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John Seroff

You’re still the best

April 13, 2026

not so much a question as a statement of truth.

thanks so much for giving me things to read that clarified what I was and what I could be.  I’m rereading them now at 50 and the thrill is still there.

i hope you’re happy and well.  you’re the best.

Daniel replies:

Thanks for the kind words. Now that I'm old and nobdy cares, I can admit I've been an OK writer, and more importantly, my stuff has attracted readers who should be proud of themselves--I am certainly proud of you.


Thomas Webster

Thank You

December 22, 2025

Mr. Pinkwater- Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy From Mars found me when I was nine years old. I’m now 53. I’ve never needed a book that much before or since. I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate you giving the world something that beautiful. Thank you.

Thomas

Daniel replies:

 I'm glad you chose a book of mine to focus your creativity, and possibly use to deal with things in your life. Whatever, it was something you did. All I did was write a book you happened to be able to make use of. I have to admit I wasn't thinking about you, I was just trying to make the book correctly--and in your case it seems I did. So thank you for letting me know


Laura Xixi

Favorite names?

December 22, 2025

Dear Mr. Pinkwater,

Hello! Thank you for all of your writing and art and for introducing me to your wife Jill’s art and work. I read my first book by you this year and have now read almost all of them and have had a year filled with more smiling and thinking and laughing and creating things as a result.

When I was looking up a German word in one of your books a few months ago, I realized that some of the names in the book also have other meanings in other languages like German or Yiddish or Polish that might be secret jokes relating to the story. Since Mr. Pfiff the flute teacher, I’ve made sure to pay attention to the names when I read your books. Do you have any favorite names (with secret meanings or not) that you’ve used in your books?

Thank you again,
Laura

Daniel replies:

Thank you for saying nice things about my books. People never mention, and sometimes I wonder about the age of a person writing to me--is it a young person who read a whole bunch of my stuff or an adult? I think the earliest secret name-joke in a book of mine was in Lizard Music, Shane Fergussen is a play on "shoyn vergessen" "I have already forgotten" an it is the punchlline of a famous joke. I wonder if you can find it online.


Virgil Kay

The Chicken Man, 1965 documentary

November 19, 2025

Hello, Mr. Pinkwater!

Did some digging and found your Chicken Man in 1965 Chicago, Maxwell Street, thanks to a 1965 documentary called And This is Free, by Mike Shea. People can watch it online. He’s a bit into the movie, but worth it.

Best,

Virgil

Daniel replies:

Thanks!


David Williams

Happy Birthday!

November 19, 2025

I would like to say Happy Birthday.. Yay to you!

I often retell the story you related about making coffee with a scientist roommate and the need and benefit of art and science working together.

I recorded sound for a living so particularly liked your radio work.

And happily, I just recommended you & your work to a doctor who has children 11, 7 and 6:) 

Many happy returns of the day– I’m glad for you and glad for us.

Best regards

David Williams 

Daniel replies:

Thanks for the greeting and kind words!


Tony Chan

I just wanted to say thank you!

November 8, 2025

Hello, I am writing to you today because I just found out you had a website and wanted to write while I had the courage. I wanted to say that I have been reading your novels ever since I was around seven years old when I ‘borrowed’ my older sister’s copy of ‘4 Fantastic Novels’ (I am now 32 years old). I love reading and rereading your works and I wanted to thank you for greatly affecting my sense of humor and the stories you have written.

Also what is your favorite food, I am curious!

Daniel replies:

Thanks for your kind words. My favorites change, but for the past few years there is one dish I eat every day. Into a fairly large stock pot I dump anywhere from 8 or 9 to as many as 20 different vegetables, fresh and frozen. I add salt and spices, bring the whole business to a boil for roughly 20 minutes, (longer if the ingredients are frozen), let it cool on the stove for 4 hours, and eat it hot, cold, with rice, with eggs, blended into a soup, every which way. It's never exactly the same, and I never get tired of it. You asked, and I told you.


Mark French

How Feral Were You As A Child?

October 28, 2025

Hi Daniel,

In listening to Fishwhistle and Chicago Days, Hoboken Nights, some questions recur.  Among them:

I keep wondering how you managed some of the exploits you describe.  In California, you apparently had the freedom to walk two hours to a mall, amble around for a while and then walk home.  It sounds like this must have been before you were in high school.  In Chicago, you describe going downtown after (or instead of) school and then doing the most unlikely things until what had to be late night.  Your parents must have had a remarkably open attitude about keeping track of you.  How did you pull this off?  My mother would have had a nutty if I’d tried some of the things that seemed a routine part of your young life.

