Bill Schwabenland
Post #4276 – 20160522
May 22, 2016
I recall listening to one of your segments on NPR in which you described engaging in a lightsaber duel at the shopping mall. Do you recall which episode that was on your website? I wanted to share it with a friend.
Daniel replies:
I think I did 600 or 700 of those short commentaries on NPR. I've never been good at archiving and organizing my work. If the piece isn't in Fish Whistle, or Chicago Days, Hoboken Nights, or Hoboken Fish and Chicago Whistle, (which is the two collections combined), it's probably sort of lost. Probably it wasn't as good as you remember anyway.
Katherine
Post #4275 – 20160522
May 22, 2016
Have you ever had any pets? Also, what is your favorite color?
Daniel replies:
I have had plenty of pets. Most of them have been dogs, cats or horses. I still have pets. My favorite color is onion.
Kevin Cheek
Post #4273 – 20160522
May 22, 2016
Yes, my parents are the ones who (may) have the copies of Help!. I was very lucky to have a weird childhood. My parents read to me from The Evergreen Review and Help! Magazine along with Winnie the Pooh and the Pogo Papers. I was lucky because they never assumed I wasn't smart enough or educated or old enough to get the supposedly grown-up writing they loved. We shared interests and activities, and I got to do things, like learn how to build a camper, travel the country, hike to the top of Mt. Rushmore, read Ferlinghetti and Brautigan, etc.
I hope I am providing my kids a sufficiently weird childhood that when they grow older, they will be as proud of me as I am of my parents. To this end, among other things, I have read them a lot of Pinkwater.
Daniel replies:
I don't understand your use of the word, """"weird,"""" in this post. Obviously, from your brief account, there was nothing in the least weird about your childhood. It seems to have been a perfectly normal, maybe more enriched than usual, sort of childhood. I can only guess that you wrote, """"weird,"""" because influenced by many people who apply that word to things too lively for their comfort.
Nathan Kozak
Post #4272 – 20160518
May 18, 2016
Daniel, who or what is your inspiration for writing book?
Daniel replies:
Please don't take this to mean that I do not love to write, and love my readers, and want to make life better for all humans by producing art. The inspiration for writing, the thing that has to be possible or I won't bother to do it, is the chance of getting paid. Learning to write was hard, and took a long time, and finally I got to be good enough for it to be my work. Everybody should be paid for working.
Philip Dallmayr
Post #4271 – 20160518
May 18, 2016
Hi Mr Pinkwater. I have been reading Borgel with my 6th grade class for more years than I can remember. Unfortunately, my copies have fallen apart and it seems Borgel is out of print. I plan on looking at sources for used copies. My class always asks me when you are going to write another amazing Borgel/Melvin time tourist book. Are there plans for a sequel/prequel? It would be awesome! Keep up the fine work!
Daniel replies:
Borgel is included in the collection 4 FANTASTIC NOVELS, an Aladdin paperback, which is available here and there, such as here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Fantastic-Novels-by-Daniel-M-Pinkwater-2000-Paperback-/272224776948?hash=item3f61dc72f4:g:pGIAAOSwuMFUb5yB and you get three other books in the deal. I have no plans to write any more books until I find a publisher, or a publisher finds me.
Cindy Prescott
Post #4268 – 20160514
May 14, 2016
We just read a biography blurb about you and are going to read some of your books. We are a class of fourth graders. We were interested in why you think your dogs can read.
Cindy Prescott, teacher
Crestwood Elementary, Covington, WA
Daniel replies:
Hello. I don't know what biography blurb you may have read, or what it said about dogs reading, but here is the fact:
All dogs can be taught to read. You can try this for yourself if 1.) you have a dog, and 2.) if the dog knows some commands, such as """"sit,"""" """"down,"""" and similar. The dog needs to know the command well, and do it every time, or nearly every time. Let's say we will use the command """"sit."""" Write the word """"SIT"""" nice and large on a 3x5 card. Have some teensy treats on hand. Tell the dog, """"sit."""" When he sits, give him a teensy treat, """"good dog!"""" Now, show him the card, say the command, """"sit!"""" give him a teensy treat. Do this a couple of times. Now, show him the card, but do not say the command. If he sits, give him treat, praise him. If not, say the command, give treat. After a very few tries, he will sit when you show him the """"sit"""" card without you having to say anything. He is now reading. You can teach him as many commands as you like. Later, he will read the newspaper, and check books out of the library....or maybe not.
