I wish I could have one of those potatoes from Beerbender’s Beer Garden. I wish they existed. Hi Daniel Pinkwater! I love your books. And I really liked Bushman Lives! Bye Daniel Pinkwater! – LJ, age 6 1/2
Potatoes exist! You can have one just like I wrote about! Discuss this with whatever adult you know who does cooking.
I watched a cable access show last night. It is called Let’s Paint TV and features host John Kilduff who is an artist. Kilduff takes calls from viewers while painting at his easel and walking on a treadmill, spilling paint on his suit and sweating like crazy. One night he painted a guy with no shirt and a king’s crown, while listening to middle eastern music. Then the next he had a guy dressed up as the tin man. Kilduff painted a portrait of the tin man while performing open-heart surgery. If you think this is made up, check it out:
letspainttv.com/
There are still some real people out there.
I clicked the link. Yes, it's pure and magnificent. Thanks for alerting us.
Mr. Pinkwater, one of my students started reading about your life as a writer. This is the first time I can recall that this young man has expressed an interest in any author! He was wondering how do you encourage children to write?
Well, I have always thought Otto was an excellent name because of the backward-and-forwardness of it. I don't think I've given it to a character yet...just too good for most of them.  If one was named Otto and decided to write his life story, it could be called Ottobiography. Tell your son not to ottomatically reject the suggestion. He really otto think it over.
Dear Mr. Pinkwater,
My son, who is 16 years old, has decided he wants to change his name to something with some snap to it. Since his first name (for now and since his birth) is Daniel, and since he is inspired by the names of some of your characters, I thought I would consult you. What is the best name for a character which you haven’t used in a book? When naming characters, what are your considerations? Additionally, I’m dating a man whose surname is Yu, and my son, Daniel Patrick, does not want to be known as Daniel P. Yu. Your advice is appreciated.
Well, I have always thought Otto was an excellent name because of the backward-and-forwardness of it. I don't think I've given it to a character yet...just too good for most of them.  If one was named Otto and decided to write his life story, it could be called Ottobiography. Tell your son not to ottomatically reject the suggestion. He really otto think it over.
My wife and I once read one of your books to Charles Vernoff.
He laughed out loud, but then said that you were even funnier in the eighth grade.
sm
The fact is, Charles was funnier than me. He was my private joke source for close to 60 years. There will be some screaming and hollering and squirting milk out of noses in heaven.
Back in the eighties, your books were cytolodyns to my bean brain’s embryo.
So while I took in early MTV and underground comics, your words were there also.
Great to see you are still writing. Keep up the good work.
Thank you. I will.
Daniel Manus Pinkwater, when made into an anagram:
Pawn undreamlike saint
Also:
Wanted, spunkier animal
Both apposite.
Hi Daniel,
I’m a long time fan of your work so when I read that famed martial arts film star Bruce Lee won the Hong Kong Cha-Cha Championship of 1958, I thought I should write to ask you to publish a book titled similarly. Thanks for your work, I look forward to reading “The Hong Kong Cha-Cha Championship of 1958”.
-Mason Weaver
And did you not read who came second in that contest? It was me! Bruce Lee was a worthy competitor, and the rumors that he cheated are not true--I was there, and I can assure you of this. I consider it an honor to have lost to him.
A friend told me about your books. He said they were written by Tom Tappet and that you had written Bushman Lives and Ollie Hopnoodle’s Haven of Bliss. I figured out how he mixed Pinkwater, Tappet and Shepherd, read your book Bushman Lives and ordered another copy for my sister. I now introduce my friends to your work while getting your name and identity straight.
Please notify me as soon as you get my name and identity straight. I'm having some problems in that area.
I have to say, first, that I owe you many, many thanks. _Alan Mendelson, The Boy From Mars_ was my favorite book as a child, and remains so even now. I can say with some pride that, due in no small part to you, I have indeed grown up to become a profoundly odd adult…as well as children’s librarian.
But now, I need to ask a question.
I am currently in the process of trying to locate several of your older books, so that I can read them to my son. It’s not an easy task, at least in some cases. Are there any plans afoot to release some of your older books in e-book format? I’m thinking specifically of _Wingman_ and _Borgel_ — the latter, in particular, is a book that my son would love.
Borgel is in the paperback bindup 4 Fantastic Novels, which is readily available, (and you get three other novels with it!) Wingman, you can find floating around used. Thanks for the thanks.
Our public library did not have a copy of Bushman Lives! So I filled out the online book recommendation form, urging them to add it to their collection. Now they have several copies. Perhaps they were going to buy it anyway, but I like to take some small amount of credit.
I would like to urge everyone one to encourage their local libraries to buy as much Pinkwater as possible. Libraries do listen.
I would like to encourage everyone to heed and emulate the wise and generous Kevin Cheek.
Dear Daniel Manus Pinkwater. I loved reading your books as a kid at the
Alexander Mitchell Public Library in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Loved Big Orange Splot, Fat Men from Space, and when I was old enough to read it, the
young adult novel, The Wuggie Norple Story, which, as I recall, had one of the greatest plots of any book, mixing adventure with romance. No wonder
James Wood mentioned it several times both in his reviews and on The Charlie Rose Show. I will never forget Wuggie Norple, the talking grapefruit from Puerto Rico, trapped in a whale’s stomach with a city planner from South Dakota. The grapefruit writes a love note using a flashlight, a crayon, a candy wrapper and a bottle. He writes: %u201CDear Isadora, I find your eye sockets to be a wondrous amusement park of neo-plastic pleasures and oncogenic delights.We may not ever meet again at the fruit stand or anywhere else. But that%u2019s okay. It was, after all, just a moment in time.%u201D And then he dies. I cry even now. I want to thank you for this.
This too.
Your mother was a heart and your father smelled of ploughs.
This makes perfect sense.
My students and I are reading The Blue Moose. We are trying to find out where he is now. We are imagining all the places he might be and making postcards for him to send to Mr. Breton. Could he send a message to us and let us know what places he has visited lately ? We hope that he is having great adventures!
Many thanks!
I forwarded your post to the moose, and got this reply from him:
Dear Pink Water,
Of course, I do not send postcards so much these days. Since I got the Hoofpad--I mostly email. I have been visiting places where moose live--here in North America, and also in countries not on this continent. These include...wait, maybe it would be fun for the kids to find out where I have been.
D. Williamson, and students! Can you tell me where I may have gone to visit my fellow moose?
Please forward this for me, Mr. Pinkwater.
Your friend,
Moose
P.S. Weren't you going to talk to me about paying for the use of my life story in your moose books? What happened with that?
So I was watching the new TED video of Neil Gaiman’s wife, Amanda Palmer
And I thought, that’s what I wanted to recommend to you when you posted there was no sequel for “Bushman Lives.”
Why not try using Kickstarter and get fans to finance your typical pay for a novel, and if they raise enough, write it?
Nah. I don't think so. This right here is about as close as I want to get to the fanosphere. Fine for Amanda--she's obviously a people person. I treasure being an anonymous schmuck 99.9% of the time.
