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53rd out of 145 books
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100 voters
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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 Novels -
Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars
Slaves of Spiegel
The Last Guru
Young Adult Novel
The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death
Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars
Slaves of Spiegel
The Last Guru
Young Adult Novel
The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death
Paperback, 656 pages
Published
September 30th 1997
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
(first published January 1st 1997)
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At the time that Susan handed this to me at her library book sale, I was looking for children's books for Karin. This volume for young adults comprises 648 pages, most of which are quite entertaining, even to a grandmother. I must admit that I found Young Adult Novels, the last one, to be not up to the quality of the other four. Daniel Pinkwater has an active and fertile imagination to come up with these characters and plots. In this past year I have tried an number of different genres, gett...more
This would have gotten a 5 star rating from me back when I was 16-22. Now, it gets a 3 star.
Not because the book has changed, not at all, but because I have changed.
This is a series of unconnected novellas about young teens and teens, for teens. Some ya books can still keep an adults attention, this is not one of them. It isn't meant to. Pinkwater wrote for a specific group in mind, and nobody else. And he succeeds fantastically!
The humor, the plots, all appeal to a ya w...more
Not because the book has changed, not at all, but because I have changed.
This is a series of unconnected novellas about young teens and teens, for teens. Some ya books can still keep an adults attention, this is not one of them. It isn't meant to. Pinkwater wrote for a specific group in mind, and nobody else. And he succeeds fantastically!
The humor, the plots, all appeal to a ya w...more
It's uncommon for a Daniel Pinkwater fan to run into another fan by chance. We end up finding each other in unlikely situations, and having lived our lives feeling like we're the only ones to have had the good fortune to have these stories in our lives, we feel as though Pinkwater is writing the story of our meeting, and that we're reading our stories like the dreams he writes.
Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars is a great book about being young, smart and different. Think of giving it to any eccentric young adult you might know. Alan and his friend Leonard are smart, curious and goofy. Just like I want to be when I grow up. I re-read this over Christmas and will definitely read it again.
I almost wish I hadn't let this go in bookcrossing, but I'm not a hoarder, so it is gone. I don't remember it super well, but I know I read it aloud to my pre-teen son (not because he couldn't, but because it was a sharing experience) and I know we both loved it. I think our favorite was The Last Guru.
This book (or the novellas within) make me happy to be alive but a little sad I was not during the 70's/early eighties when these stories were written. When it was more "normal" for a pre-teen kid to ride a bus around the city by herself or wander into record stores and taco joints instead of being driven 'round strip malls in an SUV by one of her sheltering parental units. Daniel Pinkwater's protagonists are unrecognizably independent compared to today's over-protected kids. But his c...more
Had it been just Alan Mendelsohn, The Snarkout Boys (which I read in highschool and loved), and Young Adult Novel, this would have been five stars all the way. I hope I am remembering correctly that Snarkout Boys had a sequel.
"Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars" and "The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death" were both very entertaining stories. It took me longer to get into "The Last Guru" and "Young Adult Novel", but I liked both of those stories too. "Slaves of Spiegel seemed too one-dimensional but it was okay.
When I was younger, I probably thought Daniel Pinkwater was subversive because he wrote a story about a boy from Mars and the boy actually ended up being from Mars...now that I am older, I think Daniel Pinkwater is subversive because he writes about the tedium and complacency of the high school system, the simple pleasures found in watching movies and reading illict material you're not supposed to, and the joy in being an outcast. Still, since I only really enjoyed three out of the five novels, ...more
Contains one of the all-time best children's books ever written--Alan Mendelsohn. I tried to convince my friend in the film industry to adapt it for a movie. He didn't bite.
I loved these stories. This sequence of novels are a few of the starting blocks that I launched off of to really embrace reading. I read them countless times.
Cheryl
is currently reading it
Read these many years ago. Daniel Pinkwater (not to be confused with Daniel Pink!) has got to be the funniest writer. I am cracking up reading The Snarkout Boys.
These stories are so strange and funny. I read them a few years ago, and I still can't figure out what planet Daniel Pinkwater is from!
My kids and I read and re-read this book all the time. Same goes for the "4 Novels" book. Our copies of have become extremely dog-eared.
Doug
added it
I actually completely forgot about these stories until I came upon this in a used book store and it all came flooding back.
Alan Mendelsohn, Boy From Mars is one of my favorite stories of all time and has been for as long as I can remember.
