The Picture of Morty and Ray

People magazine has described the elusive author as "one part Marx brother and one part cracked social satirist, with a particle of werewolf thrown in." The Car Talk guys say, "Pinkwater is nuts."

He resides with his wife, the brilliant artist Jill Pinkwater, in a posh spot in upstate New York. Perhaps in mind of such classics as Alan Mendelsohn, The Boy From Mars; The Big Orange Splot; and The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror, The Washington Post Book World declared, "Any book by Daniel Pinkwater is bound to be a treat."

Grade 2-5-Inspired by watching The Picture of Dorian Gray on TV, Morty and Ray paint a magical picture of their own. Then the boys eagerly misbehave to see if their painting changes. Sure enough, as they clog toilets, push little kids, and stick "our butts out the window" of the school bus, the picture gets uglier. Then they get tired of it, give it to a friend, and go off to drink pickle juice. The two friends are sort of a junior version of Beavis and Butthead. They take true pleasure in gross and disgusting things, which comes through in the pleasingly grotesque, cartoon illustrations; heavily detailed and busy, the art is in full color, with movie scenes in shades of gray. Morty's narration captures the simple idiocy of the two boys: "`Neat!' Ray shouted. `It is a neat movie!' `Did you see what a neat picture?' Neat!'" The irreverent tone of the text is well matched by the art, but there's not much else to this book. The mischief-making antics might draw a laugh or two, but the inane plot has little else to offer. Compared to better-developed troublemakers such as James Marshall's Cut-Ups and George and Harold from Dav Pilkey's "Captain Underpants" series (Scholastic), Morty and Ray are pretty forgettable.
Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library, OR
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