The Neddiad: How Neddie Took the Train, Went to Hollywood, and Saved Civilization by Daniel Manus Pinkwater, $16
The title is the only unwieldy aspect of this sprightly adventure featuring the credulous son of an eccentric shoelace magnate.
Upon learning about the Brown Derby, Neddie announces his ambition to eat in the hat-shaped restaurant. His father endorses the idea so heartily that he decides to move the whole family, via passenger train, to Los Angeles, the Brown Derby’s home.
In New Mexico, the Super Chief departs without the tardy Neddie, startled recipient of a carving that launches a dazzling series of mostly fortunate events involving movie stars, a military academy, a worldly ghost, and an easily thwarted evil studio czar.
Pinkwater anchors his extravagant tale with period references – all-day Saturday movie matinees packed with kids, the disappointing new television device, listening to a new Dizzy Gillespie recording – that add a patina of plausibility.
The warmth and wit provoke a sense of nostalgia even in readers born long after the 1940s, and the short chapters make “The Neddiad” an excellent candidate for reading aloud.
Ages 10 and up.
The Best Dog in Vietnam by Cynthia Kadohata, $16.99 | This painstakingly researched novel by Newbery Award-winner Kadohata draws from the true stories of about 4,000 dogs trained to locate trip wires, booby traps and hiding enemy soldiers in Vietnam.
Like Cracker, the story’s protagonist, most of the dogs came from civilian families who donated their pets to support the troops.
After screening and intensive training alongside human handlers, the dogs were shipped to Vietnam, where they served sentry duty and scouted for traps and ambushes. “Cracker!” zeroes in on the extraordinary relationships between dog and handler, and how troops coveted the pair.
With their fervid noses and keen hearing, the dogs foiled countless traps and ambush efforts, saving tens of thousands of lives before the U.S. pulled troops out of Vietnam. “Cracker!” has a happier ending than the average Vietnam war dog story. About 250 dogs died in active duty during the war. Ages 10 and up.
My Mother, the Cheerleader by Robert Sharenow, $16.99 | At once languid and riveting, this story about the daughter of a rabid anti-segregationist is set in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans in 1960. Watchful, shy and only beginning to trust her own instincts, young Louise never questions her mother’s enthusiastic participation in the Cheerleaders, a group of white women who daily taunt the three African-American girls doggedly attending a local elementary school.
That changes when an engaging stranger lodges at her mother’s boarding house, tumbling Louise’s precepts about communism, segregation, Christianity and tradition. Sharenow deftly offers a sympathetic and unsentimental insight into a psyche shaped as much by fear as hate. Deceptively insouciant and acutely observed, this novel is a genuine pleasure to read. Ages 12 and up.
The Big Book of Boy Stuff by Bart Smith, $19.95 | Here, readers will find the secrets to card tricks, magic tricks, an entire chapter on “Gross Stuff” that devotes several pages to “barfing,” including a cheer, and even more on “bombing,” including a reference to Benjamin Franklin’s book “Fart Proudly,” a volume rarely referenced in history classes. And more. Much, much more.
This is a perfect gift for boys in elementary and middle school. Actually, it’s also superlative research material for females, of any age, interested in some keen insights into the male psyche.
Want to impress someone on a date, girlfriend? Memorize the anecdote on page 138 explaining why Indiana Jones shot an expert swordsman – as opposed to staging a drawn-out fight – in “Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Ages 8 and up.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-954-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
