Ungifted

Now that my older kids are teenagers, I feel like a lot of what we listen to is aimed at young adults to make sure we are capturing everyone’s attention. Ungifted is solidly a wholesome elementary/middle school book and yet everyone is my family loved it. I know I have a winner when I look in the rear view mirror and see my 9 year old and 15 year old laughing at the same time. This is our first book by Gordon Korman and I know we will be checking out more.

Ungifted Details

Title: Ungifted
Author: Gordon Korman
Publication Year: 2012
Website: https://gordonkorman.com/the-books/novels/ungifted
Age Group: Late Elementary, Middle School
Amazon Product Page (Affiliate Link)

Everyone loves a main character who is not too perfect and Donovan Curtis is a lovable character who probably couldn’t be farther from perfect if he tried. The story begins with humorous hijinks that result in the destruction of the school gym and progresses to him hiding out in the least likely of all places, a school for gifted kids. The books is fast paced and keeps kids engaged with short chapters and multiple perspectives. We listened to the audiobook and while usually my kids don’t love when there are multiple narrators for a single book, they didn’t mind at all with this one.

While we just listened to it as a family, I think this would make a great book for a kids’ book discussion or book club as there are a lot of thought-provoking questions that arise from this book about moral dilemmas, what it means to be “gifted,” and the disadvantages of labels. It really is a very heartwarming book even that somehow manages to not be sentimental. My teens are incredibly averse to anything that comes across as sappy or unrealisitic by their standards, but they enjoyed this book just as much as my elementary kiddos.

Honestly, when I chose this book, I thought it was a standalone book, but I’m happy to discover there’s currently a sequel and a third one in the works. We’re all attached to these characters, so I’m excited to get to learn a little more of their stories.

Included on Lists: