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[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_True_Meaning_of_Smekday_cover_442.jpg]]

''The True Meaning of Smekday'' is a humorous YoungAdult ScienceFiction story written by Adam Rex and published by [[Creator/{{Disney}} Hyperion/Disney.]] It all starts with a school essay. When twelve-year-old Gratuity ("Tip") Tucci is assigned to write five pages on "The True Meaning of Smekday" for the National Time Capsule contest, she's not sure where to begin. When her mom started telling everyone about the messages aliens were sending through a mole on the back of her neck? Maybe on Christmas Eve, when huge, bizarre spaceships descended on the Earth and the aliens - called Boov - abducted her mother? Or when the Boov declared Earth a colony, renamed it "Smekland" (in honor of glorious Captain Smek), and forced all Americans to relocate to Florida via rocketpod?

In any case, Gratuity's story is much, much bigger than the assignment. It involves her unlikely friendship with a renegade Boov mechanic named J.Lo.; a futile journey south to find Gratuity's mother at the [[SouvenirLand Happy Mouse Kingdom]]; a cross-country road trip in a hovercar called Slushious; and an outrageous plan to save the Earth from yet another alien invasion. Fully illustrated with "photos", drawings, newspaper clippings, and comics sequences, this books breathes new life into the "KidHero" genre.

The book was loosely adapted into a movie by [[Creator/DreamWorksAnimation DreamWorks]], titled ''WesternAnimation/Home2015'', and was released in March 2015, starring Music/{{Rihanna}}, Creator/JimParsons, and the actual [[Music/JenniferLopez J-Lo]].
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!!Tropes in this book:
* AdultsAreUseless: Beginning with Tip's pretty mom (when asked whether she's as clever as Tip, Tip answers that she's very pretty) and ending with the paranoid Roswell lady ([[spoiler: who betrays the protagonists to the Gorg]]), adult women in the book are rather detached from reality. The men are either just as clueless, or don't care, except Chief, who [[ObfuscatingInsanity pretends to be a crazy old man so people will leave him alone]]. Dan Landry plans on outsmarting the Gorg, or so he says, but they play him like a fiddle.
* AffectionateParody: Of the KidHero genre, and also of most "alien invasion" movies.
* AlienAbduction: Gratuity's mom and others are abducted a few months before the actual AlienInvasion [[spoiler: to teach the Boov English.]]
%%* AlienInvasion: By the Boov and later the Gorg.
* AliensStealCable: Most Boov knowledge of Earth's pop culture comes from human television programs.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that the Gorg [[spoiler: are all clones of the same chaotic individual, but ''his'' race, the Nimrog, wasn't much better, having a 300-year civil war over a parking space.]]
%%* AmusingAlien: Most of the Boov and Gorg, but primarily J.Lo.
* AngerBornOfWorry:
** At the beginning of the book, when she thinks the "alien birthmark" her mom aquired is cancer, Tip has a bit of a meltdown.
** After J.Lo dives for her camera that fell into the water and doesn't come out for a couple of minutes, Tip nearly breaks down, not knowing he has SuperNotDrowningSkills. This is the turning point in their relationship.
* AnimalsHateHim: Seemingly inverted with the Boov, as cats are irresistibly drawn to them... [[spoiler: but it's because the Boov smell like fish. Tip weaponises that by siccing a hungry lion on some Boov]].
* ArtShift: Things like the history of the Boov and the Nimrogs are told in the style of a graphic novel. Drawn (in-universe) by J.Lo.
* BenevolentAlienInvasion: The Boov ''think'' of themselves as this, and indeed they begin to come off as such once the highly-destructive Gorg show up. (The Gorg in turn manage to convince some key humans that they are this, offering the cure for cancer.)
* BigFriendlyDog: Lincoln, Chief's dog, is only intimidating until he sees you, after which he becomes slobbery.
* BigRedButton: One of the koobish who were transported to the boovian moon via capsule leans on this, and [[spoiler:causes the capsule to explode.]]
* BizarreAlienBiology: The Boov, in addition to their BizarreAlienSexes, eat a lot of things humans wouldn't, but gag at tomatoes. The koobish can be partially eaten, and it doesn't even hurt them.
