Customer Reviews

The Neddiad: How Neddie Took the Train, Went to Hollywood, and Saved Civilization

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I have read all the reviews of this book so far. Most of the reviewers liked it pretty well. Did any of them actually get what it's about? Not really. Do I know what it's about? Well, I'm the author. Am I going to say what it's about? Nope--that would be telling. I hope you will read it, and make up your own mind. If you hate the book, you can always make it a present to someone whose taste you don't respect, or use it for pressing flowers, or a doorstop.

Most of the world (or at least the segment that listens to public radio) knows Daniel Pinkwater primarily as that funny guy who talks about children's books on Saturday morning's "Weekend Edition" program. Pinkwater has been around for much longer than that, though, coming up with a string of consistently hilarious --- and consistently off-the-wall --- novels and picture books for as long as I can remember. From 1977's THE HOBOKEN CHICKEN EMERGENCY (about a 266-pound pet chicken) to 2005's irreverent take on school in THE EDUCATION OF ROBERT NIFKIN, Pinkwater has time and again proven himself as one of the funniest writers for young people.

Pinkwater's latest, THE NEDDIAD, is no exception. Part of Pinkwater's style is a certain playfulness, a wide-ranging imagination that relies on comic situations, one-liners and images as much as on plot. On the face of it, the concept of THE NEDDIAD might seem absurd; after all, its subtitle is "How Neddie Took the Train, Went to Hollywood, and Saved Civilization." But Pinkwater manages to make it all make sense --- or at least, to make his readers laugh too hard to care whether it does or not.

Neddie Wentworthstein lives in Chicago a few years after World War II. When Neddie idly mentions that he'd love to eat at the Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles, Neddie's enthusiastic father (who'd made a fortune selling shoelaces to the military) suggests that the whole family move to California to see the landmark for themselves. Neddie loves adventure --- and the movies --- so he's eager to have an adventure of his own. "I expected, we all expected, to do exciting things," he writes, "This is why going away on a big adventure all the way across the country seemed normal to me."

Neddie's trip probably won't seem normal to just about anyone else, though. Starting with Neddie's mysterious encounter with a Navajo shaman named Melvin, continuing with his acquisition of a highly desirable turtle figurine and his separation from his parents, and from there following Neddie all the way to Los Angeles, where he gains new friends, a new school and a whole slew of enemies, THE NEDDIAD is truly an epic journey.

Part road trip adventure, part school story, part adventure, part fantasy and all hilarious, THE NEDDIAD is outrageously unique and undeniably the work of Daniel Pinkwater's comic genius.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

Let me get this out of the way: I'm a solid Pinkwater fan and have been one since I was 8 or 9, and begged my parents for $1 to buy a copy of "Wingman." Having read a big chunk of his catalogue, I'd say that "The Neddiad" is one of my top five Pinkwater books...this from a guy who's written hundreds of books. It's got that classic Pinkwater deadpan humor, a great mystery that stretches back over eons, a quest, and turtles, turtles, turtles! Also, you learn about lots of cool stuff; don't let that turn you off the book, though. Wonderful! Keep writing, Daniel, and thanks.

I loved this book. I think I get what it is about, not worrying about things, resting in God (or on the great turtle). It reminds me of an essay by an Episcopalian minister, Barbara Brown Taylor (The Luminous Web, The Limits of Knowledge) She recounts this in the book: p. 87

"According to one Native American creation myth , the earth rests on the back of a giant turtle. When an ethnologist who was trying to get the story down on paper asked an elder what was underneath that turtle, the elder said "Another turtle."
"And under that?" the ethnologist asked.
"Oh, it's turtles all the way down".

I took this to mean to trust more because there are some things that just can't be pinned down. How can you not love a book whose hero saves the world by singing? WOW. I mean WOW! And I live in Albuquerque where an important part of the story takes place so it gets points for that. Also, the wonderfully quirky illustrations are by Calef Brown who wrote a great childrens book "Polkabats and Octupus Slacks." (Read his poem "Funky Snowman" for an optimists view of life.)

