Crazy in Poughkeepsie

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.

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"I've been to see the ghosts,” she said.

"And how was that?” the Guru asked.

"Hoo boy! You won't believe what goes on in that old churn factory. They’ve got a whale in there!”

“An actual whale?”

“It’s the ghost of a whale, and may I say, it’s a whale of a ghost.”

WHAT'S CRAZY IN POUGHKEEPSIE ABOUT?

Mick comes home from two weeks at summer camp to find out that his brother's trip to Tibet to find a personal guru ended up being much shorter than anyone expected. He did find a guru—Guru Lumpo Smythe-Finkel—and that guru came home to Poughkeepsie with him. The guru and his dog will be sharing Mick's room for a while.

Mick's life is sure different afterward—the guru takes him under his wing (or tries to) and they spend most of the daytime together. Mick also picks up a couple of friends—a would-be graffiti artist, who tags buildings with warnings of environmental/health dangers and a quirky young woman (who probably isn't crazy) who lives in trees.

Before the summer year is out, Mick will play a ghost flute, attend a ghost party, meet people a whole lot stranger than anyone I've mentioned so far, see a dog use a stuffed rabbit to help a car navigate, and things too strange for me to summarize in this way.

HOW WERE THE ILLUSTRATIONS?

They were fittingly odd. I enjoyed them and thought they added a nice little bit of seasoning. They're not essential to the text, they're a pleasant accent.

I really liked the ghosts—the whale in particular. I think drawing ghosts among and around some of the living has to be a challenge, and I like Renier's approach.

I do not have a lot of experience with parties, almost none, in fact, if you don’t count little kids’ birthday parties with the paper hats and the cake and ice cream. This means I don’t personally have a basis for comparison, but I feel safe in saying that a party with ghosts is completely unlike any other party anyone may have been to.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT CRAZY IN POUGHKEEPSIE ABOUT?

This is a wonderfully weird story. The absurd moments flow effortlessly from one to the next. As always, I'll not that seemingly effortless moments obviously are the result of effort, skill, and talent.

I haven't read a Pinkwater book since...wow. The 1980s? I don't think he's missed a step—some of the jokes feel a little dated—do people still do the plastic covering on furniture?. But maybe not (although when I was a kid I think I wondered the same thing). Either way, most of them are fresh or evergreen. Jokes aside, there's a sense of ridiculousness running throughout this that has to appeal to readers young and old—especially those who embrace life's quirkiness.

The plot is on the lean side, but it's not the important part. This book is about the journey, not the destination—and it's a fun ride (to a pretty good destination, I should add). It's been too long since I've spent time with this author, I need to fix that.

Also, any MG book that's both amusing and uses the word "obstreperous" casually is worth a read.