Five Flavors of Dumb - Antony John

Name: Krystiana Graham

Grade Level: Senior

Book Title: Five Flavors of Dumb

Author: Antony John

Review: Five Flavors of Dumb is not the usual sort of book, I myself; would read based on title. My mom saw it while processing it; showed me the cover, and I decided to look inside it. Five Flavors of Dumb is titled the way it is, because it is about a band called Dumb, with five different members with their own unique flair. What the book starts out with, is the main character, a girl outside the group of Dumb, is living in her own world, keeping separated from others in the school. But when she starts to insult Dumb, she tells them that they are doing everything wrong, and she could easily not only make them a big name, but getting them paying gigs. That is when the lead of the band decided to challenge her to that - with an ulterior motive no one else knew about. Of course, the challenge was- she had to get them a paying gig by the end of the month. As if it wasn't hard enough already, you also had to count in the fact that Piper, the main character... is, well, deaf.

The book starts off with Piper not getting along with anyone in the group, at this point in time there are only three members. You have Josh, who is in charge of the band, you have Tasha, who plays guitar, and Josh's twin brother plays bass. The fourth member comes when Piper asks her friend, Ed, to come watch the band play - because she can't hear, and she needs someone who can to come in and help. Ed startles them all when he starts beating out a beat for the band to follow - when he discovers how off sync they are, and as they all break lose to really play, he dazzles them on his make believe drum set. At that point in time, despite Josh's displeasure at letting a 'freak' like Ed into the band, Ed becomes the new drummer, and helps the band get ready to really show what they have.

The next member is Kallie, the prom queen, who Josh has a crush on. Josh only offered Piper the job of manager, in hopes of getting Kallie into the band, so that he could get her to date him. Of course, Kallie gets into the band, but she refuses Josh's advances, and... to every one's disgust, Kallie can't play her guitar very well. So, Piper does the only thing she can think off, she brings her brother in, Finn, who has been playing guitar since he was little, and has him help get both Kallie and Tasha to play better... The story continues, showing Kallie becoming part of the band, Tasha welcoming and forming a bond with both Kallie and Piper, as well as other twists. All and all, it is an excellently written book, featuring a deaf main character - which made everything flow extremely well.


Why I picked this book: I picked this book, because I like the books where the main character is expected to fail, or has complications that might limit her winning the challenge put before her. I find them more interesting, and I've never read a book with a deaf person as the main character, so I really wanted to try it out.

Why I finished it: I finished the book in one day, in a few hours in fact. Why, you may ask? Well, partially because I had no desire to be part of my family's thanksgiving with so many people there. And also, because, I couldn't put it down. it was one of the few books, that while reading, I couldn't figure out what was going on, so I had to keep going. And going, and going.

I'd give this book to: Anyone who wants to see the heroine beat the odds, as well as anyone just looking for a good book.

My rating for this book: ****