Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars
Encyclopedia
Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars is a novel by Daniel Pinkwater
, published in 1979.
Junior High. He suffers greatly at the hands of the other kids, even the other nerd
s, until one day a new student appears in his class: a boy named Alan Mendelsohn, recently relocated from The Bronx
. They are soon friends.
Leonard's torment results in his grades falling off. The school counselor
refers him to a child psychologist
, Dr. Prince. With Dr. Prince, Leonard takes up smoking cigars. While well-meaning, his hit and miss methods eventually enable Leonard to get him to give him a week off from school. He spends this time with Alan, who has been suspended after he tells students that he is a Martian, touching off a riot.
Together they take a trip to Hogboro where the two meet Samuel Klugarsh, owner of an occult
bookstore, who claims to have developed a course of psychic
training called "Klugarsh Mind Control." Samuel Klugarsh sells the two friends a kit for learning how to produce "Ω (Omega
) waves," a type of brain waves supposedly generated when one meditates one's way into the mental state known as "State Twenty-Six."
Leonard and Alan soon learn how to go into State Twenty-Six, but all they can make others do is take off their hats and rub their bellies and sometimes dance. The friends get tired of mind-control and go back to Samuel Klugarsh's store for a refund.
Instead of what the two wanted, Samuel Klugarsh lets Leonard and Alan trade in their mind-control set for a course in "Hyperstellar Archaeology," the study of lost civilizations such as Atlantis
, Lemuria
, or Waka Waka, along with a copy of Yojimbo's Japanese-English Dictionary. Alan and Leonard are skeptical of the course's wild claims and predictions until they unexpectedly find a prediction in the text mentioning them both by name. They start to take the book more seriously, and when they follow its directions for interpreting Yojimbo's Japanese-English Dictionary, they get better results with their telekinesis and mind control experiments.
Later, the two boys run into Samuel Klugarsh at the Bermuda Triangle
Chili Parlor, and their conversation is overheard by a biker who happens to be Clarence Yojimbo, the (Venusian) author of Yojimbo's Japanese-English Dictionary. Clarence is passing through town with his biker-gang of folk singers, and he sets them straight on the real secret purpose of Yojimbo's Japanese-English Dictionary: when decoded with the proper key, it is an instruction manual for travelling among different planes of existence.
The two learn how to do this and go to Waka-Waka. There they discover that the fleegix-obsessed people of Waka-Waka are being ruled by three cruel Nafsulians: Manny, Moe and Jack who pretend to be a deadly invisible monster, the Wozzle. Alan Mendelsohn and Leonard Neeble are able to expose the three Nafsulians and make them take off their hats and rub their bellies, which just happens to be the Nafsulian gesture of submission. They cannot take back the gesture so they have to relinquish control of Waka-Waka.
While in Waka-Waka Leonard learns that Alan really is a Martian. In the Waka-Waka plane of existence Martians travel to and from the Earth plane so Alan is able to let Rolzup, the Martian High Commissioner, know that his family is stranded on Earth and arrange for them to be taken back to Mars. Alan and Leonard then go back to West Kangaroo Park where Alan is picked up by a spaceship.
Leonard, after recovering from the shock of losing his best friend, begins to follow in Alan's footsteps by studying independently, showing up the teachers during classes, and participating in an alternative gym class where they play chess or do yoga.
Leonard eventually decides to throw a party at the Bermuda Triangle Chili Parlour. He meets Samuel Klugarsh there and Klugarsh gives Leonard a letter from Alan Mendelsohn. Alan says that Leonard can come visit him in "the Bronx, if you know what I mean," for the summer.
Daniel Pinkwater
Daniel Manus Pinkwater 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, Borgel, and the picture book The Big Orange...
, published in 1979.
Plot summary
The story is about a portly kid named Leonard Neeble moving from his old neighborhood to West Kangaroo Park, Hogboro. There Leonard goes to a new school, Bat MastersonBat Masterson
William Barclay "Bat" Masterson was a figure of the American Old West known as a buffalo hunter, U.S. Marshal and Army scout, avid fisherman, gambler, frontier lawman, and sports editor and columnist for the New York Morning Telegraph...
Junior High. He suffers greatly at the hands of the other kids, even the other nerd
Nerd
Nerd is a derogatory slang term for an intelligent but socially awkward and obsessive person who spends time on unpopular or obscure pursuits, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities. Nerds are considered to be awkward, shy, and unattractive...
s, until one day a new student appears in his class: a boy named Alan Mendelsohn, recently relocated from The Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
. They are soon friends.
