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Weird Planet #2
Lost in Las Vegas
Ploo, Lek, and Klatu have escaped from Area 51 and hit the road in a stolen station wagon. Where are they headed? Las Vegas, of course! After all Vegas has everything—slot machines, drive-through wedding chapels, Elvis impersonators. It’s sure to have someone who can fix their slightly beat-up spaceship!
- GenresChildrens
96 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2006
4 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Dan Greenburg
162 books75 followersDAN GREENBURG BIO
BOOKS:
Dan's 73 books have been published in 24 countries.
His adult best-sellers include EXES, LOVE KILLS, HOW TO BE A JEWISH MOTHER, HOW TO MAKE YOURSELF MISERABLE, and HOW TO AVOID LOVE AND MARRIAGE. How to be a Jewish Mother sold several million copies. It and How to Make Yourself Miserable were in print for 30 years and were on Publishers Weekly’s list of all-time bestsellers.
Amazon will publish Dan’s third psychological thriller, FEAR ITSELF, in January 2014. They’ll also republish his first two thrillers, EXES and LOVE KILLS.
He’s written four series of children's books: THE ZACK FILES, SECRETS OF DRIPPING FANG, WEIRD PLANET, and MAXIMUM BOY. The Zack Files sold more than 2 million copies, was translated into 20 languages, and generated an Emmy-winning 52-episode TV series that ran on Showtime and Fox Family.
ADVENTURES:
Dan has written extensively about his adventures:
Riding with NYPD homicide detectives for two years to research thrillers FEAR ITSELF, EXES, and LOVE KILLS.
Interviewing murderers alone in their maximum security prison cells for FEAR ITSELF.
Attending autopsies in the NYC morgue for EXES.
Learning how to discipline tigers and lions on a Texas tiger ranch.
Swimming with 80,000 lb. humpback whales in the deep ocean.
Flying upside down with a stunt pilot in an open-cockpit biplane.
Participating in dangerous voodoo rites in Haiti.
Riding with NYC firemen for four months and following them into burning buildings.
Searching for the Loch Ness Monster.
Assisting exorcists in a Connecticut house attacked by poltergeists.
Acting a major character role in a Western movie filmed in Spain.
Doing stand-up comedy at the New York Improv, and on TV talk shows.
Getting screamed at by Orson Welles on the set of Catch-22 in Mexico.
MAGAZINES:
Dan’s articles have appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, New York Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, The Huffington Post, Time, Life, Newsweek, Ms., Playboy, and have been reprinted in 44 humor anthologies in the U.S. and England.
MOVIES AND TV:
Dan has had six of his feature films produced, two of which are on Variety’s list of top grossing films.
THEATER:
Along with Jules Feiffer, John Lennon and Samuel Beckett, Dan was a contributor to Oh! Calcutta!, which ran on Broadway for 21 years. He was also a contributor to Free to be You and Me, which ran off and on Broadway for years.
MISC.:
Dan has appeared on The Today Show, The Tonight Show, Larry King Live, and Late Night with David Letterman. He grew up in Chicago, got his BFA from the University of Illinois, and his MFA from UCLA. He lives in Westchester, NY and British Columbia with his author wife Judith Greenburg and many cats.
dan@dangreenburg.com
BOOKS:
Dan's 73 books have been published in 24 countries.
His adult best-sellers include EXES, LOVE KILLS, HOW TO BE A JEWISH MOTHER, HOW TO MAKE YOURSELF MISERABLE, and HOW TO AVOID LOVE AND MARRIAGE. How to be a Jewish Mother sold several million copies. It and How to Make Yourself Miserable were in print for 30 years and were on Publishers Weekly’s list of all-time bestsellers.
Amazon will publish Dan’s third psychological thriller, FEAR ITSELF, in January 2014. They’ll also republish his first two thrillers, EXES and LOVE KILLS.
He’s written four series of children's books: THE ZACK FILES, SECRETS OF DRIPPING FANG, WEIRD PLANET, and MAXIMUM BOY. The Zack Files sold more than 2 million copies, was translated into 20 languages, and generated an Emmy-winning 52-episode TV series that ran on Showtime and Fox Family.
ADVENTURES:
Dan has written extensively about his adventures:
Riding with NYPD homicide detectives for two years to research thrillers FEAR ITSELF, EXES, and LOVE KILLS.