5 of the best books ever. Buy this for Young Adult Novel, stick around for the other books.
This book was so great!! I love all the insane and original plots and his writing style!
i love daniel pinkwater. i want to live in his world.
these are just simply NOT to be missed. by grownups.
5 young adult books in one!
Alan Mendelsohn- 3.0~ seemed to take longer than it should have. Interesting and funny however.
Slaves of Spiegel- 3.5~ A story about a bizarre fast food competition. A hoot, but not amazing.
Snarkout Boys- 4.0~ already read this. Really great stuff.
Last Guru- 4.0~ Took it a bit, but turned out to be a great satire of fads and new age spirituality, which makes it dated, but still biting and funny.
Yound Adult Nov...more
Alan Mendelsohn- 3.0~ seemed to take longer than it should have. Interesting and funny however.
Slaves of Spiegel- 3.5~ A story about a bizarre fast food competition. A hoot, but not amazing.
Snarkout Boys- 4.0~ already read this. Really great stuff.
Last Guru- 4.0~ Took it a bit, but turned out to be a great satire of fads and new age spirituality, which makes it dated, but still biting and funny.
Yound Adult Nov...more
Daniel Pinkwater writes in short, clear sentences. He is very funny. His books are full of references to Alfred Jarry, the Beats, and his own childhood. You don't have to get these references to enjoy his books, so it's fun to read them when you're in junior high. When you reread his books as an adult, though, you realize that Daniel Pinkwater is one of your favorite writers. And you wonder how you ended up writing this in second person, which is kind of gross and is also something Daniel Pinkwa...more
Instant good mood
This was recommended by Cory Doctorow in this back of Little Brother, a book he wrote. He said it changed his life when he read it. It's kind of a junior high or high school book but Abe really enjoyed it at 8. I'm sure he'll get much more out of it as he gets older, if he reads it again.
Five very thoughtful and highly interesting stories in this collection.
Five very thoughtful and highly interesting stories in this collection.
I read the Snarkout Boys first, and though it took me a while to get in the swing, I did enjoy it. Then I started Alan Mendelson. I really enjoyed the first part, but then it just sagged and I couldn't bring myself to finish it. So my rating is actually mixed. I think these would all have greater appeal to tweens and young teen boys. I am too old, or else these are too long.
Slaves of Spiegel and The Last Guru didn't do much for me, but Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars, is a nice lark.
Young Adult Novel is a comic masterpiece for the ages, or at least for the ages of 12-18. In between attempts to revive Dada, its teenaged protagonists keep writing vignettes about Kevin Shapiro, Boy Orphan, a funnier forerunner to _South Park_'s Kenny.
Young Adult Novel is a comic masterpiece for the ages, or at least for the ages of 12-18. In between attempts to revive Dada, its teenaged protagonists keep writing vignettes about Kevin Shapiro, Boy Orphan, a funnier forerunner to _South Park_'s Kenny.
Slaves of Spiegel and The Last Guru do nothing for me, and Avocado of Death is not the best Snarkout book out there (that would be Baconburg Horror), but 5 Novels is more than worth it for Alan Mendelsohn and Young Adult Novel, two books I dearly wish I'd read as an actual teenager. For weirdos and outcasts of all ages.
alan mendelsohn was probably my favorite, but i also truly enjoyed young adult novel. really, it seemed like something i would have done in high school, except there would have been both boys and girls involved, and we would have probably not been quite as committed to the dada aspect of it. none the less, an enjoyable romp through memoryland.
I first read The Snarkout Boys and the Avacado of Death when I was in the fifth grade, for a book report. It changed my life. I read it again when I was 25 years old. It changed my life again.
Pinkwater gets the outsider like none other, and it would seem he hated school as much as I did.
I'm still try to up my successful snarks number.
Pinkwater gets the outsider like none other, and it would seem he hated school as much as I did.
I'm still try to up my successful snarks number.
I learned from these books that it's okay to be a little unorthodox with your imagination. Sometimes it produces great stories.
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Daniel Manus Pinkwater is an author of mostly children's books and is an occasional commentator on National Public Radio. He attended Bard College. Well-known books include Lizard Music, The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, Fat Men from Space, Borgel, and the picture book The Big Orange Splot. Pinkwater has also illustrated many of his books in the past, although for more recent works that ...more
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