- How the play is framed: a Historian of the twenty-fifth century looking back at 2040
- The seven characters, their ranks and their traits
- Every wrong guess the Martians make about books, in the right order
- The three nursery rhymes, who reads each one, and how Think-Tank misreads it
- How the invasion ends, and what the Historian tells us about later centuries
- Humour, irony, themes, glossary words and short answers to the book’s questions
1Getting Ready for the Play
1.1 The Headnote and the Playwright
The play is by Claire Boiko (her name is printed at the end of the play). The headnote asks a funny question: can Mother Goose, a well-known English book of nursery rhymes, save the Earth from an attack by Martians? It also tells us the play is set four centuries in the future.
Writing that makes fun of a person’s foolishness or pride to show it up. Think-Tank, who calls himself the cleverest being in the universe but gets everything wrong, is a figure of satire.
1.2 The Characters
| Character | Who he or she is |
|---|---|
| Historian | A woman who works in the Museum of Ancient History in the twenty-fifth century; she tells the story to the audience |
| Great and Mighty Think-Tank | Commander-in-Chief at Mars Space Control and “Ruler of Mars and her two moons”; he has a huge, egg-shaped head |
| Apprentice Noodle | Think-Tank’s assistant, who works the switchboard |
| Captain Omega | Leader of the space crew (Probe One) that lands on Earth; the book calls her “her” |
| Lieutenant Iota | Second in rank in the crew; also a woman (“her breakfast”) |
| Sergeant Oop | The junior-most member of the crew, who gets every unpleasant job |
| Offstage Voice | The voice that answers Think-Tank’s mirror |
Captain is above Lieutenant, and Lieutenant is above Sergeant. Each Martian passes an unpleasant order down to the one below. That is why poor Oop ends up doing the eating.
2The Plot at a Glance
The whole play is one long chain of wrong guesses. This figure shows how the Martians’ idea of a book keeps changing.
3The Play Scene by Scene
3.1 Scene 1: The Historian and the Era of the Book
The time is the twenty-fifth century. The place is the Museum of Ancient History: Department of the Twentieth Century, on the Planet Earth. The Historian sits at a table with a movie projector, bows to the audience and starts her talk.
- She says the twentieth century was often called the Era of the Book. There were books about everything, “from ant eaters to Zulus”.
- Books told people how, when, where and why to do things. In her playful list, books “illustrated, educated, punctuated, and even decorated”.
- The strangest thing a book ever did was to save the Earth. The Martian invasion of 2040 never really happened, because a single book stopped it.
- It was not an encyclopedia, a book about rockets or a secret file from space. To show what it was, she switches on her historiscope (her name for the projector).
3.2 Mars Space Control: Meet Think-Tank
The spotlight moves to Mars Space Control. Think-Tank sits on a raised box with arms folded. He has a huge, egg-shaped head and wears a long robe decorated with stars and circles. A sign tells visitors to “Bow low before entering”.
Signs of his vanity
- He scolds Noodle for leaving out part of his long salutation
- He asks his mirror who is the most gifted being in the land; the Offstage Voice answers “You, sir.”
- He smacks the mirror for answering slowly: “I hate a slow mirror.”
- He boasts of his “balloon brain” and calls Earthlings ugly, with “tiny heads”
His contempt for Earth
- He calls it “that ridiculous little planet”
- He cannot even remember its name; Noodle has to tell him
- He calls it a “primitive ball of mud”
- He wants to invade it “before lunch”
3.3 Scene 2: The Crew in the Library
Scene 2 begins a few seconds later. The crew of Probe One has landed safely in the Centerville Public Library. Omega fumbles with the card catalogue drawers, Iota counts books, and Oop shakes a book upside down. Omega talks to Mars through a disk hanging on a chain round her neck.
