Crazy in Poughkeepsie
-
- $9.99
-
- $9.99
Publisher Description
The inimitable Daniel Pinkwater (The Hoboken Chicken Emergency) brings his zany wit and wisdom to a gentle middle-grade adventure following a kid’s off-the-beaten-path journey, featuring an unfocused spiritual guide, a not-quite-dwarf, a graffiti “artist,” a ghost whale, and mystical shenanigans galore.
“Crazy in Poughkeepsie is a ludicrous romp reminiscent of the Muppets! This is a book that will make you laugh, grin, and maybe look for more whimsy in your own world.”
—Beth Cato, author of The Clockwork Dagger
“[Pinkwater has] a magic that’s not like anyone else’s.”
—Neil Gaiman, author of American Gods
Mick is a good kid, but maybe he can use just a little guidance. But it’s unclear who will be guiding whom, because Mick’s brother came home from Tibet with the self-proclaimed Guru Lumpo Smythe-Finkel and his dog Lhasa—and then promptly settled both of them in Mick’s bedroom.
The thing about this kind of guru is that he doesn’t seem to know exactly what he’s trying to do. He sure does seem to be hungry, though.
So Mick agrees to something like a quest, roaming the suburbs with the oddest group of misfits: Lumpo and Lhasa; graffiti-fanatic Verne; and Verne’s unusual friend Molly. Molly is a Dwergish girl—don’t worry if you don’t know what that is yet—and she seems to be going off the rails a bit.
Along the way, the gang will get invited to a rollicking ghost party, consult a very strange little king, and actually discover the truth about Heaven. Or a version of the truth anyway, because in a Daniel Pinkwater tale, the truth is never the slightest bit like what you’re expecting.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mick returns home from summer camp to find "a little old man" named Guru Lumpu Smythe-Finkel occupying his bedroom in Pinkwater's (Adventures of a Dwergish Girl) jovial novel. Though Mick's older brother Maurice brought Lumpu and his dog Lhasa home from his trip to the Himalayas, the guru takes Mick on as his apprentice. During their daily hikes, Lumpu—who insists that destiny led him to Poughkeepsie, N.Y.—teaches Mick to appreciate the innate oddness of his hometown. The pair are joined by Vern, Mick's environmental activist friend from summer camp, and Molly, a new arrival from the Catskill Mountains who describes herself as "crazy... I'm not myself." After encountering a ghost whale named Luna, the group embarks on a quest to guide the cetacean to her final resting place at the "whaley pearly gates." Though outmoded language regarding mental health goes unexamined, this caper offers comical adventure, and Renier's b&w illustrations exude classic comic strip aesthetics, admirably complementing Pinkwater's straightforwardly told absurdist humor. Most characters cue as white; Mick's family reads as Jewish. Ages 10–13.