Gordon Korman

Last updated

Gordon Korman
Gordon Korman 2019 Texas Book Festival.jpg
Korman at the 2019 Texas Book Festival
Born (1963-10-23) October 23, 1963 (age 60)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
OccupationAuthor
NationalityCanadian, American
Alma mater New York University (BFA)
Period1975–present
Genre Realistic fiction, adventure fiction, young adult fiction
Notable works
  • Macdonald Hall
  • Swindle
  • The Toilet Paper Tigers
  • The 39 Clues (contributor)
Website
www.gordonkorman.com

Gordon Korman (born October 23, 1963) is a Canadian author of children's and young adult fiction books. [1] Korman's books have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide over a career spanning four decades and have appeared at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list. [2] [3]

Contents

Early life

Korman was born in Montreal, Quebec, where he lived until 1970. [4] He grew up in Thornhill, Ontario (just north of Toronto) and attended German Mills Public School and public high school at Thornlea Secondary School. [1] [5]

He moved to the United States to attend university at New York University where he studied film and film-writing. [6] Korman received a BFA from New York University in 1985; [1] with a degree in dramatic visual writing and a minor in motion picture and television.

Career

Korman wrote his first book when he was 12 years old, as part of an English class taught by a PE teacher in 7th grade. [7] This became the manuscript for This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall , the first book in his Macdonald Hall series. [1] Korman was the Scholastic Arrow Book Club monitor for the class; after completing the assignment, he mailed his manuscript to Scholastic. [6] This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall was published by Scholastic Press in 1978 when Korman was only 14 years old. [1] Before graduating from high school in Thornhill, Ontario, Korman wrote and published five books. [5]

Korman has written 105 books, [8] with his hundredth being The Fort. His books have sold more than 35 million copies[ citation needed ] in a career that has spanned four decades.

Works

Standalone books

Series

Macdonald Hall series

Bugs Potter

  • Who is Bugs Potter? (1980)
  • Bugs Potter LIVE at Nickaninny (1983)

Jeremy Bloom

  • The D− Poems of Jeremy Bloom: A Collection of Poems About School, Homework, and Life (Sort Of) (1992)
  • The Last-Place Sports Poems of Jeremy Bloom: A Collection of Poems About Winning, Losing, and Being a Good Sport (Sometimes) (1996) [10]

Monday Night Football Club

  • The Quarterback Exchange: I Was John Elway (1997)
  • Running Back Conversion: I Was Barry Sanders (1997)
  • Super Bowl Switch: I Was Dan Marino (1997)
  • Heavy Artillery: I Was Junior Seau (1997)
  • Ultimate Scoring Machine: I Was Jerry Rice (1998)
  • NFL Rules! Bloopers, Pranks, Upsets, and Touchdowns (1998)

Slapshots series

  • The Stars From Mars (1999)
  • All-Mars All-Stars/The Dream Team (1999)
  • The Face-off Phony (2000)
  • Cup Crazy (2000)
    • 4-in-1 Slapshots: The Complete Collection (2008)

Nose Pickers series

  • Nose Pickers from Outer Space! (1999)
  • Planet of the Nose Pickers (2000)
  • Your Mummy Is a Nose Picker (2000)
  • Invasion of the Nose Pickers (2001)
    • 4-in-1 The Ultimate Nose-Picker Collection (2006)

Island series

  • Shipwreck (2001)
  • Survival (2001)
  • Escape (2001)
    • 3-in-1 Island Trilogy Bind-Up Book (2006)

Son of the Mob

Dive series

  • The Discovery (2003)
  • The Deep (2003)
  • The Danger (2003)

On the Run series

  • Chasing the Falconers (2005)
  • The Fugitive Factor (2005)
  • Now You See Them, Now You Don't (2005)
  • The Stowaway Solution (2005)
  • Public Enemies (2005)
  • Hunting the Hunter (2006)

Kidnapped series

  • The Abduction (2006)
  • The Search (2006)
  • The Rescue (2006)

The 39 Clues

(Series shared and all books written by different authors)

Swindle series

Titanic series

  • Unsinkable (2011)
  • Collision Course (2011)
  • S.O.S (2011)

Ungifted series

Everest series

  • The Contest (2002)
  • The Climb (2002)
  • The Summit (2002)

Hypnotists series

  • The Hypnotists (2013)
  • Memory Maze (2014)
  • The Dragonfly Effect (2015)

Slacker series

  • Slacker (2016)
  • Level 13: A Slacker Novel (2019)

Masterminds series

  • Masterminds (2015)
  • Masterminds: Criminal Destiny (2016)
  • Masterminds: Payback (2017)

Adaptations

The Monday Night Football Club series was adapted as the Disney Channel TV series The Jersey , which ran for four years between 1999 and 2004. [11]

Swindle was adapted into a movie that aired on Nickelodeon in 2013.[ citation needed ]

Three Macdonald Hall series books were TV adapted as the "Bruno & Boots" miniseries, with Go Jump in the Pool, This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall, and The War with Mr. Wizzle (as The Wizzle War). It starred Jonny Gray, Callan Potter and Peter Keleghan. It debuted on April 1, 2016, firstly with Go Jump In The Pool, on the Canadian network YTV. [12] The other two adaptations aired on YTV the next year on the same day.

