"Breakfast on Mars," the Book Your Middle-Schooler Needs

There's a new book by Ransom Riggs, Chris Higgins (me), and dozens of other terrific writers. It's called Breakfast on Mars, and it features essays written for students by writers who can actually make "the dreaded essay assignment" interesting. If you know a middle schooler slogging through boring essays and looking for inspiration, you need this book.

I'm particularly proud of this book because I wrote what became the title essay, "Breakfast on Mars." I was handed this assignment: write a persuasive essay (boo!) on whether we should establish a human settlement on Mars (yay!). Being a big space nerd, I called up some Mars experts, read some of the best work on that question, and wrote up the essay, arguing that we should establish a human colony. And then I went ahead and wrote the counter-argument, arguing that we should instead keep sending robots -- because, let's face it, we're really good at sending robots to Mars these days. (This second essay is also included in the book; it's called "Robots Only" and is based largely on "Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control.") At the end of the day, I think we should do both. But my hope was that, given the right topic, I could make a persuasive argument on either side. Want to find out how I did? Please buy the book. (Also be aware that the essays are about all kinds of topics; Mars is only my little corner of the subject area.)

Who Else is In It?

Here's the complete list of authors, in order of appearance. There are 38 essays in the volume:

Ransom Riggs, Kirsten Miller, Scott Westerfeld, Alan Gratz, Steve Almond, Jennifer Lou, Chris Higgins, Rita Williams-Garcia, Elizabeth Winthrop, Chris Epting, Sloane Crosley, April Sinclair, Maile Meloy, Daisy Whitney, Khalid Birdson, Sarah Prineas, Ned Vizzini, Alane Ferguson, Lise Clavel, Mary-Ann Ochota, Steve Brezenoff, Casey Scieszka, Steven Weinberg, Michael Hearst, Clay McLeod Chapman, Gigi Amateau, Laurel Snyder, Wendy Mass, Marie Rutkoski, Sarah Darer Littman, Nick Abadzis, Michael David Lukas, Léna Roy, Craig Kielburger, Joshua Mohr, Cecil Castellucci, Joe Craig, Ellen Sussman

You'll note Ransom Riggs up there at the top. Since wrapping up his daily blogging gig here at mental_floss, he's been doing pretty well for himself. His first novel Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children has sold over a million copies, and the movie adaptation is slated for release in July, 2015 -- directed by Tim Burton. (!) The sequel (Hollow City) arrives in early 2014.

I should note that Breakfast on Mars received starred reviews from both Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. I am told that this is a big deal. It also seems important to tell you that this is a charity project for the authors -- we don't get a cut of sales and received only a one-time token payment for the essays themselves. Instead of paying 37 authors piddly royalty checks, the proceeds go to Free the Children. What's not to like?

How Can I Buy It?

I'm so glad you asked. You can find it at your local book store via IndieBound. If you're more of an Amazon buyer, grab it for Kindle (under $9) or in hardcover (under $13). Dig in, everybody!