[Paul Zindel] speaks to young people about man's cruelty and "matters of consequence" in three novels. [The Pigman, My Darling, My Hamburger, and I Never Loved Your Mind] …, and one drama, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds…. In these amusing, provocative, and very-much-of-our-time works, Zindel presents questions to his readers, and if they care (and they do), they will search for answers. Their own answers. (p. 941)

He looks at the world through the eyes of adolescents, many kinds of adolescents, all trying to find some meaning in a world apparently gone mad, all concerned with man's cruelty and "matters of consequence." By selecting an adolescent point of view, Zindel forces the reader to look at the world as if he were awakening to it for the first time, a kind of rebirth.

The titles of Zindel's works suggest a first need for today's society, fun and...