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Summary
Summary
Inspired by the true life experiences of Henry Winkler, whose undiagnosed dyslexia made him a classic childhood underachiever, the Hank Zipzer series is about the high-spirited and funny adventures of a boy with learning differences.
It's science project time in Ms. Adolf's class. This is good news and bad news for Hank-he loves science, but he hates the report part. So Hank turns to TV to take his mind off things. But when the program directory scrolls by too quickly for Hank to know what's on, he decides to take apart the cable box to try to slow down the crawl. Great! Now Hank has found the perfect science project! But what he wasn't counting on was his sister's pet iguana laying eighteen eggs in the disassembled cable box. How is Hank going to get out of this one?
Illustrated by Carol Heyer.
Author Notes
Born in Manhattan, NY in 1945, Henry Winkler rose to fame as television's "The Fonz" on the 1970's sitcom, Happy Days. In 1970, Winkler graduated from the Yale School of Drama and went on to act in various commercials before being cast as Arthur Fonzarelli. After Happy Days, Winkler went on to produce and direct various television shows, as well as continue acting in co-starring roles in movies such as "Scream" and "The Waterboy". Along with his acting and directing career, Henry Winkler is a children's advocate who helped to found the Children's Action Network which helps to provide immunization to children at no charge. He is also involved with several other children's charities and began writing the Hank Zipzer series in 2003 which centers around an adventurous boy with dyslexia.
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-The third entry in the series explores friendship, forgiveness, understanding, and honesty. Hank promises to videotape an obscure science fiction movie for Frankie if the other boy will perform in his magic show. Unfortunately, the program guide on the television moves too quickly for Hank, and he accidentally tapes the wrong show, leaving his friend angry and disappointed. Hank must come up with a science experiment topic, and his mistake prompts him to try and invent a slow-scrolling TV channel guide for less-skilled readers. He dismantles his family's cable box and finds it difficult to reassemble. When he isn't paying attention, his sister's iguana moves into it and refuses to leave. In the end, Hank's increasingly elaborate schemes, his implied learning disability, and the iguana's eggs are all exposed. The wordy, first-person narration sometimes gets in the way of an already meandering story. Everything that happens is plausible enough, and Hank is a likable protagonist with good intentions. However, the authors frequently rely on his narrative role to take facile storytelling shortcuts and convey heavy-handed messages. "That's what you call true friendship," he unnecessarily explains after a simple gesture of kindness. Still, this child-friendly title is by no means the worst recent contribution to the celebrity children's book canon.-Catherine Threadgill, Charleston County Public Library, SC (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Favorite series continue with new episodes. Henry Winkler's engaging hero is back in Hank Zipzer: The Mostly True Confessions of the World's Best Underachiever: Day of the Iguana by Winkler and Lin Oliver, illus. by Carol Heyer. In this third book in the series, Hank takes apart the cable box for his science project. Now all he has to do is figure out how to put it back together-and it doesn't help when his sister's iguana makes a nest in the cable box. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
In the series's latest, particularly sitcomlike offering, ten-year-old Hank accidentally puts on his sister's red socks and finds his pitching skills vastly improved. Sure that the socks bring him luck, Hank wants to wear them for the school Olympiadùbut his sister insists on wearing them that day. The characterizations and humor are thin, and Hank's dilemma is never satisfactorily resolved. From HORN BOOK Spring 2004, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
