Hank Zipzer: The World's Greatest Underachiever (formally Hank Zipzer: The Mostly True Confessions of the World's Best Underachiever in books 1-3 and Hank Zipzer: The World's Best Underachiever in book four) is a series of children's books

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

 by actor Henry Winkler

Henry Winkler

Henry Franklin Winkler, OBE is an American actor, director, producer, and author.Winkler is best known for his role as Fonzie on the 1970s American sitcom Happy Days...

 and Lin Oliver, published by Grosset & Dunlap

Grosset & Dunlap

Grosset & Dunlap is a United States book publisher founded in 1898.The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of the British publishing conglomerate, Pearson PLC through its American subsidiary Penguin Group....

.

Overview

Hank Zipzer is a young boy growing up on the Upper West Side

Upper West Side

The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...

 of New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, who is dyslexic. Winkler based the character on himself as a child and his own experiences with dyslexia. http://www.seattlepi.com/books/316160_winkler18.html He attends P.S. 87 at Amsterdam Avenue and W 78th Street.
His friends are Frankie Townsend and Ashley Wong.

Books

1. Niagara Falls, or Does It?

Niagara Falls, or Does it?

Niagara Falls, or Does it? is the first book in the Hank Zipzer series, written by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver, illustrated by Jesse Joshua Watson and published by Grosset & Dunlap.-Plot summary:...

Instead of writing an assigned essay on his summer vacation, Hank tries building a model of Niagara Falls, his family's summer vacation spot.

2. I Got a "D" in Salami

Hank tosses his report card in his mother's meat grinder to get out of his parents seeing his three D's on his report card. The chase is on when he finds out his report-card-salami is going to one of his mom's most important sponsor choices!

3. Day of the Iguana

Day of the Iguana

Day of the Iguana is the third book in the Hank Zipzer series by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver. It was first published in 2003 by Grosset & Dunlap. The title is a reference to The Night of the Iguana, a play by Tennessee Williams.-Plot summary:...

Hank tries to disassemble and reassemble the cable box for his science project. But how is he supposed to put it back together when Katherine the iguana has laid her eggs in it?

4. The Zippity Zinger

Hank's friends choose Hank to be the pitcher for their school, PS 87's Olympiad baseball team. Since Hank can't pitch for his life, he thinks his sister's lucky red monkey socks may be the answer. Only one problem - Emily needs them on the same day for her part of the Olympiad!

5. The Night I Flunked My Field Trip

Hank has an overnight field trip to a dock

Dock (maritime)

A dock is a human-made structure or group of structures involved in the handling of boats or ships, usually on or close to a shore.However, the exact meaning varies among different variants of the English language...

ed boat

Boat

A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a...

 in New York Harbor

New York Harbor

New York Harbor refers to the waterways of the estuary near the mouth of the Hudson River that empty into New York Bay. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Although the U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental,...

. But when Hank accidentally undocks the boat, the trouble begins...He makes friends with Colin Sebastion Rich IV.

6. Holy Enchilada!

Hank needs to prepare some enchiladas for his school multi-cultural day. But, he may have added too much hot sauce...

• Note: This book's original title was Holy Enchilada!

7. Help! Somebody Get me out of Fourth Grade!

When his parents get called for a parent-teacher conference, Hank just knows his teacher is going to tell them he's being held back. There's just one way to make sure they don't show up - sabotage!

8. Summer School? What Genius thought That Up?

Hank gets sent to summer school without his friends, Frankie Townsend and Ashley Wong.

9. My Secret Life as a Ping-Pong Wizard

Hank's finally in the fifth grade, except he is still stuck with Ms.Adolf and he's also found a sport he's good at - ping-pong! But when his friends tease the sport, Hank decides to keep it a secret.

10. My Dog's a Scaredy-Cat: A Halloween Tail

Hank tries to scare Nick in a haunted house he makes with his friends.

11. The Curtain Went Up, My Pants Went Down

Hank gets a lead part in a school play (The King and I

The King and I

The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...

