Daniel Pinkwater; I’ve been reading all you’re books ever sense I was really small,the thinnerbooks like;Wempires,Devil in the drain,Uncle Melvin and Doodle flute. Now I have just finished 4 fantastic novels. i am now on page 162 of the Neddiad and have just met Yggrassel (is that how you spell it?) YoUR bOoKS ArE SOo coOL!! from Caius Sztuk
What can I say? When you're right, you're right.
Dear Mr Pinkwater, I recently purchased a Kindle and was sad to see that the only book available by you in the Kindle format is Once Upon a Blue Moose. Will you be releasing any other books for the Kindle? I’d love to purchase them!
On another note, I fell in love with Lizard Music and Alan Mendelsohn when I was in middle school. I checked out the original 76/79 publications so many times that I formed a very strong tactile association with those books. So when I decided to buy them, I searched rare book dealers and found the exact binding/editions that I used to read. I am happy to say that I took these with me when I went into the Peace Corps and I brought them with me to Korea.
Now if I could only get them in electronic form legally I would be a very very happy woman.
Julia
I do not care about Kindle one way or the other, and I didn't know that even one book of mine is available on it, possibly legally. If you want my books electronically, many of them can be had here on this website in audio form, (free!), and current, to-be-published, books have been serialized here for several years. If you want a facsimile of the original Lizard Music, it will be published next year by New York Review Children's Book Collection--inclusion in which I regard as the highest possible honor.
This made the Front Page of the local paper today. Well, only a small mention of it made the front page, but there is a big picture on the first page of the B section.
A WHOLE FAMILY of Giant Palouse Earthworms, rumored to be as much as three feet long, has been found. Unfortunately they will likely be renamed the “larger-than-average Palouse Earthworm” in the near future, as they seem to be about ten inches long in adulthood. The are the beautiful shell pink color. It is unknown if they have a lily smell as described, but they do not spit. They are said to be very gentle.
I thought you would have to be updated on this important breakthrough in Giant worm taxonomy.
seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011716503_earthworm28m.html
But can they play chess?
Dear Mr. Pinkwater,
I read many of your books as a child and it is safe to say they gave me some of my current ridiculous outlook on life. However as an adult I have gotten into so-called New Age, alternative and occult books. Interestingly enough they actually seem to tie into your writing! Things like lizards, pod people, ‘astral travel’ (mentioned by Klugarsh), and even the idea of reincarnation. So my question for you is how much were you influenced by the whole New Age thing, and how has it affected you? Because even 15 years ago I knew your stories were a special kind of rediculous!
Well, I came of age in the 60s--there was plenty of it about.
I just went through an online Go Green traing from company Deutsche Post DHL and the narrator sounded suspiciously like you, Mr. Pinkwater – have you been moonlighting as the voice of corporate training videos? If so, it makes it all the more bareable – if not, there is someone who sounds like you grabbing up what are probably good paying voice over jobs that could be yours.
I only narrate the German training videos, and for those I do my Peter Lorre voice.
Daniel, I have been showing my students the movie Fat. It has hopefully taught them something, I hope! I would like the opportunity to discuss some work and issues about overweight kids in Physical Education class. I have been teaching health and PE for 11 years. I feel there is a need to enlighten people about the struggles that many kids have in this area. I hope to hear from you soon.
Brian Fox
What movie, Fat, are you talking about? Am I supposed to know about it? All I have to say about issues of ""overweight"" is it is a trivial matter, and doesn't bear thinking about. This is not to say that people ought not to eat a healthy diet and take part in appropriate exercise--but since statistically, there is practically no chance for people currently fat to become not-fat, and almost all of the medical ""advances"" offering weight-loss so far have done harm and none have done any good, there doesn't seem to me to be any point worrying about it. People of any size or shape can benefit from avoiding things like sugar, white flour and fat in their diet, eating plenty of fresh veggies, and moving their bodies around--and if one does these things one will be happier, smarter, and good-looking. If I taught health and PE, I would teach the kids to make great salads and vegetable soups, and get them to hate bottled soft drinks. I would also give credit for things like strolling, walking, and ping-pong.
Hello Mr.Pinkwater may you please buy me a PSP because I think my friend Evan Cordnes is lieing to me.ps:do you like nachoes because i do.pss:I am about to have a baby sister
I like nachos, but not because you do. I liked them before I knew you did. Of course, now that I know you do, I feel even more that I was correct in liking them in the first place. A nacho is a small sheepdog that comes from Portugal, right?
hello this is mt first time talking to someone who writes a book I have something to ask you please honest I had read something about you that you had this website and people could talk to you. do you think this is safe for kids like how could they know if this was just some ramdom guy but then I dont know, well anyways how long have you been writing books? ive never really have read one of your books and i cant find them and sorry i could not give out my name its kind of for my own safey you understand I would if this was only me and you talking but anyways how old are you whats your faviort book you have writen? sorry I dont sell so well im only in fourth grade going on to 5 please reple your #1 fan
You think I'm the author who did Harry Potter, don't you?
Dearest Daniel Pinkwater,
My children and I listened over and over again to your cassette recordings of dog stories, hot chilies in Africa, the way your guide could tell a “daft” joke, the pet psychic, becoming a painter/writer by watching a tree. I cannot find those recordings on CD; I miss them. Please, Please, Please release those precious stories on CD or add them to your archive (have I missed them?…although CDs are best – you do deserve compensation). Your devoted, Jeannine Moran
You seem to think it is I, the author/reader-aloud, who releases things on CDs. It is not so. There are publishers. Publishers are commercial enterprises, and (shudder) corporations. Try to get one of those to do something useful or appropriate. However....I have good news for you. If you would care to review the archived podcasts on this very website, many of the pieces you mention are there. You can put them on your very own CD, with my blessing.
dear mr Pinkwater,
you should listen to this amazing song about the chicken man! it’s by a band of conjoined twin sisters called evelyn Evelyn. for obvious reasons, i think you’ll like it a lot.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=seL08LQIntQ
sam
I had to get up and dance.