I'm giving this book to my nephew for his baptism. Not an obvious choice but I find this book to be deeply spiritual, as well as funny, charming, and tender.

from my blog:

Two parts Holes, three parts Guy Noir, one part Pinkwater. This book makes me feel like I just walked out of an old Nickelodeon after a Saturday afternoon marathon surrounded by rowdy kids and spitballs. I slowly rise/unstick from my seat still mentally replaying the final episode of "The Neddiad", which, interestingly, is how this book was born - in installments. Daniel Pinkwater, NPR commentator and children's book reviewer extraordinaire, gave us weekly chapters of Neddie Wentworthstein and his amazing adventures on trains, planes and automobiles starting back in the summer of 2006. As I started reading this book I vaguely remembered an NPR interview back in October about a train and a boy hanging out with his movie star idol D'Artagnan (aka Dart-Onion, aka Aaron Finn). I listened in and out and couldn't help but be reminded of another NPR staple A Prairie Home Companion's Guy Noir; I could almost hear the sound effects of the rattling rails and stomping feet. This is that book.

The gumshoe, Captain Billy's Whizbang feeling settles in by chapter 17 (very short chapters, remember? weekly installments?). By this time we've met the shoelace mogul Mr. Wentworthstein (a more happy-go-lucky version of Stanley Yelnats's splooge-inventing father), Mrs. Wentworthstein, the sister Eloise (one of two stellar and highly underrated young female characters), Aaron Finn, his son and Neddie's bud Seamus Finn, the turtle-gifting Melvin/Irving/Sheldon/whoever, Billy the Phantom Bellboy (who wins my never-before-bestowed award of going from the character I thought most unbelievable to my favorite) and of course, the bad guys - Sandor Eucalyptus and Sholmos Bunyip (you can almost hear the twisting handlebar moustaches). These are our players, running around Los Angeles in the 1940s trying to save the world with a turtle.

This is such a great book not only in its own right but as a safe, gratifying recommendation to ANYONE. I am always appreciative of a book about which I can get excited to read and to share without adding a disclaimer (another such treat is The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick). Give The Neddiad to upper elementary- to middle-schoolers and any other student with a sense of humor.

Fun fact about Bryn: I love surprises and to be really scared (this will relate to the book eventually, I promise). I'm a sucker for Stephen King and thriller movies. Not the gore, just the rush. I like them because it's rare that I actually get surprised or scared and appreciate it moreso when it happens. So, of course one of my favorite aspects of The Neddiad is that I counted at least a handful of moments where I actually gasped out loud, not because it was scary, but because I was completely taken by surprise. So many twists and turns. Pinkwater totally got me and I enjoyed every minute of it.

I could go on and on about the cool train lingo I learned, when Chief Crazy Wig chants about "walla walla bing bang" and "no child left behind", the shout-out to Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer (a can of which my dad is sporting in a photo taken hours before I was born!) and Eloise and Iggy (two rockin' gals, necessarily overshadowed by the male characters).

Decide for yourself if it's an overactive imagination or Neddies all the way down!

As a fan of Daniel Pinkwater's writing, I can say that "The Neddiad" is definitely his best work among his more recent offerings. Too many times Pinkwater can get bogged down in rampant silliness and very little plot, but "The Neddiad" is a well thought out silly adventure through post-WWII Los Angeles. The main character, Neddie Wentworthstein, is smart and likeable, albeit an unlikely hero who has no clue how he is supposed to save the world.

Like many of Pinkwater's central families, the Wentworthsteins are weird and nomadic, moving to Hollywood on the spur of the moment aboard a Super Chief train. Neddie is enchanted by the scenery, especially in Santa Fe where he visits an Indian House and is given a small stone turtle by an Indian and is told to take care of it. Neddie does not understand the power of the turtle until a shifty character named Sandor Eucalyptus tries to steal it for him as he makes his way to California. Plus, it seems that every stranger he meets (including a shaman he meets several times over) knows that he is the boy with the turtle. For as the story goes, this is 'the' sacred turtle that can save civilization from destruction. Just what that destruction is and how Neddie is supposed to stop it is sheer Pinkwater genius.

"The Neddiad" is a quick pace, easy read, filled with laugh-out-loud moments and the dry humor of its author. Neddie and his band of newfound friends are likeable characters and I am looking forward to more of their adventures. It looks as if Pinkwater is up to his old, and much better, tricks when it comes to crafting truly unique children's fiction.

This was one of the most intelligent and engaging books I've read to my kids yet. Not sure the 8-year-old followed all the references, but if *I* enjoy the heck out of reading something aloud I figure the kids do too.

I especially loved how it all came together at the end when Neddie finally figured everything out. Nope, not gonna spoil it! You'll have to read this one for yourself. But it sort of contains one of the secrets to life. And along the way you'll be entertained with a look back in time to Hollywood history, 1940's movies and nostalgia, cowboy lore, shamanism (hard to find in a kid's book), turtle facts, stuff about dinosaurs, and some really funny modern-day cultural references thrown in at the end.

