The Magic Pretzel

The Werewolf Club #1

by Daniel Pinkwater

Break a crazy curse with the Werewolf Club in this hilariously fun adventure!

Everyone knows people turn into werewolves if they are bitten by a werewolf, but did you know you can turn into a werewolf
1.Thinking about werewolves
2.Reading a book like this one
3.For no reason at all

Norman Gnormal didn’t know this until someone signed him up for the Werewolf Club at school. Raised as a puppy (he’s pretty sure his parents wanted a dog but got him instead), he never quite fit in with most kids at school, who don’t growl at people or dig holes in the lawn. But in the Werewolf Club he finds home with other kids who like running on all fours and howling at the moon.

When the club learns that their teacher has been cursed, the only way to cure him is with Alexander the Great’s magic pretzel. But will the club be able to find the pretzel? And can Norman, the only non-werewolf in the club, keep up?

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Humor, Chapter Books, Werewolves

80 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2000

About the author

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 Splot. Pinkwater has also illustrated many of his books in the past, although for more recent works that task has passed to his wife Jill Pinkwater.

Reviews

[Janet]

I have a list of people I would like to have lunch with, and Daniel Pinkwater is near the top. He is hilarious. For example:

"Everyone knows people turn into werewolves if they are bitten by a werewolf, but you can turn into a werewolf by:
1. thinking about werewolves
2. using a drinking fountain after a werewolf
3. reading a book like this one
4. for no reason at all

What should you do if a werewolf bites you?
Go home and wait."

The whole book is like this. The only clear moral message that I can find is that it is great to be a werewolf, especially if you are a member of the werewolf club.

It's not going to win any prestigious literary awards, but when I compare it to most Newbery winners, I know which I (and most kids) would prefer.

[Arika]

The magic pretzel is about werewolf's. One specific werewolf who is unaware of what he can do. This is an advents story to help band together and solve the mystery to help a teacher. The group of werewolf's go all over town to help their teacher and strengthen their bonds. In the end the pretzel is the only thing to help with the curse set upon the teacher, can the students get the pretzel?

[Elspeth]

I love Daniel PInkwater books. This one is a classic involving werewolves and a magic pretzel. The Werewolf Club (this is book 1) is formed and solves their first mystery in this book, turning their Werewolf Club faculty sponsor into a full werewolf. Cute story with great drawings from Jill Pinkwater

[mghrebia]

so funny & cute

[Sonja]

Fun, good early chapter book.

[elstaffe]

3.5 rounds up to 4 stars for me

Pull quote/note
"Mr. Talbot's house was very nice, and modern, with lots of wood-grain paneling and metal-and-vinyl fumiture." (33) highly modern

[Michael]

I go this book for Reece at the library since Daniel Pinkwater was one of my favorite authors as a child. Reece read it in a day so it's probably a little below his level. The premise is great though. A boy is raised as a dog by his parents since they wanted a dog. He joins the werewolf club at school. They discover that their teacher is a werewolf and the only way to cure him is to find King Arthur's magic pretzel and feed it to him. No wonder I grew up to be a weirdo when I was reading stuff like this when I was a kid. I remember thinking that "Lizard Music" and "The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death" were my favorite Pinkwater books as a kid. I'll have to revisit them.

[Jessica]

I am writing a paper for YA lit. class on werewolves in the supernatural genre of YA fiction. I am going to compare it to adult and children's literature and thus, the kid's books. However, I adored these books. They were funny and cute and I would give them to my kids.

See also: The Werewolf Club #2, #3, and #5

[B]

The first in the Werewolf Club series about 3 kids who are werewolves and 1 boy who was raised to be a dog, (because his parents always wanted a dog...weird I know), that form a club at school, headed by a very mysterious teacher that is so disguised you can't tell who or what he is...

Okay with some humor for open minded kids.

[Travis]

You know that group of geeky kids who always sat off by themselves in the school cafeteria? Well, what if they were werewolves, but were still geeks?
They'd probably go on a quest for a mystical artifact that looks remarkably like a pretzel.

Not Pinkwater's best series, but still odd, cute and entertaining.

[Emily]

Kind of a dumb book.

[Rebekka]

It is funny Im gonna bring it to class after Feb. Vaca>

[Sandy]

Pinkwater magic again.

[Christine Grant]

I thought that this was okay. My six-year-old son loved it. Many of the words were difficult for him though I read most of the book to him instead of him reading most of the book to me.

[Tasha]

.

[Alyce]

In usual Daniel Pinkwater fashion, this quirky, silly book made me laugh more than the kids. Though they loved it too.

[Gaston CM]

Una lectura muy entretenida, lo lei hace cerca de 20 años y cuando me toco leerselo a mis hijos les encanto.