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Chapter 17: Hyperbatty (Noah Youkilis)
Add frozen yogurt to the checklist ☑ to determine if you’re reading a real Gordon Korman novel or a knockoff. Though it has evolved over time: It was “frozen yogurt” in Chase’s epic RESTART meet cute (remeet-not-so-cute?) with Shoshanna, and the same “frozen yogurt” was Leo’s “Sally Average” mom’s only addiction in BORN TO ROCK, and Randy got a “frozen yogurt cake” as a leaving-Serenity sendoff in MASTERMINDS. By the release of FAKER, the editors dished the sweet treat at Trey’s hangout spot as “fro-yo,” and it was again “fro-yo” in the worryingly surveillance camera-less Topping Mad in SNOOP, while it’s formatted as “Froyo” in HYPERGIFTED.
“Relationships Are Complicated.” Amen, Noah. You happen to have a link to that YouTube video? Asking for a friend.
I have realized two wordplays/puns while writing these comments today that I did not notice when originally reading two different books. First: Today’s chapter title plays on the fact Arlene and roomie Claudia think Noah is batty, and not just for his desiccated chiropteran gift. And second: SNOOP’s “Topping Mad” is a play on “hopping mad.”
@Owen: That is a great question. Is it possible Noah was on a date, but Arlene wasn’t? And I think you got pulled into the cliffhanger—and so did I because I don’t want to wait until tomorrow to learn why AIDAN is giving that error message.
@Josh: Does the fountain need to be decorative? If not: Falling into a fountain might yield prizes, but as we know from Donovan (in UNGIFTED), purposefully entering the fountain—for, say, swimming—results in a six-month mall ban. And I’m unsure whether the following other Kormanian fountain-related activities qualify as prizes. There was that gang initiation that required tossing an old bag lady in a fountain (THE JUVIE THREE), and a strawberry milkshake-spewing fountain that resulted from an alien’s sneeze (NOSE PICKERS FROM OUTER SPACE). Charlie (POP) maybe never fell into the fountain at his own university, but he did whiz in it, and look where that got him. In “The Trophy” (within “Guys Read the Sports Pages” and also found at gordonkorman.com/the-trophy), a fountain again yields a prize, of sorts—but one with contested ownership.