Kevin
Post #4267 – 20160429
April 29, 2016
My parents used to own nearly every issue of Help! Magazine. Next time I go back to Albuquerque, I'll look for them. If they still have any issues featuring you, I'll scan them and email them to you. No promises, as it's been about 40 years since I last read them (I remember something of a cartoon sequence about "Rottenville" and that's about it).
Daniel replies:
Your parents own every issue of Help! magazine. Your parents. And you think it's probable those magazines are in boxes or something similar in Albuquerque. OK. I'm sure visitors to this website would like to see scans.
The muffin fiend
Post #4266 – 20160429
April 29, 2016
What is the recipe for borgelnuskies? Also, why did you become a writer? Are any of your works based off of real life people? Also, I love your books!!! Especially Borgel.
Daniel replies:
There is a federal law against sharing the recipe for borgelnuskies in public, transporting, sending or transmitting it across state lines, drawing it in the dirt with a stick and then rubbing it out, or singing it as lyrics to a song. But there is no law against knowing it, or against making, serving or eating borgelnuskies. It is a legal oddity. I forget why I became a writer--something about being no good at everything else I tried. All my works are based on real-life people. Also, the events depicted in my works are based on real-life happenings.
Bryson Scout Tad
Post #4260 – 20160427
April 27, 2016
I had the pleasure of sharing eight of your books with participants in our Colorado ADX prison facility. Dancing Larry is a huge hit here. The trouble we have is getting duplicates of the same title which meets our security measures. We would like permiion to photocopy some of the picture book titles onto a particular paper that is resistant to giving paper cuts, and wonder if you would give us your blessing. That might be a great start when we ak for legal permission from your publishers. Again, we have some pretty tough men who have been in the system longer than out who can benefit from Larry. Hope this is a doable request. P.S. One of our reading group regulars wants to know if you were ever incarcerated.
Daniel replies:
Yes, you have my permission to photocopy, and no, I was never incarcerated. (I think permission from the author supersedes permission from the publisher--besides, what is the publisher going to do, have me locked up?)
Stephen Krashen
Post #4259 – 20160427
April 27, 2016
This is Steve Krashen, prof emeritus from USC, grew up in Chicago area in 1940's and 50's. A close friend of mine at the University of Illinois, Howard Taylor Dixon, always talked about his friend Daniel Pinkwater. I lost contact with Howard years ago, and wonder if Mr. Pinkwater remembers him & knows where he might be, 50 years later. Howard was a VERY UNUSUAL person, a big influence on me. (PS my research areas include literacy, pleasure reading, libraries. I'm the author of The Power of Reading. I have deep respect and admiration for Daniel Pinkwater's work. And I once had lunch with Stan Lee.)
Daniel replies:
Howard is known as Leonard now, (much as I was known as Manus when you knew Howard at U of Ill. We are both first-name-changers.) He lives in the Pacific Northwest these days, and has a presence on the web. He is interested in Mathematics and Art, among other things. I once took a ride in a Volkwagen with Harvey Kurtzman, Terry Gilliam and Robert Crumb. No lunch.
Spencer
Post #4263 – 20160427
April 27, 2016
Mr. Pinkwater,
At the risk of sounding extremely sentimental, I would like to thank you for writing Lizard Music. The book has become a melancholic reminder of a time when I read purely for enjoyment.
For me, the memory of the book springs from some surreal fountain: in my imagination, Lizard Music is a place where staying up late at night watching pulpy television is something to be appreciated and cherished; it is a place where the odd and uncomfortable corners of society are merely quirky reminders of all our beautiful differences; it is a place, I must admit, that I have not found anywhere since…
I'm not sure where the story came from, and I'm dead sure I don't want to know, but I hope you still occasionally feel the same magic you once allowed me to appreciate.