| Who | Guess about the place or the books |
|---|---|
| Captain Omega | Just “this square place”; she has no idea where they are |
| Lieutenant Iota | She has counted two thousand “peculiar items” and thinks the place is “some sort of storage barn” |
| Sergeant Oop | He has been to seven galaxies but never seen such things; he puts a book on his head and calls them hats, so the place may be a haberdashery |
| Think-Tank | Since Earth creatures are always eating, it must be a crude refreshment stand, and the item is a sandwich: two slices of bread with some filling between them |
3.4 The Sandwich Passes Down the Ranks
Think-Tank orders Omega to eat the “sandwich” to prove he is right. Omega quickly passes the honour to Iota, saying Iota has not had her breakfast. Iota, too, finds a polite excuse: she cannot be so rude as to eat before her Sergeant, so she orders Oop to eat it. Omega and Iota salute him with “For the glory of Mars, Oop!”
Oop bites a corner of the book, chews with terrible faces and coughs. Asked “Was it not delicious?”, he gives a comic reply: “That is correct, sir. It was not delicious.” He adds that the sandwiches are “dry as Martian dust”.
Each officer is too scared to refuse Think-Tank, so the order slides down to the lowest rank. Oop’s answer copies Think-Tank’s own words but turns them upside down, which lets him tell the truth without seeming to disagree.
3.5 Noodle’s Three Gentle Corrections
Noodle knows more than his master, but he never says so directly. Each time he calls his idea something small, and each time Think-Tank grabs it and pretends it was his own.
| Noodle’s humble words | His information | Think-Tank’s reply |
|---|---|---|
| “an insignificant bit of data” | In surveyor films, Earthlings did not eat these things; they used them as some sort of communication device | “Naturally. That was my next point.” They are communication sandwiches, and he orders the crew to listen to them |
| “a cloudy piece of information” | Earthlings did not listen to them; they opened them and watched them | They are for eye communication, not ear communication |
| a respectful question to “your Cleverness” | The chemical department gave the crew vitamins to increase their intelligence | “A thought of magnificent brilliance has come to me”, and he orders them to take the vitamins |
While listening, each crew member holds two books to the ears. Omega thinks they are on the wrong frequency, Iota thinks Earthlings have sharper ears, and Oop simply says the sandwiches may not make sounds. When Oop shouts “Not a thing!”, the others jump in fright.
3.6 The Code in Mother Goose
Think-Tank tells Omega to pick up a “large, colourful sandwich”. It is a big volume of Mother Goose. The crew see pictures of Earthlings and what Oop calls “little lines and squiggles and dots”, so Think-Tank decides it is a code and that Earthlings may not be so primitive after all. After the vitamins (Remove, Present, Swallow), the crew can read. Oop keeps laughing; Think-Tank keeps getting more frightened.
| Rhyme and reader | What the rhyme says | Think-Tank’s reading | His order |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mistress Mary, read by Omega | Mary’s garden grows cockle shells, silver bells and pretty maids | Earthlings combine agriculture and mining; they can grow rare metals such as silver, cockle shells and even high explosives | Tell the invasion fleet to hold |
| Hey diddle diddle, read by Iota | A cat plays the fiddle, the cow jumps over the moon, the little dog laughs, the dish runs away with the spoon | Earthlings have taught their animals musical culture and space techniques; even their dogs have a sense of humour; millions of cows may be launched against Mars | “No invasion today” |
| Humpty Dumpty, read by Oop | Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, had a great fall, and could not be put together again; Oop shows the picture | The egg-shaped Humpty looks like him. Earthlings have seen him and plan to capture Mars Central Control: “It’s an invasion of Mars!” | Escape and evacuate Mars |
The book’s glossary meaning: a tendency to treat serious matters without respect; lack of seriousness. Think-Tank uses the word when Oop laughs at the first rhyme: “This is no time for levity.”
3.7 The Great Escape
- Think-Tank screams and holds his head. He asks Noodle to prepare a space capsule for him.
- The crew must leave Earth at once and remove every sign of their visit, because “The Earthlings must not know that I know.” They rush to put the books back on the shelves.
