Disclaimer: For anyone reading this review, I just want to let you know that this is not a book in the vein of Where She Went or The Piper's Son, two books which also earned five star ratings from me and that contained music within their plots. Although this book has its moments of treading harsher issues much like the books I mentioned, it is also a story where you must suspend belief for a while, much like how you have to do so while watching movies dealing with teen bands that suddenly hit it More...

Piper has one month to get her high school band, Dumb, a paying gig and if she succeeds she gets to become the band's much needed manger. The only problem is, how do you manage a crumbling band into rising stardom when you don't even know if they're any good?
See...Piper's deaf.

Going into this book, I had zero expectations and pretty much thought it was just another fluffy piece about high school, music and teenage angsts.
Yeah..how wrong was I?

Five Flavors of Dumb is an inspiring and humorous s More...

You know how people say that something is made of awesome? Well this book is really made of awesome. The concept is golden. A girl who is deaf managing a band? Does that even work? Oh yes it can.

Piper Vaughan is eighteen, a good student that gets stellar grades, president of the chess club, and deaf. Oddly enough she gets recruited to be the manager of the local high school band Dumb. She has her reservations at first of course, but the recent emptying of her college fund drives her to try this More...

I had very high expectations for Five Flavors of Dumb and therefore am a little disappointed although I can say that overall; I had a good time reading the book. It was a quick read, but on a whole, more on the forgettable side than something that made a lasting impression.

Piper is the new manager of Dumb, a high school band riding on a wave of quickly fading popularity after winning a local contest. Nothing special you say? Well, Piper is deaf. Will she be able to contradict her classmates’ pre More...

Rating: 4.5 stars

Favourite Quote: "Music. It's not about those things. It's about a feeling. It's about expressing yourself. It's about letting go."

I have being trying to write this review for days and I am having a hard time trying to sum up what makes Five Flavors of Dumb so special from most other coming of age stories. It could be Piper's believable and heart felt voice or the loveable bunch of supporting characters or the constantly entertaining plot or the wonderful writing. But whatever t More...

I wish I hadn't read this book. Well, not really, but there's a chance I might meet the author in November, and now I'm going to have to put on a wig and pretend like I'm not really Mike Mullin because I'll be too nervous to meet him.

Anyway, the book: insane humor and gentle humanity wrapped in a cloak of grunge rock attitude. Five Flavors of Dumb is six flavors of brilliant!

3 1/2 stars

I don’t often read or enjoy “feel-good” books and that’s most certainly what this is, although; I will grant that it does take a while to find its way into corn-country. However, sometimes I do get bogged down by all the darkness and depression. Sometimes I just need a little refresher. Luckily for me, there are a few things that can help circumvent my “corn-free” policy. A few of these things are:

Nerdery/Geekery in all its forms
Off-beat humor
A unique voice
Soft rock anthems
Shenanigans More...

Absolutely, positively, and profoundly AMAZING!

Piper is trying to bring the high school rock band "Dumb" some paying gigs on a certain dare. And given that fact that she is deaf isn't an incentive to the situation.

She struggles not to be jealous of her baby sister who has had a cochlear implant surgery and now can hear almost perfectly, of her brother who has escaped her fate altogether, angry at her father who refuses to sign when it is her preferable way to communicate.

Her band "Dumb", also h More...

Five Flavors of Dumb is a novel I’ve had on my radar for awhile, but one I simply brushed off a countless number of times. It was never a priority on my list, but when I found myself stranded waiting for a long time with nothing to read but this novel on my Kindle, I decided to give it a shot. Well, it would be an understatement to say I was pleasantly surprised because more than anything, I was simply astounded by the depth of this tale. Five Flavors of Dumb is more than “just another music More...

I bought this book a long while ago. The back synopsis at the bookstore made me curious but once I got it I just kept pushing it off for other books.

What a friggin damn shame!

This was a really good book. I'm astounded that it was written by a man. I'm not trying to say that men can't write, they can. There have been many books written by men that I enjoyed, even books that contained a romance. I'm astounded though, because in my experience those books MC's are generally men (or boys). As I type More...

Also appears on The Screaming Nitpicker.