Other optioned books include No Coins, Please, I Want to Go Home, the Island trilogy and The Twinkie Squad. [1]

Awards and recognition

See also

Related Research Articles

The Michael L. Printz Award is an American Library Association literary award that annually recognizes the "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit". It is sponsored by Booklist magazine; administered by the ALA's young-adult division, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA); and named for the Topeka, Kansas, school librarian Mike Printz, a long-time active member of YALSA. Up to four worthy runners-up may be designated Honor Books and three or four have been named every year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Murphy (author)</span> American author (1947–2022)

James John Patrick Murphy was an American author. He wrote more than 35 nonfiction and fiction books for children, young adults, and general audiences, including more than 30 about American history. He won the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 2010 for his contribution in writing for teens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Peck (writer)</span> American novelist (1934-2018)

Richard Wayne Peck was an American novelist known for his contributions to modern young adult literature. He was awarded the Newbery Medal in 2001 for his novel A Year Down Yonder. He received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Dean Myers</span> American childrens book author (1937–2014)

Walter Dean Myers was an American writer of children's books best known for young adult literature. He was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, but was raised in Harlem, New York City. A tough childhood led him to writing and his school teachers would encourage him in this habit as a way to express himself. He wrote more than one hundred books including picture books and nonfiction. He won the Coretta Scott King Award for African-American authors five times. His 1988 novel Fallen Angels is one of the books most frequently challenged in the U.S. because of its adult language and its realistic depiction of the Vietnam War.

Macdonald Hall is the name of a series of young adult novels by author Gordon Korman. The series was formerly named Bruno and Boots.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Donnelly</span> American writer of young adult fiction

Jennifer Donnelly is an American writer best known for the young adult historical novel A Northern Light.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marilyn Singer</span> American poet

Marilyn Singer is an author of children's books in a wide variety of genres, including fiction and non-fiction picture books, juvenile novels and mysteries, young adult fantasies, and poetry. Some of her poems are written as reverso poems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharon M. Draper</span> American childrens writer and educator

Sharon Mills Draper is an American children's writer, professional educator, and the 1997 National Teacher of the Year. She is a five-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for books about the young and adolescent African-American experience. She is known for her Hazelwood and Jericho series, Copper Sun,Double Dutch, Out of My Mind and Romiette and Julio.

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), established in 1957, is a division of the American Library Association. YALSA is a national association of librarians, library workers and advocates whose mission is to expand the capacity of libraries to better serve teens. YALSA administers several awards and sponsors an annual Young Adult Literature Symposium, Teen Read Week, the third week of each October, and Teen Tech Week, the second week of each March. YALSA currently has over 5,200 members. YALSA aims to expand and strengthen library services for teens through advocacy, research, professional development and events.

Dakota Lane is an author. She has been nominated for an American Library Association award three times and cited as a Best Book for Young Adults for Johnny Voodoo and 2008 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers.

The Margaret A. Edwards Award is an American Library Association (ALA) literary award that annually recognizes an author and "a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature". It is named after Margaret A. Edwards (1902–1988), the pioneer, longtime director of young adult services at Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore.

<i>This Cant Be Happening at Macdonald Hall</i>

This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall is a 1978 novel by Gordon Korman. It is the first installment of the Macdonald Hall series, and was the first written work of Korman. It is dedicated to his English teacher, Mr. Hamilton.

<i>The War with Mr. Wizzle</i>

The War With Mr. Wizzle is the fourth installment in the Macdonald Hall book series. Like all the other books in this series, this one was republished in 2003 with new cover art. This installment was given the modified title "The Wizzle War". Additionally, because the book deals largely with technological advancements and discusses computers and software, it was rewritten to reflect the abundance of technology today. For instance, in the 1982 version, the character Mr. Wizzle brings in a large mainframe-like computer known as the Magnetronic 515, which according to Elmer is the most modern computer an institution like Macdonald Hall could have. In the updated 2003 version, the abundance of computers in the school is present, but the character Mr. Wizzle comes up with, instead of a new computer, a new software program that he is determined to run everything with. The book was originally written in 1982 by Gordon Korman.

