[Jade]

Hey guys! It's Jade again and it looks like we're doing another Book Club! Awesome! *dramatic sfx* If you want to see our past book club that we did on MIXED UP, here's the link: https://gordonkorman.com/forum?t=22994.

""I'm thinking something along the lines of discussing one chapter per day until the book is finished. If we were to start on Saturday [20 January], it would give everyone time to pre-order the book or pick it up from the bookstore and read the first chapter. Each week, people could participate whenever they're able to go online, discussing any of the chapters up to the present date. The only rule is to limit comments to chapters already covered and not jump ahead!

 

Based on [???] chapters: At one daily chapter, we would reach the end on [literally no clue day.]. (This is just a suggestion... maybe people would want to make it two chapters per day or some other reading rate so the whole book is complete before the school year starts up.)"

 

-- Raymond Jardine, except very much so edited by Jade to fit SLUGFEST

 

So I don't actually know when this would end yet, but do tell if you want the "rules" to be changed or the date pushed back more. I preordered it so my copy is coming on the 9th. Yay!

Welp, this is bound to be awesome. Any predictions before it starts?

Mine: Yash will be really cool.

 

Be blessed,

Jade

[Raymond Jardine]

• Book club logistics: I really like the chapter-by-chapter review format (especially with a multiple narrator story) and the chapter-a-day pace seems neither overly aggressive for slower readers nor uncomfortably slow for speed readers. That said, if someone else has another suggestion, I'm in for anything.
  
  As for timing, it's probably a compromise between fans who can preorder the new book (let's start RIGHT NOW!) and fans who have to save up to purchase the book or wait for a library loan (hey, guys, wait up!). 
  
  


• My prediction before it starts: Slugfest will draw comparisons to I Want to Go Home! and will serve as a tool for comparing how much an author's writing style can develop over four decades. (I have not read anything except the publisher's blurb, so I'm basing this prediction entirely on the premise of a star athlete being stuck in a place he doesn't want to be during summer break.)

[Raymond Jardine]

So... Slugfest runs 29 chapters. And in 2024, February lasts 29 days. Anyone want to do something with that coincidence?

[Jade]

That's really cool. I just got my copy yesterday, but I looked at it in this beauty today. Coinkidink? I think not.

[Asher]

I'd like to join sporadically, but I do not have a copy yet.

[Jade]

That would be awesome! I hope you can get a copy soon. We start on the 20th, I think!

 

Be blessed,

Jade

[LizW]

Excited to join the club!

[Jade]

How awesome is THAT!? How coincidental—I just finished reading SLUGFEST and it may just be my new favorite book! Not even just by Gordon Korman, of ALL TIME!

 

Be blessed,

Jade

[SRMcEvoy]

I would like to join, Have asked my sone but not sure of his availability. 

[Raymond Jardine]

Liz! Asher! Steve! Maybe Jena? Jade, your book club might break the "number of replies" record for the GRK Forum by the time everyone's finished.

Is the start date set for this Saturday 20th? Does that work for everyone? I had dropped the "29 days of February" comment thinking some book club prospects might like a later start date--like, maybe 1st February. But if everyone can be ready by the weekend, let's do it!

[Jade]

Yeah... this is SO cool. I thought it was January 20th. When you said Feb, I wasn't sure if you were just saying to be saying or if you actually wanted to do it then. We could totally start February 1st if 1/20 doesn't work for everyone.

Saturday works for me!

 

Be blessed,

Jade

[Asher]

My library still didn't get it in ( I am first in line). 

When it does I'll be ready to start!

[Raymond Jardine]

Sounds like no objections to starting the Slugfest discussion today. Of course, anyone who wants to join later can catch up at any time. @Asher, I hope your school library gets a move on so you can start reading soon.

@Jade, I'll await your official kickoff thread and then I'm ready to jump in. I'm approaching Slugfest differently than our Mixed Up book club: I haven't pre-read a single page!

[Jade]

Can we start tomorrow

[Raymond Jardine]

Just say when!

[Jade]

Okay! I'm ready to start now--I was going to say something last night, but I didn't have the book on me, so I didn't say anything. Wanted my first "post" to actually be meaningful and not from my rather spotty memory.

Chapter 1:

The first page got me immediately intrigued. As a cheerleader, it got me smiling as I was reminded of my sport because of Yash talking about the cheerleaders, so that already endeared me to the book. I imagined myself being in that position and cheering Yash's name. Kind of funny, since I'm 10th and he'd be in 8th! I'm also very grateful Yash is Yash, not Maximiliano or Demetrius. I think it's a really cute detail that he's Yash and not Arnie or Arnold or Arn or something to do with his first name. It's really cool when people have nicknames based on their last name. I knew a guy called Whitty and that was just funny. (Turns out, he might actually be my cousin--but not the point.)

All of the details about him getting a home run just got me SUPER excited. The descriptions, how chill he is--everything. It just got me super happy. "I play it cool though. You have to act like you've been there before and you expect to be there again." Real. But finally, the bad guy enters--principal Cmichael. He's not the bad guy, but he is the bearer of bad news. Shoot the messenger!
It's really funny to me how Yash just keeps yapping the whole time while he's talking with Dr. C. It makes them seem friendlier and like they have a close relationship, which is cute. Lots of times kids don't interact with their teachers/principals. I'm not kids, I actually only talked to my teachers/principals because I was way too scared to talk to kids my age, but not the point. Moving on.

Ah, the drama! The drama! Yash has to go to summer school! Man, it's HILARIOUS how freaked out this kid is! After some wailing of disbelief, we're introduced to the character's desire/goal... to be in the flag football tournament. Gord was very straight to the point. 7 pages in and we already know what the character wants.

"I can feel my eyes prickling and I'm trying really hard not to cry." Poor baby Yash! Some people would think it's too girly for a guy to almost cry like that--I just think it's a reflection of how serious he is about is sports. As we do see later on, with his work ethic, it's a reflection into just how much he cares about being on the football team. I really like this detail. He's a real softie on the inside.

As a cheerleader of a varsity football team that lost 11-0 last season, I would really appreciate a Yash. Even if he's only an 8th grader. LOL. Can't wait to see what y'all have to say.

Be blessed,

Jade

[Raymond Jardine]

Yay! Great start, Jade.

I'm going to start by judging the book by its cover. I'm reading the Harper Collins / Balzer + Bray hardback, so some of my comments may not apply to the Scholastic Canada version.

First thing I noticed is the paper stock of the dust jacket feels odd. Almost plastic, with a super gloss surface. I won't try it, but I suspect I could submerge the jacket in a vat of oil for a week, hose it off, and it would be as good as new. The cover image has a lot going on. The sports fan foam hand (and I'll point out it's the only "leftie" one I've ever seen—could that mean we'll encounter a southpaw in the story?) appears to be falling from the sky and smashing a purple cake. Makes me wonder if that's symbolic of sports "crushing" something—dreams? celebrations? home ec?—in the story. (It also brings to mind Phil Baldwin and "Wet Wedding," but that's a different book.) And if you look closely, you'll find a cartoon slug hurriedly escaping the cakeslaughter. Artistic license, or will we be reading about literal slugs?!? The whole design is colorful and fun—but I have one problem: The word "Slugfest" is divided to fit on the foam hand, leading to inevitable confusion over whether the book's title is Slugfest or Slug Fest.

=====

Okay, now Chapter 1 (Arnie Yashenko):

Having read a promo description of the book plus the front flap blurb, I had advance knowledge that this is a sports story before I sat down to start reading. So kudos to typographer and jacket designer David DeWitt for the collegiate sports "1" chapter numeral and the drop cap "T" that seems to mimic the varsity letter on a letterman jacket. Good way to build the sports vibe. One other clue on the first page, even before starting to read: Based on the chapter heading—Arnie Yashenko—I'm guessing this'll be a multiple narrator story.

Yash's introduction to Clarington paints the town as sports-obsessed, which is probably how he sees things in an unreliable narrator kind of way. Yash comes across as the anti-Rudy Miller (who was a sports natural but shunned anything athletic in I Want to Go Home) but is also unlike Chase Ambrose (hero of Restart who has awakened to other life priorities beyond sports prowess). Yash presents as a bit of a showoff, but it's easy to forgive him that when he says he knows he comes across as a bit of a showoff and tries to tone it down.

Like Jade said, in only 7 pages, the chapter sets up a ton of conflict quickly. Yash has a lot to lose by missing JV practices over the summertime—but there's no way around his "P-E-E" requirement. I'm guessing as the story progresses we'll hear more about the 7-on-7 flag football tournament and how Yash might or might not be able to take part.

Several people in Yash's universe get mentions—his parents (and even his war hero great grandfather), his unnamed baseball teammates, the town's mayor and his JV basketball-playing son, an unseen Coach Basil—but the only other active character in the chapter is an adult: Principal Carmichael. 

My final note for today: When the book's title was first announced, I thought just maybe the story was going to be a sequel to Restart, because "Slugfest" was the name of a film produced by Brendan Espinoza in that book.

[Jade]

The book gives this song vibes:

https://youtu.be/ALZHF5UqnU4?si=WurZNPWMU31H6e73

[Shaleen]

Hey all! Shaleen and Neel here. I\'ve been reading GK books for thirty years, and my 10-year-old son and I are reading Slugfest together. It was a featured new title at our local indie bookstore this weekend! (Porter Square Bookstore for anyone in the Boston area).

Our impressions on chapter 1:

-I like this kid Yash already. The way he keeps interrupting the coach is hilarious. He\'s a nice kid but very talented and he knows it. I\'m looking forward to him interacting with other kids. Also, PEE, lol. -Shaleen

-I can\'t there was such a main event in Chapter 1 already! This book is going to be good. -Neel

Shoutout to Raymond Jardine for finding me on Twitter and making us join this club :)

[Raymond Jardine]

@Shaleen, you're bringing up your son right. Looking forward to Neel's interpretation of the story.

@Jade, that Marshmello video has 2.4 billion (?!?) views—I might have to revisit it after finishing Slugfest as I'm not immediately seeing the connection but I may never look at a s'more the same again.

===========

Now, some thoughts on Chapter 2 (Cleo Marchand):

> "You can take other classes. … Pick something that interests you." – When I was in high school and an underclassman in college, I had the exact same worldview as Cleo. I would've signed up for video game design and investigative journalism.

> I wasn't sure until the end of the chapter whether Cleo was a girl or a boy.

> Cleo's comments do a good job of introducing the other P-E-E students. And the line "None of us should be here!" makes it clear this is not an ordinary group of summer school misfits.

> I already know I'm going to be quoting Coach Finnerty at some point.

[Jade]

Raymond, your note about the letterman jacket font was cool. How do you know that?

It's kind of adorable how Cleo has sworn off sports for good. She seems pretty mature; I like her. I like how she's decided to join the play too. I know that if I were stuck in summer school, I'd probably cry for a week, and then join every class and club I possibly could. Investigative journalism? Yes! I like the details about the Beach Boys. No clue who those guys are, but it adds depth to her character. 

I like how she describes running into Yash. A figure lying on the ground, using his bag for a pillow. He seems so depressed. We also get more of a look into just how influential Yash is. Everyone likes him? Wow, it's like he's king! I also like how he's not a spoiled brat. His "scrambling" out of the way of her locker is funny to me. I imagine him rolling around, being too lazy to actually get up. But then again, he's a hard worker.

I like how Cleo uses Yash to remind her that her life could be worse. It's cool how she actually talks to him. Is she popular too? And also, it's really funny, the whole PEE class. Like, Red light Green light? LOL.

But something I did find unrealistic; them not liking playing Red light green light and stuff like that. Kids eat those games up no matter their ages. I played red light green light with a bunch of 10th-11th graders at a sleepover once. There were like 12 of us. We love that game.

And the baking... ah, PEE is AWESOME. I wish I were in that class, to be honest. I really do wanna do summer school but it costs extra money, you know?

Be blessed,
Jade

[Raymond Jardine]

@Jade, you paint Yash (as viewed through Cleo's eyes) in a nice light. And good call to mention the brownies, they definitely should seal the deal on liking this particular summer school.

Okay, Chapter 3 (Yash):

> Switching right back to Yash's POV seems to reinforce that he'll be the main protagonist.

> "A guy can wear himself out if he goes 100 percent, which I always do. It's my trademark." – I'm going to believe this is Yash in a nutshell.