) but he can only do the play if he gets a B plus on his next math test.He has a mathes tutor called Heather Payne.

12. Barfing in the Backseat: How I Survived My Family Road Trip

Barfing in the Backseat: How I Survived My Family Road Trip

Barfing in the Backseat: How I Survived My Family Road Trip is the twelfth book in the Hank Zipzer children's book series by Lin Oliver and Henry Winkler. It was released on 5 July 2007 by Grosset & Dunlap....

The Zipzers take a road trip

Road trip

A road trip is any journey taken on roads, regardless of stops en route. Typically, road trips are long distances traveled by automobile.-Pre-automobile road trips:...

 to a crossword puzzle

Crossword Puzzle

For the common puzzle, see CrosswordCrossword Puzzle was the second to last album made by The Partridge Family and was not one of the most popular albums. It was released in 1973 and did not produce a U.S. single. This album was finally released on CD in 2003 on Arista's BMG Heritage label...

 tournament and a roller coaster park in North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

. But when he mistakenly leaves Mrs. Adolf's vacation homework packet at a motel, he and Frankie set out to have it delivered - without Mr. Zipzer finding out.

13. Who Ordered This Baby? Definitely Not Me!

Hank hears his mom talking to Frankie's mom over the phone about a baby. Frankie will be shocked! Or at least until Hank realizes she was talking about herself!

14. Life of Me

Mr. Rock takes over as Hank's teacher. Hank is psyched....until Mr.Rock suggests that Hank takes an after school reading program, which means he will have to miss tae kwon do. But when Hank gets a crush on a girl in the reading program, and when Mr. Rock says, instead of doing an autobiography (a class assignment), Hank may do a scrapbook of his life. Everything is going right. Then Hank finds out that the girl he likes is Nick McKelty's cousin.

15. A Tail of Two Tails

Hank's school holds a pet contest and the winner becomes the school mascot. How is Hank supposed to train his Dachshund, Cheerio, if he (Cheerio) keeps messing around?

16. Dump Trucks and Dogsleds: I'm on My Way, Mom!

Hank's mom is having a baby, and the baby is going to share a room with Hank. Hank did feel better when his dad took his sister Emily and him on a 'pre-baby' ski trip. But when Hank's mom called to say the baby was coming early, they had to cut their trip short. The only problem was that a freak snowstorm had arrived and we were stuck. Whether they had to ride on horses, dump trucks, dogsleds, or even in a truck with ten Chinese acrobats, they would get home in to meet Baby Zipzer.

17. A Brand-New Me!

Main characters

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name
! Bio
|-
| Henry Daniel "Hank" Zipzer
| The main character, who has learning challenges(dyslexia

Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a very broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and which can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, or rapid...

).
|-
| Nick "The Tick" McKelty
| The class bully, who is none-to-bright.
|-
| Ms. Adolf
| Hank's teacher who hates fun and funny, always wears gray clothes, possibly to match her face.
|-
| Frankie Townsend
| Hank's best friend, thinks oxygen is power and has a nickname for everyone.
|-
| Leland Love
| Hank's principal who repeats everything twice and likes to answer his own questions, Has a mole

Mole (skin marking)

A melanocytic nevus is a type of lesion that contains nevus cells .Some sources equate the term mole with "melanocytic nevus". Other sources reserve the term "mole" for other purposes....

 shaped like the Statue of Liberty

Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...

 without the torch.
|-
| Ashley Wong
| Hank and Frankie's other best friend who is a great athlete and loves rhinestone

Rhinestone

A rhinestone or paste or diamante is a diamond simulant made from rock crystal, glass or acrylic.Originally, rhinestones were rock crystals gathered from the river Rhine. The availability was greatly increased around 1775 when the Alsatian jeweller Georg Friedrich Strass had the idea to imitate...

s.
|-
| Robert Upchurch
| A 4th (formally 3rd) grade genius who lives in the same building as Hank and blurts out information at random moments.
|-
| Papa Pete
| Hank's grandpa who is always taking the kids somewhere.
|-
| Carlos
| The counter guy at Hank's mom's deli.
|-
| Emily Zipzer
| Hank's little sister, very smart when it comes to reptiles, considerably annoying, likes Robert Upchurch, and has an iguana

