Alien Stranded on Earth

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We’re seeking plausible stories, novels, films, and any other media that relate closely to the following problem:

A single alien is stranded on Earth. It seeks to avoid contact with our leaders and institutions by winning the trust of human children. Other than the movie “ET,” is there a story about that? (Ideally one with a different perspective than that famous film?)

Added challenge-alert

Steve Jackson answered:

“Needle” by Hal Clements.

  • Chocky by John Wyndham (although the entity isn’t necessarily stranded)
  • It by Stephen King (the being underlying Pennywise is ’empathic’ to children)
  • There was a 50’s-60’s B-film about a group of children on an Air Force(?) base who witness an alien landing. It was like a sentient rock. Twenty years before Close Encounters, this alien also had a memorable musical signature.

steve davidson answered:

not strictly children, but Fletcher Pratt’s Alien Planet features a stranded alien

Kathleen Bartholomee answered:

Dear Devil by Eric Frank Russel. The story is post-apocalyptic, and the feral children of the human survivors are its contact.

Talin answered:

The best example I can think of is A. A. Attanasio’s novel Arc of the Dream.

Peter Enyeart answered:

“Zero Hour” by Ray Bradbury, in The Illustrated Man. Aliens previously thwarted in invading Earth teach children how to let them in through games and promises of influence over their parents.

Frank LaPlante answered:

I immediately thought of the 1951 movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. Although it doesn’t start with no institutional contact, it does work with winning the trust of a human child.

Cade answered:

also not strictly children, though the main character is childlike in some respects: Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land

Mish answered:

Consider also “The Cat from Outer Space” – though it did not end with needing to gain the trust of children, but rather one military researcher.

Not winning the trust of children, but an alien avoiding official contact is the main theme od the 60’s TV show My Favorite Martian.

Another, with the trust of children is the Canadian 70’s movie The Christmas Martian.

Skizz by Alan Moore in 2000 AD had an alien contacting a teenage girl.

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