The Unteachables
A hilarious new middle grade novel from beloved and bestselling author Gordon Korman about what happens when the worst class of kids in school is paired with the worst teacher—perfect for fans of Ms. Bixby’s Last Day. A good choice for summer reading or anytime!
The Unteachables are a notorious class of misfits, delinquents, and academic train wrecks. Like Aldo, with anger management issues; Parker, who can’t read; Kiana, who doesn’t even belong in the class—or any class; and Elaine (rhymes with pain). The Unteachables have been removed from the student body and isolated in room 117.
Their teacher is Mr. Zachary Kermit, the most burned-out teacher in all of Greenwich. He was once a rising star, but his career was shattered by a cheating scandal that still haunts him. After years of phoning it in, he is finally one year away from early retirement. But the superintendent has his own plans to torpedo that idea—and it involves assigning Mr. Kermit to the Unteachables.
The Unteachables never thought they’d find a teacher who had a worse attitude than they did. And Mr. Kermit never thought he would actually care about teaching again. Over the course of a school year, though, room 117 will experience mayhem, destruction—and maybe even a shot at redemption.
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Community Reviews
Once upon a time, Mr. Kermit was one of the most passionate and wonderful teachers any student ever had the privilege of having. He was compassionate and truly was eager to help you in any way. He believed in all of his students. Then real life hit and there was a cheating scandal with the National Aptitude Test. While Mr. Kermit had nothing to do with it, the rich boy whoâs family is very connected, bought their sonâs punishment a way out but left a very bad scar that affected Mr. Kermitâs life afterwards. That boy was Jake Terranova, who later became a prominent town resident who sold cars for a very good price. He never took responsibility for the role he played in the cheating scandal and he never realized how it ruined Mr. Kermitâs teaching reputation and life. Even the newspapers picked up the story and printed it for everyone to see and it made Mr. Kermit becomes jaded and no longer caring not only as a teacher but as a person. His engagement to a woman named Fiona got cancelled and he never dated another woman.
In the meantime, the principal, Dr. Thaddeus was also named in part of the scandal because he was the principal at that time. He felt his reputation was blemished although I donât see how as he later got promoted to Superintendent for the school district. Still, at the time, he felt red faced and targeted Mr. Kermit to be number 1 enemy. Later in years, Dr. Thaddeus gets promoted to be the schoolâs superintendent and goes out of his way to make Mr. Kermitâs teaching career is as dismal as possible. Hence, this year, Mr. Kermitâs going to be teaching students in Room 117, aka the âUnteachable.â Mr. Kermit however doesnât care because he feels this is his last year of teaching, he could then retire. All Mr. Kermit has to do just literally show up everyday and hand out worksheets.
There are 7 students which include Parker the dyslexic farm boy who has a provisional license to drive his grandmother around and help out at the farm; Aldo, who is perpetually angry; Elaine (rhymes with pain); Barnstorm the football jock who is no longer a jock because he got hurt and is on crutches. He skated through his classes with the teachers because he was the one who always ran the fastest and brought home the trophies for the school. Now that heâs been injured and canât do that for the school for a while, his grades are suddenly being looked at harder and heâs no longer top dog around the school; Rahim the sleep-deprived artist because his parents are musicians; and Mateo, lost in fantasy worlds. Then thereâs the seventh student whoâs technically not a student in that classroom. Her name is Kiana, the new transfer student. She wound up in that classroom because Parker had literally run into her earlier in the morning and papers fell out of their backpacks. As they scrambled to pick up the papers, Kiana went to the school office to await for her stepmom to come back and properly register Kiana in for school. Unfortunately, the new stepmom was too preoccupied with her natural born child, Chauncey, and just felt Kiana would be fine on her own. In other words, Kiana who? Stepmom married Kianaâs dad and Kianaâs mom is off making a movie so thatâs why Kiana was sent to live with her dad and stepmom...temporarily. Kiana didnât think much of it until the secretary saw the paper sticking out of the backpack and told her to get to Room 117. This rounds up the final 7th student.
There are nine different points of views in this novel. The 7 kids, Mr. Kermit, Jake, and Ms. Fountain, who happens to be his ex-fiance's daughter. Each of them give us more insight as to their views and while the class starts off unruly and they originally view Mr. Kermit as totally uncaring as he sits there doing his daily NY Times crossword puzzle, they later overhear Mr. Kermit time and time again, fighting for his studentsâ rights. Such a time was when Superintendent Dr. Thaddeus (insert the booing everytime we read his name) took away the rights for âthe Unteachablesâ to partake in Spirit week and denied them of having vuvuzelas. Mind you, Mr. Kermit hates those loud noisy cheap plastic instruments but yet, he fought for his kids. Thereâs nothing that bonds people tighter than to all band together and dislike someone and that someone is Superintendent Dr. Thaddeus (Booo! Hiss Hiss!!). The âUnteachablesâ steal all the vuvuzelas and try dumping them into the lake. When Mr. Kermit realizes whatâs going on, he runs to them by the lake to try and salvage as many as he could. Problem was, he slips and canât swim. Now all the students from Room 117 go into the lake and try and save him.
The kids all get suspended and Superintendent Dr. Thaddeus (Booo! Hiss Hiss!!) has gleefully found a loophole to Mr. Kermitâs hopeful rainbow in the near future of retiring by stating to Principal Vaargas, if he gets fired, Mr. Kermit will be denied the right to his retirement. Can the students of Room 117, Ms. Fountain, Principal Vaagas and even Jake Terranova, save Mr. Kermitâs job? Can the kids all pull Mr. Kermit out of his slump? Want the answers to these questionsâ¦. Youâre going to have to read this book and believe me, this heartwarming book is totally worth it! Youâll wind up cheering for everyone, minus Superintendent Dr. Thaddeus (Booo! Hiss Hiss!!)