> "'You think anybody around here is as good as you?' He frowns. 'Except maybe—'"  Hey, Coach Basil, that's a pretty rotten bomb to ALMOST drop on a kid who's barred from joining your practices.

> We all need ride-or-die friends like Hammond and Amir. Hard not to compare Yash/Amir/Hammond with Chase/Aaron/Bear (Restart). Nice to see a more stable trio of buddies.

> I can't stop imagining a young Johnny Lawrence (the guy you just love to hate in Karate Kid) when I read the description of Nitro Nate.

[Shaleen]

I think Chloe is an interesting character who has a lot of unique personality quirks, like everything about how she broke her foot. The other characters seem cool too. - Neel

The Beach Boys bit made me so crack up -- so accurate from a child\'s perspective (and in general)! Felt like a little nod to the parent readers :) There are a lot of characters and they\'re hard to keep track of in this chapter, but I know they\'ll feel like friends soon enough. Nothing better than a ragtag group of misfits in a Gordon Korman book. I liked the part where Chloe tricked Yash in tag -- felt that is going to lead to something. Maybe she\'ll be a better football player than him?? -Shaleen

[Jade]

Hello! I do have many things to say! However, I'm quite busy so I can't say them all.

But yes, Yash is totally the main character. Here's the part about him being a hard worker. I respect that--it's what made me like him. I really like his friendship with Amir and Hammond. None of them are perfect, but they're buddies 'till the end, right? This Coach Basil guy almost got me mad at him. Yash literally RAN to try and practice and he just treated him like that. I like Nate so far, though.

Be blessed,
Jade

[Raymond Jardine]

@Shaleen—group of misfits!—that's on brand, isn't it

@Neel—I suspect Chloe is the character I'm going to like best (but I'm keeping an open mind!).

 -------

And now, Chapter 4 (Arabella Hopp):

> Those "varsity" drop caps starting the chapters are such a cool touch, but the kerning is killing me.
> Arabella has the weight of the world on her shoulders. It's admirable to feel so deeply for the plight of mankind and for individual sufferers.
> But I'm a little amused how easily Arabella lumps the unfairness of having to attend summer school with the injustices of the global climate crisis.
> One week into a summer school class and this: "It bugs me as an investigative journalist that someone is allowed to teach a class they know less than nothing about." This young lady has no shortage of self-confidence.
> I remember two-a-day practices for high school football, so I think Yash is brilliant to keep his workout regimen even while he's away from official practices.
> I also remember all the health-and-wellness studies that were part of gym class in junior and senior high, and I am confident experiential nutrition studies (pizza-making) would qualify.
> I love that Arabella might convince Yash to try the investigative journalism class.

 

 

 

[Shaleen]

Thanks for the replies @Raymond! Little dopamine rush that makes coming back exciting :)

Chapter 3

Chapter 3 was a good one, but it didn't really have that much detail because all they did was Yash talking to his friends. Though it was a pretty interesting conversation. -Neel

Amir takes football way too seriously! He needs to chill out and remember there's more to life than sports. -Shaleen

Chapter 4

Arabella Hop needs to cool down because unfairness is a part of life. Not everything needs to be fair. Arabella is the first new perspective from Cleo and Yash, but she is a little too argumentative. -Neel

Oh no, I relate to Arabella WAY too much. The bit on Big Gym was a personal attack! I'm enjoying the plot moving along -- what is Mrs. Finnerty's deal? I mean I assumed if they hired her, she's qualified, but now they've got me confused and wondering too. What are Yash and Arabella going to find out? I love that the one thing all the Slugfest kids have in common at this point is that they are all fierce Mrs. F. defenders. Maybe they'll need to defend her from something.. -Shaleen

[Jade]

I love Bella! It’s so hard to find people that care this much about things in life. Her backstory makes total sense. I really am happy that she’s so… adamant about what is just and fair. Makes for a great character and great flaws.

 

 

[Jade]

I also think that the dynamic between the kids is adorable. They’re not overly mean to each other. But for chapter 3, I am just super excited that Yash is a hard worker. Hufflepuff! And For Chapter 4, I really like how dedicated to justness Bella is. It is not fair that they’re all stuck in summer school. I like how this new mystery is being revealed. Something is up with Coach and I want to know what it is! Wonder what direction it’s going to go in. It’s so cute how they all like Coach, but if I had her as a teacher, I’d probably do anything for her. Like, come on. Free food? I’m in!

[Asher]

I'll have the book tomorrow.

I'll try to share my thoughts on the first three chapters Saturday night - I've been avoiding the club due to spoilers. I hope its ok to go back a bit.

[Jade]

That’s AWESOME! I hope it’s okay to go back a bit, too, because I totally just did that! 😆

 

BLESSINGS!!

[Raymond Jardine]

@Nate—"Not everything needs to be fair." Man, I was three times your age before that wisdom ever passed through my mind, and I don't think I ever was as mature about it as you clearly are.

@Jade—Yash=Hufflepuff. That's hilarious.

@Asher—Excellent! I've been looking forward to your thoughts, you always seem to spot some details that I miss. And I think the only rule is don’t comment on future chapters. Catching up on earlier ones (or going back to find clues when things are revealed later) is perfectly okay.

--------

And on to Chapter 5 (Yash):

> Mall cop on a Segway. Classic!
> @Shaleen's earlier comment about the multitude of characters caught up to me in this chapter. I've got Yash and Cleo and Arabella and Amir and Hammond sorted out, plus Nate the stinker. But I'm still trying to decide about the rest of the slugs and all of the football tagalongs. (It's not helping that I'm reading just one chapter a day… my long-term name retention is slipping!)

[Asher]

Chapter one! I'm writing this on my first read, so no spoilers, please!

Great opening chapter!

Some thoughts:
1) I found it funny how Arnie complains that YASH is so short, and wishes he had a longer name, when his last name is literally the mouthful Yashenko! Literally any other name would be probably be shortened as well. Clearly, Arnie is a real jock.

2) Arnie is a Rudy Miller who is happy with his lot.

3) Arnie is also another Arnie - of No Coins Please - but in sports.

4) This book is giving me strong “Toilet Paper Tiger” vibes, based on the bad sportsplaying. And Zucchini Warriors. And No More Dead Dogs.

5) Wow, are the school administrators super incompetent and super inflexible in the GK universe! The most obvious is in Ungifted, where they miss the Sex Ed requirements, but Mr. Silverstein in The Twinkie Squad and the basement in Son of Inteflux come to mind as well. And of course Don’t Care High. And its been a while, but I believe the SuperTeacher Project and The Unteachables have them as well. (Raymond will give me a list of the other 70 or so books that have them). But Mr. Carmichael takes the cake!

Honestly, all of GK’s books have the one unbelievable thing that one has to buy for the story to work. Rudy Miller hates his skills. A 6^th Grade teacher being the coach. A robot teacher. Here it’s a ridiculously inflexible graduation requirement.

6) Possible Prediction: Based on the past GK books in this style, at some point Yash will be excused from this ridiculous requirement but still choose to stay on the team, just like Commando from Toilet Paper Tigers and Capricorn in Schooled, and Donnavan in Ungifted etc…

7) This is another in the long line of GK Jocks vs Geeks theme. One that’s prominent in almost every book, but the most obvious is No More Dead Dogs. And The Chicken Doesn’t Skate.

[Asher]

"You can't make a hero's great-grandfather be a slug"

"You can't be a Twinkie - You're on the Team!"

[Raymond Jardine]

@Asher—I thought the same thing about the "short" name Yash!
As far as your comment that "all of GK’s books have the one unbelievable thing that one has to buy for the story to work"—yes! I think part of the Korman brand is characters with larger-than-life personalities and often a noteworthy (or even over-the-top) personality trait. Usually it just requires a mild suspension of disbelief from the reader—it's not TOO hard to imagine a precocious little scam artist like Artie Geller, or a rich kid with a sense of entitlement like Jett Baranov, or a juvenile genius inventor like Elmer Drimsdale. I love encountering Korman character analogs in real life—I've been reminded of Rootbeer Racinette and Emile Querada and Emmanuel Harris and Slim Kroy and a dozen other Korman crazies when I've met people with a vibe like them.

 ---------

Now, Chapter 6 (Kaden Cooperman)

> "My body works okay, but no two parts of it function properly together." Love this!
> Way to go, Kaden, stepping up to Yash's request for a football training partner.
> I love how perceptive Kaden is. Yash didn't realize Kaden had picked up on how close the atomic model set came to being knocked away from him in the mall. And Kaden clearly recognizes that Yash is not super excited that HE is the one to volunteer as football partner.

[Shaleen]

Hey Asher!!

Our favorite lines of the book so far (no spoilers):

"It's like I've landed in the middle of The Hobbit, where everybody's an elf or a dwarf or a goblin or some other kind of weirdo!" LOLLLL what a sick burn while also being endearing and kind of a compliment.

Neel's favorite line is "New Dork City"

[Jade]

New Dork City was SO funny. Also the other quote, especially knowing that I love The Hobbit and Gord does not. Kaden’s chapter is what stood out to me the most in the story. One, because I have a close friend of a long time named Kaden, and two, because of his line in the locker room. His stuff getting stolen. The way he’s hated for being smart and succeding in school. It was so real to me. People really don’t like smart people. I also agree that the characters are always slightly big. Like, their personalities. It’s cool for the story to be not exactly like real life, maybe a bit more vivid. I really enjoy it!!

 

Be blessed,

Jade

[Raymond Jardine]

A few thoughts on Chapter 7 (Yash):

> Kaden's really trying to help. Yash is really trying to let him feel helpful. And—it's working?!? Flatten that parabola!
> With the ongoing questions about a home ec teacher being assigned to a PE class, and all the questions about whether she's certified to teach it, I wonder if any of this arises from GRK's own experience with a gym coach-turned-English class teacher back in middle school. Were young G-man and his classmates worried their weird novel-writing assignment might not count in the end?
> "Desperately, I blurt, 'How can we think about ourselves when some rotten girl kicked a dog?'" Nice diversion, Yash!
> I haven't kept up with the 2024 Olympics chatter. Does Canada have a highly rated Lemonade Spoon Relay cohort? Is Team USA expected to take a medal?

 

 

[Jade]

Question: What does “flatten that parabola” mean!?

Honestly, this chapter was hilarious. I like how Yash did that distraction. I like Stuart. Kaden is so sweet! Im glad Yash accepted his help rather than not. HES A NICE GUY!!

Bella is lowkey evil. Anyways, loved this chapter. Lemonade Spoon Relay. That sounds so difficult. I love how people were throwing stuff at Sarah while she ran. This isn’t a GREAT review but there isn’t much more to say than IT WAS AWESOME!!

Be blessed,

Jade

[Asher]

Full chapter two notes coming soon, but this can't be the first Korman book with twin frenemies, right? Obviously there's OurMan Weston, but I think we have seemingly opposite twins quite a few times before, though I can't remember where. 

Raymond, any help?

 

[Shaleen]

@Raymond: That's a great point about how perceptive Kaden is! I'm sure you and Asher will tell me if I'm forgetting any, but I don't think I've seen two different perspectives from characters conflict in that way, where Yash thinks that Kaden doesn't understand what's happening, but Kaden is in fact on to everything and understands maybe even better than Yash does. That was a nice touch and a nice dynamic.

Another thing I'm enjoying about this book is how much I like Yash. Other than Rudy, and Boots as part of Bruno and Boots, I've often struggled to relate to the jock style main characters. But there are so many little details in the way he questions his initial dismissiveness of the other characters and the way he treats them that are making me root for him.

Excited that we seem to be approaching what is often my favorite part -- when they all start to gel and get into what they're about to get into, a la electing Mike Otis as president or taking down Interflux or starting a pretzel factory nightclub.

Neel has gotten super into the book and is way ahead (high-five!) so he will chime in later.

[Jade]

@Ms. Shaleen, I agree so much about Yash! It took me by surprise to see a jock/popular kid that I like. It’s very rare, but I was so glad to see it. Gave me hope

[Raymond Jardine]

@Jade—You'll have to ask Kaden about the advanced equations behind flattening a parabola for the perfect football spiral. That math is way over my head!

