Full Transcript for Ungifted by Gordon Korman

but the teachers won't let him because they know he's extremely smart. So he's trying Noah Youkillis: Yeah. Kate: to fail. And Donovan's trying to stay in Noah Youkillis: Yeah. Kate: because he knows that. Schultz is searching the middle school for him, which he is. Schultz has been guarding doors looking at every kid that goes past, trying to find Donovan. So he's hiding out in this academy for geniuses. Noah Youkillis: For months. Kate: But he's sticking out like a sore thumb and the teachers do start to notice there because he is failing. Noah Youkillis: Yeah, because they're like Yeah. Nana: And then the teacher's name, which I love the teacher, his name's Mr. Osborne, but they call him Oz, which it goes with Tin Man. So I thought, yeah, that's cool. And this is what I can there's one girl at the school who her name's Abigail. You really don't like her because she knows Donovan's not gifted and she says he's not gifted. And something like, if if that's a photographic memory, he left the lens cap on. Kate: No. Noah Youkillis: That's funny, that's very funny. Nana: Well, I think that when they they're gonna get ready to have this contest and they do realize Donovan has s something that the rest of them don't have, his ability was what? Noah Youkillis: to draw the machine. Because it but the Nana: Yes. Better than anybody. Noah Youkillis: funny thing is that when they're like doing that, he was like, Has any of you guys played video games? He's just like he's already been doing it. But Nana: And when the thing is they start to realize that he's not gifted and they make him take a test so he can stay in, and of course he knows he's gonna fail. It's on the and what happens? Noah Youkillis: Well, someone hacked him to the computer and they did the test for him. So all I ha all he had to do was just like sit back and relax and just watch the mouse do it. That's Nana: Yeah, yeah. Noah Youkillis: just what I imagined. The the like librarian over there, she's just like doing stuff and then he just like over there. Nana: And Kate: And I was very surprised, boot let's not say who Noah Youkillis: No no no no no no no. No spoiler alerts. Nope. You're gonna have to read it for yourself if you wanna if you wanna figure it out. Kate: No spoilers, but I Yes, who was the cheater? Nana: Cheating for him to stay it it did surprise me too. Noah Youkillis: It it was very unexpected. Nana: And then one Noah Youkillis: That's the clue. Nana: one other quote I g I wrote down was you don't have to be a genius to make a difference. Noah Youkillis: that's true. Nana: And what did Donovan do for the all of the robotics class to keep them out of summer school? Noah Youkillis: You want Taz to answer or do you want me to answer? Nana: Just Kate: Yeah. Donavan Curtis: they were they were behind on the human growth and development and since his sister had a experience then they then he got her to do it and it ended up counting for their grade. Nana: Okay. What what's his sister's name? Noah Youkillis: I think Katie. Katie Patterson. Nana: isn't that a cool name, huh? Noah Youkillis: Hmm, I wonder who Kate: Very good. Noah Youkillis: else is here? Whose name might be Katie. Nana: And Noah Youkillis: You can just say pres on Kate: That would be me. Nana: And he even enters into their growth and development too. They get a double on that. But it it's you d you get to see through Noah's eyes that he's never made a mistake, he's never wrong. And in the in the course of Noah Youkillis: No, that's funny. Nana: events, he is wrong on about something and he loves it. He loves Noah Youkillis: Yeah. Nana: being wrong. And there's a quote that said, Mistakes are opportunities in disguise. And Noah Youkillis: He's like, Nana: you learn. Noah Youkillis: I he was like, I was wrong. Like he was so happy about it. Nana: And then when they have a showdown, so this school meets another school and they're running their computers, their little robots through a thing and then a big Noah Youkillis: Obstacle courses. Nana: I I think it that there's a couple of climaxes, but that's another that's a climax too. Noah Youkillis: Definitely. Kate: Titus, and you made a connection between restart. Do you remember your connection? Donavan Curtis: yeah, so in Restart, the main character is put in a unknown atmosphere to him. And even though Donovan Curtis didn't lose his memory because he fell on his head, he was sort of a bully and a jerk and a klutz, and that's exactly what Nana: The guy in Restart was Yeah. Donavan Curtis: Chase was. Yeah, that's what Chase was. so there's this you can tell and he wasn't he was in the video club, which was everyone said was for nerds, and then now he's in the gifted program, which everyone said is also for nerds. Obviously these books have no relation, but or no relation in the story, but y you can definitely tell Gordon Corman was like, you know what, I don't know if I'll be able to go off of a different plot, so I might as well just reuse this one. But it's it's really cool how it all comes together. Noah Youkillis: Yeah, you can definitely tell tell he wrote. And I really like the way he writes