In the meantime, the principal, Dr. Thaddeus was also named in part of the scandal because he was the principal at that time. He felt his reputation was blemished although I donât see how as he later got promoted to Superintendent for the school district. Still, at the time, he felt red faced and targeted Mr. Kermit to be number 1 enemy. Later in years, Dr. Thaddeus gets promoted to be the schoolâs superintendent and goes out of his way to make Mr. Kermitâs teaching career is as dismal as possible. Hence, this year, Mr. Kermitâs going to be teaching students in Room 117, aka the âUnteachable.â Mr. Kermit however doesnât care because he feels this is his last year of teaching, he could then retire. All Mr. Kermit has to do just literally show up everyday and hand out worksheets.
There are 7 students which include Parker the dyslexic farm boy who has a provisional license to drive his grandmother around and help out at the farm; Aldo, who is perpetually angry; Elaine (rhymes with pain); Barnstorm the football jock who is no longer a jock because he got hurt and is on crutches. He skated through his classes with the teachers because he was the one who always ran the fastest and brought home the trophies for the school. Now that heâs been injured and canât do that for the school for a while, his grades are suddenly being looked at harder and heâs no longer top dog around the school; Rahim the sleep-deprived artist because his parents are musicians; and Mateo, lost in fantasy worlds. Then thereâs the seventh student whoâs technically not a student in that classroom. Her name is Kiana, the new transfer student. She wound up in that classroom because Parker had literally run into her earlier in the morning and papers fell out of their backpacks. As they scrambled to pick up the papers, Kiana went to the school office to await for her stepmom to come back and properly register Kiana in for school. Unfortunately, the new stepmom was too preoccupied with her natural born child, Chauncey, and just felt Kiana would be fine on her own. In other words, Kiana who? Stepmom married Kianaâs dad and Kianaâs mom is off making a movie so thatâs why Kiana was sent to live with her dad and stepmom...temporarily. Kiana didnât think much of it until the secretary saw the paper sticking out of the backpack and told her to get to Room 117. This rounds up the final 7th student.
There are nine different points of views in this novel. The 7 kids, Mr. Kermit, Jake, and Ms. Fountain, who happens to be his ex-fiance's daughter. Each of them give us more insight as to their views and while the class starts off unruly and they originally view Mr. Kermit as totally uncaring as he sits there doing his daily NY Times crossword puzzle, they later overhear Mr. Kermit time and time again, fighting for his studentsâ rights. Such a time was when Superintendent Dr. Thaddeus (insert the booing everytime we read his name) took away the rights for âthe Unteachablesâ to partake in Spirit week and denied them of having vuvuzelas. Mind you, Mr. Kermit hates those loud noisy cheap plastic instruments but yet, he fought for his kids. Thereâs nothing that bonds people tighter than to all band together and dislike someone and that someone is Superintendent Dr. Thaddeus (Booo! Hiss Hiss!!). The âUnteachablesâ steal all the vuvuzelas and try dumping them into the lake. When Mr. Kermit realizes whatâs going on, he runs to them by the lake to try and salvage as many as he could. Problem was, he slips and canât swim. Now all the students from Room 117 go into the lake and try and save him.
The kids all get suspended and Superintendent Dr. Thaddeus (Booo! Hiss Hiss!!) has gleefully found a loophole to Mr. Kermitâs hopeful rainbow in the near future of retiring by stating to Principal Vaargas, if he gets fired, Mr. Kermit will be denied the right to his retirement. Can the students of Room 117, Ms. Fountain, Principal Vaagas and even Jake Terranova, save Mr. Kermitâs job? Can the kids all pull Mr. Kermit out of his slump? Want the answers to these questionsâ¦. Youâre going to have to read this book and believe me, this heartwarming book is totally worth it! Youâll wind up cheering for everyone, minus Superintendent Dr. Thaddeus (Booo! Hiss Hiss!!)
THIS. WAS. SO. CUTE.
What is it about Gordan Korman's middle school books that makes me want to kiss the ground he walks on?
Is it because my heart grows ten times bigger while reading his book?
Maybe. Probably. Most definitely.
I adored this as much as I adored [b:Restart|32819894|Restart|Gordon Korman|https:i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1484220170l/32819894._SY75_.jpg|53421249]. The characters. The (mostly unbelievable but who cares?!) story. The feel good feelings I got as I laughed and cried. I finished this in a day because I couldn't put it down even when it meant not getting to bed until midnight. While I don't generally read middle school books and certainly don't usually rate them five stars when I do, Korman's books have that special something that just gets me right in feels.
Sidenote: I actually start school next Tuesday. After thirteen years of working in a completely unrelated field, I decided to go back to school to finish the teaching degree I fell just shy of completing all those years ago. This ended up being the perfect book for me to read right now.
5 Stars
What is it about Gordan Korman's middle school books that makes me want to kiss the ground he walks on?
Is it because my heart grows ten times bigger while reading his book?
Maybe. Probably. Most definitely.
I adored this as much as I adored [b:Restart|32819894|Restart|Gordon Korman|https:i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1484220170l/32819894._SY75_.jpg|53421249]. The characters. The (mostly unbelievable but who cares?!) story. The feel good feelings I got as I laughed and cried. I finished this in a day because I couldn't put it down even when it meant not getting to bed until midnight. While I don't generally read middle school books and certainly don't usually rate them five stars when I do, Korman's books have that special something that just gets me right in feels.
Sidenote: I actually start school next Tuesday. After thirteen years of working in a completely unrelated field, I decided to go back to school to finish the teaching degree I fell just shy of completing all those years ago. This ended up being the perfect book for me to read right now.
5 Stars
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