Schooled [Paperback]

Gordon Korman (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 26, 2008 | Age Range: 10 and up

Capricorn Cap Anderson has been homeschooled by his hippie grandmother, Rain. When Rain is injured in a fall, Cap is forced to attend the local middle school. Although he knows a lot about Zen Buddhism, nothing has prepared him for the politics of public school.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Homeschooled on an isolated "alternate farm commune" that has dwindled since the 1960s to 2 members, 13-year-old Cap has always lived with his grandmother, Rain. When she is hospitalized, Cap is taken in by a social worker and sent—like a lamb to slaughter—to middle school. Smart and capable, innocent and inexperienced (he learned to drive on the farm, but he has never watched television), long-haired Cap soon becomes the butt of pranks. He reacts in unexpected ways and, in the end, elevates those around him to higher ground. From chapter to chapter, the first-person narrative shifts among certain characters: Cap, a social worker (who takes him into her home), her daughter (who resents his presence there), an A-list bully, a Z-list victim, a popular girl, the school principal, and a football player (who unintentionally decks Cap twice in one day). Korman capably manages the shifting points of view of characters who begin by scorning or resenting Cap and end up on his side. From the eye-catching jacket art to the scene in which Cap says good-bye to his 1,100 fellow students, individually and by name, this rewarding novel features an engaging main character and some memorable moments of comedy, tenderness, and reflection. Pair this with Jerry Spinelli's 2000 Stargirl (the sequel is reviewed in this issue) for a discussion of the stifling effects of conformity within school culture or just read it for the fun of it. Phelan, Carolyn --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Gordon Korman is one of the most popular young adult and middle grade authors writing today. He published his first book at the young age of fourteen and has been going strong ever since. A tireless self-promoter, Gordon is constantly traveling across the country to visit different schools. He and his wife, a teacher, live on Long Island with their three children.

Product Details

• Age Range: 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion Book CH; Reprint edition (August 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423105168
• ISBN-13: 978-1423105169
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.5 x 7.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,886 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #37 in Books > Children's Books > Social Situations > School

More About the Author

Gordon Korman has written more than fifty middle-grade and teen novels. Favorites include the New York Times #1 bestseller The 39 Clues: One False Note, The Juvie Three, Son of the Mob, Born to Rock, and Schooled. Though he didn't play football in high school, Gordon's been a lifelong fan and season ticket holder. He says, "I've always been fascinated by the 'culture of collision' in football and wanted to explore it-not just from the highlight films but from its darker side as well." Gordon lives with his family on Long Island, New York.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 65 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth reading! A middle school teacher's pick for summer reading. July 16, 2007

By Margaret Silver

Format:Hardcover

I came across "Schooled" at a local bookstore and picked it up. Two minutes into the novel I was hooked. With a tall glass of iced coffee, I sat down and read the entire book. The plot is simple--a 14 year old boy, Capricorn, is raised on a commune by his grandmother, a hippie he calls Rain. He is home schooled by Rain as the two of them are the only ones left on this commune/farm. Cap has little contact with the outside world, has never watched TV, handled money, or had a friend his age. When Rain falls while picking a plum, she is hospitalized. When he is temporarily placed in the home of a social worker with a teenage daughter--who hates him--and attends a local middle school, look out! Innocent and gullible child walks into the jungle of a middle school campus, creating many interesting events

The story is humorous, touching, and at times aggravating. Capricorn becomes the butt of all jokes, the campus geek. How he handles his exposure to the corrupt world is a wonderful story. Somehow he manages to change those around him yet retain his own values.
While the ending was a bit contrived, it didn't take away from the plot. I highly recommend this one to all--but especially to middle school boys who are made to feel insecure if they don't conform to the expectations of the middle school culture.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Schooled November 25, 2007

