I recall picking this up at the elementary school library back in the day. It was a nice, brief, cutesy little tome that I became quite attached to. It involves the owner of an ice cream parlor in Hoboken, N.J., and the somewhat sickly-looking Alaskan malamute he buys from a local kennel. Included in the mix is a local dog show that goes horribly wrong, and our protagonist meeting his idol! Plenty of silly situations and amusingly strange moments abound in this neat little tale.

I gave 'The Magic Moscow' a read at least a couple times a year up until the end of fourth-grade, when I started considering it a bit too simple for my maturing reading tastes. Due to the cut-off point I personally experienced, I recommend this for children in the second-through-fourth-grade range. Although listed at 57 pages, only about 40 pages of it is text, the rest simple cartoonish illustrations. If your child has pretty good reading comp, he/she will likely go through this within an hour. More than likely, a very entertaining hour at that!

'Late

A stranger comes to visit Mozart. The stranger asks Mozart to help him solve a mystery. It seems that all the muffins in Vienna are being stolen! Indeed, the stranger reveals himself as Inspector LeChat, from France, and tells us that Paris is now muffinless as well! In fact, the Mozart household is without a single muffin! Oh my.

There is even a Municipal Bakery, where those unable to own ovens of their own (or the means with which to buy muffins) can bake their own, for a pittance. There a group of bakers opens the hot ovens, only to find the muffins gone! The muffin fiend steals from the poor as well!

Inspector LeChat and Mozart solve the mystery. Yes, one individual is stealing the muffins. No, he's not eating them.

Great Pinkwater-ish humor is on display throughout this book. The copy I read was 44 pages, half of which are illustrated. This was about a 20 minute read for me. It's probably perfect for children ages 6-10 who like silly humor.

Then again, i'm 33, and I liked it quite a bit.

ken32

This is a funny book that both parents and kids will enjoy - the humor is very sophisticated. I use it with kids who are reluctant readers and the silly storyline really hooks them. It's a nice alternative to books like Captain Underpants, because the book is funny without being mean. Captain Underpants has it's place (the kids love these books), but it's nice to find a book with similar appeal that isn't so anti-school!

This is a children's book about a young boy's Uncle Melvin who lives in the "Looney Bin," and is the boy's caretaker during the day while his parents are at work. The child's open heart and Uncle Melvin's refreshing views on rainbows and weather are an excellent reminder, to parents and children both, that there is beauty in everyone.

Yobgorgle is a charming children's book written by Daniel Pinkwater. The story follows a young boy's summer with relatives in upstate NY while hunting Yobgorgle, a "monster" supposedly residing in Lake Ontario. Along the way, there are many fun adventures and for those of you who live in Upstate NY, a lot of references to the area, especially around Rochester and the Lake Ontario area. A great read, very imaginative!

Young Adults is a miscellany of Pinkwater's writings for young adults (though bigger kids will appreciate it, too). It includes his long 1982 story, "Young Adult Novel", about a group of five junior-high-school friends who have devoted their lives to the art movement of Dadaism, and whose classmates and administrators do not understand their passion for the bizarre. Young Adults is a hearty dose of Pinkwater's offbeat humor, though darker and more morbid than many of his other works. If you appreciate grim and esoteric, though wacky, humor, then you may enjoy Young Adults as much as I did, which was lots.

Daniel Pinkwater writes charming and understated books for children,and somehow manages to portray the the fantasies realistically as a result. He admits to children the scary aspects of polar bears- they eat stinky food, they're really big, their mothers (and fathers) treat the cubs harshly, but Larry ends up as a likable character anyway. Anyone who asks his brother "so, do you think we can fend?" has a pretty good sense of himself. When Larry arrives in New Jersey (!) he quickly learns from "A Human" what it takes to get what he wants in this new and exciting culture. He settles down to do what needs to be done- earn money to buy muffins. No one seems to think twice about his outer bearsona for some time. Somehow, Daniel Pinkwater pulls that off, and my daughters have never questioned it.

This wasn't the first "Larry" book we owned, but I think it is the most charming of them. They all do have their charms and phrases that stay with you, and my daughters like them all. This would be a good gift for a book loving child because they are not too likely to already own it; it isn't one of the books you can find everywhere, but it's worth looking for.

I think my only real issue with the content of "Slaves of Spiegel" is that Pinkwater seems to be trying to be Douglass Adams, but doesn't quite make it.
The other thing that surprised me about the cassette was how lack-luster Pinkwater's performance is. Usually one would expect the author to do an exceptional job of reading, seeing as he knows what he was thinking when he wrote it and can imbue the characters with just the right inflections, emotions, and etc. But Pinkwater just doesn't pull it off. The book is read at high speed in a near monotone. He doesn't attempt to provide different voices, inflections, or rhythms for different characters, and he never leaves time for you to laugh at the sheerly ludicrous situations into which the characters are inserted. In other words, he's entirely lacking in comic timing.
Anyway, after hearing an absolutely hilarious performance (not reading) of "The Snarkout Boys and the Avacado of Death," I was dissapointed in "Slaves."

Ever since my grade-school days, I've been a follower of Daniel Pinkwater's 'Magic Moscow' books. 'Slaves of Spiegel', the third and (so far) last book in the saga of Hoboken's most unusual fast-food joint, contains more than its fair share of that trademark droll weirdness and strange culinary combinations that I've come to expect from the 'Magic Moscow' series as well as most of Pinkwater's other books geared towards grade-school children and adults who enjoy a nice, whimsical light read. Fair warning, though: some may find the book's somewhat un-PC portrayal of fat people less than savory. Personally, I think it really adds some good fun to the story.

Before you decide to dive into this particular adventure, however, I recommend you bone up on some of the backstory behind this book first, including 'The Magic Moscow', 'Attila the Pun', and 'Fat men From Space'. Happy reading!

'Late

Norman, Steve, and their Hoboken-based greasy spoon/health food wannabe restauraunt The Magic Moscow are kidnapped by fat men from space in polyester leisure suits and forced to participate in a Universal contest to determine the greatest junk food cook of all time. Aliens, savage ducks, white vinyl shoes, trash compactors filled with ice cream and bean sprouts, 200 tons of bright blue garlic, inept local authorities, and potato pancakes, what more of a recommendation do you need? Let's hear it for Pinkwater, weirdest of the weird!

I liked the part in the book when Bob tricked his teacher about the valentine potato.
I liked it how they made the hearts. I think it was funny.
I think my sister would like it.