88 pages • 2 hours read
Geoff RodkeyWe're Not from Here
Geoff RodkeyFiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 1-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “The Giant Bug Rumor”
After almost a year on Mars following Earth’s destruction, Lan’s friend Naya shares a rumor with Lan and their friend Jens about an inhabitable planet called Choom, a place populated by aliens that resemble giant mosquitos. Lan, Naya, and Jens have varying of levels of discomfort regarding settling on a new planet amongst these creatures. Jens wants to go back to Earth, even though Naya and Lan have repeatedly told him it’s uninhabitable. Before the friends begin fighting, a man walks by and asks if the kids are going to make more videos. Lan, Naya, and Jens are famous for making humorous movies about life on Mars, and the man is glad to hear they’ve got another in the works because “[they] need all the joy [they] can get around here” (4).
The man asks Lan about Ila (Lan’s sister), who was famous back on Earth for making it to the final round of a popular singing show. Two days before the finals, rising radiation levels forced people to evacuate the planet, and Ila has been depressed for the last year. Lan always tells people that Ila will sing again and that she just needs some time, though Lan privately wonders if that’s true.
Chapter 2 Summary: “The Invitation”
Eight months later, the inhabitants of Choom officially invite the humans to live on their planet. In that time, the air processors have started to fail, causing oxygen levels to drop. Riots also broke out over the disgusting food substitute Lan’s father helped to create. The day the invitation video arrives, the entire population piles into the cafeteria to watch it. In addition to the mosquito-like Zhuri, Choom is home to three other intelligent species: the Ororo (who resemble giant white-and-blue marshmallows), the Krik (fuzzy gray creatures that look like werewolves), and the Nug (wormlike creatures). Like humans, each species went through a period of self-inflicted violence. They are happy to host the humans, telling them, “[A]s long as you remain peaceful, you are welcome here” (13).
Though the offer is the only one they’ve gotten, many people are not interested in going to Choom. Some decide to try settling on another planet that is almost habitable, and another faction returns to Earth, including Jens and his family. The journey to Choom will take 20 years, and everyone undergoes bio-suspension for the duration so they don’t age. At the end of the journey, the refugees wake, ready to start new lives. However, they learn that in the interim, Choom’s inhabitants have decided not to welcome them after all.
Chapter 3 Summary: “Never Mind, Can You Just Go Away?”
When the ship’s inhabitants wake from bio-suspension, there’s a video waiting from the Zhuri. In the 20 years since they invited the humans, Choom’s inhabitants decided humans are too violent to live with them, and they’ve rescinded the invitation, adding that if the humans try to land, weapons will vaporize their ship. In the following uproar, many people want to leave, but the ship is almost out of fuel, and even if it weren’t, there’s nowhere for them to go. The other two factions from Mars have gone radio silent, suggesting neither survived. The only option is to hope the Zhuri respond to communications. The entire situation leaves Lan terrified and unable to sleep.
After a couple of days, the Zhuri agree to a video conference with the entire human population. Lan’s mom diplomatically explains how desperate the situation is and reminds the Zhuri representative that their species invited the humans in the first place. Choom’s government has changed since the prior decision was made, but the ship full of refugees does change the Zhuri’s minds somewhat: One family may come down to the planet as a test, and the human authorities select Lan’s family.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Welcome to Choom”
Lan’s family was chosen as the test family because of Ila’s singing. The species of Choom were previously very interested in Earth’s art and culture, and Ila may be key to convincing the Choom government that the humans aren’t violent. Finding out she needs to sing in front of people makes Ila more outgoing than she’s been since they left Earth. Someone tells her she’s going to be great, and Ila’s eyes light up, as if to say “ohmygosh that would be amazing and now I have a reason for living again” (28).
After a rough flight down from the ship, Lan’s family lands on Choom, which has a green sky and cities that resemble beehives. A welcoming party waits beneath a dome of electricity that a group of Zhuri pound against. The swarming Zhuri break through the field and charge the humans, forcing them to take cover in the transport.
Chapters 1-4 Analysis
These opening chapters introduce the main conflict and characters of We’re Not From Here. Lan Mifune is the protagonist and point-of-view character, narrating in the first person. Chapter 1 introduces comedy and music as important forms of cultural expression from Earth. Lan, Naya, and Jens have made names for themselves by creating movies that allow people to escape the bleakness of their current reality for a bit. Though the kids downplay the significance of their videos, the man who asks about them highlights the importance of comedy and laughter, which foreshadows how crucial these are to the story in later chapters. Ila’s singing is important not only in relation to the motif of art and culture but also in terms of characterization. At the beginning of the novel, she is gloomy and withdrawn, missing her singing career back on Earth; she provides a human face to the sense of loss that makes the refugees on Mars so appreciative of Lan’s comedic videos. However, Ila will undergo a marked change by the end of the novel as she works alongside her sibling to safeguard humanity’s future on Choom.
The introduction of Choom’s species shows humans’ knee-jerk reaction against things that are different—that is, change. Lan, Naya, and Jens are all fearful and disgusted by the idea of living with creatures who resemble giant bugs. However, while Jens ultimately returns to Earth because his family doesn’t want to go to Choom, Lan and Naya move past their initial emotions and come to terms with the Zhuri (and later the Ororo and Krik), showing how the desire to survive is stronger than the impulse to hate. Although their fear does not go away, they do what they believe to be best despite their anxiety, showing that We Can Be Both Brave and Scared. By contrast, Jens’s family and their likely demise symbolize what happens when people put fear and hate before their own well-being and establishes how Being Truthful With Ourselves Lets Us Grow. Jens’s family does not have any good reason to think Earth is habitable beyond wishful thinking, but they do not recognize that emotions are driving their decision-making and therefore do not resist the impulse to surrender to fear. Like Ila, they cling to the past rather than embrace new opportunities.
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