Kendra Spanjer – illustratör

Aldo Zelnick is not an athlete like his older brother or a rock collector like his best friend; he is just a regular child who likes to draw. One summer Aldo's grandma, Goosy, gives him a sketchbook in which to record all of his ideas and adventures, and Aldo quickly discovers how much fun cartooning is. From petitioning for a neighbourhood pool slide to his passion for slushies, Aldo illustrates his summer holiday, wacky friends, and loving family in this charming comic novel that blends text with illustrations on every page. Engaging and entertaining, the story and drawings in this book will captivate both enthusiastic and reluctant young readers. This first instalment in an A-to-Z alphabet series includes a glossary of words to help kids broaden their vocabulary.

Ten-year-old Aldo Zelnick has decided it's fun to be artistic, and when his grandma Goosy gives him a second sketchbook, Aldo fills it with more comic drawings, fun words, and accounts of his extraordinary adventures in everyday life. When Aldo and his best friends, Jack and Bee, find a diamond ring, they can't decide if it's real or fake; but real or not, they can't seem to hold on to it. As the trio hunts for the misplaced ring, they also learn about other countries and cultures. This second instalment in an A-to-Z alphabet series includes a glossary of words to help kids broaden their vocabulary.

As summer draws to a close, 10-year-old Aldo Zelnick travels to the Anderson farm in Minnesota for a family vacation. Aldo's mom is eager for him to experience her favorite childhood pastimes such as shucking sweet corn, milking cows, gathering eggs--and best of all--enjoying fresh air and living off the land. But Aldo suspects that farm life isn't all it's cracked up to be, and his worst fears are confirmed. The rooster wakes him at dawn, the chores exhaust him, and the cousins--identical twin pranksters--are in cahoots against him. Even the creepy old portrait of his great-grandfather seems to be watching these shenanigans from the frame on the wall. Aldo must endure all this without the consolation of TV or computers, because the farm is (gasp!) technology free. The humorous plot turns and lively drawings in this book will captivate both enthusiastic and reluctant young readers. This third installment in an A-to-Z alphabet series features a vocabulary-building glossary of cool words starting with the letter C, including conniption, charisma, and cattywampus.

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; and he is none too fond of the outdoors--but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a passion. Aldo is passionate about bacon. Back at school adjusting to life in the 5th grade, Aldo is embarrassed about his artistic abilities. He has always underplayed his creative talent at school; but when he is around his cute new art teacher he suddenly finds himself behaving strangely. He loses the ability to speak when she's around, volunteers to skip recess so he can clean paintbrushes, and finds himself working harder than ever before in a daring attempt to win the school art contest. The humorous plot and lively drawings in this book will captivate both enthusiastic and reluctant young readers who will identify with Aldo's all-too-familiar predicaments. This fourth installment in an A-to-Z alphabet series features a vocabulary-building glossary of fun and challenging words starting with the letter D, such as debacle, doofus, and defenestrate.

Ages 9 years & over. Ten-year-old Aldo is not athletic like his older brother and he is not a rock hound like his best friend, but when his grandmother gives him a sketchbook to record all his "artsy-fartsy ideas", he discovers that he is a pretty good cartoonist. In this instalment of Aldo's adventures, Aldo finds himself thinking he is Einstein. Gloating over his exemplary first-quarter grades and test scores, he even decides to dress as the iconic scientist for Halloween. His bubble is burst, though, when he realises that he is not excelling in one class, Espanol, and that the consequences may be more hurtful than a bad grade on a report card. Is Aldo's friendship with his bilingual best friend, Jack, at stake? As always, this addition to the A-to-Z alphabet series features a vocabulary-building glossary of fun and challenging words starting with the letter E, such as erudite, eureka, epiphany, and eclair.

Ages 9 years & over. With this fill-in-the-blank style journal from the creators of the Aldo Zelnick comic novel series, kids will find it effortlessly fun to tell their own life stories. The "art-o-biography" format encourages both drawing and writing and gives mini lessons on things such as shading sketches and choosing zingy verbs. Parents will enjoy reading their kids' completed book and children will love being the author and illustrator of an entire story all about themselves.

