- Save $10 when you spend $50 and pay with Bill Me Later. The fast and convenient way to buy without using your credit card. Offer limited to items purchased from Amazon.com between July 14, 2008 and July 21, 2008. One per customer account. Enter code BMLSAVES at checkout. Here's how (restrictions apply)
Join Amazon Prime and ship Two-Day for free and Overnight for $3.99. Already a member? Sign in.
|
|||||||||
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Better Together
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick  (177)
$15.63
|
The Hoboken Chicken Emergency by Daniel Pinkwater  (19)
$4.99
|
5 Novels: Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars; Slaves of Spiegel; The Last Guru; Young Adult Novel; The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death by Daniel Pinkwater  (60)
$9.56
|
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (73)
$6.99
|
4 : Fantastic Novels by Daniel Pinkwater (15)
$10.20
|
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 5–9—A bright and breezy adventure with a smart and funny narrator, this story is part historical travelogue, part Saturday matinee, with bits of turtle lore and Catskills stand-up comedy. Los Angeles in the late 1940s is a magical place of swashbuckling movie stars, restaurants shaped like hats and doughnuts, tar pits, fancy private schools, and Neddie Wentworthstein. His eccentric, wealthy father has decided to relocate the family from Chicago to L.A. On the journey, a shaman named Melvin gives Neddie a turtle carved from a meteorite, possibly the rarest and most precious one in existence, and the only thing standing between humanity and the destruction of all civilization. Accidentally left behind in Flagstaff, AZ, Neddie is befriended by Seamus Finn, his movie-star dad, and Billy the Phantom Bellhop. The four visit the Grand Canyon and are held up at gunpoint by Sandor Eucalyptus, who is looking for the turtle. When they make it to Los Angeles, well, then things get even weirder. The ending is a little abrupt and kids may not get all the references, but they'll get the mystery, the excitement, the friendships, the aliens from outer space, the battle between good and extraordinarily awful evil, and the live woolly mammoth that performs circus tricks in a replica of the Roman Forum (told you things get pretty weird). Fans of Sid Fleischman will find much to like in this goofy and lovingly nostalgic historical fantasy.—Mara Alpert, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
In the 1940s, young Nedworth Wentworthstein is traveling across America with his family when he meets an Indian shaman, who slips him a sacred stone turtle. Ned soon discovers that bad guys are after the turtle, and he enlists the help of newfound friends (including the ghost of a bellboy) to help him protect his treasure. Eventually, though, the turtle falls into the wrong hands, and Ned is forced to confront terrifying, magical beasts. There are actually two novels here: one centers around the supernatural world, where Ned's epic battles play out; the other details 1940s America, from the pleasures of riding the Super Chief to the slightly off-kilter culture of postwar Southern California. The two parts don't really come together into a cohesive whole; the plotline that includes observations of late 1940s America provides the stronger narrative. There are plenty of funny lines and scenes, though, and fans of Pinkwater will probably enjoy this messy, entertaining enterprise. Todd Morning
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews
Grade 5–9—A bright and breezy adventure with a smart and funny narrator, this story is part historical travelogue, part Saturday matinee, with bits of turtle lore and Catskills stand-up comedy. Los Angeles in the late 1940s is a magical place of swashbuckling movie stars, restaurants shaped like hats and doughnuts, tar pits, fancy private schools, and Neddie Wentworthstein. His eccentric, wealthy father has decided to relocate the family from Chicago to L.A. On the journey, a shaman named Melvin gives Neddie a turtle carved from a meteorite, possibly the rarest and most precious one in existence, and the only thing standing between humanity and the destruction of all civilization. Accidentally left behind in Flagstaff, AZ, Neddie is befriended by Seamus Finn, his movie-star dad, and Billy the Phantom Bellhop. The four visit the Grand Canyon and are held up at gunpoint by Sandor Eucalyptus, who is looking for the turtle. When they make it to Los Angeles, well, then things get even weirder. The ending is a little abrupt and kids may not get all the references, but they'll get the mystery, the excitement, the friendships, the aliens from outer space, the battle between good and extraordinarily awful evil, and the live woolly mammoth that performs circus tricks in a replica of the Roman Forum (told you things get pretty weird). Fans of Sid Fleischman will find much to like in this goofy and lovingly nostalgic historical fantasy.—Mara Alpert, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
In the 1940s, young Nedworth Wentworthstein is traveling across America with his family when he meets an Indian shaman, who slips him a sacred stone turtle. Ned soon discovers that bad guys are after the turtle, and he enlists the help of newfound friends (including the ghost of a bellboy) to help him protect his treasure. Eventually, though, the turtle falls into the wrong hands, and Ned is forced to confront terrifying, magical beasts. There are actually two novels here: one centers around the supernatural world, where Ned's epic battles play out; the other details 1940s America, from the pleasures of riding the Super Chief to the slightly off-kilter culture of postwar Southern California. The two parts don't really come together into a cohesive whole; the plotline that includes observations of late 1940s America provides the stronger narrative. There are plenty of funny lines and scenes, though, and fans of Pinkwater will probably enjoy this messy, entertaining enterprise. Todd Morning
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews
Product Details
|