Greetings From Planet Earth Summary

How much pain can a secret meant to protect cause? This is a question Theo is given in Greetings From Planet Earth by Barbara Kerley. His teacher has given him a project that makes Theo ask question who we are as “human beings” and “what makes us human.” The project is based off the golden record that was aboard the Voyager 2. As he searches for this answer, he starts to learn more about his father. His father went to serve in Vietnam and didn’t return home. He uncovers secrets that have been long hidden by his mother, and questions why his mother would hide a secret this big. He searches hard to find an answer to all of these unanswered questions. Some secrets do more harm when they are not told.
Summary
Theo’s family do not talk about his father much. His father, Vince, did not return home after serving in Vietnam. A few days after Theo’s twelfth birthday, his grandmother decides to tell Theo about his father, how he loved to work on machines and was smart like Theo. As Theo learns more about his father, he is determined to find answers. In his mother's room, he finds a stack of letters sent to him and his sister Janet. He learns that his father did return to the states

One of them was Kenny, Theo’s best friend. Theo tried to compare himself with Kenny. Kenny had a father and all was well in his family. Tgeo came to be jealous of this and even started ignoring Kenny. Kenny represents what Theo wanted but could not have. Another symbol was the complicated model spacecraft’s launchpad. There were many pieces and poorly illustrated instructions. The narrator says, “Theo felt overwhelmed.The instructions were confusing, poorly written with multiple steps” (Kerley, 165). This is a symbol of all the secrets and mysteries that Theo didn’t know about. The secrets covered up what was actually happening causing Theo to be overwhelmed when his mother actually told him. Finally, the last symbol is the wood pieces filled with