See You in the Cosmos - Jack Cheng

Alex is 11 years old, but at least 13 in responsibility years. Inspired by his hero Carl Sagan, he has a plan to tell aliens everything about life on Earth and records all his thoughts for them on a golden iPod. He is going to launch it into space on the rocket he has built and travels from Colorado to New Mexico to attend SHARF, the Southwest High-Altitude Rocket Festival where he plans to enter his rocket into one of the competitions.

As the story progresses, Alex's real situation is uncovered gradually, through his entries on the ipod. His mother's quiet days, his brother Ronnie who works in Los Angeles and his father who died when he was very young. Alex is so open, honest and innocent, while being super smart and in many ways much more mature than his age.

As he tells the story you can read the childlike wonder in everything he sees and hears. It's a very touching story that makes you feel everything Alex goes through. I loved this book, even though it is written from the point of view of an 11 year old boy, it is not childish at all.

I read most of this book on holiday in Sardinia where we drank lots of Mirto, the locally produced liqueur. Along with plenty of prosecco of course. So I thought I should combine the two somehow. I decided to try out a Mirto Bellini and the liqueur works extremely well with the prosecco. Just pour a little Mirto into a flute and top up with prosecco. It's easy enough to adjust to taste, depending on how sweet you want the drink.