Alien Superstar is funny, whip smart and a book ages 9 and up will love

You might’ve seen the press tour for Alien Superstar. I was skeptical of the book because my bias against celebrity authors. The jaded side of my personality sometimes thinks that the quality of the book will be less and that the author is simply coasting by on their fame in another profession. Alien Superstar is written by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver and is a hoot of a book. It’s one that our fourth grade student read in three nights and could not put down. Curious about the book that he couldn’t stop raving on I picked it up and can attest to his impression.

Alien Superstar is a very fast paced book that is incredibly entertaining and fun to read. I’m much older than the target audience and really enjoyed it. I was going to be earlier than usual just so that I could read Alien Superstar and was bummed out when it ended. For the record, the target audience for Alien Superstar is 8-12, but even those older readers will find themselves enjoying Buddy Burger  and his happenings.

Buddy Burger is a real alien. The book starts out with his engaged in a chase from his home planet. He and his grandmother have gone through the plan about escaping to Earth many times. They’ve watched lots of movies, know the basics about culture and have advanced alien technology that will provide them disguises should they ever make it there.

His spaceship kicks it into overdrive and he’s able to leave them behind, unfortunately he crash lands on Earth. Thankfully, he crashes on a Hollywood back lot where alien spaceships and six-eyed creatures with tentacle feet could be accepted. He quickly meets Luis, a character actor who works at the studios. They’re both in costume when they meet, but his and his alien appearance, ie what they think is a costume is so detailed and realistic that he lands an audition for a television show.

Some quick thinking leads him to give himself the human moniker of Buddy Burger. He also realizes that he can’t be in ‘costume’ all of the time. Thankfully he and his grandmother had worked out a cloaking mechanism that allows others to see him in a more human form. Due to the fact that they used to watch lots of 1950s science-fiction his chosen human form is Zane Tracy a ridiculously handsome teen actor. This fact allows him to receive even more favorable attention which makes him a more valuable cast member.

Each chapter in Alien Superstar is about nine pages long and is at a level that grades three and up should be able to read it. The biggest and most immediate takeaway from Alien Superstar is how quickly the book establishes the characters and how much fun it is to read. Older readers will recognize the fish out of water story, but it’s the subtle details, obvious puns and humor in the book that really make it work.

It’s hard not to read the book and not think of it as high quality television show. There are a dozen or so drawings in the book that help drive home how Buddy looks and the difficulty that he has physically fitting in. Ages 9 and up will love this book and want to share it with their friends. They’ll also hope that Winkler and Oliver are already working on the second book in the series.