I Got a D in Salami #2 (Hank Zipzer) [Paperback]

Henry Winkler (Author), Lin Oliver (Author), Jesse Joshua Watson (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: May 12, 2003 | Age Range: 7 - 11 years | Series: Hank Zipzer (Book 2) | Lexile Measure: 650L (What's this?)

It's report card day-the most dreaded day in Hank's school year. And when Hank gets his grades, they're his worst nightmare come true: a D in spelling, a D in reading, a D in math. After school, Hank and his friends go to his mom's deli. His mom is on the prowl-she knows a report card day when she sees one. Hank tries to stall her, but she's going for his backpack. He's cornered. Hank hands the report card off to his friend Frankie, who gives it to his friend Ashley, who gives it to Robert, who puts it into a meat grinder! Hank watches as his Ds are ground into a big salami, and this particular salami is being made for a very important client. How will Hank get out of this one?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5-Hank Zipzer, a learning-challenged fourth grader, gets himself into lots of trouble when he tries to hide the fact that he received a number of "D's" on his report card. The fantastical, suspend-your-disbelief, rollicking and very funny solution that he and his friends invent, not to mention the desire to decipher the meaning of this book's title, will keep young readers turning the pages. Hank's relationship with his grandfather, his two best friends, his little sister, his parents, and, last but not least, his dog show that despite his problems at school, he has a big, loving heart and a way with people. Readers will smile in recognition of the character's dilemmas and laugh out loud at the slapstick, slippery slope of Hank's predicament.
Elizabeth Fernandez, Brunswick Middle School, Greenwich, CT
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Henry Winkler is an acomplished actor, producer and director.  In 2003, Henry added author to his list of acheivements as he co-authored a series of children's books.  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.

Henry is married to Stacey Weitzman and they have three children.

Lin Oliver is a writer and producer of movies, books, and television series for children and families. She has created over one hundred episodes of television, four movies, and seven books. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Alan. They have three sons named Theo, Ollie, and Cole, one fluffy dog named Annie, and no iguanas.

Product Details

• Age Range: 7 - 11 years
  
• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap (May 12, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0448431637
• ISBN-13: 978-0448431635
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #40,781 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #51 in Books > Children's Books > Social Situations > Special Needs

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars But he gets an A in creativity June 4, 2003

By Anna M. Allred

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I remember as a kid, the power the Fonz had on American kids. When his character got a library card, applications for library cards increased nationally. Now that Henry Winkler has turned author, I know he will be impacting more kids in a positive way.

Hank Zipper is a kid with learning disabilities that aren't diagnosed yet. But he doesn't let that stop him. This book moves quickly and is full of vivid descriptions of Hank's adventures. The scene with the two dogs and the chase through the mansion is a hoot!

Kudos to Winkler on this latest venture. This book would be a good classroom read aloud!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Henry Winkler is still a winner May 31, 2003

By Anna M. Allred

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is hysterical. It helps to have read NIAGRA FALLS, OR DOES IT first, just for the sake of continuity in the story. The description of how the report card ends up in the meat grinder and the meeting of Cheerio the Dachsund and the big dog are hysterical. This book would make a great classroom read aloud for grades 2-5. I think that even the most reluctant of readers would be caught up in Hank's adventures and might even see some familiar traits. Winkler and Oliver vividly and realistically show the struggle that kids like Hank have each day in school. I know that Arthur Fonzarelli would find Hank Zipper to be a cool guy. Aaaay!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hank Does it Again!! March 17, 2006

By Chess Heart VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

We first met our hero, Hank Zipzer, in the book Niagra Falls... or Does It? and learned what a funny guy Hank can be. We met his crossword puzzle crazy dad, his mom who owns the family delicatessen called "The Crunchy Pickle" and who is always trying to invent new lunch meats made out of soy, and also his weird, lizard-loving sister Emily and her pet iguana, Katherine (I ask you, how weird do you have to be to name a lizard "Katherine"??)

In that first book we read the adventures that Hank went through trying to make a working model of Niagra Falls instead of just writing a paper about it, and at the very end when Hank's project make a horrible mess and he spent a week in detention with the music teacher, Mr. Rock, he thought that Hank might have learning challenges and suggested that Hank get tested.

Well, at the beginning of this book Hank is practicing for his weekly spelling test and is having a terrible time trying to remember all the tricky words, like "rhythm". Jumping around the room seems to help, but when he gets to school the next day all those words seemed to have leaked out his ears and he can't remember a thing. In fact, because he argues with his teacher, he winds up being sent to Principal Love's office to do what Hank calls "mole time"-that is, sitting and staring at the Statue of Liberty-shaped mole on the principal's face. To add insult to injury, he gets his REPORT CARD later that day.

Now, MOST kids wind up getting small envelopes with their cards in it, but not Hankie-boy. HE gets a gigantic manila envelope with his report card and a letter from his teacher! What's worse, he has gotten THREE D's!!! He might as well pack his bags and go to South Africa, like Joshua T. Bates was planning to do (ha! Text-to-text connection!) While Hank is trying to think of a way out of this situation, his DAD and NOT his Papa Pete come to pick him and his friends up from school. This is not good and unexpected! He was hoping to talk to Papa Pete and get some advice for how to handle this situation.

They all go to The Crunchy Pickle, and it's there that things get REALLY interesting (and funny!) Hank's mom discovers that report cards are due out and asks Hank for his. Hank pretends to look in his bookbag, and passes his report card off to one of his friends. The report card gets passed around like an unwanted Christmas fruitcake until Robert, a small, geeky kid, sticks the whole darned thing into a MEAT GRINDER! There it gets ripped into shreds and added to a soy salami mix that Hank's mother was working on. She was hoping that a local grocery store owner would like her new soy salami and want to buy some, but when Papa Pete takes one look at the nasty glop in the bowl (complete now with bits of report card) he says they should start over again. Hank is relieved because, at least for the weekend, he's gotten away with not having to produce his report card. He's sure something will occur to him to help fix the situation by Monday.

That is, he's sure until dinner on Friday night when his mom tells him that she secretly put her OLD batch of soy salami-the one with ground up D's and a crabby teacher letter-into the fridge and was planning to give THAT to the grocery store owner, Mr. G. Hank nearly chokes on his dinner and has a heart attack. HOW is he going to fix THIS problem?! You can't eat soy salami with report card in it! (heck, Hank thinks you can't eat soy salami WITHOUT paper in it, either!) How is he going to fix this problem?

Well, he's going to "fix" it in typical Hank Zipzer fashion, of course!! That is, he's going to come up with an incredibly complicated plan that has a very good chance of going completely and utterly WRONG (think of all the trouble he had getting his Niagra Falls project to work and all the trouble THAT caused!).

DOES his plan go haywire? Well, yeah-it would almost HAVE to, wouldn't it? It wouldn't be a Hank Zipzer novel if it didn't! but what exactly happens I won't tell you other than it involves a great big dog, chess pieces, Cheerio, soy salami and, eventually redemption.

What I like about Hank is how realistic he is and how almost all of us have a lil' bit of Hank in us (some, like me, moreso than others). Hank isn't a bad kid; he's not mean or a jerk (that's a job for Nick "The Tick" McKelty), but he's so easily distracted and scatterbrained that it's easy for his imagination and impulses to get completely away from him. Anyone who has learning challenges or has had difficulty concentrating in school or in meetings can certainly identify with Hank.