Donuthead

This is a funny and poignant middle-grade novel featuring a boy and girl protagonists The author is a journalist and has been reviewing children’s literature for the last ten years so she knows her stuff and the genre inside out.Franklin Delano Donuthead is the Felix Unger of children’s literature: his voice and finicky mannerisms make him hilarious and his fears and hopes make him loveable.Franklin Delano Donuthead is a fifth grader with a lot of problems: For starters, his last name is Donuthead. He considers himself handicapped because one arm and leg are shorter than the other (by less than half an inch), his mother is trying to poison him with non-organic foods (like salami), he doesn’t have a father, and Sarah Kervick, the new girl, who’s mean and totally unhygienic, is attached to him, warts and all, like glue.This is a hilarious and touching novel featuring a neurotic, scared boy and a tougher-than-nails girl who each help the other in more ways than they can imagine. Sue Stauffacher has crafted characters full of wit and sensitivity, with a little anti-bacterial soap thrown in for good measure.