How I stole Johnny Depp's alien girlfriend by Gary Ghislain

Chronicle, 2011. ISBN 9780811874601.
(Age 12+) Recommended. David meets Zelda when she becomes a patient of his father, a renowned psychiatrist, looking after troubled youth. Zelda, who believes she comes from the planet Vahalal, is on a quest for the perfect mate and the picture she shows David is one of Johnny Depp. David, immediately smitten by her green eyes and mean ways, follows her on a frantic chase to find Johnny, jumping across the rooftops of Paris, stealing his mother's clothes and going to a weird shrine which would take then to Vahalal, if the tattoo key is used.
This is an absolute scream of a book. I was hooked from the moment I started reading it and laughed my way through the smart dialogue and action packed adventure. Ghislain takes a hilarious look at male celebrities with such comments as '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'. He also makes some very funny observations about how girls get hooked by celebrity looks and the impact of designer clothes and furnishing of the wealthy. David's mother is a very high powered woman whose designer clothes, in particular, a little bikini, proves too much of a temptation for Zelda the warrior woman. David trails behind her, trying to pick up the pieces at his mother's beautifully appointed apartment, and finally enlists the aid of his stepsister Malou in their quest to track down the elusive Johnny Depp.
David is no pushover. Zelda may come from a planet where men are not valued at all but David is smitten and is determined to get the girl and he takes the reader on a wonderful romp while he tries to figure out how he can do that. There are over the top ideas and action in this book, but it so amusing, fast paced and engrossing that I was happy to accept even the most improbable things and just enjoy the ride. I also loved the setting, first in the countryside of France and then in the wonderful city of Paris.
I think that it would make an excellent suggestion for reluctant readers, who are after something fairly short and easy to access, while eager readers who are after something different and amusing will really enjoy it.
Pat Pledger