Also, your Dad sounds like one of those larger than life people.  Did he ever finally hit paydirt on any of his business ventures?  I found myself hoping that, after all he’d been through, he was able to enjoy an at least modestly prosperous later life.

Thanks for taking time to read this.  I hope you are well and happy,

Mark

Daniel replies:

By the time I hit high school I'd gone farther in education than either of my parents, so they may have decided I was then an adult. I came and went as I pleased, and at an earlier age it was easy enough to sneak out after they'd gone to bed. At one point, living in Hollywood, I liked to hang out late at night on a block where cowboy movie extras and young men who I later figured out were prostitutes stood around chatting. I never saw or heard anything that might have been inappropriate for a child to witness. I also never felt I was in the least danger in any of my wanderings. I was hardly the only nocturnal kid. As to my father's fortunes, he always appeared prosperous, whether he was or notl


Alfred DeStefano

Food of the Gods?

October 19, 2025

Dear Mr. Pinkwater,

In the late 1980s, my mother attempted to rush me out of a library, an action she knew to be an impossibility, but anyway I took the usual thirty minutes at that point to prepare to leave by hiding. A mass market paperback spinner blocked my mother’ view, containing the usual fare from Asimov and Bradbury and Heinlein.

But there was a different book staring back at me this time. More properly, it was an enwired & space-age avocado.

Many decades later, I have consumed that fare, its sequel, and your many other books more times than I can count. Which is a terrible thing, in fact, since I’m a high school math teacher, and ought to be capable of such things by now.

At any rate, today I decided to write this small note of vast appreciation to you, and perhaps find out if it’ just my computer or there might actually be something wrong with the get autographed copies and send books for review part of your website, since I’d like to do that as well. If it’ just my computer, I apologize for the inconvenience. I guess I’ll figure it out at some point.

Wishing you all good things,

Alfred (An Anthropoid Bloboform In Spirit)

Daniel replies:

I congratulate you on having a mother who took you to the library. "Get autographed copies?" "Send books for review?" No. It could be "Get books autographed," which you do by you acquiring a book, or maybe you have one, then following the instructions somewhere on this website, (neatly packaged, correct return postage on enclosed return mailer, and understood that any deviation and you may never see your book again). "Send books for review?" No. Absolutely no. I never understood why people want autographed books. It lowers the value. There is no telling whether the distinguished author actually signed--in my case all the autographs are the work of Wally Wanamopo, my loyal secretary of so many years. Including packaging, postage and time spent, the reader would save enough by not seeking an autograph to buy another book, second-hand, possibly by a better author, or maybe a medium-size Dairy Queen, pineapple-butterscotch flavor.


Raygan Kelly

A thank you

October 19, 2025

I don’t really have a question, just a thank you.

When I was in (I think) third grade, I found Lizard Music in my elementary school library. I think it may have been one of the first books I ever picked for myself; certainly it’s one of the earliest I still remember. When I read it, it felt like forbidden literature. Like I was getting away with something by reading it. I felt exactly how I imagine Victor did, discovering the lizards themselves. I think this book completely and irrevocably altered my brain chemistry.

I’m now 40 years old and I’ve read the book to my own three kids. What an experience. As a child of the 80s, I had to interpret some of the 70s-isms for them. It’s a foreign concept to them that there might be a TV broadcast that only comes on at a certain time, or that can’t be easily rewound or Googled. But I believe the magic of it still came across. I’m taking a more hands off approach with your other books, hoping they’ll encounter one and think it’s their own idea, and make their own discovery. If they happen to be turned face-out on the library shelves when my kids come by, who’s to say how that happened.

I’ve heard that there will soon be a Lizard Music movie. I’m excited for you and for anyone who this might help discover your work. For myself, I have the natural mixed feelings anyone does when something special to them suddenly gets wide attention or a reinterpretation. Regardless, I’m very much looking forward to taking my kids to see it, and especially to hearing the lizards play.

