Schooled (novel)

Schooled

Author	Gordon Korman
Cover artist	Ellice M.Lee
Country	Canada
Language	English (America)
Genre	Children's novel
Publisher	Scholastic
Publication date	2010
Media type	NotPrint
Pages	208
ISBN	978-1-4231-0516-9

Schooled is a 2010 children's novel by Gordon Korman.

Plot

Capricorn "Cap" Anderson has been arrested by the police for driving without a license. To their surprise Cap has no idea what is happening. He tells them he was driving his grandmother, Rain, to the hospital after she broke her hip falling out of a tree. He lives with his Grandma and is schooled by her on a commune called Garland and neither understands the concept of a license nor knows the emergency number 9-1-1. Eventually, the police let him go to see Rain in the hospital.

Rain is distraught. She tells the nurses that she cannot go to the hospital for two months because she has to look after Capricorn, who has no one else, and she hates the idea of him being "contaminated" by the real world. The doctors tell her she has no choice and they will have to call social services to find him a home and a school until she gets strong again. Luckily for both Cap and Rain, the social worker given Cap's case is a lady called Mrs. Donnelly. Brought up on Garland herself, she understands what Cap must be going through and invites him to stay with her at her house.

Cap's first few days at Claverage Middle School (also called C Average) are a nightmare. The first person he meets is Zach Powers, the school bully and most popular kid at school. From his clothes and lack of social understanding, Zach can see Cap is the perfect target for him and his friends. The school has a tradition of voting the dorkiest kid in as president so eighth graders like him can make fun of them and manipulate them to do as they please. The last two presidents had to leave school early due to nervous breakdowns. Zach views Cap as perfect president material.

Cap tells Rain that he is not happy at his school. People are violent and have no time for anyone. He wants to go back to Garland. Rain is sympathetic. She tells him that the outside world is an unforgiving place and he should feel sorry for anyone that cannot love like he can. She also expresses guilt because she thinks she should have exposed Cap to the real world sooner.

Cap is voted in as president. Everyone is happy, particularly Hugh Winkleman, an unpopular kid who knows it would have been him and not Cap who would have been voted in if Zach hadn't noticed Cap so soon. Zach and his friends Darryl, Naomi and Lena are having a great time sending Cap on wild goose chases. They send him to "press conferences" in rooms that don't exist, and Naomi leaves notes from "Lorelei Lumley" in his locker. One day Cap finds a dead bird in his locker. Upset, he takes it to the garden and buries it in the flowerbed. As he stands over the grave, he is joined by other children including Naomi, who has a crush on Zach but secretly wishes that he would show as much sensitivity as Cap. Zach gets angry at people's show of respect to the bird.

Cap's life at home is no better. Mrs. Donnelly's daughter Sophie hates him, even pouring water over his head when he practices tai-chi on the lawn outside. To Sophie, Cap is an embarrassment. Cap responds in his usual affable manner, but the abuse just continues. Mrs. Donnelly tells him Sophie is partly behaving so badly because of her father, Mrs. Donnelly's ex-husband, who is always making promises to her he can't keep, such as forgetting to help teach Sophie how to drive, which gives Cap an idea.

Meanwhile, Cap's popularity at school rises two-fold. One day on the school bus, the bus driver has a heart attack, sending the bus veering towards a dump truck. Cap responds immediately, steering the bus away from the truck and to the hospital, where he is arrested. Despite his arrest at the hospital, the students hail him as a hero and begin helping him out with his duties as president. In particular, everyone is keen to help out with the Halloween dance, which is Cap's responsibility as president even though he has never been to a dance. Even the assistant principal, Frank Kasigi, gives him twelve blank checks to pay for everything. However, he tells Cap he must use the checks responsibly. Cap has no idea what he is talking about until he remembers what Rain once said to him: being responsible is helping others. Mr. Kasigi signs the checks before he gives them to Cap because he has to go out of town. With the checks Cap buys and engraves a bracelet for Sophie, pretending it is from her father and donates money to lots of charities, including $1000 to Naomi's charities. His generosity makes him even more popular.

The only two people unhappy with Cap's newfound celebrity status are Hugh and Zach. Despite hating each other, they decide to get together and plot Cap's downfall. At the pep rally they dress Cap up in the opposing team's uniform and send him out onto the football field, and as soon as he steps onto the field the Claverage players all charge and pile onto him, with Darryl at the front. They only realize he is not a football player when his frail stature crumbles under their weight. Later, Darryl, realizing Zach was responsible, approaches him in the corridor. Zach laughs at him, and Darryl, unable to compete with him in an argument of words, raises his fists to punch him. Unfortunately, Cap has stepped between them without Darryl noticing, and his punch lands directly on Cap's nose. Zach uses this to Darryl's advantage.

An ambulance arrives for Cap, but it is not to take him to a hospital. Rain has arrived at the school to take him back to Garland. Cap has mixed feelings. Though he misses Garland, he was beginning to enjoy his life at Claverage. When they arrive back at the commune, Cap feels a bit depressed. Compared to the outside world, Garland is very dull. Cap is torn between Claverage and Garland.

Meanwhile, the students, putting two and two together, think Cap has died, blaming Zach and Hugh for his death. Zach is an outcast and now the victim of spitballs. The only person willing to sit with him at lunch is Hugh Winkleman. Both Zach and Hugh think they are ridiculous, but Zach knows that if he wants to get back his popular status, he needs to take advantage of the situation. With Hugh, he decides to arrange a memorial service for Cap in the school car parking lot.

Sophie is doing her driving test when she realizes that the bracelet she thought her father sent her was not from him, but from Cap. She feels remorse about all the things she said and did to him, and all he did was respond in kindness. As soon as she passes her test she drives to Garland, determined to take Cap to the Halloween dance. Cap had the same idea and a few miles from the commune, they meet each other. Jumping into Sophie's car, they drive to Claverage Middle School.

When they arrive at the school, Cap and Sophie are shocked to see everyone in the parking lot holding candles and dressed in hippie clothing. Before long they see Zach step onto the stage, asking people to come up to give their tributes to Cap - "the best president C Average has ever had." One by one and tearfully they all give small speeches until finally Cap comes forward to reveal he is still alive. Everyone goes wild and Darryl steps forward to lift him through the crowd. At the back of the crowd is Rain, observing everything. Cap says goodbye to all 1,100 students individually at the end of the memorial service, because at the beginning of the year he said he had to know everyone's name to be president.

A couple of days later, Cap is at working on the commune by himself when a white Mercedes pulls up and out steps Rain. Stylishly dressed and with a mobile phone and a cane, she tells Cap that she has sold Garland for $17 million, bought a condo in the city and enlisted Cap at Claverage Middle School. She insists, however, she has not sold out. They will mostly use the money to help others.

It was the most popular Winner of the 2010 Young Reader's Choice Awards.^[1]

References

External links