Customer Reviews

5 Novels: Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars, Slaves of Spiegel, the Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, the Last Guru, Young Adult Novel

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There is a whole subculture of young people such as myself who met D. Manus Pinkwater at a tender young age and are hopelessly corrupt because of it. I mean that in a good way, I think. Here's a seven-year-old kid in the late 70's reading the Hardy Boys and suchlike, then he reads this thing about lizards and chickens and force-fields and, most importantly, a kid whose parents go on vacation and leave him alone and he's able to Stay Up As Late As He Wants! Or aliens who look like fat guys and come to the earth to eat junk food. Or any other order and permutation of wackiness. Pinkwater is a genius. I suspect that he himself is an alien, sent to perform the opposite task as the pod-implanting creatures. He has been sent to wake us up from our pod-like existences. I love Pinkwater. My friend Max introduced me to him in second grade, and twenty years later I remain Blatzed.

When i picked this book up I was about nine I started reading it. it is really somthing you have to read, alen mendelsohn the Boy from mars is my favorite story you can't explain how good it is you have to read it. if you liked harry potter you will love it if you didn't you'll still love it.daniel pinkwater is a genius when it comes to writing .i just don't know how he does it but he really is good at it and he's got to keep up the good work if he is going to keep us going it should be a sin not to read this EXCELLENT book. i wish i could explain how good it is but you'll have to read it to find out don't hesitate just do it it is the longest book i ever read it is the best book i ever read as well.

I loved Pinkwater when I was eleven and I love him at least as much now. He treats his readers with respect, rather than talking down to them, and he is one of the funniest writers I've ever read, for any audience. His characters are some of the best in fiction, and his ideas are far-fetched enough to make anyone wonder a little about the fine line between brilliance and insanity. Having five novels in one volume was almost more excitement than I could handle. A warning to kids: you may want to keep two copies of this one around, because you'll never pry this book out of the hands of the adults around you. A warning to adults: once children are introduced to Pinkwater, there are reading flashlights to be confiscated in the middle of the night. One last note: Pinkwater has written for all ages, from some wonderful picture books to at least one book of essays for us grown-up folk who have loved him on NPR. Try them all.

Since I first read The Big Orange Splot I have been a Pinkwater fan. Although a lot of his best stuff is out of print, and Chinwag Theatre is not widely available on public radio, Pinkwater hunting is worth the effort. This collection helps remind us all that "normal" actually ends up being very strange, and the stranger, the more interesting. This is a great book to get into the hands of boys who need affirmation that they are just fine the way they are.

Alan Mendelson is the best book ever. It is a triumph for those of us who didn't fit in when we were young. Truly mind-blowing in its creativity (it's about two eight grade boys, mind control, and motorcycle riding aliens), funny and inspiring. And I do mean it, I still think it's the best book ever.

I first read Mr. Pinkwater's wonderful comedy when an excerpt of Hoboken Fish and Chicago Whistle appeared in Funny Times magazine. I laughed through the whole thing, and then showed it to everyone I know. Those who didn't laugh I dropped like hot potatoes!

Protagonists are most often intelligent junior high-ish boys who don't quite fit in at school and have rather odd relatives (though sympathetic females and adults also make appearances). And while these books may be just the magic to get your pre-adolescent son reading, don't make the mistake of thinking these books are limited to that demographic. The author is creative, inventive, outrageous, charming and sweet, and anyone who appreciates outrageous invention and smart-alecky humor will love the work of this very talented author.

I can't wait to read more books by Mr. Pinkwater, and am very happy to see his books are being reissued.

I liked 5 novels because I thought it was very funny. Some of the stories were science-fiction. I especially liked Slaves of Spiegel. It is about fat people who live on a planet far from here who are feared by the world. I also liked Alen Mendelsohn the boy from Mars. These are the only good stories in the book for kids, the rest were not too good, maybe the third one but that was hard to follow.

Now in my late 20s, I can look back at my early teens with some nostalgia. I have blocked most of the "horrible" memories and smile when I think of my favorite author at the time, Daniel M. Pinkwater. When you are too old for Judy Blume and too young for Kafka, Pinkwater's novels make a connection with young awkward teens! Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars, was my favorite of all his novels. A MUST read!

What makes reading Pinkwater's books such a rare treat is the details---you really never know what you'll read next---what bizarre movie will be showing at the neighborhood theater, what odd TV show will be on late at night, what weird teacher you will meet at the new school---it's so unusual to find truly imaginative and surprising reading like this. And unlike so many books that give lip service to diversity, it really exists in these books----it's not wrong here to be overweight, to live in the city and like it, to find school truly useless. Every book included here is great.

I hadn't heard of Daniel Pinkwater until I got this colelction from my aunt, so I reluctantly began reading "Alan Mendelsohn". The five books are:

"Alan Mendelsohn: The Boy From Mars": Loner meets friend, loner and friend use mind control, loner and friend go to "lost continent". The best of the best, it combines humor with the not-so-supernatural but not grounded in reality. That's what's the best with all of Pinkwater's books. Most of them aren't fantasy, so technically, they can happen. You COULD have something called "Green Death Chili". "Alan Mendolsohn": 9/10

"Slaves of Spiegel": I read about one page of it and I couldn't read any more, it was just plain horrible. Sorry, but I could not bear to read any more. "Slaves": 1/10

"The Snarkout Boys and the Avocodo of Death": Yet again, loner meets friend. Loner and friend sneak out to movies. Loner and friend meet another friend. Then they go looking for someone's Uncle. Not the greatest, not the worst. It seems too muddled, but I still award "Snarkout" a 7/10

"The Last Guru": 12 year old Harold Blatz becomes a millionaire. That usual story. Another one of those "fiction/supernatural" books: 7/10

"Young Adult Novel": A weird group at school decides to exult one student as being superior. Funny yet weird, I enjoyed this one a lot. 8/10