I read this book and, was doomed to a wonderful life of reading Daniel Pinkwater Books. This book was and is my favorite book and I am sure it always will be. Alan mendehlson is a book that could only be written by the mind of a genius, tried and true. Daniel has changed my life and will continue to change our outlook on life for generations to come. I like to call myself a Pinkwater addict and I am proud of it. All you intellegent kids out there, get it while it's hot!!!!!

this might be one of pink waters older ones but it is on of the best

basically what happens is two boys go to a used and weird book store spend some cash and get a mind nd state enchancing book. then they finally get to sate 26 then they go back to the book shop. the book shop owner mr kulklash tells them that they can go into state 26. then they get a book that mentions in waka waka lore that they will save them. they have a few more things happen and then they save the waka wakaians and allen mealstorm gos back to mars and invites the narrater to stay with him for the summer

I checked this book out of my public library at the age of 10, and renewed it every week thereafter for another reading. All told, I probably read it over 200 times; it has had more of an influence on my life than my parents, television, Bill Gates, and God combined. It's what kept me out of all the really good schools.

This was a childhood favorite of my family. I can't believe it's out of print. It's a great book for kids (and adults) of all ages.

My mom used to read this book to my younger brother and I all the time when we were little (I'm 13 now...still love the book..). We used to laugh and laugh. I still do when I read this at bedtime, just for kicks. It's great! The names of the characters are hilarious and the dad plays a whistle made out of a carrot! C'mon now, that's awesome!

THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ! For the last 6 years, I have only been able to locate ONE copy of this book, and that was at our public library. My son's school library does not even have a copy (shame, pitiful shame). What a treasure we stumbled upon when we first checked this book out some 2001 trips to the library ago. Daniel Pinkwater has an uncanny imagination that sucks readers of all ages in with his witty, nonsense storyline. Today I'm presenting this story to my son's second grade class...and I'm sure my son will spew the words of the book from memory. Check it out for yourself~ plenty of laughter and smiles are sure to follow.

A perfect bedtime story. Clever, humourous, rhythmically pleasing, the right length, and truly fun to read aloud. My 4-year-old is never disappointed when we read this one, and even the 8-year-old and the 11-year-old wander in to listen. I commune with the author's sense of humour -- though I must confess I found his interview on this website pretty vapid. The book, however, is a classic and I'd buy a hardcover copy anytime.

An adventure story told with a drool sense of humor. Understated and fun to read aloud. A sense of normalcy and absurdity underlies a boy's space journey.

This is a wonderful book. I can't tell you how many times our son has begged us to read it. Of course he doesn't have to beg long because we thouroughly enjoy this book as well. We have checked it out from the library almost every week for months now and hope it will be back in print soon! When it does, I am buying one for everyone I know!

Wow. I've read most of the Daniel Pinkwater books and this is one of my favorites. How can you go wrong with characters called Rat, Heinz, and Uncle Flipping? His obsession with strange names and chareacters and fast food definitely shows up in this book!
If you liked this book you would probably like the book Alan Mendelson, The Boy from Mars.
CHEERS!

... and that's saying a lot. I've been a big Pinkwater fan for many years, and this is my favorite of his. The book is longer than his short picture books - long enough that he can really get into the story - and what a story! It just keeps getting better and better as you go on. Yes, this is Pinkwater at his best - demand its republishing!

My dad and I listened to the audio version in the car. I absolutely loved this, as did he. We even listened to it twice.

Let your dreams become your reality! Make waves! Be who you are, not who everyone thinks you are! Share your dreams and bring joy and a sense of freedom to all who come in contact with you! These are the messages of "The Big Orange Splot", Daniel Pinkwater's utterly, delightlful tale. Mr. Plumbean turns the disaster of the "big orange splot" of paint dropped on his roof by a sea gull into an opportunity to break away from the constraints of conformity. You will smile as you read how his daring actions liberate his whole "neat street". Recommended for children and adults who all need reminding that there is still a child in all of us. I LOVE this BOOK!!!!!!

This was the first Pinkwater book I encountered. In fact, it was the only Pinkwater book I had as a child. I loved it then, I love it now. I've read and enjoyed many other Pinkwater books as an adult, but this one is still my favorite because of its sheer nonsense in the pursuit of happiness. I am overcome with giddy joy every time I read The Big Orange Splot.

Our copy of The Big Orange Splot is dog-eared from reading. Mr. Plumbean, whose house is splotted upon by a paint-wielding seagull, expands himself by creating the home of his imagination. He causes a revolution on his neat street, not combatively, but persuasively, by living his dreams and inspiring his neighbors to do the same. This book takes the band from around the conformist's heart and allows it to expand to fill one's personal space. Please read this to your children often.

