School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-Hank Zipzer is back in this slightly lengthy third story about bonds of friendship, business ventures, and forgiveness by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver (Grosset & Dunlop, 2003). Hank is a fourth grade self-professed "idea man" who has a magic act with his best friends Frankie (the magician) and Ashley (the money person). He talks them into entertaining at his bratty twin cousins' birthday party on Long Island by promising Frankie that he will tape the television broadcast of a rarely shown horror flick. When the taping goes awry, Frankie no longer speaks to Hank. Hank's learning disabilities make it difficult for him to concentrate at school and on homework at the best of times; worry about the situation with Frankie makes things even more challenging. While working on a science experiment to make text move more slowly across the TV screen, making it easier for kids with reading problems to read it, Hank takes apart the cable box. The friends all pitch in to try to solve the problem of replacing the box, with some help from an iguana-loving cable guy. Added to the mix is Hank's sister with her iguana fetish. All's well that ends well, with the stated moral being that you never know what great things a science project will lead to. Author/actor Henry Winkler narrates with enthusiasm and verve, but the tale feels a bit old-fashioned and moralistic at times. However, many kids will relate to Hank. Like Jack Gantos' Joey Pigza, Hank retains his sense of self regardless of his circumstances.-B. Allison Gray, John Jermain Memorial Library, Sag Harbor, NY (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.