- He orders the invasion fleet to evacuate the entire planet of Mars. They are heading for Alpha Centauri, which he says is a hundred million miles away.
3.8 The Historian’s Ending
The Historian returns, chuckling. One dusty old book of nursery rhymes saved the world. In the twenty-fifth century, five hundred years later, Earthlings made contact with Mars again and the two peoples became very friendly. By then Think-Tank had been replaced as ruler by “the wise and wonderful Noodle”. Earthlings taught the Martians the difference between sandwiches and books, taught them to read, and set up a model library in their capital, Marsopolis. Yet there is one book no Martian can bring himself to read: Mother Goose.
4The Characters
4.1 Character Sketches
Think-Tank
Vain, proud and bossy. He wants praise all the time, hates being questioned (“Think-Tank is never wrong”) and looks down on Earth. He is foolish too: he jumps to wild conclusions, steals Noodle’s ideas, and finally runs away from a children’s rhyme. His rush to escape shows that he is a coward under his boasting.
Noodle
Humble, polite and truly intelligent. He corrects his master without hurting his pride, by calling his facts trifling. In the end his good sense is rewarded: he becomes the “wise and wonderful” ruler of Mars.
Omega, Iota and Oop
Obedient soldiers who follow every order, however silly. Omega and Iota are clever at passing on unpleasant tasks. Oop is plain-spoken and honest: he says what he really thinks, laughs at the rhymes and suffers the bite of the “sandwich”.
4.2 Think-Tank and Noodle Compared
Think-Tank
- Big head, small sense
- Talks loudly, jumps to conclusions
- Needs flattery and titles
- Ends by fleeing to Alpha Centauri
Noodle
- Real knowledge, low voice
- Remembers what the surveyor films showed
- Gives credit to his master
- Ends as the ruler of Mars
5Humour, Irony and Themes
5.1 Where the Humour Comes From
- Misunderstanding: books are taken for hats, sandwiches and “communication sandwiches”, and children’s rhymes for military secrets.
- Slapstick: Oop biting a book and coughing, the crew holding books to their ears, the drill of swallowing vitamins.
- Wordplay: “It was not delicious”; Think-Tank’s long salutation; Noodle’s titles “your Intelligence”, “your Brilliance”, “your Cleverness”.
- Fairy-tale echo: Think-Tank’s “Mirror, mirror, in my hand” copies the wicked queen’s mirror in the Snow White story (general knowledge).
A gap between what is expected and what actually happens. The “most intelligent creature in the whole universe” cannot tell a book from a sandwich, and the mighty Martian fleet is defeated by a book of nursery rhymes.
5.2 Themes
The power of books
The title says it: a book saved the Earth. Even a simple rhyme book can change history, and the play ends with Martians being taught to read.
Pride before a fall
Think-Tank’s arrogance makes him misread everything; like Humpty Dumpty, he has a great fall and loses his position to Noodle.
Knowledge with humility
Noodle’s quiet wisdom wins in the end. Real intelligence listens and checks facts; it does not boast.
Peace through understanding
Fear came from ignorance. Once Martians learn to read, the two planets become friends.
