass
Meet the Rockets: Holly and Joe
Meet the Rockets: Nana Whiz and baby Bear