{My thoughts} – Donovan Curtis is a bit of an instigator. He and his two best friends like to cause trouble at their middle school. His two friends like to watch him cause trouble and then take off before they can get in trouble with him.

His latest trouble making lands him in deep water with the superintendent of the school district. However, before he can get punished he gets sent home since the superintendent needed to deal with the mass mayhem he caused.

By some miracle Donovan gets transfered to the school for the gifted and uses it to hide from his problems. However, it’s not quite working in his favor since he’s no where’s near as smart as the other kids in the school. He sort of sticks out like a sore thumb.

If you’d like to know what happens with Donovan you’ll need to read the book. I found it to be a rather enjoyable read. I also look forward to reading the next book in the series. I highly recommend this book for any child as its a fun read that has the potential to teach a couple of life lessons while it’s being read. ( )

I liked this okay, but I found some of the gender roles and characters too stereotypical. I think Gordon Korman's writing is fun, and he really gets school-world, but I think he was just coasting with this book - the characters seemed more like sketches than real people. ( )

How does Donovan, trouble-on-two-feet, end up in the genius program? Better yet, how (and why) does he stay there? Very funny middle school book about a very gifted screw-up. ( )

This is definitely not one of Korman's stronger works. The basic plot outline is simple, almost too simple, and feels almost like it's pulled straight from No More Dead Dogs, while most of the students at the gifted school don't get defined beyond what their 'gift' is.

That being said, it was funny most of the way through, and the sub-plot with Donovan's sister was well-done. I feel like this book's faults were mostly just trying too hard in all the wrong places. Too much time is spent on a plot that's straight out of Korman's earlier novels, and not enough on unique characters and motivation.

Ungifted is a book that is assuredly better than a lot of books aimed at middle-school students and there's nothing overtly wrong with it. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to a younger reader who's mostly unfamiliar with Gordon Korman. On the other hand, this book never really breaks itself out of the mold and sets itself truly apart. It's biggest flaw is being merely average when it could have been something much, much better. ( )