Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars by Daniel M. Pinkwater

Some of the eccentrics have a huckster quality some are enthusiastic but wrongheaded and others are pure pranksters. Far better than the notion in so much media that adults are either vicious or dopey, and have little to offer the child. The adults in Alan Mendelsohn are either well-meaning but dull, or eccentric and cool. You have to be 'tuned in' to the right channels, whether through a lucky dental filling, attention to late night end-of-day programming, or possess a certain ability to reach a state of being that allows you access to the cool stuff. Under a dull surface of tedious activities such as school, dental appointments, gym classes, and dealing with horrible people, there is another just-as-real world of wonders that is not known to most. Pinkwater's kids inhabit interesting worlds there is a term in SF criticism, 'wainscot worlds', that may apply here. Throw in a panoply of references to space travel, time travel, astral planar travel, lost continents, mind control, telekinesis, codes and ciphers, Venusians and Martians, and other quasi-nonsense, and you have an amazing ride. One also learns (as if one hadn't already learned this by 11) that old bookstores are cool, old and messy bookstores are cooler, and the weirdo guys who inhabit them are helpful eccentrics. Toss in perfect corn muffins and you have the basis for what I know will be a very successful food truck. One learns the best way to chew bubblegum and smoke cigars (comcurrently) the best way to eat chili (hot and green) and the best drink for a genius (very dark hot chocolate with fresh marshmallows). But this was, to me his masterpiece.Ī great gleaming smorgasbord of weirdness and nerdish power fantasies. I had already discovered the great Daniel Manus Pinkwater from his work with fat men in plaid sportcoats munching their way through the burgers of earth, the appearance of a giant chicken in New Jersey, and the lizard music of late night television.

One of my favorite books from childhood, I remember its fresh plastic jacket glinting at me in the new books spinner at my elementary school library.

Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars by Daniel M. Pinkwater