Ungifted (by Gordon Korman)

I love Gordon Korman's YA novels, have read them all a dozen times or more, and recently read them out loud to my teenager. She also loves Gordon Korman's new work, and I had the RHC category of "the first book in a completed young adult or middle grade duology" so I figured we'd both enjoy this!

It was... fine. I expected more Gordon Korman magic, I'm so used to being delighted by the ineffable vibe of his books, and that was missing for me.  I didn't like our protagonist very much - he was an obnoxious troublemaker who stayed that way, except suddenly at the end nobody minds anymore? I'm sure it's me - I'm not a middle grade reader, and I've avoided all of Korman's middle grade books for this reason.  

I bought the second book in the duology but I'm hoping we can pick something else for our next readaloud. I think she might be ready for some Scalzi except she doesn't love bad language and John doesn't hesitate to include it.  I think she'd love the humor though, so maybe I'll go dig up my copy of Agent to the Stars and see what she thinks.