Ungifted

Gr 5–8—Donovan Curtis, a middle-school troublemaker with on I.Q. of only 112, finds himself at the Academy for Scholastic Distinction because the school superintendent wrote his name on the wrong piece of paper. Donovan can't keep up with the academic curriculum and teachers and students begin to suspect that he has been improperly placed. But when Donovan names the Robotics Team's project "Tin Man" and brings his pregnant sister to class after school administrators fail to schedule a mandatory Human Growth & Development class, listeners will begin to wonder who in this story is really gifted. Events unfold in short chapters presented via the viewpoints of different characters and read by a full cast. Korman's tale (Balzer + Bray, 2012) acknowledges and appreciates different personal gifts and shows that when people of various abilities work together, they can achieve great things. As in other novels by Korman, the lessons are presented painlessly and set in laugh-out-loud situations.—Mary Lee Bulat, Harwinton Public Library, CT