too. just the way he likes really just takes you along with the story almost like you're one of the characters. Nana: Mm-hmm. Kate: He has the d this different points of view. Noah Youkillis: Yeah, I that's one of the things I really like. because there's some books I've read where it's just one point of view and then others where it's two. I do like the ones that are like that have two points or not or more points of view. Kate: Multiple Noah Youkillis: Yeah. And I think he does that in more books too. Nana: Well, I think it gives you a better perspective. It gives you a wide range. And in this one, your mom said earlier, we like duck outer water stories. We like that where someone's put in a different situation and wow, what's what is Donovan gonna do? How is he and and it and it really does he teach them

something? I mean he Noah Youkillis: Ga he does, yeah, definitely he does. Nana: he does. He teaches them a lot. So in everybody can teach us something. It's not about being perfect, it's about being curious, which I l I loved that. There's a lot of quotes and it's hard to get the quotes when you're listening to the audio, but Noah Youkillis: Definitely. Nana: I can get a few usually. Donavan Curtis: Have the book right Kate: It's Donavan Curtis: here. Kate: it's interesting too, Noah Youkillis: Really? Kate: the the contrast Nana: You're lucky. What's the Kate: It's it's interesting too the contrast between the public school and the academy. Donovan, Nana: Mm. Kate: he always com he says the lockers are small, they're dirty, the lunches aren't good, they're they're overcrowded in the schools, and the the way the teachers respond to them is different. And so he's blown away when he does go to the academy, even when they're in a school bus and a kid throws an airplane a paper airplane. The bus driver's like, so like you're testing out aerodynamics. And it's it's like how what was your theory, dude? All all of this and and you know in a public school bus, it would be Yeah. Noah Youkillis: Get out of here. Nana: You'd be in trouble. You'll be in detention, yeah. Kate: I'm gonna don't make me come back there. Don't make me stop this bus. So and the teachers, if you're sh like Donovan Noah Youkillis: Post attention. Kate: is struggling in classes, and instead of being angry with him. They'll take him on walks. They're like, We're trying to figure out where you're gifted at. And so the way they treat the students is totally different than what he's used to. Noah Youkillis: That's that's what we need to teach. That's how the students need to be treated. In public school Nana: I love that you brought that out. Noah Youkillis: and stuff like that. Nana: I love you brought that out because there's a book by Kathy co I think her name's Cook. It's called Eight Great Smarts. So there's different ways to be smart and in in the academy they're looking for how is Donovan smart? Because there's a whole there's a plethora and we should be we should be aware of there's more than one way to be smart. Noah Youkillis: Yeah, definitely. Nana: tell us what your takeaway was, Titus. Donavan Curtis: Donovan probably shouldn't have hid hid. He probably should have came clean to Dr. Schultz. And Nana: What what did you learn that you can apply to your life, do you think? What lesson? Donavan Curtis: Maybe Or come back to me later. Nana: Okay. Jonah? Noah Youkillis: something that I thought was important in the book is that I feel like every single kid should be in the gifted club because we're all good at something. Like God made us to do good at something. We're all just not here to do nothing. Like God made us for a reason. So I really think everyone should really be in the gifted club. Nana: Very good. What about you, sis? Kate: Well think to tag on to what Jonah said, I

I do think it is interesting that he so Donovan is put in this different environment and he he does learn and he does better in that environment than he was doing in the public school. He was i it's interesting because at one point when he does end up back in public school, he's doing a lot better than he did when he left. So that obviously that type of environment was better for him and helped him, even though he wasn't technically gifted. And like you said, there's different ways of being gifted. Even the gifted program struggles with seeing that though. Because what Donovan was gifted at was more of this bringing out the humanity of people. And so they didn't really have that in their box of goodies. You know, they had if you're good with your hands, the engineers, especially on the robotics club, you saw everyone coming together at things they were good at, which was cool. There was people that was were good at the coding side of it. There's people that were good with the mechanical side. There was people that were good with the design of it. And and Donovan was good at the control because he had played video games. So he Noah Youkillis: Control yeah. Kate: was the best controller that they had. So, but I do like seeing that that everyone if we could just look for everyone with what they're good at and and work together and and not try to be something that we're not. Accept