Juvenile: Bowl-Headed Aliens in the Night

[Fiberglass Cyborg]

I'm trying to figure out the title of a "juvenile" SF novel I read as a child, probably around 1990. It was set in a small human settlement on anoher planet, a place that felt more like a rural village than an exploration base. People avoid going out at night for fear of the monsters that live in the hills. Naturally, some children DO go out at night and end up face to face with the monsters.

The monsters are in fact intelligent, non-humanoid aliens - fantastically ugly, but basically harmless. Natives of the planet, the arrival of humans drove them into hiding. They have no way to talk to humans. I remember the illustrations and descriptions of the aliens vividly. They are light brown and very tall - more than twice the height of an adult human. Most of that height is a bundle of at least 4 stick-thin legs that go straight up. I'm not sure if they even have arms - certainly the illustrations didn't emphasise them. Their torsos are small and squat.

The head is flat and very wide and actually concave on top, shaped a bit like a soup bowl. IIRC the inside of the "bowl" is smooth and reflective, and this has some relevance to the plot. There's a wide and squashed-down face on the front of the head, dominated by two narrow eyes.

I remember this as a very atmospheric and thought-provoking book. At the age I read it, the idea that the ugly aliens weren't "baddies" was a novel one.

 

[Dave]

The head is flat and very wide and actually concave on top, shaped a bit like a soup bowl.

I have no idea about this story but I'd expect that this is so specific and unusual that someone must remember it.

 

[Danny McG]

I have no idea about this story but I'd expect that this is so specific and unusual that someone must remember it.

I'm wondering if the description is similar to an umbrella alien

Umbrella-like Aliens

This elusive short story I read in English, in anthology or collection, almost certainly before about 2002. It could easily be older than that. Possibly even classic or Golden Age. The plot bits I remember are a man staying at a remote rural hotel, vacation lodging, a rustic lodge, maybe a...

www.sffchronicles.com

 

[Ravensquawk]

A shortfiction, not a novel, and not at all "juvenile", but "The Women Men Don't See" by James Tiptree, Jr. published before her editors and fellow authors knew she was Alice Sheldon, is about dish-headed aliens who are students who mean no harm, lost one of their electronic devices, and are asking for help so they can leave Earth.

Their head is described as "black hollow dishes" on tripedal creatures. They either say, or use a speaker to say, "Pe-eeze he-ep" and "Stu-dens".

("Please help" and "students".)

Probably not a match, but a similar start. However, it is based on Earth. The aliens are stranded there until the women return the electronic instrument of theirs that they found.