5.3 Key Lines with Speaker
| Speaker | Line | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Historian | “The twentieth century was often called the Era of the Book.” | Sets up the theme of books |
| Think-Tank | “I hate a slow mirror.” | His vanity and impatience |
| Oop | “Maybe they’re hats.” | The crew’s total ignorance of books |
| Think-Tank | “Elementary, my dear Omega.” | False confidence before a wrong guess |
| Oop | “They’re dry as Martian dust.” | Comic honesty after biting the book |
| All | “Great and Mighty Think-Tank is never wrong.” | Blind obedience, and the irony of the play |
| Think-Tank | “Do you have marbles in your ears?” | His rudeness to his own crew |
| Think-Tank | “This is no time for levity.” | He treats a rhyme as a serious threat |
| Think-Tank | “The Earthlings must not know that I know.” | His panic and fear |
6Answers to the Book’s Questions
6.1 Read and Find Out
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| Why was the twentieth century called the ‘Era of the Book’? | Books were written on every subject, and people turned to them to learn how, when, where and why to do anything. |
| Who tried to invade the earth in the twenty-first century? | The Martians, led from Mars Space Control by Think-Tank, planned to invade Earth in 2040. |
| What guesses are made by Think-Tank about the books? | First that the library is a refreshment stand and a book is a sandwich; then a “communication sandwich” to be listened to; then a thing for eye communication; finally that Mother Goose holds a secret code. |
6.2 Think about it
- Q1 (How does Noodle correct Think-Tank without offending him?) He flatters his master with grand titles, calls his own knowledge small or “cloudy”, and lets Think-Tank take the idea as his own. The error is fixed but Think-Tank’s pride is safe.
- Q2 (In Noodle’s place?) Open answer. A good reply: stay respectful, give the fact with its source (the surveyor films), and suggest rather than contradict.
- Q3 (Are books being replaced by electronic media?) Open answer. Screens are now used a lot for reading, but books are still needed: they need no power, rest the eyes and are easy to keep and re-read.
- Q4 (Books as a man’s best companion; your favourite book) Books are always there for us, teach and amuse without asking anything back. Write your own paragraph on a book you like: its name, writer, story and why you like it.
6.3 Talk about it
- Q1 (How are the rhymes misread?) Silver bells and cockle shells in a garden become proof of farming metals and explosives; a cow over the moon and a laughing dog become animals taught musical culture and space techniques, so that he fears an attack of millions of cows; the fall of the egg-shaped Humpty becomes a plan to capture Think-Tank. The second half of the question asks for your own experience.
- Q2 (Do the aliens really speak English?) Probably not. Most likely they speak English in the play only so that the audience can follow; their real language would be some Martian tongue we can only imagine.
7Words to Know
| Word | Meaning (from the book’s glossary) |
|---|---|
| easel | a wooden stand that holds up a board or a picture |
| Zulus | an African ethnic group of South Africa |
| apprentice | a learner of a trade who works for a fixed time in return for being taught |
| peevishly | in an irritated way |
| riffling | turning over a book’s pages quickly |
| barn | a covered building where hay is stored |
| haberdashery | a shop selling clothes, small dress items, pins, thread and the like |
| squiggles | scrawls; marks that cannot be read |
| decipher | work out the meaning of something puzzling |
| transcribe | write out in full from short-hand |
| levity | lack of seriousness |
- Claire Boiko; play set four centuries ahead; frame told by a woman Historian in the twenty-fifth century
- Twentieth century = Era of the Book; Martian invasion of 2040 stopped by one book
- Think-Tank: egg-shaped head, salutation, mirror, balloon brain, “ridiculous little planet”
- Crew of Probe One in the Centerville Public Library: Omega, Iota, Oop
- Guesses: storage barn (Iota), hats and haberdashery (Oop), refreshment stand and sandwich (Think-Tank)
- Sandwich passed Omega to Iota to Oop; “It was not delicious”; “dry as Martian dust”
- Noodle: communication device, opened and watched, vitamins
- Mistress Mary (Omega): metals and explosives, fleet holds
- Hey diddle diddle (Iota): trained animals, millions of cows, no invasion today
- Humpty Dumpty (Oop): looks like Think-Tank, invasion of Mars feared, evacuate to Alpha Centauri
- Five hundred years later: friendship, Noodle rules, library in Marsopolis, Mother Goose never read
- Can I name all seven characters with their ranks?
- Can I list the Martians’ guesses about books in order, with who made each?
- Can I explain how Noodle corrects Think-Tank three times?
- Can I match each rhyme to its reader and to Think-Tank’s reading of it?
- Can I explain the irony of the title and of Think-Tank’s fall?
- Can I say what the Historian tells us about Mars five hundred years later?