How I Stole Johnny Depp's Alien Girlfriend

by Gary Ghislain

Overview

David Gershwin's summer is about to take a turn for the weird. When his dad's new patient Zelda tells him shes from outer space and on a quest to take Johnny Depp back to her planet, he knows he should run away screaming. But with one look from her mean, green eyes, David's hooked, and soon he's leaping across rooftops, running from police, and stealing cars just to stay by her side. He might not be a typical hero, but David's going to get the girl even if it takes him to the ends of the earth—or beyond.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452108452
Publisher:	Chronicle Books LLC
Publication date:	05/27/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	567 KB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Gary Ghislain is a French-American author living in Antibes, France. This is his first novel.

Editorial Reviews

In this quirky, hyperkinetic debut, French author Ghislain combines action and absurdity to excellent effect. Fourteen-year-old David is used to his therapist father working with odd patients, but this one takes the cake. Zelda claims to be a warrior woman from the planet Vahalal, on Earth to find her chosen mate: Johnny Depp. With David as her much bewildered guide, she travels from David's village in Normandy to Paris, where she only has hours to succeed before her path home vanishes forever. With the aid of David's unpredictable kinda-stepsister, Malou, they try to track down Depp, running afoul of other Vahalalians, those who never made it home and will do anything to end their time on Earth by completing Zelda's mission ("Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Robert freaking Pattinson! I don't care. We will abduct every single Hollywood stud if it will bring us back to Vahalal"). With violent alien superwomen, the authorities, and his family in hot pursuit, David is having the weirdest time of his life. Short but sweet, this improbably entertaining adventure feels like a Daniel Pinkwater treatment for an early John Cusack film. Ages 12–up. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"With a decidedly European sensibility, this French import takes readers on a madcap, quirky adventure..." - School Library Journal

"With a decidedly European sensibility, this French import takes readers on a madcap, quirky adventure..." - School Library Journal

"With a decidedly European sensibility, this French import takes readers on a madcap, quirky adventure..." - School Library Journal

"[T]his improbably entertaining adventure feels like a Daniel Pinkwater treatment for an early John Cusack film" - Publishers Weekly

"[T]his improbably entertaining adventure feels like a Daniel Pinkwater treatment for an early John Cusack film" - Publishers Weekly

"[T]his improbably entertaining adventure feels like a Daniel Pinkwater treatment for an early John Cusack film" - Publishers Weekly

"This book should be in the hands of every teen male reader" - Shelf Awareness

"This book should be in the hands of every teen male reader" - Shelf Awareness

"This book should be in the hands of every teen male reader" - Shelf Awareness

From the Publisher

Gr 9 Up—With a decidedly European sensibility, this French import takes readers on a madcap, quirky adventure with nerdy 14-year-old David Gershwin, who quickly falls for Zelda, a hard-case patient in his father's therapy practice. Zelda appears to be suffering from the delusion that she is a warrior from the alien planet Vahalal and must meet with her "chosen one," Johnny Depp, in order to save her Amazonian race from extinction. Beautiful and feral, Zelda has an emotionally stiff manner and brash, violent behavior; even her wardrobe of designer bathing suits seems to come straight from 1930s sci-fi serials. David uses his life's savings to bribe his (sort of) stepsister, sophisticated urbanite Malou, into taking them on a boozy road trip to gate-crash a Parisian party where Depp is rumored to be going. What Zelda doesn't count on is developing feelings for David before she has a chance to meet up with her on-screen idol. The already-strange novel takes a turn toward the surreal at the end. An interesting debut, shorter and more accessible than Libba Bray's Going Bovine (Delacorte, 2009), this novel should appeal to mature YA readers looking for short, humorous, action-packed science fiction.—Madigan McGillicuddy, Atlanta-Fulton Public Library, GA

School Library Journal