5 Novels: Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars; Slaves of Spiegel; The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death; The Last Guru; Young Adult Novel

How can I not have written a review for Alan Mendelsohn? At the time I read it, now 30 years ago, it was the first thing I had ever read that made me laugh out loud. My paperback copy is held together with rubber bands. On buying this thick 5 novel set (purportedly for my daughter) it presents a hazard to my own continuity of task. I find myself engrossed for at least 10 pages before life makes me put it down. Alan Mendelsohn is my favorite story of all time.And Snarkout Boys: in eighth grade I handwrote a play based on the actions in this book. Because of that book, I have always sought out avocados that were "black and blasted looking". The most memorable part: Beanbenders bar. I have to think the author had been to Beanbenders, it is so well depicted. The proprietor bakes potatoes, stuffs in his thumb, drops in a piece of butter, and passes it to you to eat out of hand. The section when the Boys leave the dark night and enter Beanbenders scratched a new groove in my brain.A last thought - Mr Pinkwater, if your visage must grace the cover, consider donning a motorcycle jacket and channelling Clarence Yojimbo, offering the intrepid reader a bowl of Green Death chili. You could photoshop your eyes to look more Venusian.

There's beginning reader Pinkwater, (Larry the Polar Bear, Bad Bears in the City), and early reader Pinkwater, ("Hoboken Chicken Emergency"), and older teen Pinkwater, ("Education of Robert Nifkin"), but these 5 novels count as the essential middle grade and early teen works. This is a huge, reasonably priced, collection of some of Pinkwater's very best work. Especially entertaining is the Snarkout Boys episode, and of course, Alan Mendelsohn, The Boy From Mars. And you really should be familiar with the Moscow. So, if you have a middle grade or up reader with even a slightly kinked sense of humor, this is a wonderful book to try. On another hand, this book could also be titled "Chicken Soup for the Smart Mildly Nerdy Teen's Soul". So if you have a smart teen, or a mildly nerdy teen, or any kind of teen at all, this book is worth a try. That's especially so because these novels are not "I'm too hip for the room" books that impress you but keep you at a distance; these are books that invite you to the party and invite you to join the fun.

I've been looking for Pinkwater's ALAN MENDELSOHN read for some time, and finally came across it here. It's been YEARS since I last read this, but being a YA writer, I've a son whom I write for. I want him to enjoy the reads I did when I was his age. This is one of them.I don't remember much about this book (I'll post a review of this more adequately when I do), but one thing I recall: Pinkwater's ability to make the nonsensical make sense, like Dr. Seuss without pictures or rhyme. It's the magic in his imagination that moved the cadence through his words. The beauty of those words made the illogical logical, the impossible possible and the unlikely, likely. He put into words what you can't do with your dreams; while you're dreaming them, they make sense.Books today sure aren't written in this fashion. Death by avocado? Genius! Shooting your eye out via a ricocheting bobby pin? It can happen. Maiming by a rogue Popsicle? Sure, why not? Pinkwater makes having an imagination and dreams deeply embedded in said imagination justified and worth paying attention to.Be it MENDELSOHN or GREEN EGGS & HAm, both men and their imaginations on 'roids are timeless.

Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars, is hands down the best read-aloud my boys heard as they were growing up. They were about 8 - 10 years of age when I read it to them, and now as they enter their forties, they still remember the story with fondness. In fact, this book went to a grandson! Daniel Pinkwater does it all - satire/humor/the human condition (especially as seen through the eyes of a boy) and did I say SO FUNNY! Highly recommend it!

Although everyone seems to talk about Alan Medelsohn, the Boy form Mars, and rightly should - it is that much fun. I just loved Slaves of Spiegel. The accepted insanity of it all just cracked me up. It appears that being carried away in a space ship is not as incredulous as cheating on a receipe. Buy the book, you'll have so much fun!

If you haven't read Pinkwater before, this is a good place to start. If you are familiar with his work then rejoice for here are five books in one. And not just any five books... oh no. This collection contains not only Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars and Young Adult Novel but the first and best of the Snarkout Boy books. Buy it, read it, and know that you and your children will never be the same.

I love this author and have fun memories of reading his books when I was a kid, so I wanted to share them with my 9 year old son. He didn't want to read it because the cover of this book is... well, boring. Pinkwater's work deserves to be in print and read, but I have to agree this cover (sorry, Daniel!) and the poor quality binding and paper don't encourage the age group that the stories aim to reach to "reach for this book" --- and that is a shame. My son did enjoy the stories when I read them to him at bedtime, especially Alan Mendelsohn Boy from Mars.

Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars has been a piece of fond literature from my youth. I loved this story and highly recommend it.

All his books are great!

All three of us kids(in our 60's) have a copy and love it.