Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
151st out of 470 books
—
786 voters
Artsy-Fartsy
by
Karla Oceanak (Goodreads Author),
Kendra Spanjer (Goodreads Author)
Aldo Zelnick is the star of a new comic novel series for children. Ten-year-old Aldo lives with his family in Colorado. He's not athletic like his older brother, he's not a rock hound like his best friend, but he does like bacon. And when his artist grandmother, Goosy, gives him a sketchbook to "record all his artsy-fartsy ideas" during summer vacation, it turns out Aldo i...more
Paperback, 162 pages
Published
by Bailiwick Press
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
124)
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Aldo Zelnick is a 10-year old boy living in Colorado with his parents and his older brother. He's a bit lazy, unlike his older brother who is quite athletic. While on summer vacation, Aldo's grandmother, who everyone calls Goosy, gives him a sketchbook and encourages him to record all his "artsy-fartsy" ideas in it. Then his neighbor suggests he write in it as well. He reluctantly starts drawing and writing. Soon, Aldo discovers a love of sketching and creating cartoons. But when he leaves his s...more
This was a fun surprise I found at the bookstore. I had heard zip about this book/ series but picked it up because I can think of several of my reluctant readers who will adore this. I love that the book feels like Aldo's journal. I love that I see several of my students in him, students that need to be represented, to see themselves in a book.
Aldo is ten. His grandma, Goosy, is an artist and believes he is too. She gives him this notebook on summer vacation with the instructions to use it. Ald...more
Aldo is ten. His grandma, Goosy, is an artist and believes he is too. She gives him this notebook on summer vacation with the instructions to use it. Ald...more
This is a fantastic new comic novel series featuring 10 year old Aldo Zelnick. Aldo discovers his love for drawing and writing through the guidance of his grandma Goosy and his retired English teacher neighbor Mr. Mot.
The story is endearing for grown up readers. Younger readers will easily identify with Aldo. Both young and old will laugh throughout the story.
Kendra Spanjer's illustrations effectively shift between the styles of Aldo and other young artists. Artsy Fartsy is the first novel in a...more
The story is endearing for grown up readers. Younger readers will easily identify with Aldo. Both young and old will laugh throughout the story.
Kendra Spanjer's illustrations effectively shift between the styles of Aldo and other young artists. Artsy Fartsy is the first novel in a...more
For boys who loved the likes of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and the Big Nate series, this was creative and fun. Takes place in Colorado, (the author is from Fort Collins and the book has won several awards), the main character Aldo Zelnick is a creative, artistic doodler, typical boy fort builder and kid detective. The book offers a fun way to introduce harder vocabulary words, making it a fun learning tool as well. I like this description of it "Featuring the irrepressible Aldo Zelnick, kid...more
This comic novel is set in Colorado and won the Colorado Book Award for Juvenile Literature 2010. Although the main character is 10 the grapic novel will probably appeal more to 3rd and 4th graders. It might be great for building vocabulary and particularly teaching footnotes and glossary using the asterisk. I can't see a lot of middle schoolers getting into it, it's not irreverent enough.
OK, this is the comic novel I like (much better than some of the others), but I'm getting so disappointed a...more
OK, this is the comic novel I like (much better than some of the others), but I'm getting so disappointed a...more
I really enjoyed this book. As someone who works with children I can see the good qualities this book and series will have and I would recommend this book to anyone with young children whom you are looking to increase their vocabulary. One of my favorite things about this book was that it used unique A words and gave definitions to those words in the back of the book. I even learned the definitions to a few words. I can't wait to recommend this book to some children I know.
This is a fun graphic novel along the lines of Diary of a Wimpy kid, but with more educational than entertainment purposes. I thought it was pretty funny, with some kid humor thrown in, but didn't make it to Wimpy Kid levels of humor. Something to give to the die-hard Wimpy Kid fans. Full review at One Librarian's Book Reviews.
oh my gosh were can I start. Aldo's grandmother {Goosy} bought him an art book.He drew every thing in it.On the first page it says "dear aldo,heres a gift to start off your summer vacation. Its a sketchbook for recording all your artsy-fartsy ideas! I'm so proud of you, love GOOSY!!!!!!!"
This book is written for kids a bit younger than the ones I usually read for, which may color my review. I liked the book, but I think the narrator sounds a bit too cute. The concept of the book is good and I think the plethora of "a" words is a good, whimsical touch.
Great for those kids that love Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Same type of format, Oceanak will go through the alphabet for this series...the "A" book will have a list of "A" words in the back with definitions, the "B" book, "B" words and so on. Great idea, fun book.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Ten year old Aldo reluctantly starts drawing and writing in a journal given to him by his artistic grandmother. He discovers that he rather enjoys the artsy-fartsiness inside himself.
Ian (8) and Caitlin (6) both enjoyed reading this one time, but don't want to re-read it. We picked it up because it is by a local Fort Collins author, who came to visit their school.
Kind of a strange but clever graphic novel about a boy learning that it is OK to like something that you originally thought was strange or "unlikable".
Feb 27, 2013
Jill
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
3rd-grade,
4th-grade,
5th-grade,
j-fic-boy,
j-fic,
j-fic-diary,
j-fic-diary-format,
colorado-author,
book-talk
If think this will be a good one for those who like Wimpy Kid, although it may not look like it from the cover or title.
Book talk to follow.
Book talk to follow.
I liked this. I read it 2 days after I read Diary of a Whimpy Kid and it's difficult not to compare. They are both good in their own separate ways.
The story here is great, though unpolished. It's the illustrations of which I'm not a fan - you could rationalize that they're in a child's hand, but they're still not well-executed. It will probably have great kid appeal anyway!
An excellent addition to the "comic novel" genre. Hand this book to your Wimpy Kid and Ellie McDoodle readers.
My review here: http://readingyear.blogspot.com/2010/...
My review here: http://readingyear.blogspot.com/2010/...
This book was terrific! What a fun read with great illustrations throughout. I can hope that fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Frankie Pickle series can enjoy this book series just as much!
view 2 comments
Barbara B says: This was a great fun read for the kiddos!
Sep 23, 2012
A Myers
added it
chris read sept 2012
it was funny!
May 17, 2013
Nancy (Colorado)
is currently reading it
May 11, 2013
Heather
marked it as to-read
Apr 26, 2013
Ameena Menissy
added it
Apr 24, 2013
Kyle Webster
marked it as to-read
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Karla Oceanak is the author of the Aldo Zelnick comic novel series, which has been honored with a Book of the Year award (Foreword Reviews), a Colorado Book Award, and a Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Regional Book Award, among others. She has worked as a writer and editor for more than twenty years and has ghostwritten dozens of books. Karla and her husband, Scott, live in Colorad...more
More about Karla Oceanak...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
