The Superteacher

About the Book:

Title: The Superteacher Project
Author: Gordon Korman
Publisher: Balzer + Brey
Release Date: January 10th, 2023
Genre: Children’s Fiction

From Gordon Korman, the bestselling author of Restart and The Unteachables, comes a hilarious new story about a mysterious new teacher who turns out to be an AI robot from a secret experimental program.

Oliver Zahn, spitball champion and self-declared rule-wrecker of Brightling Middle School, is not a fan of his new homeroom teacher, Mr. Aidact. The guy is sort of stiff, never cracks a smile, and refers to them as “pupils.” The worst part is he catches Oliver before he can pull any of his signature pranks! It’s time for Oliver and his best friend, Nathan, to show the new teacher who’s boss.

But as the weeks go by, they start to realize that Mr. Aidact is not what they expected. He has an uncanny ability to remember song lyrics or trivia. When the girls’ field hockey team needs a new coach, he suddenly turns out to be an expert. He never complains when other teachers unload work on him—even when it’s lunchroom duty and overseeing detention. Against all odds, Mr. Aidact starts to become the most popular teacher at Brightling.

Still, Oliver and Nathan know that something is fishy. They’re determined to get to the bottom of the mystery: What’s the deal with Mr. Aidact?

Book Review:

This was such a fun book!  I love how Korman meshes science fiction adventure with everyday school life so well. It’s funny, entertaining, pulls on your heart strings just enough, and overall a great read!

What’s the deal with Mr. Aidact? The new homeroom teacher is old fashioned with zero sense of humor. He catches spitballs in mid air and always refers to his students as “pupils”. Plus, it seems like every fact in the world is stored in his head. So Nathan and Oliver are determined to find out who or what is Mr. Aidact?

This book has multiple POVS, and I love that it follows all sorts of different students at the school. It’s fun to watch the different ways they relate to Mr. Aidact. I think most readers will be able to connect with at least one of the characters which is one of the great things about books with multiple POVs.

The humor in this was really funny! I think I wasn’t really its target audience, but middle schoolers will definitely love it. Nathan and Oliver pull all sorts of pranks, and it’s fun to watch them try and squirm their way out of trouble. And rule followers will relate to Rosalie who is so over Nathan and Oliver’s antics.

This was a quick, non stressful read. The plot flowed nicely, and I loved watching the kids come together for Mr. Aidact. I would have liked more positive adult involvement though. Most of this book was focused on the students’ efforts to save Mr. Aidact. But I do like to see all sorts of different kids work together for a common goal 🙂

I would definitely recommend this book to any middle schooler! I think Korman did a great job of making a book that will interest every kid.

Highlights:

Funny humor

No inappropriate content

Focus on friendship – no romance

Power of working together

Looking past differences

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the author. All views expressed are only my honest opinion, I was not required to write a positive review