Janet L. Rose (Children's Literature)
Johnny and his friends live to play video games, to conquer and kill one alien race after another. When the aliens surrender, stop shooting back, and ask for help, Johnny is puzzled. Can he really save them from mankind? This is not the way a computer game works. Aliens flee or fight back. They do not ask for help. When he turns on the computer, he enters another world--or is it just in his mind? Is he making up the whole scenario? He sees other players and tries to get them to stop shooting, but no one listens and he finally turns and shoots on his own brethren. It is just a computer game, right? Turn the computer off and you are back in your bedroom. No one dies, right? He convinces Kristy to help him and they enter the alien spaceship where they fly the ship at breakneck speed to send them home. Store copies of the game now contain no aliens. Where did they go? What is real or imaginary? Which is more real--killing aliens on a computer screen or watching news broadcasts of people getting killed? One never knows if it is really happening or only going on in Johnny’s mind but the main issue is, are we out to destroy other worlds or here to save them? This book is the first in the Johnny Maxwell trilogy. 2005, HarperCollins Publishers, $15.99. Ages 11 to 14.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2005 (Vol. 73, No. 12))
An author's note explains that this volume, the first in the "Johnny Maxwell" trilogy, was written during the first Gulf War, though this is its first publication in the U.S. Johnny Maxwell is like many boys, spending his time after school busily blowing up alien ScreeWee fighters in his new computer game. Until one of the ScreeWee talks to him. She is Captain of the ScreeWee fleet, and she has asked Johnny for safe conduct back to ScreeWee space, because "[w]hen we die, we die. Forever." Juxtaposed against Johnny's inexplicably real involvement in a computer game-when he dreams, he enters game space and can wake up only when he "dies"-are the televised events of the first war in Iraq, when the nightly news showed missile's-eye views of the remote bombing of Baghdad. This offering doesn't pretend to subtlety at all, but the premise is so very intriguing, and so well-presented (in characteristically wry Pratchett fashion), that Johnny's cry for the essential humanity of all to be recognized, whether English, Iraqi or ScreeWee, loses none of its poignancy-or timeliness. 2005, HarperCollins, 224p, $15.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 10 to 14. © 2005 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Paula Rohrlick (KLIATT Review, September 2005 (Vol. 39, No. 5))
What happens when war games become all too real? When Johnny starts to play a computer game called “Only You Can Save Mankind,” he unexpectedly gets a message from the alien ScreeWee he’s supposed to be battling on screen: they wish to surrender, it seems. The British 12-year-old gradually gets drawn into their reality (how this works is a bit murky) and their desperate attempt to survive, aided by a clever girl and by his friends, an entertainingly varied group of misfits. Set against the backdrop of the first Gulf War and the “Trying Times” Johnny is experiencing at home with his squabbling, neglectful parents, this is a suspenseful and sardonically funny tale by a master of fantasy (known for his Discworld series as well as The Wee Free Men and other YA titles), with terrific dialog and characters. It has some mordant observations to offer on war and peace, too. This novel was first published in Great Britain; in a brief introduction, Pratchett explains that in this updated American edition there are only a few changes in slang and plot details. Sequels are Johnny and the Dead and Johnny and the Bomb. A treat for all humor and SF fans. (The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy; 1) Category: Hardcover Fiction. KLIATT Codes: J*--Exceptional book, recommended for junior high school students. 1992, 2004, HarperCollins, 224p., $15.99 and (Lib. bdg: $16.89.). Ages 12 to 15.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2006)
When video game enemy aliens surrender to twelve-year-old Johnny Maxwell and ask for safe conduct to their home world, Johnny takes up the challenge, and the alien fleet disappears off the screens of gamers around the globe. This quirky and timely knee-slapper, first in a trilogy published in Britain in 1992, is still fresh, engaging, and thought-provoking. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2005, HarperCollins, 208pp, 15.99, 16.89. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.

Carole Brewer (The Kutztown University Book Review, Spring 2006)
Set during the first Gulf War, this book tells the story of Johnny Maxwell, who loves to play computer games but is not very good at them. When he starts playing "Only You Can Save Mankind," strange things start happening. A fleet of aliens surrenders to him and he has to take care of them according to the rules of the Geneva Convention. Since I am not a big fan of computer games or fantasy books, this was a tough read for me, but it should prove popular with its intended audience. There is a lot of humor in this book. Children may be confused by the British terms, and if they are not familiar with the first Gulf War, that could be confusing as well. Category: Fantasy. 1992, HarperCollins, $16.89. Ages 10 to 14.