How I Stole Johnny Depp’s Alien Girlfriend by Gary Ghislain

 ….Speaking of Pirates of the Caribbean leads us naturally to Johnny Depp which leads us to How I Stole Johnny Depp’s Alien Girlfriend. The cover looks like you are in for a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy kind of ride. Don’t be fooled. 99% of the action happens here on Earth. The Traveler has come here looking for her chosen one. Zelda is a Traveler from Vahalal. A beautiful Amazonian type woman who kicks butt clad only in skimpy bikinis, Zelda doesn’t swim because all the bodies of water on her planet would boil flesh. Zelda has never tasted ice cream. She has Space Splashed here seeking her chosen one, who coincidentally appears to be Johnny Depp. Her body is covered not with beautiful tribal tattoos but as she explains them “biological markings that show who I am and what I’ve done.” She will know her chosen one when she samples his DNA through kissing. Just wait until you find out how she transfers the key to Vahalal him.

14 year old David Gershwin’s dad is a famous psychologist working in a farmhouse outside of Paris. His newest patient is violent, determined, hot and handcuffed to furniture in his office when David meets her. David can’t help but be fascinated by her. Everything about her: from her green eyes to her Amazonian build to her deadly aim with anything passing as a weapon intrigue him. In his quest to continue to be around her, even after he is sent away to live with his cold, distant, fashionable divorce attorney mother, David gets sucked into Zelda’s quest to find her chosen one. The whole time David desperately wished to be her chosen one, even though it is impossible. Their madcap adventure will involve a visit to a juvenile detention center, attack by dogs, a road trip through France, a burning gas station, gustative biochemistry, and an audience in an abandoned school that now serves as home and headquarters to the other failed Travelers (who now live on earth some for hundreds of years) and Valks (pledged to help the Travelers and having forsaken children in the service of Zook and fighting).

How I Stole Johnny Depp's Alien Girlfriend is a wild, kooky ride that will encourage you to laugh out loud. What more could you expect from a book called How I Stole Johnny Depp’s Alien Girlfriend?   

I am the Messenger by Mark Zusak

Since I mentioned it yesterday, I should explain I Am the Messenger. The Reading Rock Stars and Bookaneers will not be surprised when I say this is one of my favorite books – ever.

I am the Messenger is the story of Ed Kennedy. Ed is 20; drives a cab; fights with his mother.  She cusses him out regularly while pursuing her life’s work: convincing Ed that he has no future and his life is worthless. Oh, and Ed is in love with his beautiful, yet romantically unattainable, best friend Audrey. Ed’s life is run of the mill average until he foils the bank robbery and becomes briefly famous.

In the collapsed robbery’s wake, Ed begins getting playing cards. The first playing card has four addresses and four times. As Ed visits each address, he discovers situations he feels compelled to do something about. Later, there are more cards, late night visits from men in masks who assault him. Ed embarks on what can best be described as a hero’s journey that changes him.

I am the Messenger is by turns, funny, heart pounding, and bittersweet. It is full of characters that will endear themselves to you including Ed’s dog: the Doorman. It is a story about friends and how well we really know them. It is a book about amazing opportunities that present themselves unexpectedly in life and how they change us. It is a book not to be missed. You will never see the end coming – ever. Read it. Read it. Read it. 

Paper Towns by John Green

Paper Towns plays out over the last six weeks of Q’s senior year. His friends are preoccupied with Prom and Graduation. Q’s focus is Margo Roth Spiegelman. Neighbors for most of their lives, Q and Margo have never really been friends. They orbit in entirely different social circles at school. His best friends are in the band. She is the queen of the social scene. One night Margo appears at Q’s window and invites him along on an all-night prank spree. They day after their adventure, Margo disappears. Where is she? Is she dead? Can Q follow the clues to find her? Should he? What’s more important: what to wear under his graduation gown or finding Margo? Fans of Mark Zusak’s I am the Messenger will find much to love here. Paper Towns presents a great mix of laugh out loud funny with moments of contemplation. How well do we really know the people who are our friends? Do we let people see the real us or only a mask of what we want them to think of us? What happens when you encounter cows on the middle of the highway during a 24 hour all night road trip to New York state powered on enthusiasm, caffeine, and beef jerky?