Gordon Korman

Gordon Korman (born October 23, 1963) is a Canadian author, primarily of novels for children and young adults.^[1] He lives in Long Island's Great Neck, New York, with his wife and three children.

Korman wrote his first book unexpectedly when he was twelve years old.^[2] While in 7th grade at German Mills Public School, his 7th grade English writing assignment became the manuscript for Korman's first book This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall,^[1] the first book in his Bruno and Boots series. Mr. Hamilton, Korman's 7th grade English teacher, was a track and field coach who suddenly found himself teaching English for the first time.^[1] Hamilton required students to write a novel during the semester.^[1] Korman was the Scholastic Arrow Book Club monitor for the class; after completing the assignment, he mailed his manuscript to Scholastic.^[2] This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall was published by Scholastic Press in 1978 when Korman was only twelve years old, in seventh grade.^[1] Before graduating from high school in Thornhill, Ont., Korman wrote and published five books.^[3]

Korman has written more than 75 books which have sold more than 7 million copies in a career that has spanned five decades. ^[1]

Biography

Korman was born in Montreal, Quebec where he lived until 1970.^[1] Korman grew up in Thornhill, Ontario just north of Toronto, Ontario^[4] and attended public high school at Thornlea Secondary School in Thornhill, Ontario.^[1][3] Korman moved to the United States to attend college at New York University where he studied in the film and film-writing department.^[2] Korman received a BA from New York University in 1985;^[1] his degree was in Dramatic and Visual Writing with a minor in Motion Picture and Television.^[5]

Published works

Non-series books

• I Want to Go Home (1981)
• Our man Weston (1982)
• No Coins, Please (1984)
• Don't Care High (1985)
• Son of Interflux (1986)
• A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag (1987)
• Radio 5th Grade (1989)
• Losing Joe's Place (1990)
• The Twinkie Squad (1992)
• The Toilet Paper Tigers (1993)
• Why Did the Underwear Cross the Road (1994)
• The Chicken Doesn't Skate (1996)
• Liar, Liar Pants on Fire (1997)
• The Sixth Grade Nickname Game (1998)
• No More Dead Dogs (2002)
• Son of the Mob (2002)
• Maxx Comedy: The Funniest Kid in America (2003)
• Jake, Reinvented (2003)
• Born To Rock (2006)
• Son of the Mob: Hollywood Hustle (2006)
• Schooled (2007)
• The Juvie Three (2008)
• Pop (2009)

Bruno & Boots

• This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall (1978)
• Go Jump in the Pool (1979)
• Beware the Fish! (1980)
• The War With Mr. Wizzle (1982)
• The Zucchini Warriors (1988)
• Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood (1991)
• Something Fishy at Macdonald Hall (1995)

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)^[6]

Monday Night Football

• The Quarterback Exchange (1997)
• Running Back Conversion (1997)
• Super Bowl Switch (1997)
• Heavy Artillery (1997)
• Ultimate Scoring Machine (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)
• 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)
• The Ultimate Nose-Picker Collection (2006)

Island series

• Shipwreck (2000)
• Survival (2001)
• Escape (2001)
• Island Trilogy Bind-Up Book (2006)

Dive series

• The Discovery (2003)
• The Deep (2003)
• The Danger (2004)

Everest series

• The Contest (2004)
• The Climb (2005)
• The Summit (2006)

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)

Swindle series

• Swindle (2008)
• Zoobreak (2009)
• Framed! (2010)
• Showoff (2012)

Titanic series

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

The 39 Clues series

• One False Note (2008)
• The Emperor's Code (2010)
• The Medusa Plot (2011)

Gavin Gunhold

Korman uses this name in many of his earlier books as an all-purpose pseudonym for his characters or location. Examples include:

• The War with Mr. Wizzle in which Bruno signs Gunhold's name to the invoice when the boys divert a large number of computer paper cartons from their nemesis, Wizzle. Later in the book, a fictional student created as a prank is given the name "G. Gavin Gunhold."
• A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag in which Sean and Raymond chose Gunhold as their poetry research subject, only to find out that he died shortly after his first poem was published. The boys later convince Sean's grandfather to impersonate Gunhold and make a number of appearances as the dead poet/former yo yo champion.
• Radio Fifth Grade in which Mark returns his teacher's radio to Gunhold Electronics so she won't find out that he and his friends have been using their homework as a radio quiz.
• The Twinkie Squad where Gunhold is briefly mentioned as a track star who sponsors a brand of foot powder.
• Why Did The Underwear Cross The Road? in which Zack eventually needs to visit the "Old Gunhold Building."
• No Coins, Please in which Artie is nearly caught in the casino of the Gunhold Plaza by his camp counselors and members of the FBI.
• Losing Joes Place When Rootbeer removes his shirt, a driver's license in the name of Gavin Gunhold falls out.
• No More Dead Dogs in which "Old Shep, My Pal" won the Gunhold Award, a fictional literary award.

Adaptations

The Monday Night Football Club series was adapted into the Disney Channel TV series The Jersey, which ran for four years.

The Bruno and Boots series was optioned, but a series was never produced. Other optioned books include No Coins, Please, the Island Trilogy and The Twinkie Squad. ^[1]

Awards and recognition

• Air Canada Award for promising authors in Canada – at age 17^[5]
• Manitoba Young Reader's Choice Award 1991 – Book 1988 The Zucchini Warriors^[7]
• American Library Association Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults 2001 – Book 1990 Losing Joe's Place^[8]
• American Library Association Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults 1999 – Book 1993 The Toilet Paper Tigers^[9]
• American Library Association Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults 2001 – Book 1993 The Chicken Doesn't Skate^[8]
• American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults Annotated List 2003 – Book 2001 Son of the Mob: Hollywood Hustle^[10]
• American Library Association 2003 Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults Annotated List – Book 2001 Son of the Mob^[11]
• 2003 Pacific Northwest Library Association's Young Reader's Choice Award – Intermediate Division (Grades 7–9) – Book 2001 Son of the Mob: Hollywood Hustle^[12]
• 2003 Pacific Northwest Library Association's Young Reader's Choice Award – Intermediate Division (Grades 7–9) – Book 2003 No More Dead Dogs^[13]
• American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults Annotated List 2004 – Book 2003 Jake Reinvented^[14]

References