Hollywood vs. the Galaxy (Alien Superstar #3) , livre ebook

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115 pages

English

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Another hilarious, action-packed intergalactic adventure in the New York Times bestselling series by superstar authors Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver Buddy's out-of-this-world adventures continue! Since Citizen Cruel failed to capture Buddy, the Supreme Leader is left with no other choice: he must go to Earth himself to make sure Buddy is returned to his home planet for the ultimate punishment. While an unsuspecting Buddy is acting on his Hollywood sitcom, the Supreme Leader's powers of mind control weave a delicate web to entrap him. Will Buddy be caught? Will he succumb to these menacing powers? Will the Earthlings ever find out who Buddy Burger truly is? These are the questions that will keep readers turning pages until the end of this action-packed, side-splitting comedy adventure in the New York Times bestselling middle-grade series.

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Publié par	ABRAMS BOOKS
Date de parution	05 octobre 2021
Nombre de lectures	1
EAN13	9781647004255
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	3 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0674€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Praise for
A Hollywood adventure that s truly out of this world! Alien Superstar has it all . . . action, suspense, and big laughs! -Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver keep us laughing while slipping in a lesson for kids-accept everyone as they are, even if they have suction cups for feet . . . A super fun read. -Jennifer Garner
Out of this world . . . will resonate with any kid who has felt like an outsider. - Booklist
A funny interstellar adventure that will have readers watching the cosmos for the second book to arrive. - School Library Journal

