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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January 1, 2019
This long-awaited sequel reverses the conceit of 2012's Ungifted, in which troublemaker Donovan Curtis accidentally landed at the Academy for Scholastic Achievement. Here, gifted Noah Youkilis takes his megabrain to public middle school, where Donovan tirelessly protects his clueless friend--until Noah takes credit for Donovan's heroism against a bully. This charming comedy boasts goofy situations, likable characters, and exaggerated but generally kind middle-school dynamics.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)