Niagara Falls or Does It? (Hank Zipzer)

Rating:
Summary: Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: As a ten year old student reporter, I had the honor of interviewing Henry and Lin at a writing conference in Los Angeles. I have read the first three books in this series and look forward to reading all of them. These books are hysterical and moving. As a girl with (around) a twelfth grade reading level, I mostly don't read books as easy as this. But all in all I loved all three. I have read them each about three or four times. Don't you just love the last name "Zipzer"? Anyway, these three books are totally awesome, I will keep on reading them for the rest of my life. As soon as you finish reading this review, buy the Hank Zipzer books. It is worth it. Also, in case you didn't know, Henry Winkler is dyslexic so when you buy his books about a dyslexic boy in many ways you are supporting him. All he wants is for kids to not have to go through what he did as a child. P.S. I didn't mean to sound as if I was bragging before.

Rating:
Summary: 2 Thumbs and 2 Big Toes up!!!
Review: As the wife, mother, and teacher of students with learning disabilities, I have lived this story. Mr. Winkler has captured the feelings and behaviors of both the Hank and the teacher, administration, and parents who don't seem to understand.
The interest level is very high. (I am waaaaay beyond 9-12 age). I was on the edge of my chair trying to help Hank through and wondering who was going to rescue him from school bureaucracy.
I can NOT wait for the next one. Keep them coming, Henry.

Rating:
Summary: Thank you Henry Winkler!!!!!
Review: Big name authors sell, so Henry Winkler will be popular. Topics sell and with a story about dyslexia, people will buy. My interest, though, is just as a reader looking for a good story.

This story starts with engaging characters, vivid and fun. Three children, a wild grandpa, a bullying classmate, and the hard-nosed teacher, strict principal and new musician. Even a nerdy, too-smart younger neighbor.

It has great location--not just the typical school, but a funky bowling alley and a secret place to meet.

The plot revolves around conflict, with the main character, Hank, center-stage. Humor is the byword for 4th graders and Hank handles this with aplomb.

Kids will enjoy reading this book. And so will their parents.

Rating:
Summary: Engaging characters, good story
Review: Big name authors sell, so Henry Winkler will be popular. Topics sell and with a story about dyslexia, people will buy. My interest, though, is just as a reader looking for a good story.

This story starts with engaging characters, vivid and fun. Three children, a wild grandpa, a bullying classmate, and the hard-nosed teacher, strict principal and new musician. Even a nerdy, too-smart younger neighbor.

It has great location--not just the typical school, but a funky bowling alley and a secret place to meet.

The plot revolves around conflict, with the main character, Hank, center-stage. Humor is the byword for 4th graders and Hank handles this with aplomb.

Kids will enjoy reading this book. And so will their parents.

Rating:
Summary: A WINNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: Congratulations and thank you to Henry Winkler!!! These books are fabulous for everyone... children... parents... and a must for every teacher! The books are hysterically funny, well written and do not talk down to kids. Most important, without being heavy handed, Hank Zipzer has a universal message that every child will relate to. Buy this book! You will love it and your kids will love it!

Rating:
Summary: This is a good one!
Review: I've always liked Henry Winkler and respected the challenges he has overcome in his life so when I found out he had written a couple of books for kids, I had to buy them! My fifth grade son read it in less than 24 hours. He really enjoyed it and couldn't put it down. He even took it to his class and recommended it to all of his classmates. I have only read the first few chapters but I have found it to be easy and enjoyable to read. It's obvious that Mr. Winkler is in touch with the feelings and behavior of young boys; he has captured their spirit perfectly. I like the idea that my son has been able to gain some insight into learning difficulties some kids may face and to be understanding of their challenges. I highly recommend this book to kids of all ages.

Rating:
Summary: A humorous book about a learning disability.
Review: In the book Niagara Falls or Does It? by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver, Hank suffers from dyslexia, the most important part of the story. Hank is assigned to write an essay, 5 paragraphs long and he is terrified. He deceids to SHOW the principal his essay instead of writing it. When his plan fails, he is sentenced to detention, where the book begins.

Readers will enjoy this book for the humor and drama of Hanks life.

The authors intention of writing this book is to show everybody that it is not wrong to have dyslexia. People with dyslexia go on to have full lives, like Henry Winkler.

Niagara Falls of Does It? is a worth wild humorous book for all types of learners. This book is the start of a series of three books that I would recommend.

Rating:
Summary: Thank you Henry Winkler!!!!!
Review: My son, who has dyslexia, loves this series. He actually goes out of his way to read them. Anyone who knows a child, or has a child with dyslexia, knows how difficult it is to get them to read. He cannot wait for the next one to come out.

Rating:
Summary: Niagra Falls or Does It
Review: Normally, I don't bother reading children's books written by celebrities, but this series of books is funny, lighthearted, and full of the nonsensical humor of the Fonz. In the beginning he describes his 4th grade hero, Hank, as the "world's best underachiever." Hank abhors school essays, so instead of writing about Niagara Falls, he builds a working model of the falls and brings it to class for show and tell. The resulting disaster lands him in the Principal's office. According to the authors Winkler and Oliver, "The hall is a only place when you're sitting outside the Principal's office."

This book is ideal for readers aged 8-10. It uses silly, irreverent, classroom humor to tell the story of a young boy who enlists the aid of his classmates to keep him out of trouble. This is one book in a series of similar stories, and promises good reading for both parents and elementary school kids. As an aspiring writer for children (Abby and the Bicycle Caper), I found this book entertaining and suitable for family reading.


Rating:
Summary: AAAAYYY plus self-help resource for youth with disabilties
Review: The inaugural volume from a series loosely based on Henry Winkler's own (less than comforting) childhood as an undiagnosed dyslexic/dyscalculaic pre-1970's civil rights laws, this story introduces Hank Zipster---and subsequently implied radical educational pedagogy missing components to educational equality for students with disabilities.

Conjuring up TV images of street demonstration and angry mobs, "radical" actually means to get at the root cause of something.

Unlike the open isolation and secrecy experienced in Winkler's youth, today's students have disability rights laws on the books ensuring their equal educational access, but the same statues can only reach full potential when students with disabilities are not formally/informally stigmatized for their "difference" against non-disabled peers.

The default trying nature of such topics may potentially shock readers whose `juvenile fiction series' reads are confined to traditionally light-hearted and easy-going fare, but the presentation arrangement is obligatory because even when appropriate services are rendered, students with disabilities leave American schools with low self-esteem engendered by classroom and cultural stigmatization as the `bad' other to be avoided at all costs.

That this series is written by a person with a disability himself (who just happened to be a cultural mega star) is infinitely better than having a person (however well intentioned) second-hand guess what such childhood experiences are like.

Lucky that I could talk with my own parents about some of my own experiences, I also knew this option was unavailable for other people, and sometimes even I needed to network with others like myself.

Exposing me to the inherent inequities in the American educational system, this very same difference had also made me a target of peers (and sadly, teachers) who did not want to acknowledge me as a full and rounded person with many of the same general goals and dreams they also possessed. My place in the world was ultimately contingent upon my knowing and standing up for disability rights.

Also true to his own personality, Winkler never talks down to his audience during the adventures, instead reassuring the normalcy of wanting to fit in while being different from others in the immediate environment. The fast-paced dialog helps kids find both themselves and a voice.

Because no civil rights law can actually require a child to have self-esteem (or respect such boundaries of others) these books are important corollary to a still-relatively untouched subject. Narrowly constructed definitions of `smart' and `progress' continue to impede truly constructive nation-wide special education policy discussions.

Politicians from all across the political spectrum have rendered themselves hoarse pontificating on `academic success' and `leaving no child behind' but Winkler's efforts clearly demonstrate actual willingness providing these very tools to the audiences needing such tools the most.

If only this series were out when I was in public school.