What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

It was a collection of about 7 - 8 sci-fi short stories geared towards younger readers that I read in the early 80's or so, and I can't remember the name of the book, but do recall some of the details of the stories it contained (not titles though)

One story was about a lady that lived alone tending her plants and her home got broken into and she was robbed (killed too?) and one of the plants attacked and killed the robbers.

Another was about a new kid to school that everyone thought was strange and it turned out he was an alien that would go "home" to a UFO. (Discovered when kids followed him one night)

The story I remember the most was about a police officer in a desert town saw huge ships "float" towards the town as he was in the desert, he heard a loud hum and saw beam of light from the ship and when he got back in town everyone and everything was gone and in their place were prehistoric humanoids . The story ended with a future scientist being puzzled uncovering a gun from the site of where the town was in what was assumed to be far in the future after humanity was reset.

The cover of the book had a picture of the Earth in the middle with a target over it like it was in the scope of a gun. There was also a green cartoon-like alien with tentacles wrapped around the earth. I believe some text was on there such as "is anyone up there". It could have been a book from the scholastic book club for late elementary school aged readers

We're Coming for You, Jonathan?

Cover doesn't match, but the summary mentions killer plants.

That's not it, but the closest I've gotten. I'll cross reference the name of the plant short story to see if that might be the same as the one in the book I'm looking for. Thanks for your reply.

Do you think the stories were all by the same author or different authors?

Rainbowheart wrote: "Do you think the stories were all by the same author or different authors?"

I'm pretty certain they were all different authors but can't be 100% certain.

Peter Davison's Book of Alien Monsters is kinda similar in terms of the cover, but I doubt it's your book.

Rainbowheart wrote: "Peter Davison's Book of Alien Monsters is kinda similar in terms of the cover, but I doubt it's your book."

Thanks, but that isn't it either. This is driving me nuts. I can still picture the cover in my mind but just not the title or authors of any of the short stories. Maybe I need to go for a hypnosis session and draw it out. lol.

I've tried cover searches as well and found a few similar, but not quite right.

The closest cover I have found is this: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
The difference being the book I am looking for had a green alien "hugging" the earth and the Earth/target graphic was was about twice the size and it was a bit more cartoonish looking since it was for younger readers.

Thanks again

For reference, I linked to the cover of the book you mentioned.

Did the book seem like it was geared more towards teenagers or preteens?

Rainbowheart wrote: "

For reference, I linked to the cover of the book you mentioned.

Did the book seem like it was geared more towards teenagers or preteens?"
I'd have to say it was geared towards more of a late pre-teen audience. 10 - 13 age range would be about right.

Thanks for linking that cover. That is still the most similar cover that I have been able to find with the main elements (Earth and the aiming reticle)

After posting this query all over the place, someone was able to identify the book over on scifi.stackexchange.com

The book is "The Aliens Are Here!" by D.J. Arneson and Tony Tallarico.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...

Great! Glad you found your book, Pete. Thanks for the update.

Awesome news, glad you found it!