Just the character names are enough to entertain. Not to mention everybody's deadpan delivery.

I'll be reading this one again, and I don't say that lightly.

I had no idea what to expect from this book, but with a subtitle of "How Neddie took the Train, Went to Hollywood, and Saved Civilization", how can you go wrong? I actually saw the sequel to this book "The Yggyssey" and it peaked my interest, so I got the first book from the library and read it. This was an absolutely wonderful book. I don't know why I haven't heard of Pinkwater before. Oddly enough after I read this book Gaiman mentioned Pinkwater as one of his favorite writers on his blog; so I guess you can't get a better recommendation than that!

Neddie lives in Chicago, but he would really like to eat hamburgers at the Brown Derby in LA one day. He tells his dad and his dad agrees that would be cool. So on a whim the family packs up and moves to LA. On the way there an Indian shaman (who can be multiple places at once) gives Neddie a stone turtle and tells him it is really important. Neddie misses his train and goes on a crazy road trip to LA, where some creepy man tries to steal his turtle. What if Ned's turtle really is the key to saving the world from total annihilation? Throw in a ghost, some prehistoric creatures, a circus, a military school, a man with blue gums, and some alien policemen; and you have yourself a story like none I have ever read before.

This was an awesome book. It is a fun and quick read, with surprising depth. The characters are all quirky, funny, and interesting. I liked every single one of them. Billy the Ghost was great and I really enjoyed Iggy. The road trip they go on down route 66 was very interesting and really made you wish that we were still in the good ole' America of the past. Much of the book is a young boy's view of nostalgic America, and is most amusing. This book was just a riot from beginning to end. The chapters are short but compelling; making the book very hard to put down!

This is one of those books that is hard to describe. It is a mixture of adventure, nostalgia, humor, fantasy, and just all out good ole' craziness. It would be suitable to read to kids of any age and I think adults of all ages will get a kick out of it too. After I finished this book I really wished that I had the Yggyssey to read. This book completely wraps up the story but it was just so much fun I wanted more!!! I am kind of disappointed that I got it from the library because I want to keep it; so I guess I will have to buy myself a copy.

When Daniel Pinkwater tells a story, he creates a world. Neddie's world is rife with colourful characters who are thoughtful, quirky, eccentric, mysterious, nasty, and perhaps, even a little dead...although not in the usual manner.

How Neddie took the train, went to Hollywood and saved civilization, may not be set in current times, but the themes of this book, and any other I've read of the over one hundred Daniel Pinkwater has had published, are universal in their ability to entertain the reader, engage the mind and fuel the imagination.

All aboard The Super Chief, which is an impressive train that goes from Chicago to Hollywood. Why? Because Neddie's family, the Wentworthsteins, are on a quest to EAT IN THE HAT. Sound weird? It's true. A restaurant shaped like a brown derby, called, well, The Brown Derby. And if it weren't for that one thing, that quest to gobble cheeseburgers in a bean pod, Neddie would not have gone to Hollywood and civilization would not have been saved after all.

With two friends, and a mystical turtle in his pocket, which most definitely is not a jelly bean, Neddie does not have to seek out adventure, it stumbles upon him, along with some extraordinary people and creatures and places. Some kids are like that. They attract things both excellent and spooky.

The Neddiad is a really excellent place to be, a super trip into a time you've never been before, and a fantastic introduction to some very peculiar people...whatever your age may be.

I've been a fan of Pinkwater's works for over 25 years, ever since I first bought a copy of Lizard Music as a child. I was delighted when my wife brought the audio tape version of The Neddiad for our family to listen to while on a road trip to the East Coast.

"The Neddiad" is classic Pinkwater and is delightful, easily ranking among his best. Mr. Pinkwater uses his unique style to bring these characters to life, and I could clearly envision the characters as the story unfolded. Better than anyone else I know, Mr. Pinkwater is able to view the world through the eyes of an 11-year-old (is that Neddie's age?) and to express his observations from that perspective.

The story seamlessly weaves together many subplots and concepts and kept our entire vanload engaged, (frequently) surprised, and laughing. My oldest son (entering 5th grade) complained every time we turned it off, even if only for a moment to pay tolls. After having listened to Pinkwater's own telling of the story, I will be buying this book and reading it for myself. Like Lizard Music (which is obliquely referred to in this book), it's an adventure that gets better with each re-reading.