Borgel [Library Binding]

Daniel Manus Pinkwater (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1990 | Age Level: 10 and up

Melvin Spellbound's humdrum life suddenly becomes extraordinary when 111-year-old Borgel arrives and takes him and the talking dog, Fafner, on a rollicking trip through Time, Space, and The Other in search of The Great Popsicle, Anthropoid Bloboforms and Grivnizoids!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Old Uncle Borgel, who has lived with the family ever since Melvin can remember, decides to leave one night and invites the boy to come along. Off they go in Borgel's 1937 Dorbzeldgestet sedan for a trip through time-space-and-the-other. First stop: outer space, where Melvin and Fafner, the family dog (who has acquired the gift of speech) are temporarily marooned at a root beer stand. Once reunited, the trio pick up seemingly benign Freddie, then, in their quest for the Great Popsicle, journey to the island where it is said to dwell. Disaster strikes when Freddie reveals himself as a fearsome Grivnizoid, but peace and love save the day. With its "cosmic consciousness" theme, absence of central female characters and repudiation of middle-class family life, this allegory reads more like a 1960s underground comic than a 1990 novel for middle readers. Also, Pinkwater's originality falters here: the root beer stand is lifted from his picture book Guys from Space and--carrying out the '60s-comics theme--Freddie is a dead ringer for R. Crumb's Mr. Natural. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8--Borgel is something of a junior Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Crown, 1980) . One day an old man with 32 black valises shows up on Melvin's doorstep, claiming to to be a relative from the "Old Country." He also says that he is 111 years old. His name is Borgel, and he takes Melvin and the family dog, Fafner, on a trip in his 1937 car into the far reaches of time and through space, which is like an elliptically shaped bagel with poppy seeds. There they meet an Anthropoid Bloboform who runs a cosmic root-beer stand and a Grivnizold who has disguised himself as a human. Their trip in time and space turns into a quest for the great Popsicle, which leads to a trip to the far side of Hell, approached, of course, from Good Intentions Boulevard. The zany tongue-in-cheek humor that typifies Pinkwater's books abounds here. Plot and characterization take a backseat to a strange and constant outpouring of comic occurrences. The improbable and the hilariously absurd occur on almost every page. Such nonstop nuttiness will not appeal to a wide audience, but fans of this particular brand of deadpan humor will delight in Pinkwater's latest offering. --Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NC
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Library Binding: 170 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum (May 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0027746712
• ISBN-13: 978-0027746716
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,326,788 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Daniel Pinkwater lives with his wife, the illustrator and novelist Jill Pinkwater, and several dogs and cats in a very old farmhouse in New York's Hudson River Valley.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Borgel and Fafner, November 9, 2004

By 

R. Chaffey "beckahi" (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Borgel (Library Binding)

I discovered the works of Daniel Pinkwater through one of my nieces, who happened to name her two cats after two characters from "Borgel." Daniel Pinkwater possesses a sheer, mad comic genius. He spins tales that are wildly funny and entertaining, and yet manages to squeeze in a lesson. (Even if that lesson is that animals are stupid or to never listen to what a fish says.)

"Borgel" tells the story of Melvin Spellbound and his uncle Borgel. Borgel is of no clear relation and shows up one day out of the blue. He stays in his room for weeks at a time and the family children may only enter through invitation, wearing a tie. One night Melvin is invited to Borgel's room and he believes that they are running away. They wind up on an adventure through space-time-and-the-other.

Pinkwater peppers his story with hilarity mixed with reality. Borgel and Melvin's space travels are delightfully funny and deepen our appreciation of the wide cast of characters, including Fafner the dog and Freddie the Grivnizoid, as they search space and Hell for the Great Popsicle. Throughout all his whimsy and witty words, Pinkwater truly makes us care about the characters and wraps up a story that may seem to have wandered so far that there would be no coming back. Just like what would happen in space travel, if the Dorbzeldge was to drift past the road barriers.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Borgel Experience, August 26, 2002

By 

"glassravi" (KY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Borgel (Library Binding)

Whenever I read any of Mr. Pinkwater's books I am amazed at the range and intelligience of this humorist.
"Borgel" has become one of my favorites. From the first chapter I was hooked. The arrival of Borgel ,a flaky, casual genius, to the home of Melvin and his family is like a spark to dry wood. The world that "Uncle Borgel" takes his "Nephew" is fantastic but oddly comparable to our own (though I don't believe you'll be able to get any french fried meteorites in your local McDonald's).
This story moves along with a series of events that keeps one's mind sparked and one's lips twitching with laughter.
Mr. Pinkwater's "Borgel" flows like melted popsicles.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars , Discovery, and the Pursuit of Enlightening Popsicles, June 3, 2002

By 

Alec (Charlottesville VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Borgel (Paperback)

Borgel is a classic example of Daniel Pinkwater's very imaginative, creative, and captivating writing style. A very good example of that indeed , I enjoyed it thoroughly. The basic story is as follows, a boy who lives in a relatively boring, normal family, one day is startled by a man at the front door claiming to be a relative of the family and in need of a place to stay. The family obliges and the man comes to live with them. The man (Borgel) takes the boy (Melvin Spellbound) on a long trip and they have many unexpected adventures. Good words to use when talking about this book would be unique, interesting, funny, fantastic, goofy, unexpected, ingenious, weird, and that's just to name a few. If you like hearing about new, interesting, people, places, and things, then this is a great book for you. They encounter all sorts of amazing and intriguing people and things. Everything from giant popsicle museums , to bloboforms who own root beer float stands. This book is less of a book than an experience, one must however, enter with an open mind, because without an open mind, one is doomed to monotony, which this reading experience does not provide. It instead provides a colorful, exciting, (as much as this may sound monotonous), imaginative new perspective of things. The physics of time will be revealed, the dimensions of space will be unveiled, the very reasons for life will be explained to you in this book. Someone who wants to learn about how to plant azaleas however, should read something else. I actually found this book rather refreshing, because instead of dealing with the corruption, indecency, and everything dragging our country down a moral sewer, or people going insane from war, or how hard it is to leave home and everything you love, this book shines as a golden ray of light in a mire of depressing, monotonous, dark books. Frankly, I was getting sick for a second of all those books they make you read in school about conspirators killing people and mothers killing their sons. I was ready for something new, and this was the book for me. I think it will be the for you as well.