After mouthing off to her high school's "it" band Dumb, Piper is stuck being their manager and has one month to get them a paying gig. She doesn't want to do it, but her parents raided her college fund to pay for an operation for her sister and Piper needs money. However, it's going to take a lot of work to turn Dumb into a commercial band. Between recruiting new members (one of whom lacks any talent), keeping the five flavors of Dumb from killing each oth More...

John could have made the band of high schoolers trying to make it big the set-up a whole book in and of itself, albeit a much less satisfying one. Instead of being a book all about the band, this is a book all about how Piper, their manager, deals with them. But it's also a book about Piper and her life at school and at home. Woven through her parents reactions to Dumb are Piper's reactions to her family. Her maternal grandparents (now deceased) were both deaf and very into deaf culture. They in More...

If the cover doesn't get you to read it, then the blurb will:

The Challenge: Piper has one month to get the rock band Dumb a paying gig.
The Deal: If she does it, Piper will become the band's manager and get her share of the profits.

The Catch: How can Piper possibly manage one egomaniacal pretty boy, one talentless piece of eye candy, one crush, one silent rocker, and one angry girl? And how can she do it when she's deaf?

Piper can't hear Dumb's music, but with growing self-confidence, a budding ro More...

Antony John’s novel would more appropriately be called Five Flavors of AWESOME. This rocking good book will make you want to jump up and cheer, for wonderful characters, great narration, and an absorbing and uplifting tale.

I’m really quite bowled over at how well John captures the voice of a teenage girl. Piper may be deaf, but she struggles with many of the same issues as other teenagers: her dreams of independence and acceptance battle her sense of familial obligation, she wishes she could ble More...

Sometimes when I write my reviews I talk about the strengths and the weaknesses in the writing, the plot, the characters, etc. I can't really do that here considering this was my first 5 star review of 2012. And even if it wasn't worthy of 5 stars, I really couldn't do that. It's not that type of book. And it doesn't deserve to be critiqued, analyzed, or raked over a bed of hot coals. This is a book with a message, and never, not once, does it get preachy.

See, Piper, the main character, is deaf. More...

Quote, p187: I would have cried too, but then I pictured Jimi bringing his guitar to life, his whole body transported by the pure power of music. And he didn't look sad or regretful - he brimmed with energy, savoring every stolen moment of untainted joy. Live in the moment, he seemed to be saying. And for once, I heard the words perfectly. Live in the moment. I could do that. We could all do that.
So, this book wasn't about Jimi Hendrix. It was based in Seattle and so Jimi and Nirvana both got a More...

This book is about Piper Vaughan, an eighteen year-old senior who takes the challenge to manage a high school rock band. The only problem? She’s deaf.

Okay, a deaf main character? I’m in! That’s definitely unique and I was curious about how the author was going to write the dialogue. And I wasn’t let down in any way.

Piper is a strong character. You would think that by having a disability she would play the victim role but she doesn’t. She fights for what she wants and when she’s given the chanc More...

True rating; 3.5

Being the manager of an oddball band called Dumb isn't easy. Especially when you're deaf.
Already struggling at home Piper Vaughn is doing just that.
Let's be honest; Piper's life kind of sucks. Her parents ignore her because of new baby Grace, particularly her father who doesn't know how to sign and fails to communicate even just by talking. It turns out her parents took money out of her college fund to buy hearing implants to Grace, so now she and her family are broke.

When Dumb More...

Giveaway for this great book on my blog until 12/19/10!!

http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot....

ARC Tour - 4.5 Stars - Great book!

Anthony John created a well written story with quirky, likable characters. A good mix of humor, romance, family drama, music and friendship make this an enjoyable read.

http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot....

Content: Some language including 1 F bomb. More...

This is definitely one of the best books I've ever read in YA fiction. Piper, a high school senior from Seattle who is deaf, becomes the manager of her school's rock band, Dumb, in order to earn money for college. This leads her on a journey of self-discovery as a mysterious e-mailer sends her to Seattle's meccas of rock 'n roll, as she forms surprising friendships with members of the band, and as she begins to work through her complicated family relationships.

Favorite quote: "I felt every part More...

So, the review format is a bit different because this is a judging for the Nerds Heart YA tournament.

