Borgel facts for kids
First edition
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Author | Daniel Pinkwater |
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Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre | Science fiction, Young adult novel |
Publisher | Macmillan Publishers |
Publication date
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April 1990 |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
Pages | 170 pp (first edition, hardback) |
ISBN | 0-02-774671-2 (first edition, hardback) |
OCLC | 20489636 |
LC Class | PZ7.P6335 Bo 1990 |
Borgel is a children's novel by Daniel Pinkwater published in 1990.
Plot summary
The story is narrated by the young Melvin Spellbound who joins his eccentric Uncle Borgel and pet dog Fafner on an interglalactuc adventure involving time travel and multiple alternate realities.
Travelling along the Interstate Highway connecting the various realities, Borgel is separated from the others by a mischievous teleportation (called a 'bilbok'), and Melvin and Fafner stranded at a roadside root beer stand. Having waited for him, Melvin and Fafner take control of his car, and recover Borgel en route. Thereafter the three rest at a public campsite, where they acquire a new companion in 'Pak Nfbnm*', alias 'Freddie': a self-professed expert on popsicles, in search of an immortal 'Great Popsicle' whose existence maintains the integrity of the Universe. Pursuing that search, they receive directions from a computer made in the image of the Popsicle, to the anthropomorphic gorilla 'Glugo', who conveys them to an island on the River Styx. There, and elsewhere, Freddie is identified as a Grivnizoid, a shape-changing, cephalopod-like predator, desirous of achieving insurmountable power. Can they stop Freddie in time and save the world?
Availability
This book is out of print in its original form. However it is still in print as a part of 4 Fantastic Novels (ISBN: 978-0689834882), a compilation of four popular Daniel Pinkwater books: Borgel; Yobgorgle: Mystery Monster of Lake Ontario; The Worms of Kukumlima; and The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror. It was reprinted in 1993 in the United Kingdom, under the title The Time Tourists.