@Asher—As it happens, I have a copy of an annotated bibliography book called Twins in Children's and Adolescent Literature in which the author—and I'm absolutely not making up that her name is Dee Storey—gives some information on (and a glowing review of) Our Man Weston. The "Weston" section also includes some behind-the-scenes notes from GRK about why he chose to make Tom and Sidney twins (humor!) and the extent of his firsthand knowledge of twins (none whatsoever!). Sadly, the book is too old to include any later Kormanian twins and I can't think of any that fulfill your call for twin frenemies. I know we saw the LaPaz triplets in Don't Care High, but they didn't squabble with each other. I recall a couple of heated sibling rivalries before Stuart and Sarah's, maybe the most memorable being Will and Lyssa Greenfield in the ISLAND trilogy. When brothers and sisters go to war in a Korman story, they're not messing around!

@Neel—I remember being around your age and realizing that, every once in a while, a book would come along that was so good it was worth being tired the next day to stay up and read "just one more chapter."

--------

Some thoughts on Chapter 8 (Cleo):
> Cleo's jibe about Andromedon reminds me just a bit of Simon's reaction to The Legend of the Glass Caves in Son of Interflux, and makes me think GRK likes to subtly dis "sword and sorcery" fantasy. (Or maybe I just think all high fantasy text sounds like a parody.)

> "His confused expression morphs into one of pure delight. 'You're asking me to do you a favor.'"—(Yash's response when Cleo asks him to be in the play)—Hahahaha! @Shaleen—you called it! So many of GRK's stories have that sort of cascade moment when you're about to be swept along on a wild ride of interconnecting storylines.

> Whoa! Not only are most of the P-E-E students helping out Yash with his football drills, but the investigative journalism class is about to add Cleo to the ranks? This is one happening summer school!

[Asher]

Chapter2

The complete gang is giving me major Toilet Paper Tigers vibes.

I love the character of Cleo. Raymond, I figured Cleo was a girl because she played Veruca Salt! Time to reread your Dahl.

PEE is the best Kormacronym since ARSE.

Those brownies gave me real Chocolate Memories!

We've had Mr Huge, the gym coach, being a teacher, and now we have the reverse!

The twins remind me of nontwins Peach and Champion.

Anyways, my notes are just me recalling other GK books!

Chapter 3
This chapter could have the character's names changed and be slipped right into No More Dead Dogs.
I found this chapter slightly unbelievable, as I cant imagine highschoolers respecting a kid so much younger than them.

[Jade]

@Asher: Note on highschoolers not respecting kids that much younger than them: I think it’s pretty realistic. Highschoolers definitely respect 8th graders on JV teams, it’s really impressive. And just that; he’s on JV, not Varsity, so he’s only on there with majority 9th graders and some 10th graders or the flip-flop of that. Maybe I’m just the exception because I don’t see age when talking to a person, but I doubt that high schoolers wouldn’t respect Yash. At least, the 9th graders he talks to. The 10th graders may or may not and the 11th and 12th probably don’t know he exists. If they do, they don’t care (not until he makes Varsity.)

There was a girl from 8th grade on the JV Volleyball team last year. She was really good, so we all respected her. 

People most definitely aren’t going to like Yash, but that’s because they’re jealous that he’s good, not because they don’t like that he’s an 8th grader.

However, I’ve gone to a private Christian school for MS and HS. I don’t know if that makes a difference in how HS act/think, but yeah. Maybe take it with a grain of salt?

Be blessed 

Jade

[Asher]

Hey Jade,

I actually went to Orthodox Jewish middle and high schools, and once you higg, it's like the elementary kids are a generation younger. I guess it's different depending on the community. 

[Raymond Jardine]

@Jade—My experience (a million years ago and in a public school system) probably tracked your observation: Sports is a great equalizer. A middle schooler playing on the JV or varsity team might get teased a bit but if they perform on the field, they're just another teammate.

@Asher—"Chocolate Memories" FTW! I love your "which GRK book does this remind you of?" game. I'm pretty sure every life event and character type was covered in one of GRK's earlier books. "Hey, Delancey, you're starting to think like Jardine. Bad move."

-------

Can we really be on Chapter 9 (Yash) already?!?:
> So Stuart has the soft hands of a natural-born receiver. That is not a random observation from Yash. Between him and Cleo and the others, is he going to build his own football squad?
> After his visit with Hammond, that looks like the only way Yash might get to be part of a team.
> What a sad chapter. Even if Hammond is a jerk sometimes, and even if his friendship with Yash is built mostly around sports, it's depressing for the two guys to be so awkward with each other and to question each other's commitment.
> The Hindenburg gets mentioned in Restart and in The Hypnotists (and maybe others I can't immediately recall). I used to think "Shakespeare" was GRK's version of the camel-in-every-painting quirk, but with Sarah and Stuart's father's model of the ill-fated airship making at least a third Hindenburg sighting, I'm going to be watching for future mentions.

[Shaleen]

Yes, Chapter 9 was so real! That's its own sadness that's just as sad as a fistfight or screaming at each other. The worst part was how quickly Hammond said okay to him leaving. Felt that.

I agree with Jade that some younger kids are definitely respected by older ones, it all depends on the person. I also agree with Asher that when you pick up a book like this you sign an unwritten contract to suspend your disbelief now and then. For me the big one so far has to be the children's school play where children in the roles with voices that sound like children is somehow a problem! But it led to that great moment where Cleo had to ask Yash for a favor, totally worth it.

[Jade]

@Asher: You're right 'bout elementary school. It's a slightly bigger gap between 5th and 6th than between 8th and 9th. High school and middle school are more similar than middle school and elementary school.

The scene with Yash and Hammond was so sad! It hurt to see friends like that part--but then I reminded myself that they're 14 and not the type to throw away a friendship without fighting for it. Yash would fight for it. Still really sad scene. 

Seeing the chaos of Sarah and Stuart outside of school is SO fun. This made me think of what their life with their parents are like. Are there parents exhausted from the kids' shenanigans? Indifferent? Or are they just as crazy as their kids? So fun to imagine. Great save, Stuart. That was really cool. 

@Raymond: Maybe he is building his own team! What would he use it for, though?

Also.

"Dude"

"Bro"

Man, that was funny. It really made me laugh when I first saw it and it does not. Not because its unrealistic, but because its so realistic. I've never greeted someone that way but that's probably because my closest friends are girls. Or maybe not. The life of boys is a genuine mystery to me.

The boys, Hammond and Amir, are kind of gits. I mean, it makes sense 'cuz they're popular guys, but still! Ugh! It makes me sad, too. Never trust the popular kids when they're together, unless they're... actually, just never trust them. Trust no one except that loser in the corner with nothing to lose. (Pun? Yes.)

"If you're the QB of the Comets"

Man, that was LOW! It kind of just fell out of his mouth (he wasn't trying to be evil) but that hurt ME! I felt so bad for little Yashie in that scene, specifically that part. Poor boy.

IDK why I keep talking about them like they're more than 2 years younger than me. Anyways!

Be blessed,
Jade

[Jade]

Please tell me my post wasn't lost to the abyss...

[Jade]

Oh hallelujah it wasn't. Website scaring me for a second. Bad forum! Bad!

Who's yall's favorite character right now? In THIS moment, it's Yash. But overall, it's Bella

[Asher]

Chapter 4

Loving Arabella. Wow does she have a tough situation with her dad. i wonder if it will be a plot point later on.

The lukewarm wax for the car wash made me actually belly laugh out loud - the first time in forever in a GK book. I am really enjoying this one. 

The story with the ramp sounds like it was inspired by Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy - one of GK's favorite books I believe. 

Mrs Finnerty sounds like she is having memory problems. I really hope that isn't the case, as she is a really nice character.

Chapter 5

Arnie sounds like Steve Cavanaugh. In fact, this whole Arnie section seems to be a remix of "No More Dead Dogs" meets the Twinkie Squad".  Slugfest is giving me major Twinkie Club vibes (ive said it before, but I'll say it again). 

Do mall cops still use segways? Are there even malls or segways anymore?

Nitro Nate seems like a real Steve Cavanaugh-level douchebag, so far. 

Final thoughts - I am really really loving this new book. It's my best GK book since Whatshisface, and it may even surpass that. And I loved , loved Linked! (I hated Mixed Up and Superteacher though). But this is better. 

[Asher]

I just posted a whole post. Is it gone forever?

[Jade]

@Asher “ It's my best GK book since Whatshisface, and it may even surpass that” !!!!!!!! Agree so much!!!! 

Its so funny we had the same situation. The forum seriously scares me like that sometimes

[Shaleen]

@Jade: My favorite character overall is Bella too, but in this moment it's Yash too. How about that??

@Asher: When Raymond sent me the link to the book, my response was "This is giving me major Twinkie Squad vibes"

Did we all end up the same person because we were raised by the same set of books...

[Raymond Jardine]

My new favorite comment is: Did we all end up the same person because we were raised by the same set of books....  @Shaleen, future generations of will study "Kormanature vs Kormanurture" in their quest to understand human psychological development. (If they ever offer it as a summer school class, sign.me.up.)

@Jade, when I read "Dude!" "Bro!," I actually heard the words in a different voice than I usually have when I'm reading dialogue. That purposefully deep, slow, intense semi-grunt of a guy greeting.
Oh, and favorite character currently: Kaden. Our resident nerd seems to have a good sense of who he is (pretty impressive for a middle schooler) and he stepped outside his comfort zone to volunteer to help Yash. This is the kind of person we all should try to be.

@Asher, I intensely dislike Nitro Nate… wouldn't mind seeing him fall into some of that disgracefully lukewarm wax… but if I'm being honest with myself, I wonder: Has he actually done anything (yet?) other than show up and have some QB skills?

----------

Another county heard from—Chapter 10 (Jesse Darrowick):

> I remember reading a review of one of the Macdonald Hall stories and really liking the author's analysis of the moral centeredness inherent to many of GRK's characters. The big example was that Bruno and Boots were seemingly unable (and certainly unwilling) to lie to The Fish or other adults. The reviewer pointed out how (1) that moral compass makes the reader feel good about the character/the story/maybe even life and the universe in general, and (2) it allows the story to develop some conflict that might otherwise be resolved by just having the characters lie or cheat to get out of a predicament. So it's heartening to see: "That's cheating," Arabella huffs. "You don't reform an unfair system by doing something even more shady."
> A lot happens in Chapter 10. Sure, we get some of Jesse-the-prankster's perspective about how funny his "jokes" are. But we also learn he's a bit more worried about rules than you might expect when he's nervous about the computer hacking. And he expects to need a lawyer one day—ha!—and figures Cleo would represent him well before a jury. And maybe Jesse is a bit jealous of Yash.
> We also find out Kaden and Fiona aren't messing around with their research on Mrs. Finnerty, and that Arabella has dramatic plans for exposing the big scandal, and that Yash is A-okay with a coverup.
> Plus, there's going to be a sleepaway camp-style visitor's event/talent night at summer school, and that changes Yash's mind about being part of the Andromedon production for some reason.

[Jade]

@Raymond: Same here. I read it in a slightly deeper voice. I know more about middle school boys than I'd like to.

@Raymond, Asher: Am I really the only one over here who really likes Nitro Nate? It's cool to me, we don't even know him yet! Maybe I just assume the best of people.

Chapter 10: This guy is really funny. He certainly has a voice, and it got me smiling during the beginning. It was nice to see the "prankster" character again. They make a showing in tons of books. However, I couldn't really tell his voice. I mean, I could, but he didn't seem super different from Yash, or Kaden, or Stuart. I feel like this chapter was more "get to know Jesse (I adore that name)" than "Move the Plot Forward". I also don't really know what's going on with the plot except something's up with Coach F and Bella's being a brat about it.

I think the least voic-y characters were Sarah and Jesse. But yeah, I can't imagine much about Jesse unlike Kaden and Yash. 

Now, for the actual chapter. Short, sweet, could have been done by Yash. I think it's much cooler to see Yash's mind in action (him signing up to be Zarcon.) I really liked how they got into the hacker-y stuff. That was SO cool. If only there was more, this is what got my mind thinking this would be some super mystery.

