Buddy Concrackle’s Amazing Adventure attempts to provide a roller-coaster ride of gags, jokes, and slapstick humour. Unfortunately, most of the time the humour misses the mark, leaving the reader feeling battered rather than amused. The plot of this novel involves the Concrackle family’s cross-country trip to Oregon, to “Sid’s Statue Sity,” a mecca of lawn ornaments to which Buddy’s father is irresistibly drawn. On the way they meet crazy characters like Ear Drums Macleod, a bagpipe-playing eccentric, and Erv and Stella Washburn, two kite builders who are actually kites themselves, and are often seen floating in the sky above their town. Exploding kites, giant destructive yo-yos, and a fire-belching lawn ornament are only a few of the outlandish challenges facing the family on its journey. Every sentence in this story attempts to deliver a gag or joke, and this relentless stream of slapstick soon becomes tiresome. In addition, the incidents and characters do not merge together in the plot to build to satisfying conclusions. Kids looking for a good laugh would do better to pick up any book by Gordon Korman, the master at co-ordinating characters and plots to hilarious effect.