Leonard's torment results in his grades falling off. The school counselor
School counselor
A school counselor is a counselor and an educator who works in elementary, middle, and high schools to provide academic, career, college access, and personal/social competencies to K-12 students...
refers him to a child psychologist
Developmental psychology
Developmental psychology, also known as human development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes, emotional changes, and perception changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to...
, Dr. Prince. With Dr. Prince, Leonard takes up smoking cigars. While well-meaning, his hit and miss methods eventually enable Leonard to get him to give him a week off from school. He spends this time with Alan, who has been suspended after he tells students that he is a Martian, touching off a riot.
Together they take a trip to Hogboro where the two meet Samuel Klugarsh, owner of an occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
bookstore, who claims to have developed a course of psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
training called "Klugarsh Mind Control." Samuel Klugarsh sells the two friends a kit for learning how to produce "Ω (Omega
Omega
Omega is the 24th and last letter of the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system, it has a value of 800. The word literally means "great O" , as opposed to omicron, which means "little O"...
) waves," a type of brain waves supposedly generated when one meditates one's way into the mental state known as "State Twenty-Six."
Leonard and Alan soon learn how to go into State Twenty-Six, but all they can make others do is take off their hats and rub their bellies and sometimes dance. The friends get tired of mind-control and go back to Samuel Klugarsh's store for a refund.
Instead of what the two wanted, Samuel Klugarsh lets Leonard and Alan trade in their mind-control set for a course in "Hyperstellar Archaeology," the study of lost civilizations such as Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
, Lemuria
Lemuria (continent)
Lemuria is the name of a hypothetical "lost land" variously located in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The concept's 19th century origins lie in attempts to account for discontinuities in biogeography; however, the concept of Lemuria has been rendered obsolete by modern theories of plate tectonics...
, or Waka Waka, along with a copy of Yojimbo's Japanese-English Dictionary. Alan and Leonard are skeptical of the course's wild claims and predictions until they unexpectedly find a prediction in the text mentioning them both by name. They start to take the book more seriously, and when they follow its directions for interpreting Yojimbo's Japanese-English Dictionary, they get better results with their telekinesis and mind control experiments.
Later, the two boys run into Samuel Klugarsh at the Bermuda Triangle
Bermuda Triangle
The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and surface vessels allegedly disappeared under mysterious circumstances....
Chili Parlor, and their conversation is overheard by a biker who happens to be Clarence Yojimbo, the (Venusian) author of Yojimbo's Japanese-English Dictionary. Clarence is passing through town with his biker-gang of folk singers, and he sets them straight on the real secret purpose of Yojimbo's Japanese-English Dictionary: when decoded with the proper key, it is an instruction manual for travelling among different planes of existence.
The two learn how to do this and go to Waka-Waka. There they discover that the fleegix-obsessed people of Waka-Waka are being ruled by three cruel Nafsulians: Manny, Moe and Jack who pretend to be a deadly invisible monster, the Wozzle. Alan Mendelsohn and Leonard Neeble are able to expose the three Nafsulians and make them take off their hats and rub their bellies, which just happens to be the Nafsulian gesture of submission. They cannot take back the gesture so they have to relinquish control of Waka-Waka.
While in Waka-Waka Leonard learns that Alan really is a Martian. In the Waka-Waka plane of existence Martians travel to and from the Earth plane so Alan is able to let Rolzup, the Martian High Commissioner, know that his family is stranded on Earth and arrange for them to be taken back to Mars. Alan and Leonard then go back to West Kangaroo Park where Alan is picked up by a spaceship.
Leonard, after recovering from the shock of losing his best friend, begins to follow in Alan's footsteps by studying independently, showing up the teachers during classes, and participating in an alternative gym class where they play chess or do yoga.
Leonard eventually decides to throw a party at the Bermuda Triangle Chili Parlour. He meets Samuel Klugarsh there and Klugarsh gives Leonard a letter from Alan Mendelsohn. Alan says that Leonard can come visit him in "the Bronx, if you know what I mean," for the summer.
Availability
Alan Mendelsohn is no longer in print as a separate work, but can be found in Pinkwater's omnibus Five Novels (1997).Reviews
- Ann Haskell, in The New York Times Book ReviewThe New York Times Book ReviewThe New York Times Book Review is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to The New York Times in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read book review publications in the industry. The offices are located near Times Square in New York...
- "The writing is adequate, no more, no less. But for imaginative plot and decorative detail, Mr. Pinkwater's scores go off the charts."
- Orson Scott CardOrson Scott CardOrson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...
, in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science FictionThe Magazine of Fantasy & Science FictionThe Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is a digest-size American fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House and then by Fantasy House. Both were subsidiaries of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Publications, which took over as publisher in 1958. Spilogale, Inc...
- Highly recommends Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars.