9780241759974 by Smakprov Media AB

SOME FRIENDS ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD!

AND THE LAST CITY ON EARTH

‘An actionpacked page-turner with heart!’

DAVauthorPILKEY, of DOG MAN

BY JUDD WINICK

HERE’S WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT !

“Fast paced, FURIOUSLY FUNNY, and will have kids waiting on the edge of their seats for more.”

Jeffrey Brown, JEDI ACADEMY

“Hilo is a robot but nobody can know. I think this book is GREAT for kids my age.”

—Ben R., age 9, New York

“Hilo is delightful, SILLY, tender, and most importantly: FUNNY.”

—Jeff Smith, author of the BONE series

★ “ UNIVERSALLY APPEALING . . . A wholeheartedly WEIRD and WONDERFUL tale of friendship, acceptance, and robots.”

Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ “A MUST-HAVE .” School Library Journal, starred review

“Hilo is robotically AWESOME!”

—Charlie B., age 8, Armonk, N.Y.

“GINA IS SO AWESOME. She’s not afraid of anything and really cares about her friend! Mom, can I have my book back?!”

—Kyla G., age 10, Providence

“A PERFECT BOOK for any kid who ever needed a friend and then had one with superpowers fall from space.” —Seth Meyers, actor and comedian

“Hilo offers as much GENUINE PLEASURE TO READ as any book being produced today.”

—Comicswaitingroom.com

“My favorite part is when Hilo travels through galaxies. If I had to describe it in three words, I’d say it’s ‘SUCH A BLAST!’ D.J. is my favorite because he’s a really good friend!”

—Matt A., age 10, Bloomfield, N.J.

“GINA WAS MY FAVORITE character because she’s into science and soccer like me! I also liked D.J.’s family because it looks like mine!”

—Kiran M., age 7, Carlsbad, Calif.

“ HIGH ENERGY and HILARIOUS!”

—Gene Luen Yang, winner of the Printz Award

“My students are obsessed with this series. OBSESSED!”

—Colby Sharp, teacher, blogger, and co-founder of the Nerdy Book Club

“I love the Hilo books. Thank you so much! I really, REALLY LOVE the Hilo books.”

—Angel O., age 10, Brooklyn

“Hilo is really cool and funny. It’s FUNNY that he likes mangoes. You should read it because it’s actually just REALLY FUNNY!”

—Gerard A., age 8, Bloomfield, N.J.

“FANTASTIC . EVERY SINGLE THING ABOUT THIS . . . IS TERRIFIC.”

—Boingboing.net

“Anyone who loves to laugh should read Hilo. It is ACTION-PACKED with a robotic touch.”

—Breslin S., age 10, Jackson, Mich.

“Hilo is loads of SLAPSTICK FUN!”

—Dan Santat, winner of the Caldecott Medal

HILO #1 THE BOY WHO CRASHED TO EARTH

HILO #2 SAVING THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD

HILO #3 THE GREAT BIG BOOM

HILO #4 WAKING THE MONSTERS

HILO #5 THEN EVERYTHING WENT WRONG

HILO #6 ALL THE PIECES FIT

HILO #7 GINA: THE GIRL WHO BROKE THE WORLD

HILO #8 GINA AND THE BIG SECRET

HILO #9 GINA AND THE LAST CITY ON EARTH READ ALL THE BOOKS!

AND THE LAST CITY ON EARTH

JUDD WINICK

COLOR BY MAARTA LAIHO

With thanks to Shasta Clinch, for her thoughtful feedback, insights, and perspective

PUFFIN BOOKS

Puffin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.

www.penguin.co.uk www.puffin.co.uk www.ladybird.co.uk

First published in the USA by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, 2023

First published in Great Britain by Puffin Books, 2025 001

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Penguin Random House values and supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes freedom of expression and supports a vibrant culture. Thank you for purchasing an authorized edition of this book and for respecting intellectual property laws by not reproducing, scanning or distributing any part of it by any means without permission. You are supporting authors and enabling Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for everyone. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems. In accordance with Article 4(3) of the DSM Directive 2019/790, Penguin Random House expressly reserves this work from the text and data mining exception.

Book design by Bob Bianchini and Juliet Goodman Printed and bound in China

The authorized representative in the EEA is Penguin Random House Ireland, Morrison Chambers, 32 Nassau Street, Dublin D02 YH68

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978–0–241–75997–4

All correspondence to:

Puffin Books, Penguin Random House Children’s One Embassy Gardens, 8 Viaduct Gardens, London SW11 7BW

this doesn’t loOk okay.

it wilL be.

I promise.

1 CHAPTER

REGINA LEE COOPER

my name is regina leE coOper.

but everyone calLs me gina.

my name is regina leE coOper. but everyone calLs me regGie.

and my life is magical.

I found magic because of my friends.

there’s d.j., my oldest friend. polLy, who comes from another planet. (that’s where I learned to do magic for the first time.)

what’s that?

hazZah!!

step up, knucklebutTs. and polLy’s brother, pip. and hilo and izZy. they were robots from another world. and they are amazing.

an elephant that sneEzes string cheEse.

but not too long ago, hilo became human. do feEt always smelL this bad? they do if you don’t wash them. then I shalL wash them! goOd man.

but we lost izZy.

to be honest, with her gone, nothing has felt the same.

we misS her so much.

after izZy, things got… well… complicated.

these magical creatures calLed the nestor went back in time through a portal and changed the history of the world.

now in this new history, the earth has beEn ruled by magic for thousands of years.

and it’s kind of my fault.

I don’t know why I found magic. but the first time it hapPened, I was six. are you okay? you can seE me? yes.

can anyone else seE me?

hey! can any of you seE this?

seE what?

nope. after that, I started seEing magical folks now and again.

most times other magical folks would show up and take them away.

sometimes quietly.

you. out of the poOl. let’s go. sometimes not.

I never understoOd why I was the only one who could seE them…

then I got in the habit of helping out here and there.

yeah, yeah. move it. you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.

but I got the feEling that magical creatures weren’t supPosed to be on earth.

and I did that for a long time.

years later, long after I was already a grandmother, there was an explosion at a factory. it caused a cave-in under the building.

I just got the feEling I had to go help.

I got the trapPed workers out…

but the cave-in opened a magic portal. I walked right through… and wound up here.

that was when I was asked to be the lock.

as the lock, my job is to stop alL magic from coming to earth.

whoa. whoa? why “whoa”? it’s something you say. I mean, “whoa,” like “amazing”!

oh. in my day, “whoa” was what you said to stop a horse. what’s amazing is alL that you’ve beEn through. magic. giant monster robots. saving the world.

and you lost your friend.

that is so much weight to carRy.

and you too, d.j. and lisa. your family’s beEn misSing since this world went sideways. I am so sorRy.

thank you. can you help get them back? absolutely.