Myles's review
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
by Daniel Manus Pinkwater
I've not heard Chinwag Theater, but I do hear his stuff on NPR occasionally.
I chose this Pinkwater book because it contains "The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death."
Snarkout is very dear to me. My mother got me a copy when I was 11 or so, in the hopes that I woudl read more. I started to eat the thing up, but, regrettably, lost the book before I ever had a chancce to finish it. Because I was 11 or so, I didn't have the werewithall to hunt down another copy, so it remained an incomplete masterpiece in my mind.
Then, at age 23 or so, my then-girlfriend, after having heard this story, was able to track down a copy of it on cassette for me (read by Pinkwater himself). I expected it to be a bit silly and childish, but, surprisingly, it held up even stronger than I remember.
"The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death," the one about the 14-year-olds who made a sport of sneaking out of the house to see late-night movies, was not only odd and funny, but contained that giddy rush one gets when they discover Night Life for the first time; when you reach a certain age, you manage to stay up later than even the adults, and you start to see that fun things happen after hours.
Like most of Pinkwater's books, "Snarkout" is a reminder that there are bigger, odder, and much more fun things in the world than you previously thought. Late night Visconti fests, weirdos ranting about the Devil, neon-colored hot dogs, shanty towns, performing chickens... The world is jnow a little bit more complete.
Myles's review
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 by Daniel Manus Pinkwater
Myles's review
rating:
These are not my favorite Pinkwater books of all time, but anything with his seal on them gets the okay by me. Does anybody else remember Chin Wag Theater? -M.
I've not heard Chinwag Theater, but I do hear his stuff on NPR occasionally. I chose this Pinkwater book because it contains "The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death."
Snarkout is very dear to me. My mother got me a copy when I was 11 or so, in the hopes that I woudl read more. I started to eat the thing up, but, regrettably, lost the book before I ever had a chancce to finish it. Because I was 11 or so, I didn't have the werewithall to hunt down another copy, so it remained an incomplete masterpiece in my mind.
Then, at age 23 or so, my then-girlfriend, after having heard this story, was able to track down a copy of it on cassette for me (read by Pinkwater himself). I expected it to be a bit silly and childish, but, surprisingly, it held up even stronger than I remember.
"The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death," the one about the 14-year-olds who made a sport of sneaking out of the house to see late-night movies, was not only odd and funny, but contained that giddy rush one gets when they discover Night Life for the first time; when you reach a certain age, you manage to stay up later than even the adults, and you start to see that fun things happen after hours.
Like most of Pinkwater's books, "Snarkout" is a reminder that there are bigger, odder, and much more fun things in the world than you previously thought. Late night Visconti fests, weirdos ranting about the Devil, neon-colored hot dogs, shanty towns, performing chickens... The world is jnow a little bit more complete.