Gordon Korman is Awesome 

Gordon Korman visited schools all day, when he was here on March 1. Late in the afternoon he had dinner with SLAG in the library’s teen department and ended the day with an evening presentation and book signing at the library. Before the final event, he asked if we expected many people to come, since he thought that he had already spoken to every 10-14 year old student in town. We assured him that there were adults who would be interested, some high school students, and a busload was coming from another town. We seriously underestimated. The large meeting room downstairs was packed with fans.

Gordon entertained us with tales from his youth, beginning with the MacDonald Hall book, which he wrote in seventh grade. Incredibly, it is still popular and still hilarious. He told us that movies like The Italian Job gave him the idea to write about a heist, but one planned and carried out by a group of kids. This idea became the Swindle series.  Ungifted was inspired by a robotics team that he met, which was made up of some very brainy kids and one slacker, who used his gaming skills to control their robot. Who knew that this book was based on a true story?

The good news is that if you have become a Gordon Korman fan, the public library, your school library and Dragonwings Bookstore all a have great selection of his books on hand. His action, suspense and humor make these books perfect for summer binge reading. Have fun!