Supergifted. Gordon Korman. Toronto, ON: Scholastic Canada, 2018. 297 pp., hardcover & ebook, $19.99 (hc.). ISBN 978-1-4431-5715-5 (hc.), ISBN 978-1-4431-5716-2 (ebook). Grades 3-7 / Ages 8-12. Review by Tanya Boudreau. **** /4

excerpt:

Who knew? Of all the people I thought might have turned out to be the superkid, Noah Youkilis was dead last on the list. This went far beyond not judging a book by its cover. You couldn’t judge this book by its cover, pages, about-the-author section, or even the bar code and ISBN number on the back. There was nothing good about this book- not even if the store put it on special sale where they paid you to take it off their hands.

Supergifted is the sequel to Korman’s Ungifted. Although the same characters appear in both books, it’s not necessary to have read Ungifted in order to understand Supergifted which sees genius Noah Youkilis excited about failing grade 8. “What’s hard is being normal,” he says. He takes pride in making poor grades for the first time. Noah is naïve though and oblivious to the various ways his best friend Donovan protects him from what the other students try to do to him in gym class, on the sports field, and after school when Hashtag (captain of three sports teams) threatens to beat Noah up.

      The teachers like Noah though and help him get on the cheerleading team. Head cheerleader Megan is not happy about him being on the team because he’s so uncoordinated that he gets all the attention, not her! But Noah’s school spirit saves him, and he’s allowed to stay on the team. Megan’s resentment toward Noah grows when she learns he’s the mysterious Superkid (or is he?) who saved her house from being blown-up by a runaway truck, and her parents and friends now expect her to invite him to her pool party, the pool party she only invites the popular kids to.

      Different characters narrating each chapter allows for a deeper understanding of how the characters think and the stress they deal with outside of the classroom. Donovan has a tough time getting along with his brother-in-law, the Marine. There is blackmailing occurring in Noah’s life, and Hashtag keeps a secret from his teammates because of a fear of failure. Readers who enjoyed the robotics theme line in Ungifted will be happy that there is a bit of it in Supergifted.

Highly Recommended.

Tanya Boudreau is a librarian at the Cold Lake Public Library in Cold Lake, AB.

Next Review | Table of Contents for This Issue - February 16, 2018.
CM Home | Back Issues | Search | CM Archive | Profiles Archive