From: HUMMINGRK at aol.com <HUMMINGRK>
Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 18:10:11 EDT

Glad Daniel Pinkwater came up in the conversation...I read Borgel to my sons years ago and we still laugh over the pet peach pit and dancing popsicle. I can't wait to read Author's Day!

We have discussed Polly Horvath's books Everything on a Waffle and Trolls, but I thought I'd throw her name into the fray during our humor discussion, too. Maybe some in the CCBC cyberworld missed Horvath's early book, When the Circus Comes to Town. The protagonist is working on her novel when a new family moves in next door. She's pretty sure that the family is fictional because they match details in her book so closely. How does one explain to a person that he or she is, in reality, a fictional character? What a great way to start a story that goes on to parody the narrow-minded attitude prevalent in some small towns. I love Horvath's low key, understated humor, though many readers do not.

It's a wonder any funny books are published at all, I sometimes think; humor is so personal. It does not translate across global cultures. It doesn't even travel from New England to the Midwest very easily. Maybe that's one reason for the proliferation of "gross-out" humor. Like slap stick, it has a simple base for understanding.
Received on Fri 03 May 2002 05:10:11 PM CDT