Norah McClintock was a Canadian writer of young adult fiction who published more than 60 books. She won five Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggie Stiefvater</span> American author (born 1981)

Margaret Stiefvater is an American writer of young adult fiction. She is best known for her fantasy series The Wolves of Mercy Falls and The Raven Cycle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt de la Peña</span> American childrens writer

Matthew de la Peña is an American writer of children's books who specializes in novels for young adults. He won the Newbery Medal in 2016 for his book Last Stop on Market Street.

<i>The Bluford Series</i> Series of young adult novels

The Bluford Series is a widely read collection of contemporary American young adult novels set in the fictional inner-city high school of Bluford High in Southern California. Bluford is named for Guion "Guy" Bluford, the first African-American astronaut. The series was created and published by Townsend Press and was co-distributed by Scholastic. As part of an effort to promote reading in underfunded school districts, Townsend Press originally made the Bluford Series available to schools for a dollar each. As of 2018, over 11 million Bluford Series novels were in print.

Bruno & Boots is a Canadian series of television films, based on Gordon Korman's Macdonald Hall series of young adult novels. The films are produced by Aircraft Pictures for YTV, and star Callan Potter as Boots and Jonny Gray as Bruno.

Ron Koertge is an American poet and author of young adult fiction. Koertge is currently the Poet Laureate of South Pasadena, California. Koertge's honors include a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, a California Arts Council grant, and inclusion in numerous anthologies. His young-adult fiction has won many awards, including Friends of American Writers Young People’s Literature Award, New York Library’s 100 Best Children’s Books, ALA Best Book, New York Public Library’s Books for the Teen Age, and P.E.N. awards. In 2017, he was awarded a Pushcart Prize.

Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults was an annual list of popular books geared toward young adult readers, collated by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), which was published from 1988 to 2017. The aim of the list was "to encourage young adults to read for pleasure by presenting to them lists of popular or topical titles which are widely available in paperback and which represent a broad variety of accessible themes and genres". Unlike other lists published by the American Library Association and its subsidiaries, books on the list did not have to be published recently. Researchers, librarians, and educators have used the list to better understand books popular amongst young adults.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Gordon Korman (home)". gordonkorman.com. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  2. "Scholastic Canada | Gordon Korman".
  3. "GORDON KORMAN :: HOME". scholastic.ca. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  4. Gardner, Suzanne (January 5, 2012). "Gordon Korman". thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Historica Canada. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  5. 1 2 Zlomislic, Diana (April 1, 2009). "Prodigy or precocious?". Toronto Star . Archived from the original on April 7, 2009. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  6. 1 2 "Biography: Gordon Korman". scholastic.com. Scholastic Teachers. Archived from the original on August 7, 2010. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  7. "About Gordon Korman – Gordon Korman". gordonkorman.com. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
  8. "Gordon Korman". Scholastic Canada. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  9. "Reviewed by Gordan Korman in New York Journal of Books".
  10. Gordon Korman; Bernice Korman (October 1, 1996). The last-place sports poems of Jeremy Bloom: a collection of poems about winning, losing, and being a good sport (sometimes). Scholastic. ISBN   978-0-590-25516-5 . Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  11. "Monday Night Football Club". FictionDB. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  12. Julianna Cummins (July 30, 2015). "YTV decides to Go Jump in the Pool! with Aircraft". kidscreen . Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  13. B., Niki. "Stellar Award: Gordon Korman". StellarAward.ca. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  14. "Manitoba Young Reader's Choice Award (1991–2004)". Manitoba School Library Audio Visual Association. Archived from the original on May 22, 2006. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  15. "1999 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults". Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). American Library Association (ALA). Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  16. 1 2 "2001 Popular Paperbacks". YALSA. ALA. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  17. "2003 Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults: Annotated List". YALSA. ALA. Archived from the original on January 17, 2011. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  18. 1 2 3 "YRCA Past Winners". Pacific Northwest Library Association (PNLA). Archived from the original on October 12, 2016. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
  19. "Best Books for Young Adults Annotated List 2004". YALSA. ALA. Archived from the original on January 17, 2011. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  20. 1 2 "Charlie May Simon Award (Grades 4–6)". Arkansas State Library (ASL). Archived from the original on March 15, 2014. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
  21. 1 2 "Charlie May Simon Children's Book Award Winners, 1971 to Current" Archived December 3, 2013, at the Wayback Machine . ASL. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
  22. James D. Watts Jr., "Author Gordon Korman's career started in seventh grade", Tulsa World , May 5, 2016.
  23. "Young Hoosier Book Award".