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Uncle Melvin
by
Hardcover, 30 pages
Published
October 1st 1989
by MacMillan Publishing Company
(first published 1989)
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The book is a sketch of a mental patient told through the eyes of a child. For me, it is beautiful and heartbreaking.
I know that many who are mentally ill are not as docile or lively or as interesting as Melvin is. But here is a tender portrait of a gentle man with "theories" who talks to birds and wears a bowler hat to keep his ideas in until he's through with them.
Pinkwater's book tells us as much about Melvin's family as it does Melvin. Melvin is allowed to help the family care for the chil ...more
I know that many who are mentally ill are not as docile or lively or as interesting as Melvin is. But here is a tender portrait of a gentle man with "theories" who talks to birds and wears a bowler hat to keep his ideas in until he's through with them.
Pinkwater's book tells us as much about Melvin's family as it does Melvin. Melvin is allowed to help the family care for the chil ...more

This is a surprisingly tender story by the author of The Frankenbagel Monster and The Hoboken Chicken Emergency. Uncle Melvin has a mental illness, and he lives with the narrator's family. Uncle Melvin is skilled in crafts and gardening, but he is not able to live independently. He has strange notions about controlling the weather and the powers of his derby hat.
He believes that the President is a lizard with a human face, and this book came out in 1989.
Daniel Pinkwater did his own illustrations ...more
He believes that the President is a lizard with a human face, and this book came out in 1989.
Daniel Pinkwater did his own illustrations ...more
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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
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