Sleepers, Wake

Written by: Paul Samuel Jacobs

First line: Dody found himself watching the time, measuring it by the hour, by the minute, by the second all night long.

Why you should read this book: A programming glitch wakes nine-year-old Dody up from suspended animation fifty years into a hundred-year journey through space, and now that he’s an old man who’s spent nearly his entire life alone on a ship with only a condescending computer for company, the voyage is over and his family is finally going to wake up too. While they need to get used to seeing their baby walking around in his grandfather’s body, Dody needs to get used to being among other people in a very unusual family dynamic. A series of missteps lands Dody and his siblings alone on the surface of a possibly hostile planet, and it’s up to Dody to prove that he has some of the sense that his wrinkled face suggests, rescue his sister and brother, and get everyone back to their parents in one piece.

Why you shouldn’t read this book: The writing and storytelling are not quite as good as the premise.