🌍 The Book That Saved the Earth – Summary (Class 10 English)
👤 Author Introduction – Claire Boiko
Claire Boiko was an American writer known for her humorous and imaginative plays for children. Her works often blend science fiction with social messages, highlighting the importance of intelligence, communication, and understanding. In “The Book That Saved the Earth”, she creatively imagines how a simple book of rhymes from Earth could save the planet from an alien invasion. The play uses humor and irony to show the power of knowledge and the importance of not underestimating simple things.
Image: Think-Tank and his crew planning to invade Earth
📖 Summary in English
The play “The Book That Saved the Earth” is set in the twenty-fifth century, where a historian is describing how a book once saved planet Earth from an alien invasion. The aliens come from the planet Mars, and their leader, Great Think-Tank, plans to invade Earth, which he calls a primitive and backward planet.
Think-Tank, who considers himself the most intelligent being in the universe, sends his assistants Captain Omega, Sergeant Oop, and Lieutenant Iota to gather information about Earth before attacking it. They land inside a library and are surrounded by books. Being aliens who have never seen books before, they mistake them for living beings or sandwiches.
Think-Tank orders them to communicate with these “creatures.” When they try, nothing happens. Then Iota suggests that perhaps Earthlings use the books as food, and Think-Tank agrees. He orders Oop to eat a page. Oop pretends to eat it and reports that the words on it have a strange taste, which makes Think-Tank believe that Earthlings consume knowledge through eating books.
Later, they find a book of rhymes — “Mother Goose”. When they read lines like “Hey Diddle Diddle, the Cat and the Fiddle,” and “The Cow jumped over the Moon,” Think-Tank misinterprets these as signs of Earth’s advanced space technology. He believes that Earthlings have trained animals for warfare — cows that can jump over moons and cats that play instruments as weapons.
Terrified by these “discoveries,” Think-Tank cancels his invasion plan and orders all Martians to leave Earth’s orbit immediately. He decides to flee to a faraway planet (Alpha Centauri) to avoid any possible counterattack from the Earthlings.
The historian then reveals that Think-Tank was later replaced by a more reasonable ruler who opened communication and trade between Earth and Mars. The “Mother Goose” book became famous and is remembered as the book that saved the Earth — a symbol of how intelligence and humor can overcome fear and misunderstanding.
Image: The “Mother Goose” rhyme book that saved Earth
📚 Summary in Hindi
“The Book That Saved the Earth” एक हास्यप्रद और कल्पनाशील नाटक है, जो 25वीं सदी में घटित होता है। एक इतिहासकार यह बताता है कि कैसे एक साधारण कविता की किताब ने पृथ्वी को मंगल ग्रह के हमले से बचा लिया।
मंगल ग्रह का नेता थिंक-टैंक खुद को ब्रह्मांड का सबसे बुद्धिमान प्राणी मानता था। वह पृथ्वी पर आक्रमण की योजना बनाता है और अपने सहायकों कैप्टन ओमेगा, लेफ्टिनेंट आयोटा, और सार्जेंट ऊप को जानकारी जुटाने के लिए भेजता है।
वे एक पुस्तकालय में उतरते हैं और वहां रखी किताबों को देखकर चकित रह जाते हैं। उन्हें लगता है कि ये कोई जीवित प्राणी हैं या फिर पृथ्वीवासी इन्हें भोजन के रूप में खाते हैं। थिंक-टैंक ऊप को एक पेज खाने का आदेश देता है। ऊप ऐसा करने का नाटक करता है और कहता है कि इसका स्वाद अजीब है। इससे थिंक-टैंक निष्कर्ष निकालता है कि पृथ्वीवासी किताबें खाकर ज्ञान प्राप्त करते हैं।
बाद में उन्हें “मदर गूस” नाम की कविता की किताब मिलती है। जब वे कविताएँ पढ़ते हैं जैसे “The Cow jumped over the Moon”, थिंक-टैंक को लगता है कि पृथ्वीवासी अत्याधुनिक तकनीक रखते हैं और उन्होंने जानवरों को अंतरिक्ष में भेजने का तरीका खोज लिया है।
डर के मारे थिंक-टैंक हमला रद्द कर देता है और मंगलवासियों को पृथ्वी से दूर रहने का आदेश देता है। बाद में उसका स्थान एक समझदार नेता लेता है, जो पृथ्वी से मैत्रीपूर्ण संबंध बनाता है। “मदर गूस” किताब को बाद में “The Book That Saved the Earth” के नाम से जाना जाने लगा।
📝 Key Points to Remember
- The story is set in the 25th century with a historian as the narrator.
- Think-Tank, the Martian leader, plans to invade Earth.
- His crew lands in a library and mistakes books for living beings or food.
- They read “Mother Goose,” misinterpret rhymes as dangerous technology.
- Fearing Earth’s power, Think-Tank cancels the invasion.
- The book becomes known as “The Book That Saved the Earth.”