Young carers discover an alien egg and an intergalactic doppelganger, in this award-winning series for 8-12 year olds.

In early 2024, Valley Press crowdfunded to support the relaunch of Rab Ferguson's The Late Crew, a book about a group of young carers investigating alien activity, and the launch of its brand new sequel, The Late Crew and the Copy Cat Creature. Both are completely engrossing chapter books, about 200 pages long, filled with surprising heroes, unlikely friendships, and fantastic illustrations by Valeriia Proskurina (as seen above and below).

The Late Crew was awarded Best Indie Young Reader 2023 at the UK's Children’s Literature Festival, but sadly its original small publisher was forced to close down just weeks earlier. Our target of £1,500 helped put both books back on shelves for the long term, and the extra funds went towards spreading the word further.

Tyler is 11 years old. He helps his mum with her chronic fatigue, and his autistic younger brother Levi with his daily routines. He's so busy helping others that sometimes he struggles to do things for himself – including getting to school on time! This leads to detention, where Tyler meets the rest of The Late Crew ... and an out-of-this-world visitor.

Levi is Tyler's younger brother. He's 9, and loves space more than anything else in the world. He finds loud sounds difficult sometimes, and has a pair of ear defenders with galaxies on them that he takes everywhere. Levi's knowledge of space comes in very handy ... especially when meeting someone who's from there!

Grace, Alisha, and Jayden are in Tyler's year at school. Grace always knows the answer in class, Alisha is the queen of sarcasm and quips (with a cat who will be important in the sequel), and Jayden is the tough one. It turns out they all have a similar reason for being late, and being in detention, as Tyler does. He's not the only one who has responsibilities at home – and in the Crew's first adventure, those responsibilities prepare them perfectly for a task they could never have expected ... taking care of an alien egg!

The Reviews

“Being neurodiverse myself, it was particularly wonderful to read a story that demonstrates not only the struggles we face, but – more importantly – the immense value we bring too.”
Hana Tooke, no. 1 bestselling author of The Unadoptables

“I thought it was charming! I loved the characters ... and I loved the idea of a group of children who understood what it is to be young carers, and how cleverly Rab has tied it to the story. I hope they have many more adventures!”
Alastair Chisholm, author of Orion Lost and Adam-2

“Spaceships at school, aliens in need, budding friendships put to the test ... Get ready for an out-of-this-world adventure with a ton of heart.”
Katharine Orton, author of Glassheart and Nevertell

“Blazing with star-filled brilliance. An alien adventure for our time. Tyler and Levi are both important characters. I loved the way their story was built and unfolded.”
Tim Tilley, author of Harklights

“An exciting new alien adventure with a neurodivergent twist.”
Dashe Roberts, author of Sticky Pines

Note from the Author

Young carers across the country loved the first book in its original edition, and told me that it “meant so much” to read a book which featured kids like them as the heroes. In fact, young carers loved it so much they:

• Arranged an alien conference in Worchester

• Read the entire book aloud on a single night camping in Tyne and Wear 

• Dressed up as the characters for World Book Day in York!

The books also proved popular in schools, where children created aliens in reaction to the story (including ice creatures, half-robots, and thousand-eyed heads). Reading the book in school led to greater awareness around young carers, and even to children sharing with teachers that they'd realised they were a carer, and hadn't known the word for it before. Autistic children also reacted well to Levi's character, with several instances of children proudly talking about their autism to other pupils after reading related sections of the book.