Supergifted

December 1, 2017

Gr 4-7-Laughs abound in Korman's satisfying sequel to Ungifted. Donovan is the same goofy, impulse-driven kid that got put into the TaG class instead of suspension by a superintendent's slip of the pen. His instinctive dive into a runaway truck averts a disaster but then precipitates a series of mishaps when his nerdy friend Noah, a downwardly mobile transfer from a magnet school, decides to take the credit for Donovan's heroic act in order to protect him from the wrath of his ex-Marine brother-in-law. Told from the point of view of several of Donovan's classmates in both his regular school and the magnet school that he still attends once a week for the robotics team, Korman shows the varying perceptions of heroism among Donovan's broadly drawn community: the unsympathetic cheerleader Megan, the lacrosse-playing entitled bully, the nerds on the robotics team, the rigid authoritarian brother-in-law who is helpless when dealing with a new infant, and the plastic television host on the track of a news story. Korman expertly holds readers' attention with a fast-paced plot culminating in a climactic denouement at the robotics meeting. Eventually, the true hero is unmasked, relationships are healed within and outside his family, and once again kindness and tolerance win the day. VERDICT Humorous, relatable, and full of heart, Korman's gift for understanding the middle school mind is on full display. -Jane Barrer, United Nations International School, New York City

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2018
In the sequel to Ungifted (2012), Noah Youkilis gets himself kicked out of the Academy for Scholastic Distinction to see what it's like at regular middle school.Noah's best friend, Donovan Curtis, can't understand why such a genius would come to Hardcastle Middle School on purpose. He would be a target, a "wedgie looking for a place to happen." Noah is 4 feet 11 inches tall, the size of a fourth-grader, with the posture of an "oversize praying mantis." He has a 200-plus IQ, a grating voice, and a "rocket-scientist vocabulary." But Noah feels that "being a genius isn't hard....What's hard is being normal." He's never had to work to get grades before, so now he goes out of his way to pick activities he's bad at so he can improve at something, such as wood shop and cheerleading. But when Donovan saves a runaway truck from crashing into Megan Mercury's house, Noah takes credit for the heroic feat and nearly loses Donovan as a friend. As in Ungifted, Korman uses multiple first-person points of view to reveal characters' responses to Noah and to show how characters change when supergifted Noah becomes superhero Noah. The narrative moves swiftly and even becomes madcap toward the end as Donovan regains a friendship and becomes a hero in his own right. Characters are white by default.Another chortleworthy outing from Korman. (Fiction. 10-14)

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thatredheadxd - Donovan Curtis is back! And his friend Noah, too. Noah is trying to expell himself from the gifted school, and he succeeds! He and Donovan now go to the same school. But one day, Hashtag (the bully) gets in a fight with Noah, but Donovan defends him, and it doesn't turn out good. Donovan gets banned from going into Hashtag's neighborhood. Noah thinks he should go fight back for Donovan's sake, so one morning he walks to Hashtags neighborhood, and Donovan spies him heading there. He chases Noah all the way to Hashtag's house. They get there in time to see a propane truck rolling down the hill, and Donovan, as crazy as he is, chases after the truck. He jumps into the window and is dangling out of it halfway. He veers the vehicle from crashing and exploding into someone's house... and instead turns it into a pool. He quickly got out of the vehicle, underwater, surprisingly without drowning. He catches up with Noah, who is jaw-dropped and he makes him promise not to tell anyone about what he just saw. Bcuz if they hear he was in Hashtag's neighborhood, he'd get his hide skinned. Instead, Noah understands it all wrong and takes credit for it all, and he's known for being the "hero." But it all takes a turn when the ppl find out the truth. U'll hafta read the rest.... :)