book cover of Crazy in Poughkeepsie
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Crazy in Poughkeepsie

(2022)
A novel by

 
 
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.



Genre: Children's Fiction

Praise for this book

"Opening the pages of Crazy in Poughkeepsie was like buying a ticket back to the all the weirdness and wonder of being a kid. I'm pretty sure we passed the Phantom Tollbooth during the road trip!" - Jacqueline Carey

"Crazy in Poughkeepsie is a ludicrous romp reminiscent of the Muppets! Weirdness is positive, wonderful, and everywhere in Pinkwater's writing. This is a book that will make you laugh, grin, and maybe look for more whimsy in your own world." - Beth Cato

"The Pinkwaterverse is a place of delight and camaraderie, wordplay and weirdness, magic and epic sojourns. Each Pinkwater novel is a novelty and unmistakably part of his vast literary legacy. Crazy in Poughkeepsie is a trip to whale heaven, an afterlife that we can all aspire to." - Cory Doctorow

"What Pinkwater does is magic." - Neil Gaiman


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