This was a very good book and I will recomend it to anyone. It is about two boys who become friends with a strange girl who has a strange family. They get stuck in a clamber between forces of good and evil and finally emerge victorios.

The title alone is enough to make you want to kiss Daniel Pinkwater. This book includes: industrial espionage, professional wrestling, a female teenage punk, an adult that believes avacadoes hold the secrects of the universe, and a boy named Winston Bongo.

Three characters, Walter Galt, Winston Bongo, and Rat have more than one adventure while sneaking around in the middle of the night. They discover a city within a city, containing it's own strange cast of characters and rituals.

No adult or child could possibly be bored by this classic. This book is the stuff childhood dreams are made of. And, it will prompt your kids to investigate the odd-yet-wonderful pop culture references Pinkwater makes. I adore this story, and when I really need to escape, I pick it up and read it again. It is a treasure.

What does "snarkout" mean and what is an "avocado of death"? Walter Galt and his "weird" friend, Winston Bongo, love to sneak out of their peaceful homes at midnight to "snark". They creep downtown in dark hats to the Snark Theater to enjoy double feature, old movies. Winston invented Snarking, or so he claims. When the boys meet Bentley Saunders Harrison Matthews, a girl who looks and calls herself Rat, they discover that not only did Winston not invent Snarking, but that Rat's uncle, Flipping Hades Terwilliger, has been snarking for every for seventeen years! Walter and, especially, Winston are in awe. When Winston and Walter become friends with Rat, Uncle Flipping leads all of them into a mysterious chase across town to a special underground street to a secret warehouse where Walter and Winston come face-to-face with a criminal mastermind and get a chance to work with a world-famous detective! This is an excellent science fiction book. In every chapter, a wild character or strange event was waiting to happen. Rat and her crazy family lead Winston and Walter into experiences that they've never dreamed of an, sadly, Winston realizes that he's not an original snarker. I really liked the book. It seemed really odd at the beginning when Walter, the narrator, started talking about "snarking" but once it was explained, everything began to make sense. I especially liked it when Walter, Winston, and Rat were working on the mystery (You have to read the book to find out!) with the world-famous detective and they discover a giant... I would encourage everyone to read The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death!

Borgel is a classic example of Daniel Pinkwater's very imaginative, creative, and captivating writing style. A very good example of that indeed , I enjoyed it thoroughly. The basic story is as follows, a boy who lives in a relatively boring, normal family, one day is startled by a man at the front door claiming to be a relative of the family and in need of a place to stay. The family obliges and the man comes to live with them. The man (Borgel) takes the boy (Melvin Spellbound) on a long trip and they have many unexpected adventures. Good words to use when talking about this book would be unique, interesting, funny, fantastic, goofy, unexpected, ingenious, weird, and that's just to name a few. If you like hearing about new, interesting, people, places, and things, then this is a great book for you. They encounter all sorts of amazing and intriguing people and things. Everything from giant popsicle museums , to bloboforms who own root beer float stands. This book is less of a book than an experience, one must however, enter with an open mind, because without an open mind, one is doomed to monotony, which this reading experience does not provide. It instead provides a colorful, exciting, (as much as this may sound monotonous), imaginative new perspective of things. The physics of time will be revealed, the dimensions of space will be unveiled, the very reasons for life will be explained to you in this book. Someone who wants to learn about how to plant azaleas however, should read something else. I actually found this book rather refreshing, because instead of dealing with the corruption, indecency, and everything dragging our country down a moral sewer, or people going insane from war, or how hard it is to leave home and everything you love, this book shines as a golden ray of light in a mire of depressing, monotonous, dark books. Frankly, I was getting sick for a second of all those books they make you read in school about conspirators killing people and mothers killing their sons. I was ready for something new, and this was the book for me. I think it will be the for you as well.

Whenever I read any of Mr. Pinkwater's books I am amazed at the range and intelligience of this humorist.
"Borgel" has become one of my favorites. From the first chapter I was hooked. The arrival of Borgel ,a flaky, casual genius, to the home of Melvin and his family is like a spark to dry wood. The world that "Uncle Borgel" takes his "Nephew" is fantastic but oddly comparable to our own (though I don't believe you'll be able to get any french fried meteorites in your local McDonald's).
This story moves along with a series of events that keeps one's mind sparked and one's lips twitching with laughter.
Mr. Pinkwater's "Borgel" flows like melted popsicles.