* BizarreAlienSexes: The Boov have seven sexes (or genders - it's unclear what J.Lo actually meant) that translate in English to: girl, boy, boygirl, girlboy, boyboy, boyboygirl, and boyboyboyboy.
* BorrowedCatchphrase: While the Gorg are attacking, J.Lo calls them poomps (Boov word for buttocks, almost for sure), which he follows with Gratuity's catchphrase, "Pardon my language".
* BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins: Chief, a real Native American (Dine), does not dress like that and Tip [[LampshadeHanging lampshades this fact]].
* BrainlessBeauty: Gratuity's mom Lucy starts out like this, but later [[HiddenDepths shows her leadership skills]].
* BubbleGun: The Boov actually use these for writing - J.Lo's actual name consists of seventeen bubbles (Tip, at her first try, manages to write the rude word for "elbow", apparently).
* BumblingDad: GenderInverted, since Tip's dad is absent, but her mom is a BrainlessBeauty, more often parented by Tip than the other way around.
* CatchPhrase: Gratuity's is "Pardon my language." [[spoiler:These turn out to be her last words.]]
* CelebritySurvivor: The culture of celebrity worship continues even after every human being in America has been moved to Arizona. Actors now live in "New Hollywood" (Scottsdale), where they "fill their days with activities such as smiling and waving at cars as they anticipate the eventual restart of the film industry." Musical artists live in Sedona and perform benefit concerts to [[CaptainObvious raise awareness of the alien invasion]].
%% nah, the proper ending is rather happy * CerebusSyndrome: The book catches a really quick wind of it at the end. See DeadlyDistantFinale and DownerEnding below.
* CharacterBlog: A [[http://www.smekday.com site]] for the time capsule Gratuity sends her essay to.
%%* CloneArmy: [[spoiler:The Gorg]]
* CloneDegeneration: [[spoiler: The Gorg, leading to the EasilyThwartedAlienInvasion.]]
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Gratuity's mom who can't shut up about being abducted by aliens, to the point she loses all her friends. Of course, TheCuckoolanderWasRight. Chief is also rather excentric and revels in it.
* ConcussionsGetYouHigh: After Chef gets hit on the head by a Gorg, he's a bit incoherent. Vicky the aggressively normal and prejudiced ufologist (yes, really), asks whether he's drunk.
* DeadlyDistantFinale: The last page of the book is [[spoiler: Gratuity's obituary straight from the newspaper. It describes how she died (at the age of 113) at the opening of the time capsule she sent her essay to.]]
* DisappearedDad: While comparing human families to Boov communal child-rearing with J.Lo Tip's narration notes she doesn't find it uncomfortable to talk about her dad, but she never actually says where he is. In any case, he never appears on page.
* {{Disneyfication}}: The animated adaptation, ''WesternAnimation/Home2015'', drops most of the more edgy themes of the book.
* DittoAliens: [[spoiler: The Gorg are all identical, because they clone themselves. The cloning process causes some imperfections to accumulate, though - like cat allergy.]]
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
** J.Lo's story of how the Boov were forced out of the sea is reminiscent of global warming.
** Putting the humans in reservations. This is directly paralleled with the history of Native Americans as embodied in the Chief.
* EasilyThwartedAlienInvasion: The Gorg are [[spoiler:[[WeaksauceWeakness extremely allergic to cats]]. They try to remedy this by killing any and all cats on the planet. So Tip and J.Lo clone Pig. A lot.]] Aliens - thwarted.
* EmbarrassingFirstName: Gratuity, so named because her mom did not know what Gratuity meant when she was born, as well as J.Lo, who learned his pop culture [[AliensStealCable from TV]]. Then again, he doesn't seem embarrassed by it.
* {{Egopolis}}: Captain Smek renames Earth "Smekland" and Christmas Eve "Smekday".
* TheExitIsThatWay: After her conversation with Landry about Gorg, Tip is so distraught she accidentally walks into broom closet. [[spoiler: The closet later turns out to be a telecloner which allows her some ExactEavesdropping]].
* FakeUltimateHero: Dan Landry steals the credit for saving the Earth from Tip and J.Lo, but they're fine with that (especially once all that fame drives Dan into mental breakdown).
