Daniel Manus Pinkwater (November 15, 1941) of Memphis, Tennessee, United States is an author of mostly children's books and is an occasional commentator on National Public Radio. He attended Bard College. Well-known books include Lizard Music, The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, Fat Men from Space, and the picture book The Big Orange Splot.

Pinkwater tends to write books about (frequently obese) social misfits who find themselves in bizarre situations, such as searching for a floating island populated by human-sized intelligent lizards (Lizard Music), exploring other universes with an obscure relative (Borgel), and discovering that their teeth can function as interstellar radio antennae (Fat Men from Space).

They are often, though not always, set in thinly disguised versions of Chicago or New Jersey. A recurring character in many of his books is the Chicken Man, an elderly man who carries a performing chicken on his head.

He varies his name slightly between books (among, e.g., "Daniel Pinkwater", "Daniel M. Pinkwater", "Daniel Manus Pinkwater", "D. Manus Pinkwater", etc.); allegedly, he claims that he does this in order to annoy the librarians who have to catalogue his books.

In addition to his large following of four to eleven year olds, Pinkwater has inspired a small cult following, consisting of young adults who find undeniable truth in his work. This is evident in the quotes recommending Pinkwater's two collections of novels. These recommendations consist solely of young men (generally) who have found his work inspirational to an extent rarely found in children's authors.

Mr. Pinkwater is also known to avid fans of the NPR radio show Car Talk, where he has appeared as a (seemingly) random call in. The most recent involved the hosts' search for a car most suited to large drivers. Mr. Pinkwater offered a combination of truly humorous insight into the physics of the buttocks, and practical advice as to the choice of automobiles. He also has his own radio show on NPR, "Chinwag Theater."

Partial bibliography

Children's books

• Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars (1979)
• Blue Moose (1975)
• Borgel
• Fat Men from Space
• The Hoboken Chicken Emergency
• The Last Guru
• Lizard Music
• Looking for Bobowicz: A Hoboken Chicken Story
• The Magic Moscow
• The Magic Pretzel
• The Muffin Fiend
• Slaves of Speigel
• The Snarkout Boys books:
  • The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death
  • The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror
• The Worms of Kukumlima
• The Wuggie Norple Story (1980)
• Mystery Monster of Lake Ontario

Young adult novels

• The Education of Robert Nifkin
• Young Adult Novel

Picture books

• Bad Bears in the big city : an Irving & Muktuk story
• The Big Orange Splot
• Bongo Larry
• The Devil in the Drain
• Doodle Flute
• Ducks!
• Guys From Space
• Ice-cream Larry
• Irving and Muktuk : two bad bears
• Spaceburger: a Kevin Spoon and Mason Mintz Story
• Toothgnasher Superflash
• Wempires

Adult fiction

• The Afterlife Diet

Non-fiction

• Hoboken Fish and Chicago Whistle: a book of essays, combining essays from two previous books:
  • Chicago Days, Hoboken Nights
  • Fish Whistle
• Superpuppy: on raising a dog
• Uncle Boris in the Yukon: and Other Shaggy Dog Stories

References

• Daniel Manus Pinkwater. Entry in Contemporary Authors Online, Thomson Gale, 2005. Accessed 2005-09-27.

External Links

• Official site
• The P-Zone: Unofficial Pinkwater Site

Living people | 1941 births | American writers | Jewish American writers