The Agony and the Eggplant is the first book-length study of author, illustrator, and radio personality, Daniel Pinkwater. Pinkwater began writing and illustrating children's books in 1970 and has been a prolific author for three decades. He has written over 70 books altogether: more than fifty picture books, a dozen books for middle-grade or intermediate readers, half a dozen books for adolescents, an adult novel, and several books of nonfiction. Pinkwater is a humorist, and many of his stories involve science fiction or fantasy themes. He is often compared with Douglas Adams and Kurt...

Celebrates the accomplishments of YA authors acclaimed for producing high-quality comedies, who have not yet been treated in a book-length bio-critical study. Simultaneously, it reminds readers that no matter how funny an author of fiction may be, if he shows off his wit in ways that fail to play a natural role in advancing his narrative, he is not writing good fiction. To demonstrate this, humorous passages are presented to illustrate the contribution a sense of humor can make to a work of fiction. The book is arranged topically to facilitate a comparison of distinctive treatments by various...

Although substantial critical commentary has addressed children's animal stories and animals in adult fiction, very few studies have been devoted to adolescent-animal encounters.

In Animals in Young Adult Fiction, Walter Hogan examines several hundred novels and stories to explore the ways in which animals are represented in these works. In additional to providing an historical survey, Hogan looks at both realistic fiction and speculative works, including fantasy, supernatural, horror, and science fiction. Hogan reviews stories that feature wild animal encounters, stories centered on...