Borgel is a fast-paced space adventure strongly reminiscent of Douglas Adams' 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'. At least five years after first reading it, I still tell the Aesops' Fable parodies as jokes (acknowledging their origin, of course :)).

Whenever I go to a bookstore with a new friend, I check out the Daniel Pinkwater section. The ones who turn out to be the best friends inevitably remember _some_ Pinkwater book from their childhood--Lizard Music or Fat Men From Space or The Magic Moscow--but the best and most resonant are Alan Mendelsohn, The Boy From Mars and The Snarkout Boys And The Avocado Of Death, and they're both included here. The former is about the best teenage-friendship book ever written, the latter drives a stake through the heart of the teenage-detective genre, and this anthology also includes the ridiculously brilliant Young Adult Novel. I want my kids to have this book. More to the point, I want my kids to think they're not supposed to be reading this book, but to read it anyway.

When i picked this book up I was about nine I started reading it. it is really somthing you have to read, alen mendelsohn the Boy from mars is my favorite story you can't explain how good it is you have to read it. if you liked harry potter you will love it if you didn't you'll still love it.daniel pinkwater is a genius when it comes to writing .i just don't know how he does it but he really is good at it and he's got to keep up the good work if he is going to keep us going it should be a sin not to read this EXCELLENT book. i wish i could explain how good it is but you'll have to read it to find out don't hesitate just do it it is the longest book i ever read it is the best book i ever read as well.

The price would be a bargain just for one of the books it contains. Some of these books (and a lot of Pinkwater's others) start out with ordinary kids or teenagers who have adventures and slowly find things getting weirder and weirder. Others just start out weird and never let up. _Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars_ is probably the best of these five. It makes surviving high school sound almost fun; Alan Mendelsohn brightens up a dull day by tripping people, telling his history class about Ben Franklin's sex life, and telling the whole school he's a Martian. He's my new role model. _The Snarkout Boys and the Avacado of Death_ is similar in that it's about high school boys who make their lives more interesting -- by sneaking out at night to the Snark Theater and making friends with avacado-obsessed movie-lovers. _Young Adult Novel_ is delightfully clever, absurd, and ironic, and _The Last Guru_ is pretty good as well. (I haven't finished _Slaves of Spiegel_ yet.) If you like Pinkwater at all, it's hard to go wrong with the funny, fascinating books in this collection.

Blue Moose is an excellent short book for kids to learn on. I first read it at the age of 12, when I was reading quite well, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I haven't met any other Blue Moose fans other than my friends and myself, and that disappoints me.This book should definitely be reprinted. I am not a tame moose!!!

THIS BOOK MUST BE REPRITED! I remember having a teacher read this book to my class and it was really funny. Who would ever dream up about a blue moose who does the things that he does except Pinkwater. We need more books like this one! I would love to have a copy of this book and of THE BLUE MOOSE RETURNS. Everyone should read this book.

Someone before mentioned the line "I AM NOT A TAME MOOSE!" I, too, am prone to saying that--it's got to be my favorite line. My mom read this story to me many, many, many times when I was little. Now I'm 19, and I still make her read it to me. Everybody should read this book!

This is one of those books that you read, and because of its originality, it makes a lasting impression and you never forget it. I, like many other reviewers first read this book in the third or fourth grade. Our little private Catholic school got two D.M. Pinkwater books added to the library, and everybody in my class wanted to read them. I actually wanted the other, Fat Men From Space, but it was taken, so I picked up Lizard Music. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made! This book is amazing, it's funny, fascinating, and very strange. Everything from the Chicken Man to Raymond the Lizard(s), to some island made invisible because of... refraction of light... or something. (It's been a while.) Anyway, my point is, this book has made a great and long-lasting impression on me, and if you like strange and semi-eerie things, or just great fiction... this is a MUST READ!

This is the second book I read by Daniel Manus Pinkwater. I loved it! It's a great story, and one that kids will definetely like.. It's just got the exact mix of realistic adventure and silliness that makes a good read. Plus, it's got the Chicken Man, a character from several of Pinkwater's books, it features large lizards, and a healthy dose of Walter Cronkite. I don't think it gets much better.

Looking back at all the books I read as a kid, I fondly recall several books which did more than tell a wonderful story...they truly made me think differently about the world around me. The L'Engle books, the Dahl books, and the Pinkwater books fall into this category. But most of all, Lizard Music. It's the book that made my kid-self reorganize his brain to accomodate a world with talking lizards and lesser kudus. It's still one of my favorite books of all time.