Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino

This is a book with a unique premise. It is set in 1977 and Adina, a girl from another planet, is sent to Earth. She is four years old when her father pushes her out of their spaceship and she wakes up in a classroom designed by her predecessors where they communicate Adina’s mission – to determine whether Earth is a suitable replacement for their dying home world: Planet Cricket Rice (the closest approximation of its name using English). And how will she report back? By fax machine, of course. The story spins out from there, chronicling Adina’s childhood and teenage years in Pennsylvania, living with her mother, Terese, who barely makes ends meet, her friendship with Toni and Toni’s older brother Dominic, and her obsession with Carl Sagan and Philip Glass. All of it, including Adina’s move to New York, where a fame of sorts awaits her, is documented for her extraterrestrial family, sent via the whirr and screech of the fax machine, of course. It is the 70's, after all. It is all told from the stance of someone who is outside looking in, and while we all know that Earth also has some of the hallmarks of a dying planet and a population that is not treating it like a hair on fire emergency, all seen from the perspective of aliens who wish they could have a do-over. It is sad, and wise, and funny and altogether enjoyable.