Five Flavors of Dumb

by

Antony John

cover art: Kristin Smith

Realistic fiction

Subjects you'll come across in this book:

High school senior Piper Vaughan becomes the manager for her classmates' semi-talented rock band, Dumb.  Between the in-fighting of band members, a possible romance, and knowing that her parents have raided her college fund in order to help her sister, Piper must get the band a paying gig if she wants to remain manager.  She's up against people's assumptions about her capability because she is deaf.

• "In this witty yet thoughtful behind-the-music account of Dumb's journey to semistardom, [the author]John (Busted: Confessions of an Accidental Player) creates a series of humorous surprises while demonstrating how Piper's deafness, which is integral to the story and never feels like a gimmick, affects her life and those of her parents and brother,

•  "This well-researched fictional look at the lives of the sons of Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings echoes with the horrors of slavery and the contradictions within the author of the Declaration of Independence and an admired champion of liberty. Bradley's fine characterization and cinematic prose breathe life into this tragic story."

Of note: 

• 338 pages, published in 2010
• Won the 2011 Schneider Family Teen Book Award for a "book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences."