November 1, 2024
Grades 4-7 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.

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November 15, 2024
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(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from October 7, 2024
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.

December 30, 2024

Gr 3-7-Korman's latest realistic fiction set in a middle school poses a fish-out-of-water scenario. Twelve-year-old Dexter has lived in his grandma's retirement community for the past six years, enjoying homeschooling and friendships with the elderly. But when he's forced to go to public school for the first time, Dexter must learn to be a kid; how to dress, talk slang, and deal with bullies. Dexter doesn't like being at school and his classmates don't seem to care for him either, until an incident rallies the students behind him. Told by various narrators-including a wannabe student reporter, a guidance counselor, and the big man on campus-this title explores the good and bad of public education as different characters try to find their place. While Dexter's musings are thought-provoking, some of the other characters are oversimplified. Savvy readers may question why the guidance counselor sounds less mature than the students, and how Dexter's forced education is due to officials realizing that his grandma listed Dexter as a 60-year-old so she wouldn't have to fill out the paperwork for homeschooling. VERDICT Korman is always a safe bet, and this is no exception. Purchase where his titles do well.-Elissa Cooper

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January 1, 2025
When twelve-year-old Dexter, who lives with his grandmother in The Pines, a retirement community, has to attend school for the first time, he doesn't fit in: he dresses and acts like a senior citizen. Then a misunderstanding results in his suspension; the classmates who initially brushed him off now rally around him, bonding with The Pines's residents as well. Told from multiple perspectives, this story features plenty of humor; heartwarming intergenerational friendships; and an appealing and humble protagonist.

(Copyright 2025 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)