Be blessed,

Jade

[Raymond Jardine]

On to Chapter 11 (Sarah Fidelio):

 

> Hold on. It's an odd chapter number. So far, that's always meant Yash's perspective. But Sarah gets Chapter 11? Is everything going to be upside down now? Night is day, right is wrong, silence is dissonance.
> Gotta admit, "Just so you know, I don't kick puppies." is a crazy good way to open. I might have to see how that line flies in my next Zoom with colleagues.
> Sarah has me cracking up, wondering if Andromedon is about the vast unknown of space, or the epic battle of good versus evil, before concluding "I don't really care that much."
> Brand new investigative journalist Sarah provides some good intel on how Ms. Landkammer's class is being run.
> At almost exactly 10 pages per chapter on average, several of these "perspectives" are—like @Jade points out—short and sweet, and they do a nice job of balancing "advancing the plot" with "giving a unique voice to each character."
> I googled "banana chocolate wonton poppers" and if I had an air fryer, I'd probably make them and zucchini sticks at least once a week. @Asher, I know you'll know of some other Korman Kuisine (Gordon Gastronomy?) to help balance out my menu.

[Asher]

@Raymond Anything that is upside down and has horseradish.

[Shaleen]

"And when her headline is ready," Yash announces once Arabella has moved on after class, "we'll rip it down and feed it through the paper shredder in the teacher's lounge." Hahahaha. I love the way this is casually slipped in! And it's just taken as a given that everybody's on board. 

[Asher]

I'm on a tight schedule, so just a few notes.

Chapter 8 - play reminds me of No More Dead Dogs.

How is Yash getting all the kids to join?

I don't get why Arabella cares so much about Ms Finnerty. I think she has a reason she's hiding. 

 

The way all these kids are signing up for this journalism class reminds me of Bruno's committee to get rid of Wizzle where nobody wanted to join originally but then everyone did for their own reasons.

Chap 9

Stuart catching the projectile reminds me of the Karate Kid.

 

I didn't write notes on some earlier chapters - I hope too - but both Stuart and Sarah are NASTY to each other. Horrific fighting. It really isn't funny. Especially that dog story.

 

Chap 10 - finally! This chapter really reminds me of a Gordon Korman classic that has largely been forgotten. I don't think even @Jade has read it - Maxx Comedy. This Jesse reminds me of Maxx so much. I love this character as I was always the wannabe comedian who no one else found funny. 

Mrs. Finnerty could just be using her Maiden name and the system was never updated.

 

 

 

[Asher]

This forum keeps erasing my posts

[Asher]

I'm not sure if we are up to 12 yet, but, wow was this a laugh out loud chapter!

This play was hilarious! The ending reminded me of The Twinkie Squads famous scene. It was great!!

 

Ms Finnerty is a reverse Miss Scrimmage when it comes to baking. 

I believe Raymond pointed this out above, but the wonton names in chapter 11 are great and very Cathy Burton worthy. And this play is ridiculous. I prefer GK when he parodies science fiction than when he tries to write it ( I did NOT like Hypnotists). 

I love how Yash does not know what is in the play despite being a lead. He never even read it once! What a jock. Did he not have to rehearse? 

 

Two toys being thrown as footballs in one book! Wow! 

 

[Asher]

One final thought on Chapters 1 through 11: The way this story is going, and based on my past GK experience, I will bet that Mr Landkammer is the fake teacher here, or perhaps a plagiarist of his stories (I'm on my first read, so I don't know the ending). 

 

What type of journalist writes the headline before the story? It makes no sense. And it also makes no sense as how as a teacher, he doesn't shut Arabelles story down.

[Jade]

Wait… Landkammer’s a guy?

[Asher]

No,

I'm a bad writer! Oops

[Shaleen]

Chapter 12 was EPIC!! Absolutely dying at "I present your future - a head!" Up there in the same league of one-liners as "I hate this radio." I agree it was indeed out of character for Yash to be reading it the first time. He is a nice enough guy that he  probably would have at least rehearsed once, but maybe he was distracted by the chicken dance. And it was so much funnier this way. Cleo is going to tie him up and spray him with a fire extinguisher, Wendy style. "Land??? You bought LAND??"

Okay, back to this book: my big take-away after this chapter is, what is up with the other jocks? Why are they such massive jerks? Jeering at their best friend is way out of line. I had thought they were just distant, but in my eyes they're starting to be the real villains here. And why wasn't Nitro Nate there? What's his deal?

Pretty slick of Bella to wait until Yash was distracted and to sneak on the stage with the standard-issue footie pajamas of the cast. She has the makings of someone who really can change the world, she just needs to figure out how to target her passion and her competence a little more sensibly, like maybe at the state education department which should be less arbitrary and rigid in their middle school graduation requirements, and needs to beef up their digital security.

I enjoyed Yash's mom. One thing I appreciate much more now is all is the mom characters. They're always like, "Okay, dear, no problem," which I used to just read past before, and now that I'm the mom who acts like that I understand (or imagine) what's probably going on in their heads.

 

[Shaleen]

@Asher: That's a good catch that no serious journalist would write the headline before the story, but I think that assignment was in order to provide a visual for the parents (or to be less fun about it, it was just necessary for the plot). Totally disagree on Landkammer! She's giving the students freedom to investigate what they want, but she told Bella clearly that it takes time to investigate something deeply enough to form a conclusion, and then she held firm on that. That's one one of the few direct details we have about her. Just from what we have so far, I think she's a great teacher.

[Asher]

OK, I cheated! 

I finished the book last night. It\'s easily my favorite modern day GK book. It\'s my best since Schooled. It\'s incredible. 

And I completely messed up the comparison between books. It\'s the Twi kie Squad meets the Zucchini Warriors. So much Zucchini Warriors. We even get a modern day Drimsdale!

 

Anyway back to the chapters. 

[Asher]

This forum is broken @Gordon korman. Posts keep disappearing. 

[Jade]

@Asher Mate, they're not disappearing. They're there. It looks like they're gone, but they're most likely there.

Also, took you long enough! I'm surprised you didn't binge read the whole book when you got your hands on it. Yes, I think it's my new favorite GK book--maybe. WHATSHISFACE was my favorite before. I'll have to reread it before I finalize my decision.

Also, it's 8th grade summer school. Miss Reporter Teacher is probably well aware that none of them are blooming journalists. I don't know, though. She probably wouldn't be taking them seriously.

@Shaleen I think the jocks are unrealistic too--but because they're too nice. At school, the jocks jeer each other all of the time. They're a lot meaner than the kids in this book. And coming to make fun of their friend and the slugs? Light. They're honestly kinda nice compared to real life jocks.

Also, I disagree that Yash is nice enough to read it once. If he's anything like me, he'd probably forget--but also, he's mad at Cleo. She rejected his deal when he wanted her and he's gonna be a bit salty about that. And he doesn't seem to care about the play one bit. So, yeah, seems reasonable to me.

I agree with what you said on Bella!

Also, Gord, can we have a baddie for a mom please? Most of the moms feel the same. "Ah, that's dangerous! Don't do it!" "My baby!" But none of them are really baddies. Remember that lady that was so into Mr. Aidact? She was hilarious. Like, she was SO funny.

If this is the chapter where they do the obstacle course, LOL! It was so funny imagining them going across it. Like, so funny. I really liked this chapter. I like how creative it is. But also, one thing: what happens now? I feel like the thing with Arabella was kind of the main plot, and now that Yash's snuffed her, now what? It kind of felt climactic but it's not even the middle of the book, I don't think. I just felt weird about it.

Be blessed,

Jade

[Raymond Jardine]

@Asher—Mmm, mmm! More horseradish Scrimcakes, please.

@Shaleen—I'm glad someone pointed out Yash's unquestioned plans to nuke Arabella's headline. So matter-of-fact. Love it!

@Asher—I think by the time we're through, we will have compared Slugfest to maybe every other GRK book. Which makes it pretty clear this story can be held up to all the classics and will hold its own.

@Shaleen—"Land? You bought LAND?" Hahahahaha. Too funny, I need a moment.

@Jade—"But also, one thing: what happens now?"—That is eXaCtLy what I'm wondering. Arabella's dramatic announcement. The big summer school open house night. Those are huge end-of-book climax events, not first-half-of-the-book events. Is it possible there's even bigger stuff coming?!? (I am having a hard time keeping to my self-pledge to read only one chapter daily.)

----------

Short notes on the amazing Chapter 12 (Yash):

> "Get it? Good? Sports? That's a little gym humor."—okay, now I have decided I really like Coach Finnerty.
> When was the last time we got multiple instances of homophonic humor in one chapter? Cleo asks "You know your cue, right?" but Yash responds to "You know you're Q, right?" … AND … "I present your future—a head!" I am a sucker for some good word wit.
> Anyone else's mind flash to poor Zeke Decibel and his ruined equipment at the Halloween Dance when Yash trashes the sound system to keep Arabella from spilling the beans about Mrs. Finnerty?

[Shaleen]

I had the same feeling! This chapter seemed like a bonus everything-happening-at-once climax chapter unusually early in the book.

@Jade: Ha! You are absolutely right, we need Cathy as a mom. Anyone here an aspiring author? Who is Mr. Aidact btw? I missed that reference.

@Raymond: I was absolutely thinking about poor Zeke Decibel! Of course, his equipment was faulty. SACGEN works perfectly.

Neel has also finished the book, his first GK book! He previously started I Want to Go Home and Unplugged and hasn't finished either, but he went through this one fast. Although he's not interested in going back to provide commentary... Can't imagine why a ten-year-old wouldn't want to hang out on an old school Internet 1.0 chat forum with his mom and her friends, lol. But congrats to GK, he's got to be making a whole new generation of die hard fans with this one!

[Raymond Jardine]

Way to go @Neel for finishing your first Gordon Korman book! You have another six or seven peak years when most of GRK's characters are the same age as you—I hope you find yourself speed-reading to find out what happens in lots of the other stories.

Chapter 13 (Cleo) pushes us past the halfway point based on pages. Here's what stood out to me:
> Cleo's third entry makes her sound kind of bitter about Yash after HIS chapter 12 comments indicate a lot of respect for her athletic talents and acting chops. But she comes around during this chapter to give him some credit for being at least a benevolent dictator.
> I wrote that Yash was trying "to keep Arabella from spilling the beans" last night before reading Yash's comment in this chapter that "Bella was going to spill the beans."*
> You don't have to be an investigative journalist to suspect Kaden's knowledge of County Road 14 and the Forsberg school district boundaries is not a random factoid.

*(So, uh—where do I go to get my prize?)

[Jade]

@Shaleen: Mr. Aidact is the teacher, the robot teacher, in THE SUPERTEACHER PROJECT. Yes, I’m an aspiring author! I was actually working on character development today

[Shaleen]

Thanks Jade, I missed that book. I\'ll have to check it out. And maybe your baddie mom character one day, wherever she ends up!

After reading the latest chapter I\'m doubling down on two previous opinions:

-Whether she remains in the background to move things along or we actually get some time with her, I remain firmly Team Landkammer

-What is up with Nitro Nate?? Truly no idea at this point.

 

[Shaleen]

@Raymond: Ooh that's an interesting observation about Kaden! I had chalked it up to his super-genius, but maybe there is a reason he knows that. If he hadn't been in the car with them I'd have guessed Nitro Nate is Kaden in disguise taking a super drug he invented, or something.

[Jade]

I think Nitro Nate is a nice guy. I also like all of the characters, none I dislike, but ai’m not on the jock’s team. The real antagonist is Summer School, no characters stopping him, except for Nitro Nate; and he’s not really an antagonist because Yash probably cares about being fair more than getting the role. Or maybe not. Cleo really doesn’t like Yash. I’m glad they stopped Bella but where is the plot going now?

 

Be blessed,

Jade

[Raymond Jardine]

 @Shaleen—Kaden in disguise as Nitro Nate… whoa, that would've blown my mind.

 

 ------------

 

Some observations on Chapter 14 (Arabella):
> I'm not sure whether to respect Arabella's unwavering commitment to investigative journalism—willing to be unpopular in pursuit of the truth—or to begrudge her the possibly off-base actions that will ruin a lot of people's summers if she's wrong about Mrs. Finnerty.
> We finally get to meet Nate! He does the whole noble and virtuous act of returning the library fine dollar, but his reaction about Yash's involvement in investigative journalism makes me think I'll hold on to my distrust for now. (Plus I know @Jade is a good judge of character and she says Nate's nice, so I can't decide to dislike him yet.)
> Anyone else given any thought to the meaning behind character names? Learning Nate's full name inspired me to dig around a bit. "Breitmann" translates to "big guy," which seems pretty appropriate for a football player. "Finnerty" means roughly "white snow," which I would think symbolically indicates purity and innocence. (Maybe? I'm assuming we'll eventually learn Coach really is qualified to teach.) "Kaden" means both a friend and an able fighter, and I can see how Kaden Cooperman might be both of those things for Yash.

