[I won an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in an online contest. Thanks to the publisher, Balzer + Bray, for the opportunity to read this book. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Mr. Zachary Kermit is counting down the days until he is eligible for early retirement. He used to be an exceptional teacher. But in 1992, a student – Jake Terranova – sold answers to a national standardized test to his peers. When the students scored well, the principal, Dr. Thaddeus, soaked in the accolades. When the cheating was discovered, Jack was suspended and Thaddeus blamed Mr. Kermit for the scandal. Mr. Kermit was the scapegoat. He kept his job, but he lost his fiancée and the fire he had for teaching.
Dr. Thaddeus, now the superintendent, is determined to push Mr. Kermit out before he can qualify for his retirement. So Mr. Kermit is assigned to the self-contained 8th grade class known as The Unteachables. This misfit group of kids is notorious. They’ve been shuffled to a corner of the building with hope that the kids won’t cause any trouble for the rest of the school. Kermit knows part of the problem is the school’s – they’ve failed to intervene on behalf of these kids for two years already. But he’s content to babysit them, drinking coffee and doing crosswords, until the school year comes to an end. But an unexpected student sees things in Mr. Kermit that he might have forgotten. And maybe those qualities can make all the difference for The Unteachables.
Review
This is such a great school story!! I love changing perspective stories like this one. This includes adult perspectives, not just the kids, which sets this apart from other books like this. And the adult perspectives are great and really essential to the story.
Mr. Kermit is the character who changes the most throughout the course of the book. And that sets this story apart, too. The reader can see Mr. Kermit fight for his students from the beginning. He’s burned out and beaten down. He’s just biding his time. Yet he still knows that dumping The Unteachables in a dark corner for a year until they can be the high school’s problem is wrong. And he says so. That spark of justice – of being a voice for the voiceless – is what starts to draw his students to him. When the kids recognize this quality in Mr. Kermit, they respond to it and start to change, too. And that’s where the story gets magical.
This was a delight from start to finish. I loved the characters and found the story inspirational. Another treat from Gordon Korman. Highly recommend.