" This half sci-fi, half contemporary realistic story about a 6th grade boy named Tommy Pepper who finds an intergalactic necklace that holds all the art and knowledge of a far away civilization at war unfortunately didn't work for me. And I say unfortunately because up until now, I haven't met a Schmidt book I didn't like. But I have to admit to being flummoxed by the sci-fi chapters about the Valorians, which were written in an archaic style and employed a special vocabulary that was difficult to interpret even with the glossary. Still, the chapters that took place in Tommy's world were vintage Schmidt: perfectly rendered realistic portraits of children, their families, school and community that were moving and sweet. I will be interested in finding out if my reaction is due to my sludgy adult brain. It may be that my middle school students won't have the same difficulty dealing with the Valorian language as I did. "
— Jennifer, 2/16/2014