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Donuthead

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Overview

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.

Editorial Reviews

0-440-41934-4. In a starred review, PW said, "This insightful novel offers a good-natured optimism as well as some hilarious asides from the obsessive fifth-grade hero." Ages 8-12. (July) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Author Information

Bio of Sue Stauffacher

Most people assume that good writers are born not made, but in my case that's not all together true. I tell students that I wrote constantly as a child, mostly sentences like "I will not mock Mrs. Johnson behind her back while she is reciting the Pledge of Allegiance" 100 or more times. When I was growing up, we had to write the same sentence over and over as a punishment. Looking back, it was a wonderful way to learn the parts of a sentence. I was both a class clown and extremely sensitive, which, though painful, is also good training for a writer. My bet is that the funniest people you know have a keen insight into your most tender feelings. Carl Jung wrote, "the word 'happiness' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.'" My writing life has been a search to create and uncover stories that celebrate the crazy funny aspects of being human right along with the sad, unfair disappointing ones. Just this morning, as I was getting down to some really important writing, my sons informed me that our toilet was sinking. Of course, I had to have a look. A sinking wobbly toilet is kind of funny, but it can be sad, too, because there are probably a lot of consequences that result from a toilet sinking lower than the floor. I don't know them yet, and I have called a plumber so I don't have to know them. But depending on when he gets here, I may have more to share with you in our next communication. I choose children as my main audience because I feel a deep need, now that I'm older, to help kids navigate our confusing world. For example, we adults are always telling kids, "Why don't you think before you act!" and yet every day we open the paper and see examples of adults who have not thought through their actions. If my kids make a mistake and they already feel badly about it, I like to say "Relax. At least you're not the lady who stole the PTA fundraiser money to buy designer suits for her new boyfriend." And then I'll show them the picture in the paper where the lady looks really sad. Since I made cupcakes for that fundraiser, I feel I should at least get a lesson or two out of it. The point is, growing up is hard-even grown-ups haven't figured it out-so be kind to yourself. My characters are always screwing up. This may be because I was taught: "write what you know!" Their hearts are usually in the right place, though. Last I checked having your heart in the right place was very important to your overall health. People are always asking me, Are you like Franklin? Are you like Harry Sue? Of course I am! How else do you think I could get inside them and think their thoughts? But they are each just a part of me. The person you are in the shower (singing, right?) is not the person you are in school or at church or on the playground. We all have lots of different parts. And yet, how can one person be Sarah Kervick and Franklin Donuthead at the same time? Go figure. Maybe I'm schizophrenic. Stories are so powerful. If a story goes around about you at school, it can ruin your whole day, your whole week, geez-it even feels like-your whole life. And yet, there's a lot of competition for kids' time these days, and some are choosing not to read stories in books as much. That's why I want to be in the game of writing stories. I want to write the ones you can't put down. I want to write the ones that make you think deep thoughts. And if, by chance, you have not been inspired to finish one of my books because it seemed incredibly boring or stupid, you probably should not tell me because 1) as I said above in paragraph 2, I am extremely sensitive, and 2) it's a buzz killer.

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Additional Info

Imprint

Yearling

Filesize

829.57 KB

Number of Pages

176

eBook ISBN

9780307521521

Awards

  • Bluegrass Award
  • Maud Hart Lovelace Award
  • Prairie Pasque Award
  • Rhode Island Children's Book Award
  • Sequoyah Book Award
  • William Allen White Children's Book Award

Excerpt from: Donuthead by Sue Stauffacher

Chapter one Just the Facts My name, if you must know, is Franklin Delano Donuthead. Try saying that in a room full of fifth graders if you think names will never hurt you. The Donuthead part comes from way back, from my great-great-great-great-grandfather who came to the United States during the famous turnip famine. Of course he didn't speak a lick of English. His Russian name was something like Donotscked. Somehow, when he came out of the ferry office at Ellis Island with a piece of paper in his hand, he was a Donuthead. So, basically, I come from a long line of suffering Russian Donutheads. All the suffering could have been avoided if it weren't for Washington Irving, this very famous writer who recorded the events of his life in his journal. One day, he wrote about these little balls of sweetened dough he liked fried up in hog fat. He called them dough nuts. Because, you see, the very first doughnuts were shaped like lumpy brown walnuts. If only he'd stuck with the name the Dutch people gave them. They were the ones who created them, anyway. They called them olykoeks. If he had called them olykoeks, my life would have been very different, I assure you. Then again, with my luck, I would have been named Franklin Delano Olykoekhead. My mother is a major major fan of our thirty-second president. She likes to listen to the radio addresses that Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave when he came into office during the Great Depression. Believe it or not, she listens to them in her van during her workday. She has them all on tape. "If FDR could rise above a life-threatening illness to become president of the United States, then you should be able to rise above the curse of a name like Donuthead to at least play third base for the New York Yankees," my mother says. I think this is very unfair. Your mother gives you a name when you're all red and screaming and you have a pounding headache. You're not really in a position to question the "future" situation. Now that I am eleven, I have pretty much accepted my life. I'm a Russian Donuthead who's named after a great handicapped president. In some twisted way, this all makes sense. Because, you see, I too am handicapped. Yes, one side of my body is shorter than the other. My mother says this is my imagination, but I am here to tell you that a tape measure does not lie. "Maybe you're just growing from side to side," she says. "One side first and then the other." While this may be possible, I think it's highly unlikely. I have found no evidence to support this theory. Currently, there is an eight-tenths-of-an-inch difference between my left arm and my right arm, and a four-tenths-of-an-inch difference between my left leg and my right leg. Just yesterday, when I measured my legs after school, I found my toe creeping closer to the five. I am preparing myself mentally to have legs that look like they belong on two different bodies. Both my left arm and my left leg are longer. At this rate, I'm going to have to go to one of those special stores to be fitted for my Sunday suits. Soon, I'll be buying shoes with one high heel. All my mother cares about is how this will affect my ability to play third base for the New York Yankees. I keep telling her that with my athletic ability, I'd be lucky if they hired me to chalk out the field. I think it's so pathetic how parents are always trying to transfer their dreams onto their kids. So far, I've just focused on staying alive. If I didn't know there was an astonishingly high probability that I would live through each day–given my age, general health, and relatively high standard of living–I would not get out of bed in the morning. I avoid motor vehicles whenever possible. According to the National Safety Department, this is by far the most likely way to die as