Dumbstruck: Book 4

Aldo Zelnick #4

by Karla Oceanak, Kendra Spanjer (Illustrator)

Ten-year-old Aldo lives with his family in Colorado. He's not athletic like his older brother; he's not a rock hound like his best friend; and he is none too fond of the outdoors—but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a passion. Aldo is passionate about bacon. Back at school adjusting to life in the 5th grade, Aldo is embarrassed about his artistic abilities. He has always underplayed his creative talent at school; but when he is around his cute new art teacher he suddenly finds himself behaving strangely. He loses the ability to speak when she’s around, volunteers to skip recess so he can clean paintbrushes, and finds himself working harder than ever before in a daring attempt to win the school art contest. The humorous plot and lively drawings in this book will captivate both enthusiastic and reluctant young readers who will identify with Aldo's all-too-familiar predicaments. This fourth installment in an A-to-Z alphabet series features a vocabulary-building glossary of fun and challenging words starting with the letter D, such as debacle, doofus, and defenestrate.

Genres: Fiction, Comics, Graphic Novels, Realistic Fiction, Middle Grade

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2011

About the author

Karla Oceanak is the author of the Aldo Zelnick Comic Novel Series, which has been honored with a Colorado Book Award, a Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Regional Book Award, an IndieNext selection, and other accolades. She has worked as a writer and editor for more than twenty years and has authored more than 100 books, some of which have been translated into Chinese, Korean, and Hebrew. Karla and her husband, Scott, live in Colorado with their three teenage boys in a house strewn with ping-pong balls, cell phone chargers, video games, books, and dirty socks.

Reviews

[katsok · Rating 4 out of 5]

My students will be beyond excited to see another volume added to this series. In Dumbstruck Aldo has many new experiences: he gets a new art teacher, enters an art contest, meets a friend who uses sign language, and has his first crush. Wonderful addition to the Aldo series.

[Mary T · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this series although this one is not my favorite. I'm wondering if the author is going to finish the series. I'm reading them in order.

[Katya Ocher]

casual

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dumbstruck is the fourth Aldo Zelnick comic novel, which follows Artsy Fartsy, Bogus, and Cahoots. The concept for the series is based on vocabulary and the alphabet. Each volume takes a particular letter and uses words beginning with that letter throughout the plot, providing definitions for each one in a detailed glossary at the back of the book, called “The Gallery.” The explanation for this gimmick within the stories is that Aldo’s teacher is obsessed with words and helps Aldo collect new ones in his sketch books. The main plot of Dumbstruck has to do with a pop art contest, for which Aldo is having trouble finding inspiration. While he struggles to find something to draw, he also realizes his developing crush on the new art teacher, befriends a new student who communicates through sign language, and endures a dodgeball injury.

I was very skeptical of this book when I started reading it, because I couldn’t imagine incorporating so many new vocabulary words into a fictional story without making it obvious that the author is trying to teach the reader their definitions. Karla Oceanak completely pulls it off, however. The words she uses are so carefully chosen, they fit seamlessly into the plot, even when they are marked with the asterisk that signals readers to look up the definition in The Gallery. Even more impressive are the ways she manages to work the letter D into the story outside of the words defined by the text. The deaf student in the story is named Danny, for example, a fact that I didn’t even pick up on until almost the end. The book is just so educational, not only in the area of vocabulary, but in the arts, sports, sign language, deaf culture, and even in romance. I think some books try to incorporate gimmicks like this to trick kids into learning, but Dumbstruck doesn’t shy away from the educational aspect at all. Rather, it makes learning all these different things into a form of entertainment that kids will be drawn to without being tricked.

The characters - including adults - are well-developed and believable, and Aldo especially is a very appealing protagonist whose problems and concerns are common to fifth grade boys. These books are very much like the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, but they have a gentler touch, and suit a slightly younger audience. They also share similar characteristics with the Origami Yoda books, and with the Big Nate series. Every library that serves Wimpy Kid fans (which, honestly, is every library, period) should have the Aldo Zelnick series on its shelves. I’m really surprised I haven’t heard more about them before, and I look forward to the rest of their journey through the alphabet.

[American Mensa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Aldo Zelnick comic novel is written and illustrated in a humorous way. The illustrations really make the book come alive and add to the humor. If you enjoy Diary of a Wimpy Kid and other books like it, you'll love this one. I could really relate to the main character even though he's a boy because of all the crazy school scenarios he describes in detail. My favorite part though was the word gallery! The vocabulary is awesome and I love how she put the definitions in the word gallery, this makes it worth reading for younger kids (ages 6-10) since they will learn lots of new words. I also think it will encourage reluctant readers to want to read more!
Reviewed by Sofia H age 11 Denver Mensa

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book probably one of my favorites in the series I especially enjoyed the new character Danny who uses sign language. I think it is important to let children see that there many different types of people in the world. I also like the new art teacher who has dyslexia. At the end of the book there is even a section on sign language where you can learn the alphabet. I am very impressed with this series so far and can't wait to start egghead.

[A Myers]

chris read sept 2012

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another hit in this series!