[Raymond Jardine]

Taking a look at super-short Chapter 15 (Yash):
> I have a suspicion—admittedly based on zero data—that the GRK books with "news articles" as part of the story presentation are the ones fans would vote as his funniest. So, it's reaffirming to see the Clarington mayor's news story here.
(Yes, even if it's a spoofed press release.)
> Now I can't wait to find out if #NoToiletsNoKidding becomes a big thing.
> Yash is a good guy. His "If I'm the quarterback… it'll be because I'm the best guy for the job" attitude is a throwback to several Korman characters who have a similar worldview: Winning comes from doing your best, not from somebody else's failing.

[Jade]

Hey, sorry I haven't said much of anything. Nate is a great person. I am vouching for him all of the way. I don't think I ever disliked him in any of the past chapters, mainly cuz we barely know him! I had no idea about the character names, LOL. Yes, Kaden is a great friend name. I like Kaden. But! But! I AM SO HAPPY FOR THE NO TOILETS NO KIDDING THING! That would be absolutely hilarious if anyone believed it, but just one Instagram post? I think Yash's worldview teaches a nice lesson without being a "I'm a good character that an adult wrote to be super preachy about kindness" type character.

Bella's still my favorite overall. She is being a bit of a poopy.

[Shaleen]

That's fascinating about the names! Never thought about that before.

Bella's still my favorite too, but she needs therapy stat.

So curious what Nate's deal is. It can't be as simple as he lives in the wrong town, it's gotta be something more complicated or interesting than that. Looks like we're finally going to find out.

 

[Shaleen]

Oh and I love the no toilets no kidding thing! That was always my favorite parts of the books as a kid and my favorite parts now -- the outrageous stunts and experiments that challenges you to think, as a reader, while also being so over-the-top and the hilarious that they could never come across as too serious.

[Shaleen]

Sorry for 3 posts in a row but I guess I'm the first person to get to Chapter 15! I've been reading my chapter every morning while I make chai, instead of checking social media. Highly recommend.

Anyway - I loved it! What a great encounter between Bella and Nate and we're finally starting to understand what his secret is and why. I liked when they were riffing about 1-10 versus 1-23, and the casual intimacy of sharing a gas station chili cheese dog. Looking forward to seeing them get to know each other more, and I assume end up a sounding board for each other on their family problems.

Great little detail that Bella didn't directly lie about being a cheerleader. She has a moral compass and it'll kick in, I'm sure of it. Hopefully she'll end up learning that you can support people instead of ruining their lives for no reason. 

I'm enjoying that (other than a couple of the jocks) I really like all of these characters. They're human and even when they make mistakes, I understand why. This was a nice change of scenery but I can't wait to get back to Yash and Kaden and the rest.

[Raymond Jardine]

And @Shaleen completes the hat trick. J (But I think your chapter number is off.)
"Change of scenery" is a great way to describe this chapter with almost exclusively two characters who have been sort of secondary so far. It hadn't really occurred to me how closely their life's challenges are, that's a smart observation.
Oh, and "outrageous" is the perfect word for so many of the funniest antics in these stories.

@Jade—You've got good instincts on how authors sometimes can make characters too saintly or pious (and GRK doesn't fall into that trap… even his most prim-and-proper kids have a mischievous side). You've shared before that you are working on your own novel(s)—I have no doubt your characters are well-rounded and believable.

@Asher—Come back!

 

Looking at Chapter 16 (Arabella):
> Keith Darrowick, chauffeur extraordinaire, is an underrated character.
> With that bike flat, Nate sure could use a tire gauge. (He's probably too young for a night on the town with a genuine New York City model, though.)
> I'd be okay with a "1 to 23" rating scale. So far, Slugfest is easily in "twenties" range. I suspect this one will appeal to several old-school fans who love GRK's earliest stuff best.
> My guess is Arabella is more on-track on the Nitro Nate investigation than on the Coach Finnerty one. The flat tire ruse was clever ethically wrong, but her questioning was spot-on.

 

 

[Asher]

Raymond - I have some good family news, and am extremely busy! I will participate as soon as I can.

I"ll just say this no toilets thing reminds me of a different book... MacDonald Hall goes Hollywood, where Bruno's dumb stories get taken literally!

[Jade]

Hey! I was so happy to see a side character. I really like Keith, he’s cool and I understand him. He’s nice, too. Reminded me of how Cooper’s sister absolutely hated giving her brother a ride, or being with her brother, etc. Bella was kinda mean to do that to the tire but man that was smart. I can’t wait to see what happens between her and Nate! Are they gonna become enemies? So cool! Also, as a cheerleader, this and last chapter made me smile.

[Raymond Jardine]

@Jade—Regarding Nate and Arabella—YES! If this book were for a slightly older age range I would fully expect these two to feud a bit before realizing they're madly in love with each other.

@Asher—Yay for your good news, and I'm looking forward to more Slugfest insights when your schedule permits!

----------

On to Chapter 17 (Yash):
> I absolutely LOVE that Kaden looks in the middle school weight room mirror and sees "an animal! A tank!"
> Yash in one line: "To be honest, I was just thinking of myself at first." Without those two final words, that line would at least indicate self-awareness. But with them, it means the amazing athlete, the king of the school, is considering others in his thoughts and actions. Pretty cool.
> And then Yash shows so much class, so much maturity, when he doesn't shoot the messenger. (And props to Amir, who has the class to give the bad news to his friend in person.)
> Heartbreaking final line: "What am I going to do?"

[Shaleen]

Chapters 17 and 18 (double-checked my #'s this time) are so satisfying and fun together!

17: @Raymond I looooved Kaden's reaction to his tiny ripple muscle too. "A biceps brachii!" in italics reminded me of Elmer, but Kaden's his own personality too. "Kaden is working himself into a celebration" was hilarious. This kid is iconic.

And then the abrupt turn into bad news! It was inevitable that we'd find this out about the QB position and it hurt all the same. And gotta give Amir credit for coming in person. Earlier on I criticized Amir for being too serious about football, but I should have realized there was a reason -- his gravity was appropriate! 

18: YES!!! The random skills and practice was clearly building up to something and it's finally here! Enjoyed Yash's development as a person paying off in the form of Cleo feeling compelled to help him.

I think Bella has rubbed off on everyone too and influenced the group stepping up for each other and for fairness. Loved the moment where Bella's voice is in Yash's head.

Seven-on-seven flag football tournament! Let's go!

[Raymond Jardine]

@Shaleen—I should've gone ahead and read 18 immediately instead of waiting a day after Yash's anguishing chapter 17. Today was a lot more upbeat.
    … You say that Kaden "…. reminded me of Elmer." And @Asher said "We even get a modern day Drimsdale!" Agreed (of course!) and I get a kick out of the "genius amongst mortals" archetype that GRK has played with several times. Building on what you said about their being their own personalities, the "impossibly smart" characters all have their own unique vibe (which was a real feat when there were so many of them in UNGIFTED/SUPERGIFTED). In some ways, Kaden actually reminds me more of RESTART's Brendan Espinoza, who was less a nerd and more just a bullying victim who makes a courageous decision to accept that people can change for the better.
    …"where Bella's voice is in Yash's head."—Yes, this!

----------

And my quick thoughts on Chapter 18 (Cleo):
> They may be football misfits, but the slugs are definitely committed if they're practicing without Yash.
> It's really cool hearing the summer school gym students' individual athletic analysis through Cleo's perspective. She knows what she's looking at from a technical standpoint and she has an objective detachment that Yash wouldn't have.
> Cleo has a mature understanding of the culpable role of the adults—coach, principal, superintendent—in Yash's predicament. And that outweighs her prejudice against the guy she sees as an entitled jock.
> 7-on-7 football tourney, here we come! I so hope the summer school team gets to wear uniforms with a slug logo.
> There's a lot of Beach Boys in this book. I know several Beach Boys hits but I decided to look up if I own any. One song in my iTunes library: "Don't Worry Baby."

[Jade]

cuz Ah, I had a message this morning—too bad the Forum killed it. 

Not much to say except YESSSSS!!!! FLAG FOOTBALL TEAM??? HERE WE COME!!!! Cleo is so cool. Sometimes, cooler than Yash. Unfortunately I LOST my copy of SLUGFEST because its in my bookbag that I lost at school!!!!

Hi, everybody!

Great discussion. I'm having fun following it.

BUT

Nobody picked up on the delightful fact that something written about 2 years ago managed to bring up a sport that has always been so marginalized, so insignificant --- and this year it's going to be at the Paris Olympics!

Am I clairvoyant, or what?                                                                                                              ---GK---

[Raymond Jardine]

@Jade--Oh no! Let's hope your bookbag turns up quickly, with Slugfest safe and sound. 

@GRK--It looks like we have to wait for Los Angeles in 2028 for flag football (a fact that is new to me this morning) but I hope Balzer + Bray plans a special Olympics edition of Slugfest to be released that year. Hmm... maybe the Los Angeles Olympics Organizing Committee will consider a slug as the games mascot....

[Shaleen]

I'm enjoying the image of an Olympic flag football champion giving an interview one day like "I didn't think I was much of an athlete, but I was great with parabolas. It all started when I read this book called Slugfest..."

JADE!! I am so sorry! I hope you find it!

Raymond: I love what you picked up on about Cleo having a mature understanding of the adults' accountability! And is slowly starting to care. Kind of the opposite of Bella, who cares so much but is confused about where to direct it. I didn't catch that before. I'd totally watch a spin-off show of Cleo and Bella teaming up to take on school districts around the country, collectively they've got all the skills.

OK, the L.A. Olympics. I choose to believe that little mistake makes me ahead of my time.                                  ---GK---

[Raymond Jardine]

So much fun in Chapter 19 (Jesse):

> Potty humor: I'm not saying there's a pattern here. But there may be a pattern here.
    >>>SLUGFEST: "My beautiful toilet ban is circling the bowl."
    >>>UNGIFTED: "Look at that toilet. That's got to be the smartest toilet I've ever seen."
    >>>NO COINS PLEASE: "…we had this hotel room on the 14^th floor, and wouldn't you know it, the toilet backed up. …"
    >>>SLACKER: "Every toilet in this town is plugged up with the Positive Action Group!"
    >>>POP: " A Frisbee game was in progress using a Dora the Explorer toddler toilet seat."
    >>>A SEMESTER IN THE LIFE OF A GARBAGE BAG: "…if my other grades don’t go toilet on me, and everyone else has a weak semester, Jardine just might squeak by in the number six spot."
    >>>DON'T CARE HIGH: "Wayne-o was impressed by Mike’s reparations to the toilet facilities."
    >>>SON OF INTERFLUX: " Interflux got its start in 1807 with the development of the toilet seat."
    >>>LOSING JOE'S PLACE: "He ordered the Moontrix Mountain, the most expensive drink in the place, a giant whipped-cream topped milkshake float that would fill a toilet bowl."
    >>>RESTART: "But even if every single memory is erased from your head—wiped clean like my phone when I dropped it in the toilet—you should still be the same person, right?"
    >>>OUR MAN WESTON: "Hiding the script in a waterproof bag in the toilet tank was sheer genius."
    >>>THE TOILET PAPER TIGERS: ((res ipsa loquitur))

> Name one other author who has had multiple books with young kids using trash-picking pointed sticks as weapons. Go on, I'm waiting.

> Fun to see Yash's scouting report after hearing Cleo's evaluations of the same students yesterday.

> The fact Arabella's investigative notes refer to Coach Finnerty as "the accused" is awesome.

> Is Jesse actually starting to focus on something not prank-related??

 

[Shaleen]

I cracked up at "the accused" too. And oh man do these snacks need to exist in real life. Should we ever have an IRL bookclub party I volunteer to figure out how to make the sourdough biscuits and homemade guava preserves. 

Anyone else feel like Stuart is gonna catch something at a hugely impactful moment at some point? I can't wait.

[Raymond Jardine]

With Chapter 20 (Yash), we begin the countdown of the final 10 chapters (!):

> A quarterback needs to know and trust his team, so "I immediately think of Cleo. She'll have good advice. She's a lot more levelheaded than I am…" is on brand.