Ages 9 to 12 years. As Thanksgiving rolls around, Aldo Zelnick -- a fifth-grade foodie if there ever was one -- is flummoxed by his best friend Jack's refusal to try new food. Jack, who famously eats nothing but peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, is so finicky that he's even grown squeamish about Aldo's incessant talk about food. Meanwhile, a family friend has opened a new restaurant, and Aldo, Jack, and Bee are invited for a kitchen tour, a cooking lesson, and to help serve the homeless on Thanksgiving Day. With flash mobs, black-footed ferrets, a friend with a food allergy, and all the folderol this A-to-Z series is known for, this sixth instalment also features a vocabulary-building glossary of fun and challenging words starting with the letter F, including fluke, frenzy, finagle, and many more.

Ages 9 to 12 years. The Zelnick family likes Christmas a lot, but Aldo -- whose plan to get presents galore may be running into a glitch -- does not. He thinks that "giving being better than receiving" is gobbledegook and doesn't understand what the "Adopt-a-Family Tree" at the mall has to do with him. Guinness World Records, holiday gnomes, a glass-blowing grandma, and generous helpings of goofiness abound in this seventh instalment in the series. A vocabulary-building glossary of fun and challenging words that start with the letter G, such as gumption, gloat, and gadzooks, is also featured.

Just how humdrum is 10-year-old Aldo Zelnick's life right now? So humdrum that he sets out to measure which January day will be the most boring. So humdrum that Jack and Bee succeed in getting him to try some weird hobbies. So humdrum that his recurring Hawaiian dream has become way more enticing than real life. So humdrum that even unathletic Aldo agrees to downhill ski with his superjock brother, Timothy--and finds that hotdogging it on the slopes can be hazardous to your health. The humorous plot and lively drawings in this book will captivate enthusiastic and reluctant readers alike. This eighth installment in an A-to-Z alphabet series also includes a glossary of fun and challenging "H words," such as harbinger, hyperbole, and hogwash.

If there's a more inopportune date for an elementary school boy to have a birthday than February 14th, Aldo Zelnick wants to know what it is. With his 11th birthday--and Valentine's Day--fast approaching, Aldo plans a guys-only party with absolutely no pink, lace, or hearts, thank you very much. But what will happen if the girls, who all seem to have a crush on Aldo's friend, Danny, crash the party? In this story, told in part by Aldo's friend-who-happens-to-be-a-girl, Bee, Aldo learns early that love means always having to say you're sorry. The humorous plot and lively drawings in this laugh-out-loud book will captivate enthusiastic and reluctant readers alike. This ninth installment in an A-to-Z alphabet series also includes a glossary of fun and challenging "I words," such as inkling, irk, and impervious.

When a warm March day beckons Aldo and his best friend, Jack, outdoors to their fort under the giant pine tree, stick-in-the-mud Aldo gets, well, stuck in the mud. As they dig Aldo's sneakers out from the embankment, they unearth a humungous bone, which rock-hound Jack believes to be a dinosaur fossil from the Jurassic period. Their hilarious quest to figure out the bone's origin and value takes them to the nearby university, the local pawn shop, the famous dino dig site a few hours away, and finally, over spring break, to Dinosaur National Monument. Meanwhile, Aldo discovers the Indiana Jones movies, writes a book report on Journey to the Center of the Earth, starts in on a jumbo jawbreaker, and tolerates Bee, whose newfound passion for journalism could make or break him. This tenth installment in an A-to-Z alphabet series also includes a glossary of fun and challenging "J words," such as juju, jocular and jinx.

Cue the trumpets! As the legendary 5th grade medieval banquet at Dana Elementary nears, 11-year-old Aldo Zelnick and his friends Jack and Bee develop knight fever, don homemade armor, and undertake quests as simple as cleaning up trash in the neighborhood park, as chivalrous as helping a family in a financial pinch, and as heroic as confronting a new kid with knavish intentions. Meanwhile, Easter is also coming, and Aldo keeps catching glimpses of a fluffy white tail...This eleventh installment in an A-to-Z alphabet series also includes a glossary of fun and challenging "K words," such as klutz, kowtow, and keister.

