Crazy in Poughkeepsie

Mick's brother, Maurice (pronounced, ‘MAW-riss, ’and not ‘Mo-REECE,’) is an average and standard older brother. He loves him, of course, but there’s nothing particularly unusual or interesting about him, except that he took a trip to the Himalayas to find a guru. Now, Mick has a new roommate with his dog! The Guru and Lhasa!
They are on an adventure with Molly, a girl, and a friend (not girlfriend) to Whales heaven. The mission is to save a very lovely whale ghost who has very much love to dance.

This was a short, cute and funny story for young readers with the motto's "Help Save the Planet". An enjoyable read with nice illustrations.

Many thanks to Tachyon Publications and Netgalley for giving me chance to read Crazy in Poughkeepsie by Daniel Pinkwater and illustrator by Aaron Renier, I have given my honest review.

Mick’s brother brings home a guru from the Himalayas and Mick is opened to a world of ghosts and whales and circus wagons and small people with stashes of gold,.. This is a frolicking set of quests complete with excessive bombination, ghost flutes and juvenile delinquents and I loved every moment. The Guru is a fantastic, mysterious, yet down-to-earth character and Lhasa, the dog, is the best. Great, entertaining middle grades novel.

Llasa Come Home

So, there's Pinkwater for little kids, (the Larry books and "Mrs. Noodlekugel"), for elementary kids, ("Werewolf Club"), for middle graders, ("Hoboken Chicken Emergency"), for advanced middle graders, ("The Neddiad...", "Lizard Music"), and for young adults, ("The Education of Robert Nifkin", "Alan Mendelsohn, Boy From Mars"). This book struck me as middle middle grade, along the lines of "Adventures of a Dwergish Girl", (with which it shares a few characters, especially Molly), and the Snarkout Boys series.

The preceding paragraph is mostly to help you place this book on the Pinkwater spectrum. I hope you don't need any encouragement in the matter of whether or not to read this particular book, or to read any Pinkwater. But if you do need encouragement, (maybe you're new to Pinkwater), here goes.

Daniel Pinkwater is the patron saint of boys and girls who are a bit weird, or off-kilter, or just proudly independent and idiosyncratic. His heroes are, indeed, heroes, and they are always smart, perceptive, deadpan, gimlet eyed, wise beyond their years, unfazed by anything, and completely undeterred by lack of precedent. They take weirdness in stride and as it comes, and welcome the odd, the absurd, the enchanted, and the ineffable. Why? Because life is an amusing and unpredictable adventure, and you might as well get on with it. In short, the goofiness is almost always the point.

I could go on with all sorts of superlatives and exaggerated compliments, but who am I when you already have a Neil Gaiman blurb on the cover? So, here's the skinny on this particular book -- we are reacquainted with Molly, the Dwergish girl from "Adventures of a Dwergish Girl". While our deadpan and unflappable narrator, Mick, is nominally the main character, Molly runs a close second, mostly because she always seems a step ahead of everyone else. A cryptic guru keeps the action moving in a forward direction, (with lots of room for digressions), but even with that the action is pretty random and episodic. Once ghosts and whales show up, we are in a more fanciful realm than what I think of as usual for Pinkwater, but that doesn't detract at all from the fun.

Lots of funny bits, and lots of sneakily wise throwaway lines and observations made this a satisfying treat. I wouldn't put it in my top five, but that's just because there are so many good books among which to choose.

(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

Daniel Pinkwater takes us to the east bank of the Hudson River, and slides the reader into the world of Mickey, the son of a Poughkeepsie pet food manufacturer, and brother of Maurice, whose burning desire is to become a guru. A lucky inheritance provides Maurice with the money to travel to Tibet, or maybe it was Pakistan or India, he wasn't sure. Amazingly he found a guru who was overdue on the rent for the cave he called “home”, so Maurice brought the guru and the guru's dog back to Poughkeepsie, and ensconced them in his brother Mickey's room, which is where Mickey found them when he arrived home from camp. This is just the beginning of a zany adventure that takes off like a verbal spontaneous problem from the Odyssey of the Mind program, with each of the 5 main characters contributing scenarios such as a ghost rave in an old factory, a campground, a circus wagon. The guru adopts Mickey as his student, Maurice becomes the chauffeur, Vern becomes a graffiti artist to spread various social messages, and Molly from Pinkwater's Adventures of a Dwergish Girl (2020)[ returns! This is a complete “out of the box” plot with dialogue that reflects each character's confusion, disbelief , commitment, or “yah, this is totally normal”. Never fear, there is a goal which involves a ghost whale.
Highly recommend!
Thank you to Tachyon Publications and Netgalley forthe opportunity to read Crazy in Poughkeepsie.

Mick’s older brother heads off for Tibet to find a guru while Mick goes to summer camp. When he returns from camp he finds his brother is home, there is a guru - with a dog - sleeping in his room and soon he will be on a sort of quest. Mick, the guru, Guru Lumpo Smythe-Finkel, and his dog, Lhasa, are joined on their quest by Verne (a friend Mitch made at camp) and Molly, a mysterious girl who sleeps in a tree ( return character from Adventures of a Dwergish Girl). There are ghosts, including a ghostly whale, circus people, hidden villages and a bit of activism all rolled into a wonderfully silly and delightful adventure.
This was an incredibly quick and fun read with nice illustrations. Sure to entertain readers of all ages. I look forward to seeing more of these characters.

Funny, thoughtful, and sometimes simply bizarre. I really enjoyed this book and think others will too, although I could see some readers (probably more adults than kids) being put off by the absurdist humor. Personally it made me want to read more by Pinkwater!

It’s difficult to find words to describe a Daniel Pinkwater book because they are a unique breed that defies the usual literary terminology: they’re enchanting (often literally), playful, spontaneous (as in combustion, upon occasion), and hilarious-yet-insightful. In other words, a Daniel Pinkwater book provides the occasion for parents wrestling the copy from their kids, and vice versa, so why not avoid bloodshed, or paper-shred, and read them aloud together?

Mick’s ordinary life comes to a screeching 180 degree turn when his older brother returns home from Tibet with Guru Lumpo Smythe-Finkel and his dog, Lhasa, and Mick finds himself—how, he’s never entirely clear—the guru’s new disciple. Guru, disciple, and magical dog set off on a quest that’s as notable for its vagueness as its unpredictability. They acquire fellow travelers, graffiti-fanatic Verne and Molly, a Dwergish girl (sort of like leprechaun trolls with hidden goals, magical powers, a gift for making friends, and a charmingly madcap sense of humor). Soon they’re cavorting with a ghost whale who is the essence of love, as well as other wacky and memorable characters.

Pinkwater’s in on a great secret: if you want to communicate wisdom to young readers, first make them smile.

Or giggle. Or run wild in Poughkeepsie, as the case may be.
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