* FantasticVermin: The newspaper clipping on the last page has a cut-off article about how koobish, a species native to the Boov's homeword, have an excessively large population in New Mexico.
* FictionalCounterpart: "Happy Mouse Kingdom" is full of alternate-world Disney stuff.
* FlyingCar: J.Lo "repairs" Tip's car (which had a ''flat tire'') with random bits and pieces, including tin from a vending machine that said "Slushie". Thus, Slushious is born - a weird contraption that flies and is still, mostly, a car.
* FlyingSaucer: Chief has [[SubvertedTrope a ridiculously fake one]] to show to the tourists in his basement. With smoke effects and ''Thus Says Zarathustra''. [[spoiler: [[DoubleSubversion Actually, though]], a real Boov probe did crash into his water tower. It's hidden under tinfoil and paper-mache inside the fake saucer.]]
* FoundingDay: The titular Smekday is an anniversary of when the Boov declared Earth a colony, renamed it "Smekland" (in honor of their glorious Captain Smek), and forced all Americans to relocate to Florida via rocketpod.
* GenderBlenderName: J.Lo, a male alien named for a female pop star. The [[BizarreSexualDimorphism fact that his species has seven genders]] only serves to make everyone more confused.
* GhettoName: Gratuity. (Her friends call her Tip.)
* HigherTechSpecies: Humanity is low in the pecking order, with the Boov able to defeat them through superior tech and the Gorg, having manipulated and improved Boov technology, superior to the Boov in turn.
* HumanDisguise: In Roswell, to interact with the locals (most of whom are [=UFO=] nuts) without too much trouble, Tip puts a [[CheapCostume bedsheet with cut out holes]] on J.Lo and tells everyone he's her [[TheMentallyDisturbed troubled]] little brother who got so scared by the aliens he wouldn't stop wearing his Halloween ghost costume. And started speaking like a Boov. It mostly works.
* KnightOfCerebus: [[spoiler: The Gorg. While Tip has made jokes about the Boov while still painting them as scary, the Gorg are mostly terrifying.]]
%%* KidHero: Gratuity
* LifeWillKillYou:
** [[spoiler: Chief survives two alien invasions, including getting knocked out by Gorg, only to die of old age in the epilogue]].
** The very final page is [[spoiler: Tip's obituary. She died of old age (even older than Chief) at the opening of the time capsule.]]
* LivingShip: The Gorg ships are [[spoiler: made of cloned Gorg]].
* MarsNeedsWomen: Very much subverted, along with the MaleToFemaleUniversalAdaptor (the Boov have seven genders, one of which lays an egg which then requires input from all six of the other genders). While comparing opinions on Vicky, a ConspiracyTheorist who believes (among other things) that the Boov plan to impregnate human women to repopulate their race, J.Lo notes that this is about as possible for his species as impregnating a car.
* NextSundayAD: The book starts around 2013 which was about six years after when it was written.
* NoahsStoryArc: The Boov's mythology contains a story with obvious parallels to the human Noah's Ark story, in which—since most of the planet's species are aquatic—a girl puts animals in a jar full of water to save them from a great ''drought.'' Unfortunately, she forgets to poke holes and they [[RunningGag die of asphyxiation]].
* NoSuchThingAsAlienPopCulture: Averted. The Boov are said to have at least {{Fun Shirt}}s, nursery rhymes, and comic books. Their television, on the other hand, became ''too'' advanced, to the point where there were far more shows and channels than any Boov could watch and the Boov leaders finally cracked down on it after making dire predictions. (Tip points out that [[NewMediaAreEvil this is much the same attitude Earth authorities have toward television]].)
%%* TheNotLoveInterest: J.Lo to Tip throughout.
* NonHumanSidekick: Both J.Lo the Boov and Pig the cat travel with Tip and share her adventures.
* ObfuscatingInsanity: Chief's spaceship shtick started out like this, but it's been so long people simply think he's off his rocker.
* OneGenderRace: The Gorg are all male [[spoiler:because they're clones]].
* OnlyYouCanRepopulateMyRace: The UFO junkies at Area 51 believe that this is the Boov's endgame. Patently false, as the Boov are neither a DyingRace nor biologically compatible in any way with humans.