By Serena P. Weeks

Format:Hardcover

I was under the impression that this book was about the sixties, when I read the other reviews posted here. Some people included quotes from the quintessential figures that were so effective and prominent in the 1960s, i.e. the Beatles. But, when I read "Schooled" by Gordon Korman (I got it for my thirteenth birthday) it wasn't really like that. It was about how the sixties affect us today, and how they defined a great deal of American society today, such as cynicism towards the government.
"Schooled" has an interesting and impossibly entertaining premise. Capricorn (Cap) Anderson is a homeschooled hippie kid living in a deadbeat 1960s eco-commune, Garland Farm, with his grandmother Rain. His grandmother has raised him and taught him all that she believes to be important, and tells him to be wary of the world that they are nearly disconnected from, save for trips into town for supplies. Rain keeps him close so the outside world will not taint him.
So, as you can imagine, when Rain falls from a tree (she was picking plums) and breaks her hip and has to undergo six weeks of physical therapy, Cap is utterly and completely lost, innocent and unknowing of the normal middleschool hierarchy that exists in Claverage Middle School (dubbed C Average by students). He stays with a social worker, Mrs. Donnelly, who actually herself lived on Garland Farm at one time, running barefoot in peasant dresses and doing farm chores. Mrs. Donnelly takes Cap to live with her and her daughter, Sophie, at her home.
It goes from there with Cap being terrorized by popular students, but, despite their obviously harmful intentions and downright meanness towards Cap, he never tries to get back at them, never gets angry or frustrated, only confused ("Why can't we all just get along?"), which becomes a endearing and pitiable quality to Cap.
A hillarious aspect of the book is Cap fascination with Sophie Donnelly's favorite show, "Trigonometry and Tears", a tragic teen drama, and becomes involved with the fictional characters lives. Sophie could not care less for Cap: he scares away mostly everyone and disrupts her perfect, if not mundane, typical high school life. AND he won't keep his split ends on his side of the couch.
"Schooled" is told in Cap's voice, and multiple students of C Average voices, as well as Mrs. Donnelly and Sophie Donnelly. The storytelling in fluid and compelling; it is very hard to put down. The story ends in a way that I had not expected and happily as well; which satisfied me.
I had never read any of Gordon Korman's books until now, and I look forward to some more excellent and creative works that reflect how people effect each other. This book will appeal to both boys and girls, I think.
Great book!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars a grown-up homeschooler's review January 20, 2012

By kaw

Format:Hardcover

I probably would never have picked this book up on my own. I have a bit of trepidation with books about homeschool--so far, I haven't been that comfortable with how homeschoolers are portrayed in various forms of media--and this one, with thirteen year old Capricorn Anderson being raised alone in a farm commune by his hippie grandmother, Rain, sounded like another book about some off-the-wall family that didn't represent at all what homeschool is like for most of us. But, it came highly recommended so I gave it a go.

I have to say, I ended up really liking it. It was fast-paced and all the characters seemed believable and vivid. The book is comprised of short segments from the perspective of various characters, from Cap himself to Mrs Donnelley, social worker who takes him in after Rain has to go to rehab from hip surgery (and who grew up on the commune herself until her parents decided they wanted a different life for their family); to some of the kids Cap meets when he starts 8th grade--Hugh, who was the bottom of the bottom until Cap became a bigger target; Zack, leader of the cool kids who gets Cap elected as 8th grade president just so everyone can make even more fun of him; Naomi, who likes Zack but starts to be won over by Cap's kindness and maturity in the face of cruel enmity. I devoured the book in an afternoon!

I appreciate that the book doesn't give easy answers, and that the characters all have complex thoughts and emotions. It's easy to see how much the middle school kids do, not based on their own convictions or sense of morality, but as some way to keep their heads above water in the cruel shark-tank they face Monday through Friday. It may not be right, yet they see it as survival, but the weird thing is that they are fighting amongst themselves (and, it could be argued, against the greater institute / adults that put them there) and perhaps it just takes someone from the outside to help them see it doesn't have to be that way. Cap is that person. Everything Rain taught him, all the hippie ideals of non-violence and "all you need is love", help him get through the bullying he experiences initially (if he even realizes it is bullying) and even attract some genuine friends.

I won't say more and spoil the story. As for the homeschool aspect, I do think Rain's methods are portrayed as unorthodox and not meant to reflect homeschoolers as a whole. It is interesting that we never get Rain's perspective, she is not one of the story's narrators. While certainly there are things to censure about raising a child so isolated from the rest of humanity, there is also much to admire about the way Rain raised Cap. He is a kind, gentle soul; he is thoughtful and selfless; he is in the top five percentile academically (they do have him take the standardized tests every year). Perhaps best of all, and what most homeschool parents would say is a primary goal in their decision to educate their children at home, is that Cap knows himself. And he stays true to himself, even when he faces a wider, and often hostile, world. And, while he may not be "social" in the same way that the middle school kids are, his brand of interacting with humanity is certainly much more effective.

I think the ending works well, allowing the characters to stay true to themselves without making the real world into a complete fantasy world. I do wonder if the transformation of the middle school kids was a bit idealized, but I liked the message. And while I had a difficult time identifying with a few of Cap's and Rain's struggles and decisions in the end, I can appreciate them and respect them. I also don't think the book fully condones or condemns either Rain's approach to education or that of public school, which, I think, makes this book appealing to a broader spectrum of readers.