Synopses & Reviews
From renowned Newbery-winning author Jerry Spinelli comes an incredible story about how not fitting in might just lead to an incredible life.
Just like other kids, Zinkoff rides his bike, hopes for snow days, and wants to be like his dad when he grows up. But Zinkoff also raises his hand with all the wrong answers, trips over his own feet, and falls down with laughter over a word like "Jabip." Other kids have their own word to describe him, but Zinkoff is too busy to hear it. He doesn't know he's not like everyone else. And one winter night, Zinkoff's differences show that any name can someday become "hero."
With some of his finest writing to date and great wit and humor, Jerry Spinelli creates a story about a boy's individuality surpassing the need to fit in and the genuine importance of failure. As readers follow Zinkoff from first through sixth grade—making this a perfect classroom read—and watch his character develop, it becomes impossible not to identify with and root for him through failures and triumphs.
Supports the Common Core State Standards
Review
The Schwa Was Here Winner of the 2005 Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Fiction
An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
An ALA Notable Book o Winner of the 2007-08 California Young Reader Medal Award
An IRA Young Adult Choice Award selection
21 state lists; 2 starred reviews: BCCB, SLJ
Review
Antsy Does Time 2009 ALA Best Young Adult List
2008 Junior Library Guild Selection
2009 Pennsylvania School Library Association Young Adult Top 40 selection
5 state lists; 4 starred reviews: Booklist, Kirkus, SLJ, VOYA
Synopsis
Just like other kids, Zinkoff rides his bike, hopes for snow days, and wants to be like his dad when he grows up. But Zinkoff also raises his hand with all the wrong answers, trips over his own feet, and falls down with laughter over a word like "Jabip."
Other kids have their own word to describe him, but Zinkoff is too busy to hear it. He doesn't know he's not like everyone else. And one winter night, Zinkoff's differences show that any name can someday become "hero."
Synopsis
From renowned Newbery-winning author Jerry Spinelli comes an incredible story about how not fitting in might just lead to an incredible life. This classic book is perfect for fans of Gordon Korman and Carl Hiaasen.
Just like other kids, Zinkoff rides his bike, hopes for snow days, and wants to be like his dad when he grows up. But Zinkoff also raises his hand with all the wrong answers, trips over his own feet, and falls down with laughter over a word like -Jabip.- Other kids have their own word to describe him, but Zinkoff is too busy to hear it. He doesn't know he's not like everyone else. And one winter night, Zinkoff's differences show that any name can someday become -hero.-
With some of his finest writing to date and great wit and humor, Jerry Spinelli creates a story about a boy's individuality surpassing the need to fit in and the genuine importance of failure. As readers follow Zinkoff from first through sixth grade--it becomes impossible not to identify with and root for him through failures and triumphs. The perfect classroom read.
Synopsis
The uproarius companion to "The Schwa was Here" and "Antsy Does Time"
In honor of Old Man Crawleys eightieth birthday, the Bonano family has been invited to celebrate with a weeklong cruise to the Caribbean aboard the worlds largest, grandest ship. But whether on land or at sea, Antsy cant manage to stay out of trouble: He quickly finds himself the accomplice of stowaway and thief Tilde, whose self-made mission it is to smuggle onto the ship and across the U.S. border illegal immigrants from her native Mexico. When Antsy steps in to take the fall for Tilde, he becomes the focus of a major international incident and the poster child for questionable decisions.
Equal parts clever and riotous, Ship Out of Luck brings back the beloved cast of characters from Neal Shustermans acclaimed The Schwa Was Here and Antsy Does Time.
Synopsis
The uproarius companion to "The Schwa was Here" and "Antsy Does Time"
In honor of Old Man Crawleys eightieth birthday, the Bonano family has been invited to celebrate with a weeklong cruise to the Caribbean aboard the worlds largest, grandest ship. But whether on land or at sea, Antsy cant manage to stay out of trouble: He quickly finds himself the accomplice of stowaway and thief Tilde, whose self-made mission it is to smuggle onto the ship and across the U.S. border illegal immigrants from her native Mexico. When Antsy steps in to take the fall for Tilde, he becomes the focus of a major international incident and the poster child for questionable decisions.
Equal parts clever and riotous, Ship Out of Luck brings back the beloved cast of characters from Neal Shustermans acclaimed The Schwa Was Here and Antsy Does Time.
About the Author
Jerry Spinelli is the author of
Maniac Magee, winner of the 1991 Newbery Medal, and
Wringer, named a Newbery Honor book in 1998. He went to Gettysburg College and John Hopkins University. He and his wife, Eileen, also a writer of children's books, have seven children. Jerry Spinelli's books are funny and true to life. Whenever students ask him where he gets his ideas, he replies, "From you. You're the funny ones." Spinelli enjoys writing about the adventure in the typical experiences of children and young people.
In His Own Words...
"If you were standing on the corner of George and Oak Streets in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on a particular morning in 1949, you would have heard a jangling noise coming down George. You would have turned to see a little kid totally decked out in a cowboy outfit: ten-gallon hat, studded shirt, jodhpurs, twin golden cap pistols, white holsters, red bullets, boots and-the source of the jangling-spurs.
"As the kid clanked on by, you might have wondered if you had forgotten that this was Halloween. It wasn't. It was just an ordinary school day, and the little kid was me. I wanted to be a cowboy, and when I woke up that morning, I guess I just couldn't wait one day longer.
"I remember Miss Davis, my third grade teacher, smiling down at me in the front row and asking if there was something I would like to do for the class. I said yes, there was. Whereupon I got up, stood before my classmates and belted out "I've Got Spurs that jingle Jangle Jingle."
"I never did grow up to be a cowboy Nor did I realize ambitions to become a printer, a fighter pilot, a biologist or a baseball player. But I did become plenty of other neat things. I became a terrific, never-give-up-till-the-caboose railroad car-counter. And an intrepid berry-picker. And a fearless salamander-hunter. And a night sky-swooner. And a husband to one and father to six.
"And a writer. Which turns out to be the best career of all, because in telling my stories I can be all those things I ever did and did not become--and live in Phoenixville, just ten miles from Norristown."