Character Analysis
She might be just an eleven-year-old, snot nosed kid, but you don't want to mess with Gratuity Tucci. No, really: This is one smart, resourceful, and determined girl. Which is a good thing since aliens have invaded earth and her mom's nowhere to be found.
Kid Knows Best
Pro tip: Don't call Gratuity a "child." She tells us exactly how she feels about that:
I'm not a big fan of the word "child." I don't know any kid who likes it. But somehow we all grow up to be adults who say it all the time. It's an insult when they use it to describe another adult, but they still turn around and use it to describe us. Like we're not going to notice. Mostly adults only talk about "children" when they're trying to make us seem precious and defenseless anyway. (3.306)
Tip flat out hates when people condescend to her by using the word child to describe her, and in her defense, she's already driving and surviving on her own, so she clearly doesn't really need to listen to what anybody else has to say. Plus, she helps save the planet and knows way more than most of the adults around her—combined.
Even before the intergalactic chaos begins, though, Gratuity's mom seems to need a little help sometimes. From the tiny glimpse we get of their relationship, we can tell that Tip's the one who's more responsible in this mother-daughter duo—heck, her mom didn't even realize what her name meant when she named her.
Maturity aside, Gratuity's still just a kid. Did you notice how she has a hard time backing off or figuring out when she needs to take a break and have a power nap? Like it or not, there's still a lot that Tip doesn't know about the world. The book shows us how independent and intelligent a kid can be, but it also hints that sometimes—even superhero kids—need a shoulder to lean on and a helping hand. Hey, that's okay. We all need support from time to time.
Saves the Day
Overtiredness aside, Tip does save the planet from a group of super-destructive aliens fighting off another species of aliens, so we'll put that in the "win" column. What we love about Tip is that she doesn't listen to the naysayers. Everyone wants to blindly trust the Gorg and believes what they say, but she knows better—so instead of backing down when Daniel Landry tells her it'll all be okay, she takes matters into her own hands.
Perhaps even cooler than her confidence, though, is that Gratuity saves the world… with a cat. We're pretty sure that the only thing more awesome than saving the world is doing so with your pet and alien sidekick. As amazing as this feat is, though, Tip feels reluctant to lap up the praise. She confides in us:
I saved the world. I saved the whole human race. For the rest of my life, even if I live to be a hundred and ten, I will never again do anything as fantastic and important as what I did when I was eleven. I could win an Oscar and fix the ozone layer. I could cure all known diseases and I'll still feel like my Uncle Roy, who used to be a star quarterback but now just sells hot tubs. I'm going to have to figure out how to live with this, and I sure don't need everyone I meet bringing it up all the time. (3.1576)
Okay. So we thought it was pretty insightful to realize that the Gorgs are allergic to cats and then clone Pig to drive them away, but this bit right here really takes the cake. Tip may only be eleven, but she understands the world well enough to not only recognize the depressing reality of her uncle's life, but to map this same reality onto her own. And she has a point: After you literally save the world, what else can possible compare? We're not saying we think she regrets it or anything like that, just that Tip appreciates the impact on her own lived experience.
It's too bad the book doesn't give us more about what happens to her after all this world-saving business goes down. She tells us she's afraid she won't do anything better than saving the world, but we can't know for sure because the book ends after that. Still, there's no harm in imagining what Tip gets up to after we lose touch with her. We bet you've got some of your own ideas about whether she keeps seeking adventure or settles down and acts more like a "regular" adult.
Boov Friend Forever
The only thing we are sure about is Gratuity's new BFF, J.Lo. Even though she hated his guts at first (mainly because he was a Boov), she learns to love him over the course of the novel. Without him, Tip wouldn't have the teleclone or the knowledge to save the earth, after all, plus he's always fixing things for her. While we don't know the specifics, we do know that J.Lo stays on earth, and with Tip and her family to boot:
Mom and J.Lo and Pig and Lincoln and I moved back home, but then we moved again. (3.1570)
As for what happens next, well, we have no clue. The newspaper clipping from one hundred years later claims that Tip has a Boov around, though, and we're willing to bet that Boov is J.Lo. After saving the world together and successfully building an inter-species friendship, we're hard-pressed to think of anything—except death—that could tear these two apart.
Gratuity's Timeline