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.
