Daniel Pinkwater has been one of my favorite authors since I was a kid. Just because I've gotten older doesn't mean I've grown out of Pinkwater's children's books, which is good, because I'm not sure Pinkwater has really grown up either. He continues to write stories that show the world as a weird, wonderful, magical, hilarious place full of strange mysteries and cheerfully eccentric people.
The Neddiad is about Neddie Wentworthstein, a young boy who moves with his family to Los Angeles. On the way to California, a shaman called Melvin gives Neddie a turtle figurine and hints that Neddie might have a role to play in the end of civilization as we know it (which might be happening soon). Neddie goes on to encounter ghosts, cowboys, movie stars, fat alien cops, prehistoric animals, school bullies, a radio quiz show, a circus...and more.
Pinkwater's prose is so relaxed and enthusiastic, it's easy to get lost in the story and take every quirky thing at face value. Pinkwater's world is the kind of place I'd want to live, where oddballs and geeks are celebrated, where smart adults don't talk down to kids, and where people take the craziest things in stride. Pinkwater's books may be aimed at children, but they're sophisticated enough for adults, too (without being too mature and boring).
As Warren Ellis says in his comics series Planetary, "It's a strange world. Let's keep it that way." Pinkwater keeps it that way better than just about anyone else I know of.