For Indya, Ace, Lulu, Jules, August, and the new grandbaby who s on the way. You bring us joy, and I wish you peace on Earth. And to Stacey, always. -H.W.
For Noa Lenore Baker, my beloved granddaughter. As you would say, Here ya go! With love from your Noni. -L.O.
PUBLISHER S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for and may be obtained from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-4197-4684-0
eISBN 978-1-64700-425-5
Text copyright 2021 Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver
Illustrations copyright 2021 Ethan Nicolle
Book design by Deena Fleming
Published in 2021 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.
Amulet Books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification. For details, contact specialsales@abramsbooks.com or the address below.
Amulet Books is a registered trademark of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
ABRAMS The Art of Books 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007 abramsbooks.com
PROLOGUE
Hey there, everyone. I didn t see you at first, but I m glad you re there. It s me, Buddy Cheese Burger, but you can hold the cheese and just call me Buddy Burger. It s been a while since we ve hung out together. I m still here on Earth, still starring in a television show called Oddball Academy , still eating twelve to fifteen avocados a day, and still having some problems with my biological alteration. Which, by the way, I m in the middle of now so give me a minute to see if I can get this under control.
I arrived at the studio this morning in my human form as Zane Tracy, and before I can go to rehearsal, I have to become my full alien self, since I play an alien on the show. My left side cooperated perfectly, but my right side is refusing to transform. What I am right now is half human, half alien. This is not a pretty sight, so I m going to ask you to close your eyes. Oh, wait a minute, if you close your eyes, you won t be able to read.
Okay, here s the new plan. You stay where you are with your eyes open, and I ll just step behind the page until my transformation is complete.
Here I go. Can you see me?
If you could, you d see that my right hand is really putting up a fight and my five human fingers are not wanting to become my seven spiny alien fingers. I can t blame them, because the human ones are much more attractive with their trimmed nails and fleshy knuckles. And my right knee is being even more stubborn. I am going to ground it if it doesn t hurry up and follow the rules. I have been trying to transform it for the last ten minutes and it simply refuses to be become alien. That s because the knees on my planet don t get much attention, but here on Earth, you humans give your knees a lot of respect. You have knobby knees, chapped knees, sprained knees, dirty knees, scraped knees. There are even creams for knees and special knee bandages. I can t blame my human knee for not wanting to give up all that attention and become just another ignored part of an ordinary alien leg.
Anyway, I m going to have to concentrate if I want to make this biological alternation happen, so if you ll excuse me, I ve got to get down to business. I ll be back with you in Chapter 3.
See you then.
1
Bright purple blood oozed from Citizen Cruel s fingers, all fourteen of them, and dripped into slippery puddles on the floor in front of her. Three weeks of trying to claw her way out of the cramped concrete cage that held her prisoner had taken its toll on her body. She hadn t slept during that time. Nights were spent trying to free herself. During the day, she submitted to the poking and prodding of the team of scientists studying her, lying there in a limp heap, pretending to be dead.
Alien specimen number 34, she heard the humans in their white lab coats say. Appears to be female. Seven feet three inches tall. Weighs 340 pounds. Suction cups on her feet. Cobalt-blue skin, purple blood, six rotating eyes.
Those would sure come in handy for driving, one of the male scientists chuckled. You wouldn t need a rearview mirror.
Or a side mirror, for that matter, a female one chimed in.
Then they all laughed their snorty, condescending laughs.
She smells like a three-day-old fish, a third scientist with long black hair and a long nose said, as she took a skin sample with a pair of tweezers.
She should talk! Citizen Cruel thought. She smells worse than a pile of dead dung beetle bodies on my planet.
She certainly is one ugly alien, that s for sure, the male scientist said.
Their remarks made Citizen Cruel furious. What did they know of beauty, these ridiculous humans? She was, in her own humble opinion, one of the most beautiful examples of an a supremely fit alien from her red dwarf planet. Why else would she have been chosen by the Supreme Leader himself for the dangerous mission to come to Earth and capture Citizen Short Nose, the runaway child who had fled their planet?
At night, when the scientists had finished with their examinations and gone home to eat their nutritionally empty pizza pies with their little human families, Citizen Cruel would work on her escape plan. She had vowed to herself that no humans, even the ones at the hidden-away Center for Alien Studies, could keep her captive. She would set herself free.
When she was moved from the examining table into her concrete prison box each evening, she would scratch at the same spot on her cage wall with her long, pointed fingernails. She dug into the thick concrete until her fingertips bled purple, boring an ever-deepening hole that she hoped would be just big enough to slip one of her spiny fingers through. It was lucky that her fingernails grew at the rate of eight inches a day, so each night, she had a new set of sharp nails to pursue her labor. She was hoping to see a ray of light that would tell her she had broken through the concrete wall. Then she would pick the lock and release the heavy metal chain that kept the lid above her tightly sealed.
One particular night, exactly eighteen days after she had been brought to the Center for Alien Studies, Citizen Cruel had a breakthrough. Literally. She could feel the concrete in front of her give way, and small chunks begin to crumble. Despite the pain in her fingers, she pressed on, ignoring the purple blood that dripped from her hands. She dug faster, more urgently, like an injured animal clawing its way out of a trap. This was no time to give in to pain. This was the time to push forward until . . .
YES!
THERE IT WAS!
A thin beam of light streamed into the darkness of her cramped cement cage.
With her heart beating fast, Citizen Cruel slipped her finger through the hole. She groped around blindly until her fingernail finally struck the metal lock that was holding the heavy chain in place. Carefully, slowly, she inserted her fingernail into the lock and turned. Nothing. She pushed harder until she felt her nail start to splinter. She stopped suddenly, terrified that the nail would break off completely and jam the lock.
Stay calm , she thought to herself, taking a deep breath and filling her three lungs. The Supreme Leader is counting on you.
Proceeding with microscopic precision, she wiggled her nail ever so slightly . . . to the left and to the right . . . until she heard a click. It was the click of freedom.
Her six eyes spun with excitement, rotating around her head like they were on a speedway. Pushing herself onto her knees, her powerful back began to raise the lid above her. As she strained to stand up, she could feel the heavy chains loosen until at last they slid down the concrete walls like a ribbon coming off a present. When she heard the thunk of the metal links landing on the linoleum floor, she knew she had achieved her goal. She gathered her strength, rose to her full height, and raised her fists to the ceiling.
Citizen Cruel is back, she said to no one but herself. These humans will not contain me!
Quickly, she searched the room and found her possessions laid out on the examining table. She strapped her holographic watch onto her wrist, pulled her spacesuit on over her head, and grabbed a length of metal chain that she could use as a weapon in case she met with human resistance.
Citizen Cruel pushed open the door and peered into the hall. It was the middle of the night, and the long, white hall was empty except for a sleeping guard slumped at a desk in front a door that said DO NOT ENTER: BIOHAZARD AREA . Holding her breath, Citizen Cruel crept silently by him. The suction cups on her feet made a popping sound as they lifted off the linoleum tiles, and the noise startled the guard awake. When he laid eyes on her, he reached for his walkie-talkie and opened his mouth to shout.
Oh no you don t, she growled at him. I have something else in mind for