The Neddiad
Daniel Pinkwater
Houghton Mifflin, 2007
ISBN: 978-0618594443

One of the best things about Pinkwater’s fiction for older readers is how he turns the adult world of the recent past into an intriguing amusement park for his young characters to stumble upon and meander through. In midnight movie theaters, coffee shops, outdoor beer gardens, and comic book stores, his pudgy, amiable protagonists encounter beatniks, fat men from space, and other likable oddballs, much as Mary Poppins navigated through Edwardian London to have tea with people who occasionally floated on the ceiling. Shrewd Pinkwater aficionados who know his autobiographical material will realize the truth in his fiction; these tales are Pinkwater’s childhood, give or take some stretching.

The Neddiad follows Neddie Wentworthstein on the Super Chief, a train ride from Chicago to Los Angeles, where Neddie hopes to eat at The Brown Derby, a restaurant shaped like a giant hat.  At the end of World War Two Neddie’s dad makes a fortune selling shoelaces, hence their move to the west coast.

“Up to now, all my adventurers had been either small or completely imaginary,” Neddie confesses, but travel changes all of that. There’s the wonder of southwestern topography and history flying by outside the train window, and the enchantment of words like pinochle, and the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe. And then there’s real magic, when Neddie encounters Melvin the shaman who entrusts him with a small stone turtle. And Shlomos Bunyip, a villain intent on stealing the small stone carving, whatever the cost.

Neddie soon befriends Seamus Finn, son of a movie star, and Billy the Phantom Bellboy, a ghost with surprisingly human manifestations. Neddie ends up going to the same military school as Seamus. They hook up with Yggdrasil Birnbaum – Iggy for short – and the three of them join forces (while eating lots of donuts) against Shlomos, who tricking them, makes off with the turtle, hoping to destroy the world.

Earlier Pinkwater books often suffered because the patched-together finale rarely lived up to the dynamite opening. But true to Pinkwater’s declaration that this is one of his best books ever, it is, because the conclusion is as satisfying as it’s premise.  With the help of Melvin the Shamen (and a drop-by visit from Fat Men from Space – watch for them!) the ending moves into the metaphysical realm, through the workings of indigenous American magic, a combined power of the landscape with the people and creatures that inhabit it.

 —Cathy Camper

Bearwalker
by Joseph Bruchac
Illustrated by Sally Wern Comport
Harpercollins, 2007
ISBN: 978-0061123092

The opening passage sets the tone for this exciting, suspenseful page-turner. A journal entry states, “I’m not bleeding so much now I have to keep my eyes and ears open. Otherwise he might creep up on me.” This prologue also includes a Mohawk legend about the Bearwalker, a monstrous bear who takes the shape of a man to lure humans. Once in the woods, Bearwalker turns back into a bear, devours its victim and sleeps on their bones. This sets up the story of Baron, the shortest kid in 8th grade, a frequent target of bullies, and a member of the Mohawk Bear Clan. He’s fascinated by bears and hopes to see one while on a school trip to Camp Chuckamuck in the Adirondacks. The campers are soon faced with danger when they are isolated from the outside world and learn that the camp staff members aren’t who they pretended to be. What’s worse, an actual Bearwalker might be in the area. Baron shows courage by racing into the woods to get help, even though he’s wounded by one of the bad men. Baron realizes the old saying, “Be careful what you wish for,” when he finds himself between a mother bear and her cubs. As if that situation isn’t dangerous enough, the Bearwalker has picked up his trail. Young readers won’t be able to tear themselves away from the second half of the book as most chapters end with a cliff-hanger. Joseph Bruchac has added another wonderful thriller for fans of his books The Skeleton Man and The Dark Pond.

—Rob Reid

The Ultimate Weapon:
the Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb
by Edward T. Sullivan
Holiday House, 2007
ISBN: 978-0823418558

“I made one great mistake in my life—when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that an atomic bomb be made.” (Albert Einstein, Physicist)

Filled with fascinating details (did you know that Moe Berg, a Boston Red Sox catcher, joined the OSS when World War II started?) and illustrated with intriguing, well-captioned photos and maps, The Ultimate Weapon examines the events and spotlights the people who were involved with the building and deployment of the atomic bomb in the United States. I was fascinated by the descriptions of the three “secret” cities that were created for the large numbers of people devoted to developing the bomb: one in Hanford, Washington, one in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and one in Los Alamos, New Mexico. I first read this book after finishing The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages, a fictional account of life at Los Alamos. Seeing photos of the living spaces described in the novel and reading about life in these hidden cities kept me turning the pages of Ultimate Weapon. The two books make a terrific pairing, dovetailing to round out the learning experience. The back matter is as interesting to read as the book and the glossary helps with the science terminology used throughout the book. This is a must-have addition to a unit on World War II, particularly appropriate for the middle grades.

—Vicki Palmquist

—Cathy Camper