The indestructible cult classic starring Horse Badorties, legendary founder of Dorky Day, begins...   I am all alone in my pad, man, my piled-up-to-the-ceiling-with-junk pad. Piled with sheet music, with piles of garbage bags bursting with rubbish and encrusted frying pans piled on the floor, embedded with unnameable flecks of putrefied wretchedness in grease. My pad, man, my own little Lower East Side Horse Badorties pad.   "This is music to be played in the head, and only the quickest, least inhibited sight-readers can play it as written, and thus hear head music the likes of which, prior to its publication in 1974, had never been heard. It was and remains important..." from Kurt Vonnegut's forward   "This short, artfully structured, supremely insane novel is Buddha's story, turned inside out... Horse Badorties walks into American literature a full-blown achievement, a heroic godheaded head, a splendid creep, a sublime prince of the holy trash pile... send congratulations to William Kotzwinkle, also a hero, man." William Kennedy, New Republic   "The landmark novel of the dusking of the Age of Aquarius after its beatnik-hippie, speedfreak-pataphysician, revolutionist-artist Lower East Side decade-long summer of love - be-ins, psychedelics, dumpster prospecting, tenant squatting - is William Kotzwinkle's The Fan Man." Herbert Gold

Portrays six generations of eccentric characters, all part of the wealthy and notorious Bellefleur clan, as they are affected by historical events such as the War of 1812 and Lincoln's assassination

Product Description: It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat in the crematorium, listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony to Bach's Mass in B Minor, and I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallanach...read more

Product Description: William John Cavendish Bentinck-Scott was a singularly eccentric man. What sets him apart from other eccentrics is the fact that he had the wealth to indulge his mania to the fullest. Mick Jackson became fascinated by the stories that surrounded his memory--the Duke died in 1879--and began to embroider them with fictional ideas of Jacksons own, and with the tales that local people had passed on to him...read more

The author of The Obituary Writer chronicles the nervous breakdown of Lydia Modine, a sixty-one-year-old woman whose husband and family have abandoned her while she is in the midst of writing a difficult book about Detroit's automobile industry. Reader's Guide available. Reprint.

The follies and foibles of a group of people involved in a relentless quest for meaning and purpose centers around Nathaniel Pike, a self-aggrandizing New England millionaire devoted to a series of projects of no significance whatsoever, who currently plans to purchase a parcel of federal wilderness with the intention of creating a parking lot miles from any road. Reprint.

When he follows his assistant Natalie to Hawaii, obsessive-compulsive detective Monk, who has a strong aversion to dirt, investigates the death of a wealthy tourist and a TV psychic's claims that the victim has a message from beyond about her killer.

Visit the greatest place on earth in the first ever UK publication of the modern classic, A Day with Wilbur Robinson. This publication coincides with the release of the Disney - Touchstone Pictures film, Meet the Robinsons, based on this original story.

Each of five children lucky enough to discover an entry ticket into Mr. Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory takes advantage of the situation in his own way.

OCD detective Adrian Monk, coping with the conflict between two different female assistants--his former aide, Sharona, who returns after her ne'er-do-well husband is arrested for murder, and his new assistant, Natalie--finds himself up against a clever killer. Reprint. (A USA Network television series, starring Tony Shaloub) (Mystery & Detective)

Product Description: Grade Level: 4-6 Age Level: 8 and up Listening Level: Grades 4-6 The young Bellweathers ― fourteen-year-old Spider, thirteen-year-old Ninda, and the nine-year-old triplets, Brick, Spike, and Sassy ― and their equally peculiar parents have brought constant chaos to the once-peaceful village of Eel-Smack-by-the-Bay...read more

Product Description: California and Adrian Monk are in a financial crisis when he's fired by the SFPD and finds his savings are gone. Bob Sebes, the leader of Reinier Investments, swindled his clients, including Monk. Whena key witness is killed, Monk is convince that Sebes, under house-arrest, did it...read more

Read Beth Hoffman's blogs and other content on the Penguin Community.Steel Magnolias meets The Help in this Southern debut novel sparkling with humor, heart, and feminine wisdom Twelve-year-old CeeCee Honeycutt is in trouble. For years, she has been the caretaker of her psychotic mother, Camille-the tiara-toting, lipstick-smeared laughingstock of an entire town-a woman trapped in her long-ago moment of glory as the 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen. But when Camille is hit by a truck and killed, CeeCee is left to fend for herself. To the rescue comes her previously unknown great-aunt, Tootie Caldwell.In her vintage Packard convertible, Tootie whisks CeeCee away to Savannah's perfumed world of prosperity and Southern eccentricity, a world that seems to be run entirely by women. From the exotic Miz Thelma Rae Goodpepper, who bathes in her backyard bathtub and uses garden slugs as her secret weapons, to Tootie's all-knowing housekeeper, Oletta Jones, to Violene Hobbs, who entertains a local police officer in her canary-yellow peignoir, the women of Gaston Street keep CeeCee entertained and enthralled for an entire summer. Laugh-out-loud funny and deeply touching, Beth Hoffman's sparkling debut is, as Kristin Hannah says, "packed full of Southern charm, strong women, wacky humor, and good old-fashioned heart." It is a novel that explores the indomitable strengths of female friendship and gives us the story of a young girl who loses one mother and finds many others.Watch a Video

Product Description: Crackpot notions, community spirit, and sky-high aspirations transform a quiet boy’s life in this whimsical tale from the stellar team of David Almond and Polly Dunbar.There are some strange ideas floating around in Paul’s apartment block...read more

Crackpot notions, community spirit, and sky-high aspirations transform a quiet boy’s life in this whimsical tale from the stellar team of David Almond and Polly Dunbar.There are some strange ideas floating around in Paul’s apartment block. There’s Mabel, who now calls herself Molly and whose brother hides under a paper bag. Then there’s Clarence, the poodle who thinks he can fly. But the strangest notion of all is Paul’s. You see, Paul believes that the moon is not the moon but a great hole in the sky. And he knows that sausages are better than war. How on earth (or not) will he find out if he is bonkers or a genius? With a few equally bonkers (or genius) helpers and a very long ladder, that’s how! From a master of magical realism and a celebrated artist comes another delightfully outrageous expedition.

Product Description: FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Nilly and Lisa help eccentric professor Doctor Proctor to develop his latest invention, making them very popular at school, but someone is planning to steal the industrial-strength formula for evil purposes.

Product Description: Brimming with charm and whimsy, this national bestseller set in the Tower of London has the transportive qualities and delightful magic of the contemporary classics Chocolat and Amélie. Balthazar Jones has lived in the Tower of London with his loving wife, Hebe, and his 120-year-old pet tortoise for the past eight years...read more