Nana: Mm-hmm. Kate: who we are and be that because every piece of the puzzle is important and we just need Noah Youkillis: Yeah. Kate: to work together. And and that's what I really like about the book too is that camaraderie in the academy. They didn't have that before Donovan came. Donovan Nana: Mm-hmm. Kate: didn't have that. In the public school, either. There's something Noah Youkillis: No, he didn't. Nana: Well Donovan Kate: special about this group of people coming together, each doing what they're good at. Noah Youkillis: And then he has more friend Nana: Donovan is he's people smart. That's his smart. He's people smart. He humanizes all of them, which Chloe wants to be normal. And everybody does bring something to the table. I'll I'll piggyback on Jonah and you because that that's the beauty of this, is that everybody and like Jonah said, everybody's gifted. I used to be certified to do gifted instruction and you had to go for two weeks and get all these classes and all that. And guess what? I use that on my whole class always. And people rise to the level Donavan Curtis: Yeah. Nana: of expectations. And one thing I learned a long time ago was like I have who has game that I learned that at a gifted a gifted thing a a gifted workshop and I was like, well what and that was the one thing throughout all the years that all kids liked. And it was hard for i everybody, because you gotta pay attention, you gotta listen. And so I think that's the that's the key t it's like the A team. If you've watched that old show, everybody has a certain gift and they work together and

it's beautiful. So yeah, I agree with you guys. What about you, Titus? Donavan Curtis: So I think my takeaway is probably that everyone's gifted. There's not everyone's gifted at something. you could you could even e everyone's like gifted at something. There's nothing that no one's not gifted like there's no one who isn't gifted. And honestly, I I was in actual school I was signed up to be in a gifted program and they rejected me. So they were literally rejected everyone who signed up. So that was a little ripped off. Noah Youkillis: That's pretty much what I said. Donavan Curtis: It is well and then if it Nana: that's good. You agree. Noah Youkillis: Yeah, that's good. Thanks. Donavan Curtis: Yeah, I agree with that. Noah Youkillis: Thanks. Donavan Curtis: and something else that that's my takeaway is that never judge a book by its cover. Donovan helped them so much in the first step he took in the room they're like, this guy's gonna be trash. He's gonna weigh us down and they didn't realize that Donovan actually ended up helping them greatly. Noah Youkillis: Yeah, he brings a lot to the table. Nana: Yeah. And Kate: What was your Titus always quotes this and we think it's funny. It when the acad because of Donovan broke up the gym, they can't have this dance at the public school. So the academy is hosting this dance. So all the public school kids are coming to the academy at one time. And what was the insult that Abigail said to one of the public school kids? Donavan Curtis: It was Chloe. It Noah Youkillis: This is funny. Donavan Curtis: w I'm saying it. w it was Chloe, Mom. It was Chloe. It wa Kate: I thought I thought it was Abigail. Donavan Curtis: No, it was Chloe 'cause she wanted Noah Youkillis: No, it's Chloe. Donavan Curtis: to be normal. Kate: No, it's Abigail. Nana: Go ahead and share it. Share it. Donavan Curtis: Either way, someone was being mean to her and it's like usually you're like you're such a peanut head or like you're a you're a big fatty instead she just looked at and she was like, You're such a normal person. Nana: Ha ha. Noah Youkillis: That's funny. Kate: You're such a you're such a normal person. That was her insult. Noah Youkillis: And I can't can I tell what else happened? Kate: Yeah. Noah Youkillis: So then at the very end when they were all fighting and everything, then Noah got up on the like did DJ Bruce and he jumped on like the what would you call it, WWE style or something like that? Kate: Mm. Noah Youkillis: Yeah. He's that's he he w he used to he watched that a lot on the YouTube thing. And he thought it was funny. Nana: I do think Kate: There's a lot. Nana: I think Sis brought out something important about how you treat kids leads them down a path of either being curious and developing their thoughts and everything, or if you shut that down and you don't have there used to be this the it was it was documented. it's called the broken window theory. And in some schools, I had a superintendent and he told us about this, Ed Gilliland. If you have a broken window at a school, man, you should fix it right then. And because broken windows attract more broken windows, graffiti attracts more graffiti. But whereas at the academy it was all positive. well, we just gotta figure out how Donovan is smart. And they went into that. Where at the other one they were shutting him down and he had some qualities. And you find out in the second one, his qualities you if you didn't love Donovan in this one, you absolutely Love him. he just is amazing because he just keeps going. And he does have I I mean, like he and Noah are