Ron Landsman

October 19, 1999

Dear Mr. Pinkwater,

I have just found this website and am somewhat at a loss for words, but wanted to say hello anyway. My daughter Lizzie, 12, 7th grade, and I are immense fans of yours and “Fishwhistle” specially. She does a great Pinkwater-as-Pakistani “He was daft,” throwing us both into fits of laughter to my wife’s utter consternation.

The point: Do you have any other cassette collections of nonfiction commentary like that? A collection of NPR numbers? Your anxious fans wait with bated breath.

Ron Landsman

PS, Your father may have spoken no known language, but your accent imitating him throws me into reveries of voices I must have heard as a child. It is music … Keep up the good work.

Look. Art is dangerous. I can't help it if your child turned into a bad Afro-Pakistani comedian. Maybe she was going to do that anyway. You can't blame me--I'm just a simple storyteller. 
You can get the Hassan's joke story and too many others in HOBOKEN FISH & CHICAGO WHISTLE published by xlibris. (Available from amazon.com or direct from the publisher at xlibris.com . This is the printed-to-order scheme, so it may take a few weeks.) Sorry, not a tape. Have your daughter read you the stories.