> If you had told me before this chapter that schoolkids run into a janitor after-hours in a GRK story, I would have been confident the janitor would be super affable and accommodating. Mr. Hasselbeck, you are an embarrassment to your coveralls.

> @Asher called it more than a week ago: "Mrs. Finnerty could just be using her Maiden name and the system was never updated."

> But I don't think anyone could've predicted the Olympics (and NCAA, and Pan Am Games) shocker.

> And what a great explanation for the juvenile games she devised for her summer school gym students.

> Cleo and Yash might have done Arabella a huge favor by disposing of her exposé before anyone saw it.

> COACH Finnerty, for real!

 

 

[Jade]

Hey guys! I found my book, so yay! Yes, when Asher called that, I thought it was super cool. Y'all have been making some real good guesses. I could NOT have predicted the Olympics thing--I thought she was gonna be some super spy. Honestly, if some kids broke into the school (including notorious prankster), I'd be having problems with lil' bro too. I'm surprised about how trusting Yash is of Cleo tho. She was kinda mean to him--he seems way too trusting in general.

 

Bee blessed,
Jade (buzz buzz)

[Shaleen]

Chapter 20 was a doozy! I loved it!

Haha Raymond I thought of you when one of the main characters of this chapter turned out to be a toilet -- another one for your list!

@Asher I cannot believe you predicted why Finnerty wasn't in the database. That's ridiculous. Amazing.

Looking forward to the last 10 chapters. Underdog teams with grit and a coach with a heart of gold is one of my favorite plot types.

Btw Neel is halfway through The Unteachables! Picked it out on his own from my sacred GK bookshelf. He seems to prefer the more modern ones. Any suggestions for which one he should read next?  

[Raymond Jardine]

@Jade—Can you imagine if losing your bookbag had caused you to fall behind on your coursework, and that led to summer school? Then, all summer long, you'd've been buzzing along in classes, reading The Great GatsBEE and reciting "To bee or not to bee."

@Shaleen—"Underdog teams with grit and a coach with a heart of gold is one of my favorite plot types." Agreed!!, but with the distinction that I like this type of storyline best when they don’t take themselves too seriously. It's so much fun to cheer on the team in the final game/challenge/contest when you've been laughing with them for the whole book.
And way to go, Neel, for lapping us all on Gordon Korman book reading. I'd look at UNPLUGGED and RESTART and maybe THE FORT as good follow-ups.

------------

On to Chapter 21 (Arabella):
> @Shaleen's early read of Ms. Landkammer as a great instructor is looking spot-on. Such a good move to use Arabella's investigative failure as a teaching moment about the journalistic process.
> "There's just one sticky little detail. Jesse's right, and I'm not." A piddling, trivial detail. So inconsequential it's hardly worth mentioning.
> Yash might not plan to expose Nate as a Forsberger (Forsbergian?), but Jesse seems intent on it.
> Nate's seeming like a better guy than I have been willing to admit. To his credit, he feels conflicted about the dupe and resents that his father has put him in an uncomfortable situation. He is a good friend to Arabella. (And in Slugfest 2, I am absolutely expecting Arabella/Nate to double-date with Cleo/Yash.)

[Asher]

I'm back (ish). I hope to give a rundown of the chapters i missed later today.

[Asher]

Slugfest 2? I'll be GK for moment:

"Theres no plans for a sequel to [fill in the blank], but I'll never say never! So glad you enjoyed [fill in the blank!

 

 

[Asher]

Chapters 13-14

 

Hey, Cleo: if you snooze you lose. 

I have to say I was wrong about Nitro Nate. He seems really nice (and after finishing the book, I already know he is.)

 

One character I'm changing my feelings about: Arabella. She seemed really committed to the truth, but now she's falling in love. I'd respect her if she overcame her love for the truth - but she doesn't seem to be able to. That really puts her nastiness on Ms Finnerty in a whole new light. She's a kid though, so she gets a small pass.

 

 

 

[Asher]

Chapter 15! Amazing!

#NoToilets hashtag is great, and I bet it will catch on at the end, right at the finale.  (like the Chutney Fish story). 

The crazy news headlines thing reminds me of a different book, where the kid reporter keeps hopelessly mangling stories and everyone gets upset at him. I don't know if it's a GK book for sure, but i think it is. Does anyone know which book I am referring to? It's on the tip of my tongue.

 

If NoToilets doesn't get picked up immediately,  it would a huge suspension of belief for me, because IRL that stuff would be picked up by Infowars and Co stat.

[Asher]

Chapter 16:

Hey Raymond - I won a tire gauge from someone on twitter.... (that was me).

Arabella's flat tire thing was genius - but my opinion of her is getting lower.

Nate really seems like a nice kid. Sucks to have such a dad.

This is easily my favorite modern era Korman since Schooled, so Raymond, you are right about that.

 

It's the sequel to so many books I always knew I wanted. It's Redhead In Pefkakia (screenplay by Gavin Gunhold). 

[Raymond Jardine]

@Asher, you're speeding right along as you catch up on comments. Excellent! You made a couple interesting observations about the "sequel" question. I suspect you're right about the chances of a Slugfest 2 (but I still have 67 pages to see how the story gets resolved, so I'm not ruling it out in my mind just yet!). I'll point out the huge gap in GRK's "standalone novels" list on his Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Korman , where Pop (2009) chronologically bumps up against Restart (2017), with everything in between part of one series or another. And that GRK has written all or parts of 19 different series (including his contributions to The 39 Clues), resulting in two-thirds of his book list being part of series. (In fact, almost exactly half of his books are sequels to other books).
Redhead in Pefkakia, hahahahahahahaha.

--------

> I didn't expect either Hammond or Amir to voice his own chapter.
> Locker room antics, fine. Ribbing your buddy a bit, totally expected. But telling your friend "Where's your pride? You don't belong in this freak show!,” not cool, Hammond.
> "Even Cleo looks shocked." (after Yash's speech on friendship)—I *knew* I really liked Cleo!

[Jade]

Heads Up: I had a busy weekend so I totally forgot about this sorry.

Was NOT expecting Hammond to get a chapter either. Yeah, he's mean. No excuses. Mean kid. But he can still be a good friend. Yash is such a motivational speaker.

[Jade]

I believe my post was lost. I clicked off the screen too quick. But hey, my thoughts rq:

I wonder how Gordon perceived this book. Did he know it was gonna be such a big hit? A new favorite to a lot of fans? That it'd make such an impact? My favorite since WHATSHISFACE... ah.

I had a busy weekend so super sorry guys. What chapter are we even on now?
I was NOT expecting a chapter from Hammond. He's a jerk all right, but I can't take him too seriously 'cuz he's 14 years old. But he's a friend too. He has goodness in him even if he's been brainwashed by his popular buddies that being mean to people that aren't like you is cool.

I wonder if Yash stays friends with Hammy and Amir through the end. How did he even get into the popular crowd? I know he's a legend, but he's just... so... not mean. Dare I say nice to people he thinks are weird. Now, he's nice to them and friendly... you don't see that anymore!

Be blessed,

Jade

[Shaleen]

Every time someone mentions a tire gauge -- on this board and in real life too -- I laugh a little. Lifelong little inside joke with myself and now all of you.

Just finished Chapter 23. It's getting suspenseful, it is so hard not to read ahead!! We're not made of stone! But I do like it this way, it makes it last and makes me ponder and savor each chapter.

-I think Bella is turning out to be the star of the book, not Yash as much. She's making such dumb decisions but the lessons she's learning are going to stick with her for life. Like Asher said, she gets a pass because she's a kid.

-Did not expect a chapter from Hammond either! What a jerk. It was fun to get an outsiders' perspective on the Slugfest team. The part where Yash told him off was so heartwarming. His maturity is as off the charts as his athletic ability.

-Ms. Landkammer is fabulous. And Nitro Nate is turning out to be a great person too. I love that we all got some predictions right and some wrong. It shows that it's an unpredictable book, but the characters are real and coherent.

-Everything about the Slugfest team is making this one of my favorite books of the modern era -- the scene where they chose the name, the uniforms, the description of everyone except Yash and Cleo being awed by the tournament instructions. I was part of a few nerd teams in my day (like kids who were too nerdy to play sports but talented in other ways, and they found ways for us to be part of competitive events). The book got the feel of them so right.

-I want Cleo to be completely blown away by something and lose her cool in a good way, like when that kid who spoke his own language short-circuited (Zub! Zub vibes!!! Oh this is totally awesome!! Or whatever it was). She has a weary too-cool-for-this-world attitude. Most of it is justified given how smart and across-the-board talented she is, and how everyone else is making bad decisions except for her. I just want her to get to be a kid for a minute.

[Raymond Jardine]

@Jade—You speak like an author! I've got to think writers/singers/artists are sometimes surprised by which of their works "click" with their audience. I have read between the lines (so take this fwiw) that GRK intended SLACKER to be a standalone but it turned into an 8-book series because it was so well received… and maybe MAXX COMEDY and a few others didn’t take off as high as hoped. From a reader's perspective, ISLAND and SCHOOLED and RESTART and THE FORT are ones that just so clearly were going to score, and SLUGFEST has (as @Shaleen might agree) the same super high-powered mega-bang vub (i.e., Oh, this is just great!).
As for whether Yash stays friends with Hammond and Amir… well, I may know more after finishing the remaining seven chapters, but right now I hope so. Middle school and early high school are a time of finding yourself and making new friends, but there's a lot to be said for growing and adjusting your social group instead of replacing old friends with new ones. My best friends from sixth grade were not the ones I hung out with closely as an upperclassmen—but I'm glad to still have all of them in my life today, even if it's just a connection and memory-sharing every few years.

@Shaleen—"Bella is turning out to be the star of the book"—I had to think about that for a bit. I haven't read ahead but I noticed Chapter 24 is a Cleo entry again—meaning we have at least four perspectives (two of them Arabella's) between the Yash chapters. It's definitely not all about Yash. And you put into perfect words how I hope Cleo gets her own Korman moment sometime before the story ends!

---------

Back to a "slug" perspective in Chapter 23 (Arabella):
> I appreciate that GRK writes characters with complex, untraditional, complicated, and sometimes unsettling family dynamics. I will say some of his earlier books—where parents were "absent" only because the kids were up to shenanigans and adults were obscured in the background, not because they were neglectful or negligent—created a more complete "escape" from the real world for the reader, but I bet a lot more readers see themselves in his more recent characters.
> "Too bad summer school doesn't offer classes in anger management."   J
> The Slugfest uniforms: YES!! Well done, Coach Finnerty.
> So, Arabella has not been my favorite of the Slugfest characters, but my heart hurts for her after that disaster with Nate!

[Asher]

Raymond, pretty sure you meant Swindle (have you seen the movie for it? It's great!)

Chapter 16

When Nate says you are a good listener and Arabella gets scared- I almost cried. In my job, privacy is extremely important, and I feel bad for Nate.

I keep kosher, so I've never had proper gas station food. Perhaps one day a 7-11 will go kosher and I'll get a chance to find out what I'm missing.

 

Chapter 17 - I love Arnies honesty. He's such a good guy. He's a Wallace Wallace without the annoying traits. I also love how he wants to win his position honestly.

 

Chapter 18 Hey Cleo - don't you ever get fomo? I honestly don't get why she didn't want to join. Too proud. And I'm surprised she doesn't understand why they would practice without him - they want to be a team!

Arnie must be feeling like Raymond when he found out the king was beheaded the day he turned in the report. But at least Raymond was used to it. For Arnie, this is a first. 

 

What's funny is that even without Cleos speech I still think Arnie would have joined Slugfest because that's how good of a guy he is.

 

[Asher]

Chapter 19 - using straps of bathroom paper - there's a joke here somewhere -

 

This is an intentional reference to the Toilet Paper tigers. I am sure of it.

 

Owning Slugfest as the name reminds me of Twinkie Squad and Sixth Grade Nickname Game.

 

Arabella keeps Bella-ing...

 

[Asher]

Chapter 20

Mrs Finnerty feels so lonely. Ifeel so bad for her. She's baking for the kids because it's her only love in life 

 

It strongly recalls the teacher in Radio Fifth Grade (a book i havent referenced yet i see). And Mrs Honey in Matilda. 

