Red State: There's Nothing to Do on Mars by Chris Gall

Mars is having a good year in children's literature. Back in the spring we had Berkeley Breathed's Mars Needs Moms! and now we have Chris Gall's There's Nothing to Do on Mars. Both have memorable illustrations and both begin with boys with major complaints against the family status quo.

Most parents have heard their kids whining "There's nothing to DO!" Davey Martin's complaint is especially annoying, since even on the title page we see his family's airstream trailer, retrofitted, as a spacecraft, lifting dramatically into a darkened sky, watched only by a group of awestruck cows. Next we see a pouting Davey, slumping despondently on the red Mars landscape, with his robotic dog Polaris at his side.

"I'm bored!" Davey shouts.

"Go OUT and PLAY!" his dad responds predictably.

Mounting his space scooter, the still petulant Davey takes his attitude and his dog for a trip into the rocky wasteland. In Hall's imaginative illustrations we see Davey and his robot dog climbing a cranky, thirsty Martian tree and building an impressive castle fort. "It's not a bad fort, but why do ALL the rocks on Mars have to be RED?" he grumps. Moving on, Davey smells some approaching Martians, stinky because there's no water for a bath on Mars. Still, they are somebody to play with for a while, but when the stench overcomes Davey's dog's electronic sensors, the two move on to look for buried treasure.

Things get more interesting when Davey digs up a mega-fish fossil and uncovers one of the original Mars Rovers in the red dirt. But the real excitement follows when Polaris starts digging in a dry volcanic crater and water begins to spurt from beneath the red soil. Davey barely beats the rising ocean back to his parents' base station, where everyone rejoices in the re-hydration of Mars. The Martians take much-needed baths and Davey is satisfied with all the surfing he wants.

Still, Davey's adventurous parents ultimately find the Mars seaside too populated with space tourists and prepare to move on to a new frontier, with Davey's complaints trailing behind:

"...there's nothing to DO on SATURN!"

Chris Hall's story is a humorous twist on a common kid complaint, reminiscent of Ellen Raskin's classic Nothing Ever Happens on My Block. Modern readers will love Hall's imaginative and witty illustrations and solid style well suited to the ruddy, rocky Mars setting.