bonded because Noah ends up going to the regular school. Noah Youkillis: Spoiler alert. Nana: Well that's not a spoiler because why did he go? How Noah Youkillis: can it is? Nana: does he go? But it it's funny that he likes he he he l just really like like Jonah said, when he showed him YouTube it opened up a whole world for him, so he just thinks that much of Donovan. So are we Noah Youkillis: And then and then Donathan he and then his two friends they try to protect him because he's gonna get because he's a nerd and all the other kids are gonna be mean to him. So Donathan and his other two friends have to kinda protect him, I think. Nana: So I I'm thinking it's got a little bit of something for everyone, Noah Youkillis: Definitely, yeah. Donavan Curtis: Yes, definitely. Completely. Kate: There's a lot of action too. Noah Youkillis: A hundred there is. Nana: Okay, let's do the hard thing, guys. And I'm still working on mine. One word summary. Ugh. It stopped. Noah Youkillis: Can we not Donavan Curtis: And you Noah Youkillis: use a title? Donavan Curtis: can't say gifted. You can't say gifted. Nana: yeah, we definitely well that's that's a given, yeah. Noah Youkillis: And you can say I'm gifted. Nana: One word summary. Noah Youkillis: One word summary. Nana: Mine's different. I'll go if no one has one. I had three words and this is the one I'm picking. It's I had closed because Dr. Schultz's mind was closed, but I said, no, that's not positive. And so my I ended on this one, box, because that's to remind us to think outside the box and don't put people in a box. Donavan Curtis: And that Tintman was a literal box. Nana: Yeah. So box. Great. Noah Youkillis: Forgiveness. Nana: Okay, tell us how it ties in. Noah Youkillis: Well, because throughout the story everyone really needed for to forgive everyone. Like like ev they needed to forgive or Donathan needed to like or Schultz had to forgive Donathan for like breaking up a thing and everyone really had to forgive someone. Like but yeah, that's that's Nana: Okay. Paddis or Kate? Noah Youkillis: You mean Jonathan? Nana: Okay. Yeah. He's gonna Kate: I like the the humanity, the I'm trying to think of another word for it though. That because I you know what I'm gonna I'm gonna say connected because and I think it was epitomized in Katie because I love the part where she said that she before getting

involved with the school, you know, her husband's away. She had to move back home, but she felt lonely in this journey, which was interesting. And but when she described it, you're like, yeah, you would feel kind of lonely and you're not at your home. You had to move back in with your parents and all of that. But once she gets involved with this academy and they're with her on this journey, they're I mean, Noah came up with new breathing techniques. they're all doing lama's together. They're go in a school bus, shows up for her appointments. Nana: Yeah. Kate: And the girls are crying when they see the sonogram. So she has this little community and Nana: Community. Mm-hmm. Kate: and that's because of Donovan. So I think Donovan is a connector of dots. I think he connects people. And so connected, I think, is important. And we Donavan Curtis: Yeah. Kate: live in a world that is so separated. We even though we're supposed to be more connected than ever virtually. We're really not. And there's this we're separated. We separ we live in separate houses. We drive separate cars. We are in our own little box. And sometimes we forget that we are made for community. And so and I really feel like even and the academy kids felt that too. So Katie had was feeling that the academy kids felt that they're in this class together, but they're not really together. They're each they're so competitive. They're fighting each other for the top dog Nana: Mm. Kate: position. They're They're they weren't a team until Donovan came. And somehow he brings Nana: Mm-hmm. Kate: that connection. Nana: Great word. Love it. How about you, Titus? Donavan Curtis: I think I'm going to go with Probably gonna have to go with teamwork. Nana: Okay, great. Donavan Curtis: Because they they all couldn't have done it without like I bet that guy Noah could have assembled the robot they were going to do, but it really took all of them. if Nana: It takes a team to make the dream. Donavan Curtis: Yes. Kate: And remember when they're the robotic and they're so academic, the team besides Donovan, that so they know they know what they know, but even they don't think outside the box. Donovan's really better at thinking outside of the box. So Noah Youkillis: Yes. Kate: when their motor breaks down and they don't have the funding to get a new motor, they're like, That's it. We don't get to enter. And Donovan's like, he came up with the plan and they ended up stealing from the school for the school, so it's not really stealing, but they just moved a a motor from a one of those floor waxers from the janitor's closet. So they had there's a little mission impossible going on there stealing them which made the made Noah Youkillis: Dun Kate: the robot even more powerful. Nana: And that well, I think that's the the cool thing is to appreciate