A thousand thanks and pardons,
Spencer
Daniel replies:
You touch on the main reason I've enjoyed writing for children so much...in the phrase """"read purely for enjoyment.""""
I feel that kids read purely, and for enjoyment, and that makes the writing so much fun. Why the book is a melancholic reminder, or a melancholic anything, must have to do with your personal peculiarities. The """"magic"""" as you call it, in this book and others similar, (some written by me), is on tap, full strength, any time you wish to partake.
Random sixth grader
Post #4264 – 20160427
April 27, 2016
So, i have to do project in sixth grade where i write a three to four page essay about any author of my choice. Then we have to present just two minutes worth of facts about the author, and answer some questions. So:
1)what is the most important fact about you, in your opinion?
2)what should i say if some annoying fifth grader asks a question I don't know the answer to?
3)can I say that you were on the start to a glorious career in piano playing before a tragic guacamole incident ended that, and put the muffin fiend in my works cited list? Will my teacher get mad at me?
4)afterward we have to bring in some snack related to our author. What is your favorite food?
Daniel replies:
1) I am not sure there are any facts about me, important or otherwise. I haven't noticed this before, but is it possible I have become, or am becoming, fictional? I wouldn't mind being a fictional character. Possibly I would then be able to meet other fictional characters I have admired for so long.
2) You can say that in the course of doing your research you were required to sign a confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement, so there are certain questions you are legally prevented from answering. Then, if you are asked with whom you signed this agreement, you can say that is one of the questions you are not allowed to answer. You see how this can work.
3) Sure, you can say that. Do you want to say it? I will bet that it doesn't go over as funny when you present your remarks as it strikes you now.
4) Well, it's not a matter of what is my favorite as what is appropriate and not too much trouble. I'd say muffins are the obvious choice. And you can share the story that while I love muffins deeply, I discovered that I have a wheat allergy, and now I can only eat gluten-free muffins, which are horrible, so I do not eat them. And if you like you can put this forth as a fact as alluded to in section 1), that is, I am a muffin-loving person who can never eat muffins, and yet I am not sad, have not gone crazy, or become a criminal. Such is my strength of character.
Alan Jacobs
Post #4262 – 20160425
April 25, 2016
I noticed it's been a while since you added photos to your gallery. Hoping for something from your HELP! magazine days…please?
Daniel replies:
There weren't many HELP! magazine days--I was only in a couple of issues. Then the guy who'd hired me, none other than Terry Gilliam, who would later be a Python, called to tell me the magazine was folding and it was my fault. If anyone knows were images can be found--I don't imagine anyone owns them.
Les Norman
Post #4261 – 20160425
April 25, 2016
Dear Daniel,
When I was 11, I checked out a book I'd never heard of before…"Lizard Music". I've always been an avid reader, and through my years as a professional athlete (baseball-MLB/Olympics) I've read many works by many different authors. "Lizard Music" is still my favorite! I am in the process of reading it with my own 11 year old son each night!! Thank you for sharing your gifts with the world…You have created great memories for me from a childhood that didn't have many…and now I can share & create them with my own son! My geeky bio is on my website, lesnorman.com. Be blessed…and thank you again!
Daniel replies:
Lizard Music was the first long fiction piece I did, and after writing it, I did 99 more books of various kinds, most of which were good, and I learned things, but not one of which was as good as Lizard Music! Then, the 100th book, The Neddiad. I mention this because I've described the feeling I had when starting to work on it as like an athlete waking up in the morning knowing he's ready to pitch a perfect game. After you and your son finish with Lizard Music, maybe you'd like to give The Neddiad a try. Let me know if you like it.
Louis Bruneau
Post #4255 – 20160412
April 12, 2016
I just needed to say that your books shaped me into the rotund good-hearted mortal I am today (as well as give me a deeper appreciation of film). That is all.
Daniel replies:
I don't understand. They shaped you? Did your parents make a tiny bassinet out of my books? Were you made to sleep under a cover of books? Did you use them as weights for exercise?