The perfect hardcover gift book for anyone head-over-hooves for unicorns, flying horses, or little ponies! "For all those little lords and ladies who adore unicorns, this book is the bedtime story for them! The illustrations are top-notch and beautifully colored. The prose is perfect. Highly recommended." -- The Children's Book Review As night falls in the enchanted forest, the unicorns and their friends gather to get ready for bed. Say goodnight to all the types of unicorns -- the pearly-whites, the foals, the oldens, the fluffies, the jet-blacks, the cuties, and more -- as well as the wonderful beings who attend them, from rainbows and fairies to baby dragons and, of course, the full moon. Readers who've always wondered about unicorn habits, what a group of unicorns is called, and other mysteries will also be captivated by the fun unicorn facts that follow the story. It's a magical, fantasy bedtime story for unicorn lovers young and young-at-heart! Grown-up fans of My Little Pony, The Last Unicorn, and Lisa Frank will treasure this book just as much as the new generation of unicornophiles!

In their final month of elementary school, 11-year-old Aldo Zelnick and friends are faced with a series of Lasts: Last Cafeteria Meatloaf; Last Band Concert; Last Monkey Bars Fail. Blindsided by an uncharacteristic sense of loss, Aldo decides to bag some new Firsts--including putting himself out there for the 5th grade talent show--only to be beset by a series of logjams. This twelfth installment in an A-to-Z alphabet series also includes a glossary of fun and challenging "L" words, such as lackadaisical, loony, and limbo.

When a warm March day beckons Aldo and his best friend, Jack, outdoors to their fort under the giant pine tree, stick-in-the-mud Aldo gets, well, stuck in the mud. As they dig Aldo's sneakers out from the embankment, they unearth a humungous bone, which rock-hound Jack believes to be a dinosaur fossil from the Jurassic period. Their hilarious quest to figure out the bone's origin and value takes them to the nearby university, the local pawn shop, the famous dino dig site a few hours away, and finally, over spring break, to Dinosaur National Monument. Meanwhile, Aldo discovers the Indiana Jones movies, writes a book report on Journey to the Center of the Earth, starts in on a jumbo jawbreaker, and tolerates Bee, whose newfound passion for journalism could make or break him. This tenth installment in an A-to-Z alphabet series also includes a glossary of fun and challenging "J words," such as juju, jocular and jinx.

Cue the trumpets! As the legendary 5th grade medieval banquet at Dana Elementary nears, 11-year-old Aldo Zelnick and his friends Jack and Bee develop knight fever, don homemade armor, and undertake quests as simple as cleaning up trash in the neighborhood park, as chivalrous as helping a family in a financial pinch, and as heroic as confronting a new kid with knavish intentions. Meanwhile, Easter is also coming, and Aldo keeps catching glimpses of a fluffy white tail...This eleventh installment in an A-to-Z alphabet series also includes a glossary of fun and challenging "K words," such as klutz, kowtow, and keister.

It's June, and Aldo's mom has decided to drag him—together with his classmate Marvin and Marvin's mom—on a camping trip. After a stop at majestic Mesa Verde National Park, the foursome strap on their backpacks and head into the Utah wilderness in search of a rare spotted owl and other natural wonders. Will Aldo muster the self-sufficiency to survive when disaster strikes? This thirteenth installment in an A-to-Z alphabet series also includes a glossary of fun and challenging "M" words, such as malarkey, moonstruck, and mumbo-jumbo.

In their final month of elementary school, 11-year-old Aldo Zelnick and friends are faced with a series of Lasts: Last Cafeteria Meatloaf; Last Band Concert; Last Monkey Bars Fail. Blindsided by an uncharacteristic sense of loss, Aldo decides to bag some new Firsts—including putting himself out there for the 5th grade talent show—only to be beset by a series of logjams.This twelfth installment in an A-to-Z alphabet series also includes a glossary of fun and challenging "L" words, such as lackadaisical, loony, and limbo..