Reading Assignments (chunks): chapters aren’t numbered so it might be easier to do it by

pages and also that way the chunks will be more even??
1-76, 77-147, 148-202, 202-280

Name: Roma Weil

1. Discussion Director 2. Summarizer

a. In this section, which characters are
we introduced to?
b. What is Donovan afraid of happening?
c. Why does Donovan get invited to the
Academy?
During this section, many people are realizing
that Donovan shouldn’t be at the Academy,
but Donovan tells his teachers that he has
learning disabilities, which helps him get by.
Katie, Donovan’s sister, helps the students
with their Human Growth and Development
credit. The Valentine’s Day dance gets
moved to the Academy since the gym is
messed up at Hardcastle. All of the gifted
students have to go to the dance. Donovan
shows the Daniels Tin Man, which turns into
a disaster because they bring him out to the
dance floor, and as a result, the Academy
students start fighting with the Hardcastle
students.

3. Illustrator 4. Connector
One event that happens in this section is
Donovan leaving the Academy and returning
to Hardcastle, which makes him appreciate
the Academy. Sometimes, we don’t
appreciate the things we have until we don’t
have them anymore.
During this section, Chloe skips school to find
Donovan at Hardcastle, but she only finds the
Daniels who don’t help her at all. Friends take
risks for each other even if there could be
Computer is hacked while Donovan takes consequences.
retest Donovan skips school with the Daniels and
Katie to go to the robotics meet. All of this
was set up by the Daniels. When our friends
are “down in the dumps”, we do anything to
try to cheer them up.
Donovan takes over the dipstick after the
enemy knocks a ring out of Tin Man’s fork,
and he smashes “Pot-zilla” into the judges
table. Sometimes we let anger get the best of
us and lash out when other people take
 advantage of our friends.
Lastly, Noah lies to get kicked out of the
Academy because he wants to go to
Hardcastle. People lie to get what they want.

Beatrice is pregnant

Dr. Schultz finds Donovan through Noah’s

YouTube

Name: Marissa Reiken

1. Illustrator
a. Atlas statue
 b.
2. Discussion Director
a. In what ways are the pressures the same on both Noah and Donovan?
b. How are Donovan’s actions towards staying at the Gifted School both selfish and
selfless? He says he’s trying to stay away from his other school but is he truly
just trying to help these other kids deep down?
c. In what ways is Donovan smarter than the other kids?
d. Why is it so important that the students at the Gifted Academy were allowed to go
to the dance?
3. Summarizer
a. Donovan has been asked to retake his placement test to prove he deserves to be
in the academy. The academy kids take over the computer when Donovan takes
the test and helps him pass. A few of Donovan’s teachers are suspicious of his
ability to pass the test when he is still failing the classes and begin to interview
some of the students as to who helped him pass. Katie is really enjoying her time
with all of the kids in her Human Growth and Development project, and she
learns the truth about why Donovan’s at the Academy. Due to Noah’s YouTube
videos, the superintendent discovers how Donovan was able to escape him.
4. Passage
a. “Now, with the Academy permanently in my rearview mirror, I still had no idea
who it was. I would have liked to say thank you. In a weird way, though, that
person was even more ungifted than me. It made no sense to believe that a test
score could make me into something I wasn’t.” 214
b. “Challenge isn’t going to come from any curriculum, no matter how hard they
make it. It’s going to come from life,” (273).
Name: Alyssa Pellegrini (1-76)
1. Literary Luminary
a. “Why? There was no logical explanation for what I did. It had to come from my
DNA.” (4)
b. “Being gifted is not a gift. A gift you get for nothing. This you have to pay for.” (31)
c. “Sooner or later, somebody was going to realize my presence here was
completely bogus.” (53)
d. “All day I’d been asking myself what I was doing at the Academy of Scholastic
Distinction. Now I knew. I was hiding out.” (61)
2. Word Wizard (77-147)
a. “ADD” (78). I thought this word stood out because Donovan claims he has a
learning disability in hopes to get more flexibility for his projects. He recalls that
one of his fellow classmates from his old school has ADD and that helped him
have looser restrictions on certain projects.
b. “Gifted” (89). This word is very important because it shapes the whole story. The
basis for the book is that an “ungifted” kid attends a “gifted” school and it seems
as though his entire world gets flipped around. It is interesting to see how
Donovan’s perceptions of these two different groups changes throughout the
book.
c. “Unpressured” (103). I chose this word because when you think of “gifted”
students, the word unpressured typically doesn’t come to mind. I think it was very
important that Noah brought up the point that himself and the other kids were
constantly pressured by society and their school to be the best and brightest they
can be.
3. Discussion Director (148-202)
a. “I realized something about Donovan then. We were two sides of the same coin.
He was struggling to stay in the gifted program, and I was struggling to get out.”
(159) With this quote, why do you think it took Noah so long to realize him and
Donovan were actually fairly similar?
b. What do you think would have happened had Noah gotten the whole
dance-fiasco situation on video and posted it to Youtube?
c. Why would the Daniels lie about what had happened at the party?
d. Why would Donovan’s sister not be supportive of her brother’s efforts at the
ASD?
e. Who do you think cheated for Donovan?
4. Illustrator (202-280)
a. Pictured to the right is a
robot competition where
teams are picking up and
setting down rings (similarly
to the competition ASD was
competing in).
Name: Natalie Long