Daniel replies:

This is what I said to the guy who's making the movie--only I didn't have to, because movie guys, the good ones, understand it perfectly. Some of our extremely early ancestors were sitting around the cave, gnawing on mastodon bones. One of them stood up and told the first story ever. Another hominid thought, "I want to do that too, only when I tell it, I'm going to finish with a squeak instead of a grunt." Then another Zinjanthropus thought, "I like those stories, but mine is going to end with two grunts." A couple of milleniums later the first Alley Oop to draw images all along the cave wall, ran down the line with a newly-invented torch and movies were born. I have mixed feelings too and they are all good ones. Thanks for liking my turn at telling the same old story. I liked yours.


Mark French

Thanks for Advice from Years Ago

October 10, 2025

Hi Daniel,

A long time ago, I contacted you to ask about how to become an author.  I’m a professor, so I have to write something.  I was thinking about math books for little kids.  You probably don’t remember the exchange, but talking with you helped me find my way.  I’ve been happily cranking out books on musical instruments.  You’re still the only real author I’ve ever talked to.  I’m not sure what I expect you to do with this information. But having discovered your website, I feel the need to let you know that I’m still grateful.

Chicago Days, Hoboken Nights and Fishwhistle are among the small collection of books I happy re-read.  The Hoboken you describe is just captivating.  I wonder if a place like that exists anymore.  Maybe it was as much a time as a place.

Finally, I’d like to add my voice to what I hope is a group of people asking if you are working on a memoir or autobiography.  

I hope you are well and happy,

Mark

Daniel replies:

daniel pinkwater
Wed, Oct 8, 5:40PM (2 days ago)
to me

Thanks for your kind words, and mistaken belief that talking with me did you any good, and that I am a real author. I'm glad to learn that you've been cranking out books, assuming that is something you wanted to do. I think those books of mine you mention Fish Whistle, and the other one, are memoir enough. My secret of authoring is that I only ever write stuff I might like to read. It's a simple principle, if I like it a certain number of other people might like it too. Writing about my life, as in an autobiography, wouldn't be something I'd like to read, because I would already know the content. Of course, I could do what other memoirists do and just make the whole thing up, but isn't that what I do already?


Sahar Yousefi

The Big Orange Splot

September 19, 2025

Hello Mr. Pinkwater!

When I was 5 my mom bought me a copy of The Big Orange Splot because she liked the cover, she thought it was cute and colorful. To hell with the content. It quickly became my favorite book and I read it cover to cover every few days for quite a few years thereafter. I loved that it was a story that encouraged people to celebrate their uniqueness and creativity. And all it took was one person to make that ripple and change the persepective in their community and ultimately create a better world around them. Even after I “outgrew” picture books, I still revisted The Big Orange Splot, and to this day I keep it in a special spot in my room. 

I’m now 37 and on occassion I dabble in working with kids. Next generation of artists and all that… A few weeks ago I started recommending The Big Orange Splot to parents who ask me for book recs. I even get to tell them to buy it from my local bookstore instead of big scary corporations. Getting to share one of my fav books with my impressionable littles has given me lots of joy and has made me want to come look you up on the google where I saw you have this wonderful thread which made my heart burst into joy because when I was five I dreamt of growing up and becoming a writer-storyteller-actor-musician-artist which meant that I got to meet you and tell you all this in person and show you pictures of my future plumbean inspired home. (Longest sentence ever.)

Alas dreams have a mind of their own. So here I am. I thought you might like to know you have a cult following of under fives (and perhaps a spike in sales) thanks to this unhinged still forever five year old. 

(I did grow up to be a full time storyteller, I write and act and color and dabble in other creative endeavors.)

Thank you for your wonderful work. 

Sahar

Daniel replies:

Since you wrote such a nice letter, and praised my book so much, I will tell you a story about that book. I wrote the story when I was away from home. I didn't have my semi-professional art kit with me. So I went to the drugstore. I bought a sketchbook meant for children, for a dollar. I also bought a set of markers, also meant for children, also for a dollar. I did sketches, and mailed them, along with the story, to a publisher. The publisher mistook the sketches for finished art, and offered me a contract. It wasn't a good contract, my share or royalty would only be five cents for each book sold, but there was some money up front, and I needed some money. Besides, I didn't know any better. I thought, if I had worked on it more, it would have been a good book, not that I thought it was bad, I wasn't ashamed of it...just, it might have been better, I thought. And so it wasn't a favorite of mine. It was an early attempt, and I learned more about contracts, and how to be a professional, and I didn't think much about this book. Actually, I sort of never thought about it. A government official called me. She said that all her subordinates had to read this book, when they came to work for her. "Why?" I asked. So she explained the book to me. "That sounds like a good book," I said. Later I found out it has sold more than a million copies. So you see, other people, including you, understand this book better than I did.


