Introduce Your Young Reader to Gordon Korman with 5 Books We Love

Restart 
“Lose your memory. Find your life.” That’s just what happens to middle-school bully Chase Ambrose, who falls off his roof and loses his memory. The first chapter ends with the question “What kind of person am I?” but perhaps the more important question for Chase, as well as all of us readers, is What kind of person do I want to become? Korman seems to make the point that everyone, even bullies, deserves a Restart.

Slacker 
If your middle-grade reader would rather be playing video games than doing their homework, then they are bound to love and relate to this book about eight-grade beaver Cam Boxer. Cam is so obsessed with video games that his house almost burns down when he forgets to take the ziti out of the oven. Cam pretends to start a phony club called the “Positive Action Group” to make up for this little oversight, because Cam “wasn’t just a slacker; he was the Leonardo da Vinci of slackers.” This is a hilarious read that even the biggest slacker won’t be able to put down.

One False Note (The 39 Clues Series #2)
Korman picks up the baton where Rick Riordan left off in the second installment of this popular mystery series. One False Note takes brother-sister team Dan and Amy (who just happen to be relatives of a few geniuses, like Benjamin Franklin and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) all the way to Austria and Venice, Italy to continue finding the 39 clues left by their late Grandmother Grace. This particular mystery revolves around one of the greatest classical musicians to ever live, Mozart, whose sheet music may just hold “the key” to the second clue.

Masterminds (Masterminds Series #1) 
You’d imagine that living in a town called Serenity, New Mexico would be pretty peaceful—in fact, it was “voted #1 in USA for standard of living.” Thirteen-year old Eli Freiden has never left his ideal hometown until one day he gets talked into biking to the edge of town by his gutsy best friend Randy. Without giving too much of the plot away, because the surprises are half the fun, let’s just say that leaving Serenity is not as simple as it seems. And once you race through this thriller you can follow Eli on to the second book in this mystery series, Criminal Destiny.

Chasing the Falconers (On the Run Series #1) 
If you’re looking for another thriller by Korman, Chasing the Falconers is sure to entertain. In the first book of this series siblings Aiden and Meg Falconer have to figure out how to escape from a Juvenile Corrections facility in Nebraska (ironically called “Sunnydale Farm”) and save their parents, who are facing a lifetime prison sentence for “passing classified information to enemies of the state.” Throw in the CIA and the Department of Homeland Security, and the chase is on! Have book 2 The Fugitive Factor on deck, as you’ll be desperate to find out what happens next!