When Aldo Zelnick's painter grandmother gives him a sketchbook to use during summer vacation, he starts to fill it in with pictures and text, even though he thinks that being artsy is uncool at first, in a book featuring vocabulary starting with A.

Aldo and his friend, Jack, find a fossil in the neighborhood ditch.

When they spend a week at their aunt and uncle's farm without any electronic entertainment, Aldo and his brother try to find other ways to occupy themselves while dealing with their twin cousins, in a book featuring vocabulary starting with C.

When his school cafeteria eliminates sausage pizza and chocolate milk and incorporates healthier choices into its menu, Aldo Zelnick decides to fight back, recording it all in his illustrated journal.