Leo

Lizard Music Movie???

September 14, 2025

Hello,

i just submitted a message to this forum, but right afterwards i saw that lizard music is being made into a movie??? are you going to be involved in the movie? i just started relistening to the lizard music audiobook to jog my memory so that whenever the movie comes out i can see how close it is to the book. by the way i love your audiobooks and how accessible they are and how you read them yourself. they are so fun to listen to. i am so shocked that lizard music is being made into a movie, i hope it turns out in a way that you like. im excited that your work is getting more attention! okay bye bye for real now.

-Leo

Daniel replies:

I am going to be involved in the movie to the extent that I've been invited to record audio as the voice of the mayor of the lizard city. I am 99.9% certain I did not write a mayor of the lizard city, but that's how movies are. I hope it's great. Listen for my part as the mayor.


Leo

Who is Colonel Ken Krenwinkel again?

September 14, 2025

Hi!!!!

i have loved the neddiad/yggyssey/cat whiskered girl books for many years, and i’ve made it a tradition to listen to your audiobooks of them every thanksgiving and winter break i have off from school. they are my three favorite books ever. iggy is definitely my favorite character and i have even made her a playlist of songs on youtube (the playlist contains Your Feets Too Big, That’s Amore, Mule Train, Nature Boy, A Night In Tunisia, High Noon, I Put a Spell On You, Serutan Yob, as well as many other songs that i’ve decided iggy would probably listen to/hear around). so anyway my question! i’ve had the name colonel ken krenwinkel in my head for the past couple of days and i just cannot remember who he is. but i’m like 95% sure he is in one of those three books. i tried to google it and there was nothing. i would look through the books but there are like three of them and. omg wait i feel like his name is also the title of a chapter. okay one second actually. okay i’m back super sad news i could not find it. so back to my question. who is that guy again? is he even from one of those books? i hope you remember but if not that is okay too. anyway i think you are so fun and awesome and i love your books dearly. i love how funny and whimsical and weird they are, and i honestly don’t think i will ever get tired of rereading them. okay i think that’s all for now, thank you for writing books and being cool.

-Leo

p.s. (in case you are interested in the iggy playlist, here is a link! youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBHpFD9btovzyKVwLHs7-hRBAFoe0fI43&si=tZG6SbasqtMmJ2Fg )

p.p.s (it’s possible that i accidentally sent this message like five times and if so i apologize)

Daniel replies:

I like your playlist, and yes I know who Colonel Ken Krenwinkle is, and which books of mine he's in. And I'm not going to tell you. Not trying to be mean, but you have to learn to get along without privileged information from the author.


Frank Pergande

Spreading the Joy

August 24, 2025

Hiya Mr. Pinkwater!

I recently started working in the children’s area of our local library after having worked with teens and college students for the last 25 or so years. 

We have a “Staff Favorites” shelf, which has me thinking about the books I loved when I was smaller, which lead me to think about you. 

Our library doesn’t currently have two of my personal favorites (Fat Men from Space and The Hoboken Chicken Emergency), but it does have Borgel and a host of other books that I now get to read before they inevitably make their way to the “Staff Favorite” shelf. 

Thanks for all the laffs!

I hope you are well!

Your pal,

Frank

Daniel replies:

Frank, you have one of the great jobs in all of history. Not me, you. You get to deal with all these books, and they're finished and complete, and all you have to do is match them up with clients, who will very possibly enjoy them and maybe have warm memories of some of them, and you did this. Me, I got to write some of them and protect them as best I could from idiots who are numerous in the publishing industry. You have the better job.


Alix

No question, just thank you!

August 15, 2025

Dear Mr. Pinkwater,

I read many of your books as a young teen and you gave me permission to be weird and curious and to have fun. Thank you so much, I cherish those days and your books so, so much! 

I hope you are well and that many generations of readers find you and appreciate your books.

Daniel replies:

What a perfect thing to read from a reader! Thank you so much! I bet you are a swell person.


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