Interviewing murderers alone in their maximum security prison cells for FEAR ITSELF.
Attending autopsies in the NYC morgue for EXES.
Learning how to discipline tigers and lions on a Texas tiger ranch.
Swimming with 80,000 lb. humpback whales in the deep ocean.
Flying upside down with a stunt pilot in an open-cockpit biplane.
Participating in dangerous voodoo rites in Haiti.
Riding with NYC firemen for four months and following them into burning buildings.
Searching for the Loch Ness Monster.
Assisting exorcists in a Connecticut house attacked by poltergeists.
Acting a major character role in a Western movie filmed in Spain.
Doing stand-up comedy at the New York Improv, and on TV talk shows.
Getting screamed at by Orson Welles on the set of Catch-22 in Mexico.
MAGAZINES:
Dan’s articles have appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, New York Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, The Huffington Post, Time, Life, Newsweek, Ms., Playboy, and have been reprinted in 44 humor anthologies in the U.S. and England.
MOVIES AND TV:
Dan has had six of his feature films produced, two of which are on Variety’s list of top grossing films.
THEATER:
Along with Jules Feiffer, John Lennon and Samuel Beckett, Dan was a contributor to Oh! Calcutta!, which ran on Broadway for 21 years. He was also a contributor to Free to be You and Me, which ran off and on Broadway for years.
MISC.:
Dan has appeared on The Today Show, The Tonight Show, Larry King Live, and Late Night with David Letterman. He grew up in Chicago, got his BFA from the University of Illinois, and his MFA from UCLA. He lives in Westchester, NY and British Columbia with his author wife Judith Greenburg and many cats.
dan@dangreenburg.com
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 6, 2012
this is a good book. its so funny. three aliens crash land in to planet earth and find jojo in las vagas.
May 22, 2019
After crash-landing on Earth in the first Weird Planet book (Dude Where’s My Spaceship), aliens Klatu, Lek, and Ploo leave Area 51 and make their way to Las Vegas in order to find someone to fix their spacecraft. Along the way, they try their hand at “gum-balling” (gambling) and find themselves in a heap of trouble when they climb into a cage with a hungry tiger and can’t seem to morph into an animal shape. How will three misplaced aliens ever find their way home?
Not having read the first book in the series, I was a bit lost as to what had already happened. And Lost in Las Vegas ends rather abruptly in preparation for the third book. I didn’t really feel this book told much of a story at all—unless you count a great deal of information about gambling. As a parent, I don’t think step-by-step instructions on how to play roulette or slot machines is appropriate for children, even at the upper end of the recommended age spectrum. Lost in Las Vegas makes gambling seem fun and exciting, not a value I want my children reading about or becoming interested in.
My seven-year-old advanced reader read the first chapter with no problems. The reading level is appropriate for the age spectrum, but I can’t really endorse this book. Maybe the first and additional books in the series focus more on the alien trio and less on inappropriate things. Parents could read the book aloud to their children or couch the gambling sections with a big lesson, but personally I didn’t let my son read past the first chapter. The writing is good and filled with humor, the illustrations are delightful, so it would be worth checking out the other books in the series and skipping this one.
Not having read the first book in the series, I was a bit lost as to what had already happened. And Lost in Las Vegas ends rather abruptly in preparation for the third book. I didn’t really feel this book told much of a story at all—unless you count a great deal of information about gambling. As a parent, I don’t think step-by-step instructions on how to play roulette or slot machines is appropriate for children, even at the upper end of the recommended age spectrum. Lost in Las Vegas makes gambling seem fun and exciting, not a value I want my children reading about or becoming interested in.
My seven-year-old advanced reader read the first chapter with no problems. The reading level is appropriate for the age spectrum, but I can’t really endorse this book. Maybe the first and additional books in the series focus more on the alien trio and less on inappropriate things. Parents could read the book aloud to their children or couch the gambling sections with a big lesson, but personally I didn’t let my son read past the first chapter. The writing is good and filled with humor, the illustrations are delightful, so it would be worth checking out the other books in the series and skipping this one.
April 9, 2008
A cute book in the Weird Planet series by Dan Greenburg. Like the others, this one had vocabulary that the children couldn't relate to. But it did get me tickled a couple of times.
July 8, 2016
My son and I really enjoy the weirdplanet series. Very FUN read!!!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews