Ungifted Paperback – February 18, 2014

My daughter is in 5th grade and we just live all of Gordon Korman’s books. They are easy to read while being entertaining and fun. We always want to “just read one more chapter” because we can’t put it down.

I found this book to be both amusing and touching, quite a feat for a middle grade book. Donovan is a very likeable kid who has a tendency to act first and think later, which gets him into trouble in the very first chapter. He follows one of his strange brainstorms and ends up in the district superintendent's office in major trouble. But thanks to a paperwork mishap he instead ends up at the school for gifted students. He and his classmates as well as the teachers quickly realize that while he has talents, they are not the academic type.It was interesting though to read about the effect Donovan's presence had on the other characters and on himself. Donovan rubs off on his fellow students and they rub off on him. Despite Donovan's lack of brilliance academically, he adds his own touch to the robot some of the students in science are building. Surprisingly, his video game skills come in handy. Korman does a great job of creating memorable characters with some depth, they seem very real with real strengths and weaknesses. For me that makes all the difference in the world. I think theme-wise, Korman admirable demonstrates that while not all students have academic talents, everyone has something to add to the school environment. I recommend this to all looking for a good read, not only entertainment but lots of food for thought as well.

Great book for middle school students to read and relate to. Easy to read and follow the storyline.

In this book there is a boy named Donovan Curtis who everyone knew that he wasn't gifted in anyway. He would always pull of pranks and when he pulled of the mother of all pranks he didn't get in any trouble, instead, in a mix up, he got sent to a gifted school called the Academy of Scholastic Distinction. He has been through a ton of things from an unforgettable dramatic school dance to an experiment on a live person. After all of that Donovan realizes that he might be gifted in a different way. The way the Author (Gordon Korman) wrote this book was in that you could actually visualize what is happening, you could feel how the characters feels in their perspective, and the plot of this book is extremely interesting.

I had just finished reading "The Hypnotists" trilogy when "Ungifted" popped up in an email. I knew I had to buy it - and was definitely not disappointed.After reading the first four paragraphs, I posted my friends on Facebook (especially tagging my childhood trouble-in-arms) that I am going to enjoy this book. It was about us!No, Gordon Korman didn't actually write about us - he has no idea who we are - but we were both a Donovan and a Daniel (or both Daniels).I have no doubt there will be reviews posted about the storyline, character arcs, plots & sub-plots.. But for me, it was where this author took me as I read about this kid everyone considered 'ungifted' because of his head know,edge (or lack of it) yet he had a gift that the best brainiacs couldn't wrap their head around, yet felt it. A gift I discovered in my own life as I grew up. A gift that had nothing to do with my IQ (or lack of it) and everything to do with my heart.I am 66 years old now and this book made me laugh a lot over antics that only a middle grade screw-up could do. But don't let my age change your mind about reading this one. I have no doubt my grandkids will love it too.I hope Gordon Korman writes more stories about Donovan. He is a great character, as are his best friends: The two Daniels and of course Noah. I would enjoy reading about their antics in High School some day.God bless you, Gordon for another amazing story.Jerry Doty

I like how the author gives a different point of view of each character. My daughter is 9 and she enjoyed the book. She's excited for Super ungifted. We have read other books from the same author. They are fun to read.

We're only a few pages in, and I can't count how many times my 6th-grade granddaughter and I have LOL-ed already. This book has been assigned to her ELAR class and we're excited to finish reading the rest. So far, it seems to be a fresh story with all the shenanigans and silliness a middle-schooler needs to keep on keeping on.

I couldn't put it down. I read it as a group book in school so we had to read to certain spots in the book. I would finish that week's assignment in about an hour and want to read ahead. Some people were offended by the book's inclusion of stereotypes. And they're right. "Ungifted" has a TON of stereotypes. By realizing this it teaches you to rise above the stereotypes. According to the book, smart people like me are supposed to be social rejects with no sense of fun or humor. That's not true. Could the book be a little less stereotypical? Yes. Would it be as good without those stereotypes? No. What makes "Ungifted" such a great book is that the moral of the book is: people change. "We all change, when you think about it. We are all different people, all throughout our lives. And that's okay, that's good you got to keep moving, so long as you remember all the people you used to be." 11th Doctor, Doctor Who. This quote is is a perfect representation of what "Ungifted" is about. We, as humans, change.