Ungifted by Gordon Korman

Donovan is NOT a genius.  When he finds himself transferred into the Academy for Scholastic Distinction he has to try and fake it.  This is a little hard for Donovan, as he understands nothing that the kids or the teachers are talking about.  Somehow, though they have taken him into their fold and he’s become one of them, which is good because Donovan is hiding out after he caused major havoc on his old school’s gym, and if they like him, they might let him stay…somehow.

I enjoyed Donovan’s character, and even some of the other students at ASD, but the other students seemed very flat.  Chloe had a little more to her, but she was still your basic stereotype of a type of a “nerd.”  The shenanigans that Donovan brings to the gifted students at his new school do cause them to loosen up quite a bit, and they become more real.  I just assumed that they would be real before Donovan shows up to do this for them.

This is a humorous story, and if you enjoy middle school pranks you’ll probably like Ungifted as well.  Donovan is extremely likeable.  He’s a kid that you’d want to hang out with after school as long as you can divert his attention away from any troubling causing pranks, that is.

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan will pull you into the world of Willow Chance.  Willow has just started middle school, been accused of cheating, started seeing a counselor, and may have just made a friend.  With a love for botany, studying diseases, and the number 7, Willow knows she is different from her peers, but it doesn’t matter since she has loving and caring parents—both of whom die in a car accident, leaving Willow alone.  In come a small army of people to help Willow, people no one would imagine to have helped her before—some of whom she didn’t even know until now.  Her counselor, a Vietnamese family, and a taxi driver, band together for Willow’s sake as she navigates her new life.  What Willow doesn’t know is how much she can help them.

                Just as the characters in Willow’s life are drawn to this strange little girl, the reader is also compelled to care for her.  We get to see Willow as herself before her parents die, somewhat lost in early adolescence, but happy and content with the things she loves.  Even here, when she’s happy, we’re cringing along with her mother when Willow announces that she’ll wear her tan gardening outfit and red hat on the first day at her new middle school.  We already want Willow to do well at her school and we know that it will be impossible for her to fit in. Our heart breaks with hers as she tells us that the old her might have taken delight in the instances of 7, but she doesn’t do that anymore….

                I was put off by the character of her counselor, Dell Duke.  He is written to be an unlikable character. He categorizes his students into different degrees of the strange, never thinks anything through, is easily pushed around by a high school student, and is selfish.  He seems more childish than Willow; however he does have redeemable qualities and he tries, but I still could not get over my dislike of him—even by the end of the book. 

Holly Goldberg Sloan’s Willow Chance is a wonderfully written character.  She has immersed us in rich characters who are believable with real flows, yet for the most part we love them all.  Make sure you keep Kleenex nearby, however, as this was tear jerker thought the entire book.