* OppressedMinorityVeteran: The Chief is a Native American, a veteran (he was in the army in the fifties) and finds the whole "Boov forcing white people into reservations" darkly funny. He also wasn't believed about the spaceship crashing on his property.
* OverlyLongGag: Near the end, there are four full pages of nothing but [[spoiler: the word "meow."]]
%%* PardonMyKlingon
* ParkingPayback: The Nimrogs, a highly violent species of SufficientlyAdvancedAliens, are revealed to have fought themselves into extinction ([[LastOfHisKind save one]]) in a [[NoKillLikeOverkill 300-year-old civil war]] that originally started over a parking space.
* PigLatin: A group of runaway boys use pig Latin (badly) because the Boov can't read it.
-->UMANS-HAY - \\
O-GAY OO-TAY THE INGDOM-KAY -\\
EET-MAY UNDER-WAY THE ASTLE-CAY
* PlanetOfSteves: The villainous Gorg are actually a species of aliens called Nimrogs, but are collectively known as the Gorg because they're all named Gorg. [[spoiler:It's eventually revealed that all of the living Gorg have the same name because they're all clones of a Nimrog named Gorg.]]
* PlatonicLifePartners: Quite literally; [[spoiler:J.Lo is adopted into Tip's family, and the obituary describing her death at age 113 mentions that she was survived by her husband, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren "and one Boov."]]
%%* TheQuest: in a way.
* RoswellThatEndsWell: It was [[spoiler: a Boov space probe that crashed on Earth]]. Later Gorg destroy Roswell [[spoiler: but the inhabitants manage to get out of there in time]].
%%* RuleOfFunny
* RunningGag: J.Lo's accounts of Boov history and mythology involve a disproportionate amount of death by asphyxiation.
* ScaryDogmaticAliens: The Boov and the Gorg fall into the "Aliens as Conquistadores" category, with the Boov being an obvious parody of colonialism (by putting all humans on reservations).
* SeriousBusiness: Downplayed as Boov treat comic books quite seriously. J.Lo, at least, likes to draw them himself.
* ShapedLikeItself: According to their own units of measurement, the Gorg "are exactly one Gorg tall and weigh roughly a Gorg."
* SirSwearsALot: Curly. Luckily, Gratuity replaces his expletives with "bleep".
* SouvenirLand: "Happy Mouse Kingdom", a thinly veiled parody of Disney World.
* StarfishLanguage: The Boov's written language is bubbles and their spoken language, apparently, would require sheep and some bubblewrap if a human wanted to do it. One of their major cultural figures is called "Sound-of-a-crying-baby-riding-on-a-duck-which-is-talking-with-its-mouth-full".
* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: While in Florida's [[SouvenirLand Happy Mouse Kingdom]], Tip encounters a group of boys calling themselves the BOOB, or "[[FunWithAcronyms Brotherhood Organized against Oppressive Boov]]." When Tip points out that this should be "BOAOB," one of the boys replies, "[[HehHehYouSaidX We really wanted it to be BOOB]]." Later, in Roswell, she meets two young boys who have a completely unrelated club called BOOB, or "Backyard Telescope Observation of Occupation by Boov": when she asks if it shouldn't be "BTOOB," they respond, "BOOB sounds better."
-->Boys. Honestly.
* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: The Boov approach to English syntax is kind of hit-and-miss. The specifically [[spoiler: abducted bilingual people to teach them Earth languages]], but they still don't seem to get the hang of it.
* SuperNotDrowningSkills: The Boov were originally an aquatic race and - while they've been living on land of their planet for a couple of generations now - they can still dive quite well.
* TheUnpronounceable: Humans don't have the vocal apparatus to speak Boov. Tip learns to read and write, somewhat, and J.Lo thinks she might learn to understand Boov, but she'll never speak it.
* WeaksauceWeakness: [[spoiler: The Gorg, due to CloneDegeneration, are so allergic to cats they give up when the number of cats around them grows explosively.]]
* YourMom: The Boovish "children's play song" with which J.Lo accidentally invokes the wrath of the Gorg literally translates to English as "Gorg are dumb, dumb like soap, their wives are wider than they should be." As J.Lo notes, this is kind of a strange insult as the Gorg don't even have wives (nor, for that matter, do the Boov).
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