The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror [Audio Cassette]

Daniel Manus Pinkwater (Author)

Book Description

A mystery about lycanthropy, a master criminal, a great detective and various other creatures of the night. 2 cassettes.

Editorial Reviews

From AudioFile

To "snark" is to sneak out when your parents are asleep and go to the Snark Theater or another Baconburg night spot. Whimsical music immediately draws the listener into this tale, in which all adults are weird or incompetent and the teenagers save the town. Pinkwater's strong writing skills carry his breathy narration. He employs little vocal inflection and supplies nothing to distinguish the individual characters, but his words paint a vivid picture of the town and its denizens. His speech is rapid, adding a sense of urgency as his plot unfolds. Originally written in 1984, some references are dated, but this offering will still hold strong appeal, especially for middle-school boys with a taste for the bizarre. B.L.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Dove Entertainment Inc (July 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787102490
• ISBN-13: 978-0787102494
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,677,903 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

4.0 out of 5 stars When snarking and werewolves were in flower, December 24, 2003

By 

hrladyship (Las Cruces, NM United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror (Audio Cassette)

Snarking: sneaking out when your parents are asleep, esp. to go to the theater and see the latest (or oldest) movie. Master snarkers Winston, Walter, and Rat have the technique down pat and somewhat uneventful until one night when Rat decides she wants to go to the Dharma Buns Coffee House. That night begins an adventure replete with werewolves, poets, borgelnuskies, the Napoleon of crime, and other assorted good guys and bad guys.

The town of Baconburg has never seen such a hodgepodge of people and adventures. At least not since "The Snarkout Boys & the Avocado of Death." But as long as they don't run out of Indian fruit bats, everything and everyone should turn out okay.

First published in 1984, the story doesn't seem out of date for young people born in the past few years. But to adults, parents, even young senior adults, some references bring a sense of nostalgia: Drive in movies, shopping malls. Although this is not the first in the series, the story stands alone quite well -- it actually makes one want to find the rest and read/listen to them, too. The action is swift, the characters interesting, and the plot complicated in a witty, twisted sort of way.

Pinkwater takes the reader from the familiar to the bizarre to the impossible in just a short ride. He's created a weird alternate reality that is fun for readers of all ages. In his narration he rushes headlong from beginning to end, leaving the listener breathless and tickling your fancy.

5.0 out of 5 stars Borgelnuskies, werewolves and fire! Oh my!, November 24, 2003

By 

the_smoking_quill (South Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror (Library Binding)

When I was in fifth grade, I thought this was the funniest and most entertaining book in the world. Twenty years later, despite high school, college and law school, my opinion of it is just as high. This is a wild, wacky, cult-classic that kids, young adults and even parents can read, enjoy and re-read over and over.

The sequel to _The Snarkout Boys & the Avocado of Death_, the book features the return of snarkers Walter, Winston and Rat, as well as Uncle Flipping; Osgood Sigerson and Dr. Sacker; the Mighty Gorilla; and that rascally Napoleon of Crime, Wallace Nussbaum. Just as the young snarkers discover the Dharma Buns Coffee House and a rising Transylvanian poet, the city of Baconburg begins to be terrorized nightly by something dark and fast and ... furry? A werewolf?! Quick, grab your stuffed Indian fruit bat and defend yourself!

Just as in _Avocado_, Pinkwater writes simply and clearly, deftly weaving the different plot-threads into a (literally) blazing finale. Quite simply, this is a great, often gut-busting, blissfully zany ride. (I only wish he'd write another one!) I ordered a copy off the internet, read it twice, and am donating it to my local library so that kids can enjoy it just as much as I did, back 'in the day'. Praise St. Barbara of Blint, five burning stars!

5.0 out of 5 stars Whoop! Wow! The Devil Gonna Get Us!!, June 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror (Library Binding)

When I read this book in my early nubile childhood , I thought it was just a pretty darn funny piece o' work. Now that I'm a wee bit older and wiser I look back on Snarkout with a sort of awe, respecting it for the sheer genious and underground artistry. Werewolves, crazy speeches, donuts, hotdogs, cult movies, bitter rejects and terrible poets. Every man woman and child should experience belly lauaghter. It deserves to be the first cult classic childrens book.