 

Flushing things down the plumbing - Twinkie Squad. Again. 

 

I did not see her as a former Olympic player at all! Came out of thin air. 

 

Ms Finnert finally rises to the occasion and embraces herself as a coach rather than a cook. Writing a psychological profile of her would be fascinating. 

[Shaleen]

Hold up hold up hold up hold up. Hold up. There's a MOVIE????? It's a Swindle movie? Are there other movies??

[Shaleen]

I googled it. @Raymond I know you must have copies of Swindle and all 3 Bruno and Boots miniseries episodes. How do I get them??

[Raymond Jardine]

@Asher, good catch! Yes, SWINDLE is the book that became GRK's second-longest series (or longest, if you count the Falconers as two series). 

@Shaleen, thanks for the confidence.  :-)   But I don't have much useful knowledge of any of the Korman film adaptations.
> I do own a DVD of Swindle (starring a young Ariana Grande!), but I haven't watched it yet. Amazon classifies the movie as "cheerful" and "outrageous." Ha! It's available to stream on demand from several sources, but if you want a hard copy you've got to  monitor used media sites to catch a DVD at a reasonable price. (If you're looking, it's UPC 887936829949.)
> I have never found Aircraft Pictures's Canadian YTV-aired Macdonald Hall TV movies on DVD, and I wasn't aware of them when they ran on Netflix. From what I can tell, they're not streaming anywhere right now, even as snippets on YouTube. I would love to see these someday.
> I've also never seen the Disney Channel's series The Jersey, which had 64 episodes in a story line based on GRK's Monday Night Football Club series. (I absolutely LOVE that The Jersey TV show then had a complementary book series! That was longer than the original book series!) A couple months back, two Forum threads looked at the availability of the Disney episodes:
   >> Initial: https://gordonkorman.com/forum?t=23672
   >> Follow-up: https://gordonkorman.com/forum?t=23851
 

[Raymond Jardine]

@Asher—"Wallace Wallace without the annoying traits." 💯   
I like your analysis of Mrs. Finnerty. Curious what your thoughts are about her story about the lost luggage in today's chapter.

---------

And on that note… Chapter 24 (Cleo):
> Several years from now I plan to pose the trivia question: Which GRK character said, "We'd have to get twenty times better just to be awful." I fully expect the guesses to incorporate characters from at least a dozen different books.
> Cleo's self-pep talk about the mindset of an athlete ("They don't quit. They fight—fight hard—and keep on fighting until the end.") is pretty great, as is her later recognition that SHE is feeling that "old feeling" of competitive spirit. It's funny, I have used many descriptions of GRK's niche or brand when talking about the diversity of genres he's tackled and I usually settle on friendship as the unifying theme—but sports is rarely something I mention, yet it's so central to so many of his stories.
> I love that several plot points are related from the perspective of unexpected characters. Like Cleo talking about the fine points of football strategy and giving play-by-play updates.

[Jade]

Hi! I've been reading the messages but I forgot to say stuff. So here!
BELLA BELLA BELLA! She's my favorite here and all after that. We've finally got tot the coolest part of the book.

Cleo sounds mean, but she's not: pragmatic and realistic, too. She has faith But she doesn't ignore how hard the slugs (everyone) works. I actually really liked this chapter

I'm so glad she's coming back to her love for sports. I bet she was the (girl) GOAT before she quit.

@Raymond, you're so right. That's also probably why I love Gord's books so much. I absolutely adore friednship fics. The fics where the characters are so close. That's why WHATSHISFACE was my favorite for such a long time; other than Roddy's absolutely hilarious sass and everything about him, the thing about William Shakespeare (I think he's cool), that heist, I loved how Roddy and Cooper became closer than brothers. So. Many. Books. Do that, but then they ship the characters to make a couple: so I adore when they don't become a couple, when the author shows the value in friendships. Friendships are so underrated and I'm so glad Roddy and Cooper are closer than brothers.

(Same reason I like Merlin BBC. Spoiler: Basically, Merlin and Arthur become closer than brothers, but not boyfriends. It's so cute)

But back to Gord. Like Raymond, you said, most of his stories have friendship. Like Masterminds was so cool but it would NOT have been the same if it didn't include those friendships (and Malik.)

Speaking of masterminds, did you know there's an active fandom for it? Like, people post almost every day.  https://mastermindsgk.fandom.com/f

@Raymond: Thanks for saying I speak like an author. Yeah, it makes me think about other books too!

@Asher: My QuikTrip (or a few I know) have kosher. I don't know what the proper thing tastes like either cuz 'm not allowed to eat pork. I'm not allergic either. My dad bans it from the house (religious) But it's not kosher, I don't think, because it's not prepared in the proper Jewish way. (Sorry if that sounds rude)

Anyways gas station food really isn't that good. I can't wrap my head around why those kids get it every single time. Is it really that hard to bike to McDonalds or something? Dunkin? Starbucks? Zaxbys? 

Also, nobody talks about how DIFFICULT it is to do so many sports. Cleo and Yash are so impressive. Especially Yash, because he always gives 100%: that's an amazing character trait, so I can see why not being allowed Football is so heartbreaking.

This  is the beginning of the awesome part!

Be blessed,

Jade

 

[Raymond Jardine]

@Jade—I can't help but be intrigued when you say we're at "the coolest part of the book" / "the beginning of the awesome part!" I know it's not required by the Book Club rules to read only one chapter per day, but I told myself I wanted to try out something different. @Shaleen said a few days ago it gives her time to ponder—and forces her to savor—each chapter, and I totally agree with that, but my anticipometer can't handle the vub and I suspect I will binge-read the next book!
That's cool about MASTERMINDS on fandom.com. I sometimes see alerts about new comments made in different discussion boards but I don't think I'm familiar with that one.

----------

I've enjoyed Hammond, Arabella (twice), and Cleo as they help tell the story—but we've gone 38 pages with non-Yash perspectives and I was glad to see our boy's name on Chapter 25 (Yash):
> Yash's admiration for Cleo's football prowess is heartening.
> How did I not foresee the Forsberg team being in the 7-on-7 tourney?!??
> And how will they respond when they inevitably run across Nate playing for the wrong team?
> What a finish to the semi-finals! Go team!

[Shaleen]

Just letting yall know I'm alive, got pulled away but will catch up with everything slug-related soon! 

[Raymond Jardine]

@Shaleen--I hope whatever's got you pulled away is at least fun!

----------

Chapter 26 (Jesse):
> As Jesse points out rather diplomatically, Coach Finnerty's motivational (?) stories "aren't very helpful."
> Fun but a bit worrisome to see Nate in action. Can Yash keep up with him?
> I'm giving the benefit of the doubt to Hammond and Amir that their offer to accept a virtual concession was made with grace and out of friendship.
> "The refs are escorting the toilet protestors off the field so the second half can start."—only in a Gordon Korman story!!
> Also only from the imagination of GRK, we get the high of the viral story and the wildly unexpected TD by the underdog… and the gut-punch low of realizing Jesse might have some 'splaining to do.

[Jade]

Why aren't we talking about Jesse's wonderful prank?? I can not be the only one who was obsessed with this chapter! Eee! I'll say more tomorrow but I've just spent the last maybe 6-7 hours studying for a test.

Be blessed (and see you soon),

Jade

[Raymond Jardine]

@Jade—Yup, the #NoToiletsNoKidding prank has finally burst wide open. I was just a bit worried that Jesse would have to yield accolades for the book's biggest prank to Stuart (the whole "my sister kicked a dog" thing).

----------

Chapter 27 (Arabella):
> The Arabella/Nate 'shippers have got to be fretting right about now.
> I like Arabella's run-through of each of her team members' special talents. After hearing similar scouting reports from Cleo and Yash, this is a cool way to know all of the "slugs" are recognizing each other for their individual contributions. Yash may be the star, but every player on the team is essential.
> Kaden and Yash's combining for a completely unpredictable pass and score to inch Slugfest closer to the Comets is epic. I'm already imagining Kaden at MIT or Princeton in a few years, telling his fellow genius friends how he was the hero of a football game in his middle school glory days.

[Shaleen]

I'm back and caught up :) Loving the tournament chapters and also all of your commentary. Thanks Raymond for the helpful response on the movies!

23: Nooooooooo Nate found out! But also some relief here, because I knew he was going to find out somehow and I didn't want it to be in the middle of the game. Not that right before is much better, but at least it didn't happen while one of them was supposed to be running or something.

@Raymond: Really appreciate your comment on the changing nature of the parents in the books relative to the changing nature of families since the 80s. Had not occurred to me and like you said, it's great that the intended readers can likely relate to it.

24: Cleo's such a beast. You all said it but she's the best person to narrate the game. 

I melted completely when she mentioned Yash and Kaden's fist-bump/high-five! I love them!!!

25: Hahaha of course he played Stuart and Sarah against each other. I enjoy the most bizarre characters the most. 

These chapters are so earned! Kaden turning around and running the wrong way to confuse the Falcons was HILARIOUS. Loved the Falcons being little human computer robot players who short-circuited at Kaden and Fiona because they're nerds who can't play football in the traditional sense.

26: Haaaa we knew it! We knew the prank was gonna take off! I would have loved a little more detail about it along the way, like the head protester seeing the tweet and getting all his gullible friends together, but they sure showed up when we needed them. 

Very funny self-awareness in this chapter with all of the talk about Bad News Bears and The Mighty Ducks. By the way I've never seen either but I had been picturing Dodgeball and the Oscar-nominated Lagaan. What's everyone's favorite underdog sports movie?

I know I'm going to have a generally negative opinion about a character in a GK book when they jog to and from everywhere, and Hammond and Amir are no exception. Jerks.

27: Oh Bella! My heart breaks for her. Look at her being a trooper and staying in the game. Actually I forgot to mention earlier it was one of my favorite parts of the book when she says "It. Will. Happen." and that's that.

Also speaking of favorites: the description of Kaden's throw and Yash's catch is my favorite sports moment so far. What a character. All the descriptions of him being beside himself, yelling gleefully that he's sweaty, exclaiming that he's never been an underdog -- all full laugh out loud moments for me and "There's true horror in his eyes" topped it off.  

I kind of pictured something like that for the winning play so now I'm really curious what will end up happening. By the way, I watched the Superbowl and was imagining how funny it would be if I suddenly understood the game and was making a bunch of intelligent comments because of Slugfest. I didn't, and don't even know if "play" was the right word in this paragraph, but still a funny thought.

And yes friendship is definitely the common theme. I read the quote on the back  mentioning "Korman's signature blend of comedy, drama, and angst" and the "warm fuzzy feeling" and I think the friendship is the unwritten part of that. Friendship where you might accomplish the impossible!

[Raymond Jardine]

@Shaleen—Everything you said about Kaden and the Kaden/Yash friendship: Yes!
And good call on Nate being saved from finding out about Arabella mid-game. I wouldn't want him to forever equate Arabella with a game-losing fumble.

---------

Chapter 28 (Yash):
> From "It's become a two-man game—me against Nate." to "I'm not the whole team, I reflect. I have teammates." in a few dozen words. Yash may have started summer school already a pretty good guy, but he still matured a lot in P-E-E.
> And Coach Finnerty's quick T.O. restores a bit of my confidence in her (after a few odd moments when it's seemed like she's not fully with it).
> The callback to "flattening the parabola"!!
> Both Nate and Yash (and both of their teams) trying to console Kaden is pretty awesome.
> Arabella makes the decision to be true to her "fairness" philosophy when she nods to Yash. Good redemption for her story arc. And she has a convert in Nate—nice.
> I wish the idiocy of the toilet protestors were harder to believe. The times we live in.

ONE MORE CHAPTER. I don't want to see it end, but I can't wait for the final ribbons to be tied on the story.

[Shaleen]

28: Yooooooo THIS HAPPENED TO ME!! In 4th or 5th grade, I swear to god. It was kickball, not football, and just a random day in gym class, not a tournament. And it may not have even been a game-winning or losing moment. But a kid on the other team kicked a ball all the way across the gym in a high parabolic arc directly toward me, it landed right in my hands and then (although completely dry) somehow slipped "right through my bony elbows." But instead of dropping to the floor, it dropped  into the hands of my classmate who knew exactly what was coming and had run over and put his hands below mine to catch it. Come to think of it, the kid had a personality not too different from Yash's -- I was mortified but he grinned at me and said "Great teamwork!" What a world.

