Review by Booklist Review
For six years, 12-year-old Dexter has lived with his grandmother in The Pines Retirement Village. There he's homeschooled by other residents, including a best-selling author (English), a retired Yale professor (math), and a former boxer (gym). His best friend is a 99-year-old genius, Nazi-code-breaking veteran of WWII. Though Dexter enjoys life at The Pines, when a truant officer insists that he attend middle school, he tries it. Although two boys try to undermine him, the other students seem OK. But after Dexter pulls out a Swiss Army knife to repair a lunchroom vending machine, he's immediately suspended and the possibility of expulsion looms over him. A classmate goes all out to prove his innocence, but what does Dexter really want? The narrative is written in first person from the points of view of individual characters, from Dexter to his fellow students to his guidance counselor, whose different reactions to situations help readers decide whom to trust. This quick-paced, absorbing narrative encourages readers to consider different varied perspectives on people and events.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In classic Korman (Slugfest) fashion, an otherwise ordinary school is thrown into upheaval by the arrival of an unexpectedly chaotic element in this endearing story. With his parents constantly moving for work, white-cued 12-year-old Dexter Foreman lives with his grandmother in the Pines retirement community. Then the county catches on to his unofficial homeschooling by his elderly neighbors and decrees that he attend public school. His classmates aren't sure what to make of him: he dresses like a senior citizen, has the skills to fix everything from coffee makers to broken steps, and can effortlessly dodge punches from bullies. Just when he's starting to fit in, Dexter is suspended for breaking a school rule he never knew existed. Now it's up to his new friends to prove just how much he's had an impact on their lives with his old-fashioned influences. The gentle absurdity of Dexter's classmates' newly minted obsession with shuffleboard, hot tea, and bingo, and their finding common ground with reinvigorated senior citizens resonates with good-natured humor. The underlying theme of valuing the past while looking to the future adds further charm to Dexter's struggle to find his own place in the world. Ages 8--12. Agent: Elizabeth Harding, Curtis Brown Ltd. (Jan.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A 12-year-old raised by senior citizens finds middle school a strange new world. Korman's cleverly chosen title plays on several themes explored in this outing. Left by his parents in the care of his grandmother and other residents of a retirement community, Dexter has acquired anachronistic manners, speech, and dress--and a broad education that sets him apart when social services force him into seventh grade. He must adjust--and so must his teachers and classmates at the run-down small-town school. They initially regard him as a weird outsider but eventually accept and even value his quirks and abilities. When Dexter uses a Swiss Army knife to repair a money-eating snack machine and falls afoul of the school's zero-tolerance policy, his suspension touches off a wave of student protests that spill over into a school board meeting to debate the ongoing neglect of necessary school maintenance. Meanwhile, Dexter wrestles with conflicting feelings about whether he wants to be reinstated. The author stocks his cast of seniors with smart, capable elders and presents a picture of retirement-village life as practically paradisical. Conversely, though he does take a few swipes at the curriculum, he provides Dexter (and readers) with enough good reasons to go to school to make his protagonist's eventual decision genuinely tough. Although names cue some ethnic diversity in the student body, the cast largely reads white, and race as a factor in draconian school disciplinary action goes unexplored. Wry, provocative, and shot through with cogent issues.(Fiction. 9-13) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
