The Unteachables is the perfect book for this quarantine, especially because it reminds us of those glorious days at school. You just can’t help stepping into the shoes of the characters and experiencing their funny, yet utterly captivating situations. The story is about 8 quirky kids, outcasts in Greenwich Middle School, Mr Kermit, an even more outcast teacher, who once was a hopeful, bright-minded teacher, but gets shot down back to earth after a cheating scandal in the 1990s on a National Aptitude Test is blamed on him, and their adventures in trying to understand each other. At first, in Self-Contained-Section 8, the ‘classes’ if one could call it that, start off with neither side doing anything school-like, but all of that changes when Emma Fountain, Mr. Kermit’s ex-fiance’s idealistic daughter walks into the merry crew. Through an extraordinary series of events, including a complicated relationship with Jake Terranova, the student who brought him down, Mr. Kermit begins to revive his once-buried love of teaching and the most difficult students in the school start to respond to him and produce results. By this time you may be wondering, where’s the antagonist? Indeed, no story is complete without our bloodthirsty villain, and in this story, it is Superintendent Thaddeus, who is out to get Mr. Kermit for what happened in the past. He seems to stop at nothing to get him fired from the school, and even manages to do so for a while, but not without a twist. I absolutely love this book, not only because of its characters, but also because it teaches and relates to us a lot. It shows us that there are two sides to every story, and everyone has their good points, if you show them hope. My personal favourite character in the story is Kiana, because even though she is bright and clever, she entered the wrong classroom [the unteachables] and ended up staying there. I feel like I relate to Kiana in a lot of ways, as she was never taken seriously at first, and was treated as a know-it-all by the rest of the class, which I get all the time. I also like reading about Mateo, who practically lives in a world of make-believe, which I personally would like to do, but never seem to accomplish. Filled with twists and turns and thought-provoking ideas, The Unteachables is a must-read for any middle-schooler. Gordon Korman may attract people with his brightly-coloured covers, but what exists inside his books are even brighter! The Unteachables by Gordon Korman. Balzer & Bray, 2019. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
Book Reviews
Three Days Till EOC, Reviewed by Anya, 14
When you are an avid reader, or anyone who reads books at all, there comes a point when all of the stories start to blend together. You pick up, say, a new dystopian book at the store, and sigh, because you know it’ll just be a new version of The Hunger Games or Divergent or a million other books, with the same plot, same characters, same villains. It’s inevitable. Abhimanyu Sukhdial’s novella, Three Days Till EOC, is different. Sukhdial takes his writing down a road that few writers ever fully explore, with a unique plot, and unique themes. Three Days Till EOC is a piece of dystopian, climate change fiction. In the year 2100, the glaciers are gone and the ice caps have melted. Only 1,000 humans—known as the Earthlings—remain, and in three days is EOC (the End of Civilization), when monster storms will end all human life. The set up of the book makes it seem as though the fate of all humanity is sealed. But not quite. In fact, the Earthlings are able to take a flight to Mars, if they so wish, and continue their new lives there, without so much as a backward glance to Earth. However, the people who want to go to Mars are those who don’t care about trying to make change—even at the last minute—and don’t care about doing everything they can to stop EOC. The main characters of Three Days Till EOC are quite different. Graham Hori Alison is a scientist, one of the only ones left who is still dedicated to stopping EOC. Most of the other Earthlings don’t like Graham too much. They avoid him, calling him a “Junior Uncle Scrooge.” They don’t understand why he is so focused on stopping climate change when it is clearly unbeatable, or why he won’t go on a spaceship to Mars like everyone else. In an interview, I asked Sukhdial how he chose to design Graham as his main character. He replied, “I like a lot of vulnerable characters, not just characters who are really, really powerful. And so I wanted to create a regular human because I feel he [is] very relatable, and not just a person with superpowers and stuff.” Sukhdial’s story and characters are very relatable. While the plot does incorporate some cool sci-fi gadgetry—just enough to make it sufficiently futuristic—it stays true to itself, focusing on the topic of climate change and the people who work to stop it, which, unlike teleportation devices or time traveling train cars, are very real things. Graham and his friends, Shellie and Jackson, are persistent in their belief that they can save the world. They try, fail, and try again, working against the clock that ticks down to EOC. The themes that Three Days Till EOC contains are also what sets it apart from most other fiction in its genre. Sukhdial wanted to “convey a lot of messages.” Overall, he spreads a message of perseverance, teamwork, responsibility, and legacy. All of these ideas are ones that fit in very well with our current world, as well as in EOC’s world. How can we, in 2020, persevere against all of the obstacles that plague us as a planet? How can we work together to better our world? How can we be responsible for our mistakes as well as willing to accept them and overcome them? And finally, what will our legacy be? What mark will we leave on the world? In Three Days Till EOC, Sukhdial doesn’t just ask us these questions, but he shows how answering them may well be able to save the world. Three Days Till EOC by Abhi Sukhdial, 2020. Purchase a copy in the Stone Soup Store or on Amazon.
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise, Reviewed by Grace, 11
Throughout my entire eleven years on this earth, a handful of books have truly spoken to me. One of these books is called The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise. The story begins with the introduction of a twelve year old girl named Coyote Sunrise who lives on a school bus called Yager with her dad, Rodeo. They live in Yager because of a terrible incident that happened when Coyote was younger, in an attempt to run away from their painful past, her dad changed both of their names, (hence the reason she’s now called Coyote), moved into a new house, er, school bus, and forgot about their old life in Washington State. They use Yager to travel around 47 of the 50 states in the USA (subtracting Hawaii, Alaska, and the state Coyote’s dad never wants to see again). However, one day, Coyote is on the phone with her grandmother when she hears the worst news ever: the park that she and her now deceased mother and sisters used to play on is getting torn up and turned into a parking lot! Now, you’re probably wondering, “what could be so bad about that?” Well, before her mother and sisters passed away, they created a “memory box,” which is basically just a time capsule in which they placed memories, photos, drawings, and strands of hair, then buried it in that park. Coyote doesn’t want to lose the last thing she has left of her mother and sisters, so she’ll have to create an insane plan to travel to Washington without Rodeo knowing. Will she make it to the memory box in time? Or will it get destroyed forever? With the help of her new friends (and pets!), can Coyote pull this off? Well, I’m not going to spoil anything for you, so you’ll have to find out for yourself! I’m 100% percent positive that if you like heart wrenching and meaningful yet hilarious stories that take you on an emotional rollercoaster, you will enjoy The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart. Henry Holt & Company, 2019. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