Iguana

Iguana is a herbivorous genus of lizard native to tropical areas of Central America and the Caribbean. The genus was first described in 1768 by Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in his book Specimen Medicum, Exhibens Synopsin Reptilium Emendatam cum Experimentis circa Venena...

 named Katherine.
|-
| Randi Zipzer
| Hank's mom, runs the Crunchy Pickle Deli, and takes healthy foods to a disgusting new level.
|-
| Stanley Zipzer
| Hank's dad, who is obsessed with crossword puzzles.
|-
| Cheerio Zipzer
| Hank's dachshund

Dachshund

The dachshund is a short-legged, long-bodied dog breed belonging to the hound family. The standard size dachshund was bred to scent, chase, and flush out badgers and other burrow-dwelling animals, while the miniature dachshund was developed to hunt smaller prey such as rabbits...

, who looks like a Cheerio when he runs in circles.
|-
| Katherine Zipzer
| Emily's iguana, who slurps food from the dinner table.
|-
| Vlady
| The other counter guy at Hank's mom's deli.
|-
| Mr. Rock
| Hank's Music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

 Teacher

Teacher

A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

 who is Hank's favorite teacher.
|-
| Mason Harris Jerome Dunn
| Hank's friend who is in kindergarten.
|-
| Heather Payne
| A very tall, smart girl who tutored Hank in Math.
|-
| Sam Chin
| Hank's other kindergarten friend who plays ping-pong with him.
|-
| Luke Whitman
| A boy in Hank's class who is very gross, and always has his finger in his nose.
|-
| Dr. Lynn Berger
| Hank's dyslexia teacher, who is very nice and always encourages Hank.
|-
| Mrs. Fink
| Hank's next door neighbor who has a crush on Papa Pete and is always baking something for him.
|-
| Joelle Adwin
| Nick "The Tick"'s girlfriend that is obsessed with her phone.
|-
| Zoe McKelty
| Hank's girlfriend

Girlfriend

Girlfriend is a term that can refer to either a female partner in a non-marital romantic relationship or a female non-romantic friend that is closer than other friends....

, also Nick McKelty's cousin.
|-
| Collin Sebastian Rich IIII
| Hank's friend in book 5. He bites his nails,he only knows 3 knock knock jokes and 2 of them arent funny.
|-
|

Musical Numbers

Act l

1. "All My Friends in New York" - Hank and Company
2. "Back To School" - Emily, Randi and Stanley
3. "I Don't Like Mondays" - Ashley
4. "My Old School" - Frankie, Hank, Zoe and Company
5. "Principal's Office" - Hank and Leland
6. "Walk This Way" - Ms. Adolf
7. "Flowers Are Red" - Carlos, Emily, Randi, Robert and Stanley
8. "Don't Forget to Remember Me" - Hank and Company
9. "Cool to Hate" - Katherine, Nick and Company
10. "Fifth Grade Massacre" - Ashley, Frankie, Hank, Zoe and Company

Act ll

1. "Education Blues" - Hank, Randi and Company
2. "Don't Be A Dropout" - Papa Pete
3. "College Man" - Ashley, Frankie, Zoe and Students
4. "Fifteen" - Hank and Company
5. "Girl Next Door" - Emily
6. "Homework" - Leland, Ms. Adolf and Students
7. "I Love College" - Ashley, Frankie, Hank, Randi, Stanley and Company
8. "Kids Don't Do It" - Carlos
9. "Mark Me Absent" - Robert and Company
10. "Just Sixteen" - Hank, Mr. Rock and Company
11. "High School Never Ends" - Ashley, Emily, Frankie, Randi and Stanley
12. "Graduation Day" - Hank
13. "Friends Forever" - Ashley, Collin, Frankie, Hank, Heather, Luke, Mason, Nick, Sam, Zoe and Company
14. "The Last Day of School" - The Company

See also

• List of artistic depictions of dyslexia