1. Word Wizard (pages 1-76)

a. Reckless (page 2) I chose this word because it is one of the first words Donovan
uses to describe himself, and it’s something his mother called him. I think it
describes him pretty well, especially at the beginning of the story. I found the
definition, “Utterly unconcerned about the consequences of some action; without
caution; careless.” I don’t think Donovan didn’t care about consequences, he
simply doesn’t think of them before acting. He follows this up with “Poor impulse
control,” which is also fitting.
b. Gifted (page 26) I chose this word from the section where Donovan and his father
find out he is selected to attend the Academy for Scholastic Distinction and he is
told that he is a gifted student. Donovan is shocked by this word and dwells on it
quite a lot, which is why I think it is so essential to this story. The definition I
found defined the word “gifted” as, “Having great special talent or ability; having
exceptionally high intelligence.”
c. Revelation (page 63) This word is used in the context of Mr. Osborne and the
other faculty of the academy comparing notes on Donovan and coming to the
conclusion that he excels at nothing. They used the word “revelation,” which is
defined as, “A surprising and previously unknown fact, especially one that is
made known in a dramatic way.” I chose this word because this is a very
important section in the book and this word sums it up pretty well.
2. Illustrator (pages 77-147)
a. This picture is of a brawl at a club, which is how I imagined the valentines dance
going, except with children instead of adults.
 b. This picture is of a Valentine’s Day Dance, exactly how I imagined it in the book

c. This picture is of a broken robot (I kind of pictured Tin Man looking like Wall-E).
These images are meant to summarize the final chapter of this section, which
was the most fascinating part of the section to me.

3. Literary Luminary (pages 148-201)

a. “Donovan was a human version of YouTube. Click on him, and you might get
Einstein eating a banana, or a heisted motor, or a robot driver, or a Human
Growth and Development credit. It was like rolling a die with an infinite number of
sides.” (page 156)
b. “It was kind of touching how many of my robotics classmates offered to help me
study, coach me. With the exception of Abigail, who was planning to relish my
failure, everyone seemed to be pulling for me.” (page 165)
c. “‘If I buy a dog, but when I open the carrier I find a hamster inside, is it a dog
because that’s what it says on the bill of sale? My powers of observation and
reasoning trump words on a piece of paper. I don’t know how he passed the test.
I only know that he couldn’t have.’” (page 177)
d. “And right there, in the bathroom where​ I​ didn’t belong, in the Academy where ​he
didn’t belong, the two of us shared a brother-sister hug. Reality check--Dad kept
a picture on his desk of the last time ​that​ happened--Disney World, 2002. I was
sixteen. Donnie was three.” (page 195)
4. Discussion Director (pages 202-280)
a. Do you think it was fair that Donovan left the Academy?
b. How do you think Donovan impacted each student on the robotics team?
c. Do you think the impact Donovan made on the students at the academy will last?
Or will they return to how things were before Donovan came around?
d. Why do you think Abigail hacked the library computer to help Donovan cheat on
the test?
e. Did you like the ending? Why/why not?