what I think that books like this help us to appreciate someone who has talents and gifts that we don't have. And that and Chloe was the first one to do that. Abigail was probably one of the last ones to do that. But Chloe appreciated Donovan from the get-go because he named Tin Man and he loved Kate: Well, she has a crush on him too. That might have helped her. Nana: Yeah. That there's that. Kate: Yeah. Helped her give him a little bit more grace that was needed. Nana: But yeah, very good side characters because Katie, his sister, is a side character, but you're right, shows that how lonely people can be. Our country's very disconnected. And we instead of being connected, we're, and that's why the multiple viewpoints that Jonah talked about, when you hear it from different viewpoints, you learn a lot. Noah Youkillis: That you and then you kinda get to see other people and like what they feel like. Because you might see this one thing, but when you jump to the different person you see something else. that makes a lot of sense. So that's one thing that's cool about and I think that's another thing that would be hard that I would think would be hard is to get different people because you can't have the same writing almost. You have to mix up your writing for different characters. Because they all not the same. So you have to kinda have different writing, Kate: so what's your favorite character? Noah Youkillis: my favorite character is Noah Euclid because I think he's very funny and just the way he really does everything and he's very smart and I think it's funny how he wants to kinda see the world. Well Noah or old Donathan just wants to stay in, and be a part of the gifted program. But he wants to be out and about and he wants to see the world and everything. Kate: Sounds good. Titus? Donavan Curtis: My favorite character is probably Donovan. Probably because Kate: Why? Donavan Curtis: when I was younger and in school, I I definitely related to him. Nana: Me too. Donavan Curtis: I'd go I'd go and tear a branch off a tree just for the heck of it and stuff. So Unf Fortunately Kate: But you Donavan Curtis: I didn't break any gems. I didn't destroy any gems or anything like that, but I there was I definitely probably related to him the most when I was younger. Kate: Some poor some poor impulse control. Yeah. Donavan Curtis: Yes, yes. Kate: I've I've seen that. I've witnessed that. I've paid for that. So for you. Nana? Nana: well, Donovan was a j jewel because I I I have done that before in my childhood. Touch something and the whole thing fall apart or something, you know, you're like, what happened? What just happened? But I went with Chloe Noah Youkillis: What I Nana: because Chloe is like she knows she knows she's gifted, but she knows that they're missing out on something. She knows the they're missing out and she sees the value that j Donovan brings to the table. And she appreciates that. And this is even before she she just said, Well, wow. He and and she always wears flannel and I really like flannel too. So even on a basic thing. And so when she dressed up for the dance, they were like, Is that the girl in flannel? You know. Kate: Was that flannel girl? Nana: So I'll go with flannel girl. How about you? Kate: that was mine, Chloe. So I I think she's just so sweet. And she is very she shows mercy and grace. And I just think that's those are really good characteristics. And we just need more Chloe's. I you know, Ab Abigail was is very competitive and didn't like Donovan. Nana: Mm. Yeah. Kate: She she had stereotyped him and put him in this box and I felt Chloe was just very open, let's see what he can do. And then and she was definitely a a Donovan advocate early on. Nana: Mm-hmm. Kate: And and I think there's something about sh because she accepted him, the others started accepting him. But she was really the first to want him to be a part of the group. So definitely I'm clean I'm team Chloe all the way. Nana: Yeah. Although honorable mention goes to Oz because he was one he was a whale of a teacher, so I I did like him too. Kate: He did good. He did good. Noah Youkillis: That's a wrap on the recap boat chat and let's connect to reflect. Catch you on the next one. Donavan Curtis: Hold on. That's not a rap on the recap book chat. That's a rap on ungifted. Noah Youkillis: oopsie did lose eye. Donavan Curtis: If you that's a wrap on the recap book chat, that means we're shutting down the whole system. Noah Youkillis: Ha ha Well that's a wrap on ungifted. Nana: And let's thank everybody for listening. And this would be a great Noah Youkillis: Yes. Nana: Christmas gift for the young person in your life. It would bring them, I think, joy. What do you guys think? Noah Youkillis: So let's what I Donavan Curtis: Yeah. Noah Youkillis: agree. Kate: I think the physical book or the audio. So either or Noah Youkillis: But yeah. Nana: Yeah. Kate: go for yeah. Donavan Curtis: So you can either have the physical book or the audio book. It works both ways. Nana: But I do like Noah Youkillis: And that's And that's a wrap on Ungifted. Let's connect to reflect. Catch y on the next one. Nana: Catch you on the next one. Donavan Curtis: Bye.