The storytelling is this chapter was phenomenal. I got real goosebumps when Nate, then Yash, then the entire team came over to comfort Kaden. And I have not stopped laughing at his reaction, "Didn't you see that catch I almost made?"

It is 8pm in Boston, I am going to read the last chapter in about 12 hours! I too have mixed feelings about it. What a wonderful book -- nice to know that Generation Alpha is seeing the same kinds of friendships that we did.

[Jade]

I haven't really said anything on the last chapters, in which I am sorry: but in reality, I just CAN'T believe it!
The way I was running around the house! I was literally sweating from excitement! Every chapter when they delivered, and delivered, and delivered--the teamwork was SO beautiful! It was like I was there!!!

I am SO proud of them thus far! And it was so considerate of Yash to make sure Kaden wasn't too bummed--that was so... Yash. He's such a nice person it's crazy. I'm glad he's been with the slugs--I'm glad he is a slug.

Nate! Arabella! I felt so bad for her, poor girl! The puppy love! But Nate is too nice to just leave her like that... she's so real for sticking with her team though! She's been pulled in two different directions this whole time and I'm just so proud of her to sticking with her team and being honest.

The two teams are so nice, its weird!

And Jesse... the toilet paper... man, I love this kid. That part earlier with Fiona--just all of them--I'm so proud of the slugs! This is just... so cool. "Wrong way!" Just all of them coming together... to comfort... it was SO SWEET!

Last chapter... great surprises. YIPPEE!

Be blessed,

Jade

[Raymond Jardine]

@Jade—Well said on how much the competitive spirit and the excitement of the game shine through in these "7-on-7 tournament" chapters. You don't have to be a football fanatic or even a sports fan at all to feel the emotions of the players as they battle for their pride and hope for a win. And I'm going to admit: I wasn't sure this time the slugs would win. I really, truly thought it could go either way, right up until Nate took the mic.

----------

And for the final perspective, here's Chapter 29 (Cleo):
> It's not just that Yash devotes time and energy to something beyond his own sports pursuits, it's that Cleo recognizes and appreciates that effort. Warm fuzzies!
> The ASPCA complaint! 😲  And nice to have Principal Carmichael appear in the closing chapter after his prominence at the start of the whole summer school fiasco. He closes the loop on the Slugfest/P-E-E story.
> So, Yash got a B-plus. I wonder if he was docked for handwriting.
> Andromedon: Cleo and Yash are both class acts.
> Having had a little more time to see the full consequence of both flag football and the Olympics in Slugfest, and knowing it was written before flag football was announced as the latest Olympics addition, I am now even more certain this book needs to be the official book of The Games (whose goal, after all, is for nations to come together with sports "turning us all into friends").

-----------

I'm going to hold a few thoughts on the overall book until others have concluded their chapter-by-chapter comments. I'm really looking forward to @Shaleen, @Jade, @Asher, and @Others' thoughts on what I think is going to be one of GRK's most popular books.

[Asher]

Hope to catch up this week!

[Shaleen]

Absolutely, class acts all around!

Last chapter: 

Very nice wrap-up! Glad it came from Cleo. I do have only one critique, which is that I didn't feel the investigative journalism class storyline paid off, other than to make them all become friends but couldn't they have just become friends in Slugfest? None of them really investigated and discovered anything. I was expecting some kind of revelation, even if didn't get a lot of air time. Otherwise they could have just taken biology or literature or any random class. I know not everything can be world-shaking but a tiny bit of Sidney Weston energy would have gone a long way! It also would have raised the stakes higher than the football game. I guess there was the whole storyline with Bella and Finnerty's certification, but that never felt like a huge deal to me.

This is more me being petty than a critique, but I'm still mad at Hammond and Amir for the jeering and wouldn't have minded Raymond Jardine showing up to stuff a helium balloon in their mouths or something. Sure they lost, but it was on a technicality and then they all kind of went off to share some catnip, lol.

Still -- probably my favorite book of the modern era. I want a whole series about Yash in high school. And Kaden should get the all-time side character gold medal on Asher and Shira's podcast!

[Jade]

Aw man, I won't be the last response. But hey!

@Shaleen Same. It kind up built up a lot and got a ton of hype and then... fell off. Also the reason I thought this would be some big mystery story, along with the blurb. 

LOL. Hammond and Amir are funny. But yeah, I liked this last chapter. I don't really understand why Cleo got it--it would have been more satisfying to be if Yash got it, to go full circle. But yeah. Short. Sweet. It's the denoument, I think? I really like how he got his act together (haha I'm so funny) and did that thing in the play well. And also, him raising Cleo's hand. Sweet. Kind of annoying how people care about Zarcon with one scene more than the actual main cahracter, but hey, that's kids for you.

Great book. Pretty sure it's my favorite since WHATSHISFACE, but I can't just diss Roddy like that; I'll have to reread it.

Be blessed,

Jade

[Shaleen]

@Raymond we want to hear your thoughts on the overall book!

[Raymond Jardine]

@Shaleen—I could definitely see an Investigative Journalism twist where Bella accidentally discovers something ridiculously unpredictable, like... Ms. Landkammer is actually Keith Darrowick in disguise, pulling off the ultimate prank.
Or maybe... Mrs. Finnerty's teaching certification really had expired, but when the state education secretary came to deliver the news, he got hit in the face by a pie that Stuart was trying to throw at Sarah, and it tasted so amazing he recertified her on the spot in exchange for one of her pies every week for the next year.
But I didn't expect that. I kind of saw the investigative journalism as a way to force the misfits together beyond P-E-E. That's where they really learned more about what made each other tick, and started to cover for each other and be protective of their fellow slugs. And of course the threat of an unqualified teacher put all the slugs' middle school graduation in doubt, giving them all a little more skin in the game.

While you @Shaleen and @Jade were watching for a big surprise resulting from Landkammer's course, I got caught up with some weirdness I thought I was seeing in Finnerty when she seemed to be mentally sidetracked and offered oddly off-topic comments. I guess it was meant to build her character that she wasn't fully following along on the sports stuff and was oblivious to the investigation into her credentials.

@Jade—"I really like how he got his act together (haha I'm so funny)"—I laughed at your comment for a solid 90 seconds, so yes you ARE so funny.  J

I have a really hard time comparing Slugfest with most of the more recent GRK stories. I feel like the vibe is mid-1990s Korman: The Twinkie Squad, The Toilet Paper Tigers, The Chicken Doesn't Skate, The Sixth Grade Nickname Game, No More Dead Dogs. @Asher did a good job of pointing this out along the way. I saw a little more focus on humor than in other stories from the past 10 or 20 years (other than maybe the Swindle series), without being the over-the-top humor and single-attribute characters found in the 1980s classics. Before reading the first page, I had predicted Slugfest would recall I Want to Go Home, but those '90s titles are better analogues.

My final verdict: This one is going to be popular with the target audience as well as with their teachers and librarians and parents. I'm planning to reread Slugfest this summer (without limiting myself to a chapter per day). It's easier to pick up on joke setups when you already know the story, so I expect to find some fun stuff I missed during the first read.

It's been so neat seeing Slugfest through everyone's eyes. Thanks for a fun 29 days. And especially thanks to @Jade for making it happen. I definitely hope I don't get the last word here—I'm going to keep watching for any late insights and fun thoughts!

 

[Jade]

Yay! A response! I'd been checking for two days! But yeah, sorry for the tiny little review: here's my big one from when I first read the book.

@Raymond You are not getting the last word. So, yay!

Oh my gosh, FINALLY! I'd been DYING to talk about the book but there was the no spoilers rule so I couldn't really say anything, but first things first:

Thank y'all all so much. It's been such a blessing to dive into this story with y'all. You all have no idea how awesome you have made this. Raymond, Shaleen, Asher, y'all are the reason this book discussion has been so awesome. You have any idea how exciting it is to see other people's opinions on a book you love on a day to day basis? I know I was a bit of a slacker, but please excuse that because I lost my book and I nearly got schooled.

But, thankfully, for the past few days I've been nearly unplugged- but not enough to unplug from the Forum. The GUESSES YALL MADE! Asher, Raymond, Shaleen? Absolute MASTERMINDS. Like, how did you come up with that stuff that was true? I never woulda guessed it.

(Intermission: Moving this message to Docs so it doesn’t get lost; the Forum is notorious for deleting perfectly long messages. Plus, I don’t wanna get mixed-up–a lot of things are linked here!

 

So many parts of the book were awesome. Like, when Yash, Amir, and whatshisface–Hammond, almost broke up their friendship? All because Yash couldn’t hold the fort because of some stupid law technicality? AWESOME.

 

It was a bit of an operation do-over with all of those kids in P.E.E. and that was just lame for all of them. I was surprised I was sympathetic with all of the nerds there! (Because i’m totally not a nerd… at all…)

 

But in the first chapter, with Yash, this supergifted extraordinaire that’s just amazing at every sport–GETTING HELD BACK?? So funny.

 

Okay, i need to stop with the book references, it’s an absolute zoobreak. Am I even talking about the book anymore?

 

But anyways, Yash really had to beware the fish called Nitro Nate–an awesome, super skilled, and super nice jock that happened to be from the wrong town. I feel like Nate was literally born to rock his world.

 

The fall from the top and the climb back up has been so fun to watch, especially with Yash bringing all of his new friends along without forgetting his own buddies. No matter how much the world tried to drown him, he was unsinkable–another reason why i love Yash.

Like, c’mon. He literally taught the unteachables how to play football–and enough to win the tournament. Kaden was probably the most ungifted athlete to ever ath and Yash still pulled him into something amazing.

 

But, restart. Lemme stop talking about the plot–we did that–and lemme get to the parts I thought were notable.

 

Yash is such a showoff. But he’s a nice showoff, and that makes me love him. Could anyone really compete with him when he was unleashed into the field, court, or [insert sport place]?

ARABELLA. The way she had to be public enemies with her cute little boyfriend, Nitro Nate. The way she loved justice and being honest when that whole relationship she was a liar, liar, whose pants would be on fire. Such a faker–but so good too!

Especially when she was rushing to expose Coach F. That lil girl really had the need for speed (too bad she didnt have her boyfriend… yet) yet she still pulled it together. Then was crushed by Yash (oof.)

 

Okay, i’m out of puns. 

 

Be blessed,

 

Jade

 

[Shaleen]

Hahaha these reviews are amazing!! I can\'t wait to do this again with you all! In fact, now I can go back and listen to the Twinkie Squad episode of Zucchini Warriors -- I hadn\'t listened because I was too scared that it was the last one and then it\'d be over, but even if it was, now we have this forum!

I\'ll let Asher and/or any surprise readers who come here in a few weeks or months (hi!) have the last word, but I have something major to add upon reflection. Believe it or not, I think Yash might be my favorite \"straight\" character........ EVER! By \"straight\" I don\'t mean in the orientation sense, but in the sense of what Grandpa called the All-American robot: pretty smart but not too smart, decent grades, good at sports, popular, no weird obsessions. (As a side note I am carefully creating this definition in real time so that the fictional love of my life Simon Irving can\'t qualify due to his weird obsession). But this would include Boots, Sean, Tom Weston, etc. They\'re all great but Yash has such a shining personality. He\'s not perfect. He\'s a show off like Jade pointed out, but in such an honest endearing way, and so kind and becomes even more kind throughout the book, and exudes pure authenticity which is so current (authenticity was M-W\'s 2023 word of the year!). And the way he refused to tell on Nate was such an old-school commitment to integrity, and not being a snitch. Just an outstanding character.

Thanks so much, everybody. This was a daily treat for me. I hope you all know how much your support and your efforts mean to me.  You're the very best!                                                Much appreciation,                                 Gord

[Jade]

I miss this 😞 Can’t wait for the next one! Because we HAVE to do one on FAKER. Like, please. I’m begging y’all.

[Raymond Jardine]

Jade, if you have a book discussion for FAKER or for one of GRK's backlist titles, you can always add me to the "confirmed" list for taking part, no need to even ask. (As long as our gracious host approves of these book clubs on the Forum, of course.)

[Gordon Korman]

Your gracious host is tickled pink at the very thought!!!                                                      ---Gord---

[Marlo]

I can’t wait for the Faker book club, also, Gord SLUGFEST was great, and a sequel would be better.