[Janica Dai]

Gordon Korman, I do think your writing is generally pretty good, if a little cringe worthy at times (This may be because I am in the same age range as a lot of your characters) but there are two things that I am up in arms about

1. Noah Youkilis

Speaking as an ex-gifted kid, (aka, I was slightly more advanced in 3rd grade than the others, so I decidedly had to be a genius), Noah is extremely inaccurate. He's fantastic at everything, and no one could possibly be like that. Also, the problems most gifted kids face are often falling behind for one reason or another, and eventually burning out in 3-10 years.

I suppose an exception could be made for him in this regard because he's simply so hyperintelligent and fictionalized, but this is only half of the issue. The other problem is how socially unaware he is.

It's not like he was raised by wolves, so unless he secretly has a Cassandra Cain*-ette home life, he shouldn't be as stunted in this way as much as he is. The only sort of analogue I can really draw is autistic people. This is a quite unfortunate thing, because Noah is terribly like a caricature, and is almost over the line.

But the thing with him is that he isn't just unaware of what people are trying to communicate to him; he has this symptom to a ridiculous extent. It makes him so annoying, and I don't even think it's written right. Autistic people and the otherwise socially unaware can still be hurt by verbal abuse, although theys are far more likely to assume theys are the ones at fault and be convinced that theys are just being crybabies.

But Noah's not hurt at all by the bullying; in fact, he tends to see it as affection somehow. Keep in mind, I'm allistic, so I can't be fully sure whether autistic people really can perceive someone jumping in front of a projectile meant for them as the protector being incompetent at dodgeball. I might be less mad about this if Donovan tried to teach him how socializing works, because it feels like what would actually happen.

This isn't just a detriment to Noah, it also makes Donovan look like he doesn't like him very much and is doing the bare minimum out of obligation or duty, and I'm pretty sure theys are supposed to be portrayed as friends. This is all I have to say about Ungifted, so onto:

2. Hector Amani

He deserves better. His entire life, he's seemingly never had a strong and healthy relationship. His fake parents didn't show him any affection, and Malik was literally a monster to him. Yes, Malik does care for him, but it's totally possible to be abusive to and love a person. Just look at those with BPD(Not saying Malik has it by the way, just a real-world example).

This is a feature, not a bug, until you factor in how Hector never really gets to retaliate, and he's largely still treated the same. Ignored and clinging to the barest scraps of affection for comfort. I think he was at his strongest writing-wise right after he had betrayed the other Serenity kids, disillusioned and fully aware of the horridness of his life. Unfortunately, this phase doesn't really last, which is a shame. I'm not saying he should go full-on villain, I am, in fact, more so thinking survival-driven anti-hero. It would've made him way more interesting, and it makes a little more sense when taking into account his previous actions and thoughts. Really, you technically didn't need to go with my proposal to fix the stuff going on with Hector. Just one, maybe two, scenes where he actually blows up at the other kids for treating him like he's irrelevant. Then afterwards, you need to sustain that, and have it mean something. Also, Hector and Malik are a toxic friendship and theys should never have returned to the status quo. You can have Hector forgive him, but why must theys have been friends again? It also seems that nothing changed for him at the end, except maybe for Malik being somewhat nicer. I theorize the reason I have so many thoughts about this is because I relate a lot to him, mostly for the low self-esteem and not always realizing when you're unwanted in a certain situation.

Yes, I do still respect you as a writer, but I feel you dropped the ball on these two characters. Maybe you must simply improve your ability to write dweebish kids.

That is all

[J.R.]

Woah, ok buddy, I'm not GK but I have a few differs to speak:

 

1. I myself am in the gifted program, and yes, while Noah is smarter than the average gifted kid, I think his lack of social intellect is pretty further down below than the average gifted kid (Gifted kids in my school aren't the most popular). This formula here is perfect for making irregular characters, because people like that do exist. You want your characters to stand out, and in this passage, you found their irregularities, or things that make them stand out, and took them for a bad thing! That's like wearing a shirt inside out! Again, you fail to understand different people see different things, and perception is everything.

2. Speaking on the same passage, again, he's going to see other people and situations in a different light because, frankly, no one would read it if he didn't. It'd actually be very hard to find a book eith the main characters being...*gasp* NORMAL!!

 

3. Finally, 

I do deal with some of the problems Hector dealt with-friends making you feel useless, or as a bystander whether you were actually doing something. Most of these friends...I usually end up dropping them after a while.

So we see the same pattern, just under slightly different circumstances, making your argument invalid.

(Sorry for any grammatical mistakes)

 

htiW sneaB!

J.R.

 

 

 

[Gordon]

Hi, Janica,

Most of my response is contained in J.R.'s posting, but I really only have 2 words in my defence of Noah: Elon Musk. 

As for poor Hector, I may have messed up the relationship between him and Malik since you didn't seem to see it. Malik adored Hector, even though he treated him like a flunkey. And Hector worshipped Malik. I meant it to be symbiotic, and it's my bad if it didn't come across that way.

And thank you, JR, for that spirited defence! With beans!                                               -----Gordon Korman-----

[Evan]

I find it hard to understand why we spent 20 minutes writing a complaint letter the one of the greatest authors of all time. I would totally understand if you were Shakespeare or Leo Tolstoy, but lets just not.

btw- Gordon- but two word comeback ever. Personally, not a fan of Elon Musk, and Ima assume thats the same for you since you went to college.

[Gordon]

Hi, Evan,

Not Shakespeare, or even Tolstoy, but genius is something it's hard to deny.                             ---GK---