Books #17 & 18: Schooled & Unsinkable
I have the author Gordon Korman coming to speak at my school next month, so I've been trying to catch up on his huge repertoire in preparation. I enjoyed both of these and I see why the kids do as well.
Schooled is now my favorite of his. It's an interesting premise, and I appreciate the raw emotional honesty Korman uses in portraying the perils of social life in middle school. It's told from multiple points of view, which I also enjoy. "Cap" Anderson is forced to go to school for the first time in his life when his grandmother breaks her hip. The two live on what remains of a commune, and Cap has never experienced anything outside of the idealism instilled in him by his grandmother. Middle school, and all its social perils, is quite an eye opener. He is soon a victim. It's a sick tradition that the class president is the most picked on kid in school - the popular crowd engineers the election as a means of torturing that person. Cap is soon class president, but no matter what abuses ensue, he either doesn't understand them or circumvents them without truly meaning to. He slowly wins over many classmates. But there's more at stake than just the class president's job, and Cap's lack of experience with deception and cruelty could cost more than just his innocence.
Titanic: Unsinkable is the first in a trilogy. It's about four young people who, for different reasons, are on board the Titanic. Much of the foreshadowing and prescience about the ship's fate is heavy-handed, but still appropriate for the age group considering the lower reading level of this book. It moves quickly enough, and I appreciated the historical setting. None of the characters are all that fleshed out, except perhaps the stowaway Paddy, but hopefully as the trilogy progresses they will be. I don't feel any urgency to read the rest myself, but I won't hesitate to recommend them to some of my more reluctant readers who are looking for engaging stories; it is smarter than most and will get them to branch out.
Schooled is now my favorite of his. It's an interesting premise, and I appreciate the raw emotional honesty Korman uses in portraying the perils of social life in middle school. It's told from multiple points of view, which I also enjoy. "Cap" Anderson is forced to go to school for the first time in his life when his grandmother breaks her hip. The two live on what remains of a commune, and Cap has never experienced anything outside of the idealism instilled in him by his grandmother. Middle school, and all its social perils, is quite an eye opener. He is soon a victim. It's a sick tradition that the class president is the most picked on kid in school - the popular crowd engineers the election as a means of torturing that person. Cap is soon class president, but no matter what abuses ensue, he either doesn't understand them or circumvents them without truly meaning to. He slowly wins over many classmates. But there's more at stake than just the class president's job, and Cap's lack of experience with deception and cruelty could cost more than just his innocence.
Titanic: Unsinkable is the first in a trilogy. It's about four young people who, for different reasons, are on board the Titanic. Much of the foreshadowing and prescience about the ship's fate is heavy-handed, but still appropriate for the age group considering the lower reading level of this book. It moves quickly enough, and I appreciated the historical setting. None of the characters are all that fleshed out, except perhaps the stowaway Paddy, but hopefully as the trilogy progresses they will be. I don't feel any urgency to read the rest myself, but I won't hesitate to recommend them to some of my more reluctant readers who are looking for engaging stories; it is smarter than most and will get them to branch out.