Summary: Seattle is home to a vibrant musical history. From Jimi Hendrix to Nirvana to DUMB. Haven’t heard of Dumb? That’s about to change as Piper becomes band manager after her parents manage to raid her college fund to pay for an expensive operation for her baby sister. Oh and did I mention that Piper is deaf? Despite not being about to hear the band, she has got the skills to have Dumb in per More...

This will always be one of my favorites. They were some things that just rocked my insides
•Piper. Genius! She's the kind of character that you can't help but adore. She made stupid choices, sure, she's a teen, who can blame her? But when it came to standing up for herself she nailed it. She would let herself be defined just as deaf, she voiced her thoughts and request and even she wasn't being fair to her parents or Finn, you could totally understand why she did it. I mean, I was so glad when sh More...

Five Flavors of Dumb was actually a really cute book. I was a little skeptical when my mom first handed me the book (I had never heard of it or the author), but I am so glad that I read it. Piper is a quite girl, bent on getting out of highschool and running away to college. However when her parents use the money that was saved for her college, Piper must come up with a way to get money fast. She is soon presented with an opportunity after she confronts the band Dumbat school, and is offered to More...

The story definitely had its miserable moments. A couple of times it was so depressing (or boring) I thought about giving up. Piper has a lot on her plate. On top of her deafness, she has to deal with school snubs, isolation, parental neglect (even worse, child favoritism!) and disgruntled band members. This would have made for a perfectly awful book if it didn’t have the redeeming character of Ed. Ahh, he’s a sweetheart!

I always appreciate a unique heroine. Piper uses hearing aids, sign languag More...

Piper has a hard time fitting in at school. She's a senior with good grades but she doesn't have a lot of friends and she happens to be deaf. Due to a random instance of anger where she honestly speaks her mind, she becomes the new local "it" band's manager and she learns that they aren't that good of a band. Piper must learn about music and why it matters to truly help them, and she needs to push herself to find out what she can really do.

I liked that Piper kept insisting that she didn't mind b More...

Grant Lawson
Honors English 9
Five Flavors of Dumb

I have recently read the book Five Flavors of Dumb and I would have to give it a three. Piper is a seventeen-year-old high school senior, and she's just been challenged to get her school's super-popular rock band, Dumb, a paying gig. The catch? Piper is deaf. Can she manage a band with five wildly different musicians, nurture a budding romance, and discover her own inner rock star, though she can't hear Dumb's music?
I gave Five Flavors of Dumb a More...

So if you are interested in deaf culture or Kurt Cobain or Jimi Hendrix or starting your own garage band, this is a great book for you. Seriously, it was like a wild chex mix of stuff I would have never put together. A deaf straight-arrow teen tells the local high school garage band what they are doing wrong and they hire her as their new manager as long as she can get them a paid booking in less than a month. After the deal is struck, she figures out how seriously over-her-head she has gotten. More...

This book gets 4.5 stars, and it only doesn't get 5 because very occasionally, it veered into over-angsty teen material that seemed a little forced to me. Overall, though, I loved it so much that I couldn't put it down and read it in a day.

Piper Vaughn is a senior in high school who has been tasked to manage Dumb, a band made up of the kids in the popular clique. Complicating the situation a little is the fact that she is deaf, she has a troublemaker brother, a car that functions better as a doo More...

What a lot of fun this was! The characters rang true for me - I recognized them...I've seen them in my class. Piper seems to be dealing with her deafness, but we see the cracks as we watch her parents respond to their three children - one who was born hearing, lost her hearing and wears aids, one who seems to have no hearing issues, and the baby sister who was born deaf and had cochlear implant surgery...Piper learns that her parents have "borrowed" her college fund, her legacy from her grandpar More...

This book was W.O.W! I seriously don’t have better words or letters to express it. It has so much raw emotion to it that you will simply love it.
Five Flavors of Dumb is about a girl named Piper, which is ironic, cause well, she’s deaf. The moderate severe deaf, not that I know the difference but just mentioning what was mentioned in the book. She is a girl who finds herself not belonging in the crowd, mostly cause of her deafness but also cause she finds that no one really understands her. In th More...