A picnic on earth

The story of A Picnic on Earth happens in a near future, in England and in the USA. It begins with the arrival of an unidentified vessel in the orbit of the United States. It draws the attention of the President of the United States, Suzanne Burke and the generals of the armies. The vessel lands in England, near from a little village named Rotherhurst and changes the lives of the villagers. First, there are Rosie and Graham, they are two elderly persons who love each other but who don't dare to say it. They discover the vessel in a forest and meat the aliens. They talk to them and realize that they are Neanderthals, evacuated from Earth by another alien race during prehistory, who choose some famous names like Barack Obama or Britney Spears to integrate them on Earth. Barack tells Rosie and Graham that they are not the only ones who've been evacuated, but that there was every creature that they think they are extinct like dragons or dinosaurs. At the same time, Gavin and Michelle, a young couple goes to a medieval representation where Gavin is supposed to play a knight. But during the tournament, a dragon appears and scares everyone. Gavin has to save a little from being eaten alive by the dragon. Suzanne Burke decides to send her soldiers to Rotherhurst with the mission to kill every alien but Rosie and Graham stand in front of them in order to buy some time for Barack and his friends to leave Earth.

The atmosphere of the book is quite funny because the Neanderthals and the dragon are really comical and ridiculous because of their names: Barack Obama, Britney Spears and Bambi, but at the same time full of suspense because all along the story don't know if the aliens are going to be able to go back to their homes.

This book is really easy to understand because of the way Rupert Morgan wrote it. He made short sentences, used only easy vocabulary and I think that it makes the book truly accessible to everybody. There are also a lot of dialogues between the different characters, which help understanding the book.

Personally, I find the book amusing with the dragon which actually just wants to play with the villagers and not eat them and Graham and Rosie who try to confess their feelings but because they are English, they think that they can't. On the other hand, I am a little bit disappointed by the story because I think that the author didn't search very far for his story. I believe that there aren't enough details and that the story is too short and too simple. I would have appreciated a confrontation between the soldiers and the aliens. Everything goes too fast in this book and I think Rupert Morgan could have made the story with more details and action.

Cette histoire d'extraterrestres portant les noms de Barack Obama et Britney Spears pour ceux qui sont nommés venus pique niquer sur Terre avec leurs animaux de compagnie à savoir un tigre à dents de sabre, un dragon et un paresseux géant est plaisante.
Je salue la performance de Saul Jephcott qui à lui seul interprète tous les personnages qu'ils soient féminins ou masculins. J'ai cependant été gênée par la prononciation avec l'accent américain de certains individus.
Les personnages sont caricaturaux, pour notre plus grand plaisir ainsi la présidente des Etats-Unis est à la fois arrogante et inculte, et les anglais trop réservés pour exprimer leurs sentiments.

Quand j'ai lu cet ouvrage, j'ai immédiatement pensé à A Million Year Picnic de Ray Bradbury et ai été interpellée par les similitudes entre ces deux textes.
Rupert Morgan nous propose en effet une version loufoque d'un autre pique-nique qui lui aussi réserve des surprises et donne à voir une vision de l'être humain assez sombre ! L'auteur, tel Bradbury, dénonce nos abus et notre manque de respect pour la Terre et la nature. Une belle ode à notre environnement !
Ce roman est également hilarant à la manière des sketchs et films des Monty Python. Un humour britannique mordant ! Les personnages, tout en flegme typiquement britannique, sont farfelus mais touchants.
Ce livre est idéal pour de jeunes lecteurs francophones qui veulent se plonger en douceur dans la lecture en VO.

In the middle of the night, Suzanne Burke, the American president is woken up by an alarm. An alien invasion arrived in England. Each year in Rotterhurst, a little village in England takes place the medieval party, where knights gather together to fight each other. But this year everything is going to happen differently because of this alien invasion. We follow the life of the resident of Rotterhurst and their reaction to this invasion. Also, the knights arrived from another planet to go to this party.
I think I would recommend this book because it allowed me to improve my English. The vocabulary is easy to understand. Moreover, it's captivating only if you like science-fiction books. However, it would be a little bit annoying.