Dear Mr. Pinkwater.
Just got done listening to the podcast of you and Mr. Simon reading the “Bear Who Wasn’t”.
Then, I was reminded of the book that I just finished reading to my wife: “Freddy Goes Camping” by Walter R. Brooks. I discovered Freddy just a couple of years ago and am enthralled. I know that you and Mr. Simon only do kids’ picture books (which we also enjoy), but would you ever bring Freddy back to the attention of the world? He’s worth it, in my opinion.
Also, belated condolences on Lulu. We just lost our cat of the same number of years and your recollections of Lulu brought a misty smile to my face.
Thanks for everything you do!
What I do is just dive into the 2,000 or so books that come in the form of review copies, and search for something of quality that might fit the requirements of the radio program. Should Freddy turn up he would get a look, same as the others. Lulu's successor, Kee, is doing her best to live up to the tradition. I hope you got another cat.
Hello Daniel and the salami seller! Just found out about the 2/27 NPR broadcast..you and Scott and the Bear! We were away, so missed it. Really sorry! A great fan of yours, and your picks, which I often give to my grandchildren and greatgrands. It’s hard to believe that I’m “the little girl that is” on the dedication page. Patricia Ann here.
Great to see the Bear revival; there’s even an animated version by Chuck Jones on UTUBE! When I was still a little girl, Keenan Wynn made a recording of the book.
In the 60’s it was published by a factory owner as a gift for his employees! After the original edition, it was reprinted in 14 different languages and my Father’s face was on the front of Saturday Review of Literature. Big stuff back then!
If you want to see my face on the front of a newspaper, I’d be glad to send it along…you will then know I am no long that little girl! There was a big article on me, small town!, just because my Father was a famous guy. Must have been a slow news week! Anyway, I’d love you to see it…and me! I don’t weigh 245 pds, but I would sell salami door to door. Actually, I will be selling salami soon…we are opening a wine bar. Seems to be the thing in Yamhill County, heart of Oregon’s wine industry.
I’ll get in touch with Scott Simon (any excuse!) The Bear thanks you, I thank you, Pat
All I can say is it's fun messing with the classics! Thanks for the kind words.
As a young lad, did you have a penchant to jump off of stuff? (Along the lines of the 3 to 5 foot plummet, not referring to kamikaze adrenalin business.)
I had no inclination to jump off things as a child. In later years I was a member of the Bard College Parachute Club, and even as such made no jumps, (nor did any of the other members). I did once consider purchasing a paid of sandals with thick soles, but thought better of it.
Dear Mr. Pinkwater,
For my ninth birthday, my stepdad presented me with a copy of ‘5 Novels’. It is pretty high on my ‘Best Presents I Have Ever Received’ list, though ‘4: Fantastic Novels’ comes pretty darn close.
I have tried to explain to people why I love your books so much. It usually goes something like this:
Person: So… he drenches them in Grape Nuts? And occasionally they tell stories about a kid with a similar name who comes to tragic ends? And that’s it?
Me: I don’t think you understand. The nickname of one of the members is Venustiano Carranza, President of Mexico.
Person: Venustiano Carranza?
Me: President of Mexico. Yes.
Also, I have attempted to explain the hilarity of ‘Unterwasserschwimmenboot’ a ridiculous number of times. So maybe the reason I love your books more than the average teenager is that nine years in Switzerland has made all German-related jokes hilarious to me.
Anyway, I just want to thank you. I want to thank you for the Snark, for the Wild Dada Ducks, for Borgel, Fafner, and for Leonard Neeble. You would not think I was a very interesting person if you met me. I am eighteen, and I spend a lot of time doing fairly typical things with fairly bland people. (I even love school– though we use the opposite of the notebook system, so that might have something to do with it.) But I have never stopped looking for my own version of the Magic Moscow or Beanbender’s Beer Garden (even the Bermuda Triangle Chili Parlor would do). I especially want to thank you for the adventures that that hunt has led me on, because they may be the only thing about me that is actually unique in any way.
Margot
P.S. Apparently, you and my mother were once both in the running to write a piece for some New York publication, and you wound up getting the job. Consequently, I have spent the last nine years defending your work in my household. Hooray.
Well, since I am more and more of the opinion that, once written, fiction is a collaborative undertaking with the reader--which is to say the book is not finished until you read it, and what you make of it is the important part of the process--if you think there is something unique about my books it may well be that you are the one who supplied it, and this would suggest that you are a unique person indeed. I don't recall being ""in the running"" to write a piece for some New York publication. Ask your mother if she's sure it was me. All the numbers in your message are nine, add up to nine, or are divisible by nine--why is this?
I’m hungry.
Some time ago while talking to Scott Simon, you waxed poetic about the brisket sandwiches at a deli in Wappinger’s Falls.
Is the place still there? If yes, will you share the name with me?
My stomach and I thank you. Van
Are you sure it was me? Are you sure it was Wappingers Falls? The mind plays tricks regarding things heard on the radio. If there is a deli in Wappingers serving brisket worth waxing poetic I would certainly remember, if I knew of it, and certainly want to know of it since I do not.
