Schooled

Korman, G. (2007). Schooled. New York: Hyperion Books for Children. Thirteen year old Capricorn Anderson lives in a farm commune with his hippie grandmother, Rain. He has been raised to reap the rewards from mother earth and homeschooled by his grandmother. He is not familiar with the society outside of the commune or modern world. Due to an unforeseen accident, Cap moves in with Mrs. Donnelley, an ex-member of the Garland Farms, so his grandmother Rain can go to rehab after hip surgery. Cap is enrolled to a public school, Claverage Middle School, and a place he has never attended until now his 8th grade year. He becomes the target of Zach the cool kid in the school. Zach gets Cap elected as 8th grade President to humiliate him for the rest of the year. Instead people like Naomi who is in love with Zach finds comfort in Cap’s kindness and maturity. Cap’s main problem is fitting in with the rest of the students at school. The other students can’t understand why he doesn’t blame them for their rude comments and his coping mechanisms. He uses the all the non-violence techniques his grandmother taught him such as “all you need is love,” to cope with the bullying by the other students. When Cap gets punched during a time he intervenes a fight, he doesn’t return to school for a couple of days. Upon his return he is surprised by the vigil the students created for him, thinking he was dead. After his grandmother’s return, the goal was to go back to the commune and be homeschooled, but instead he embraces the “real world” and returns to Claverage Middle School to continue his education. The themes of bullying and being true to oneself were well depicted in this story. Cap ignored the bullying and posed questions on the bully’s intentions. He taught the adults and students life lessons that changed them for the better. So, at this point you ask yourself who did get schooled? My favorite lesson was how one hurts their own soul when yelling at a person instead of talking to them. His whole approach was seldom effortless and kept his inner peace instead of being disturbed my all the rudeness and ugliness of others. Related books: The Mailbox by Audrey Shafer, Zen and the Art of Faking It by Jordan Sonnenblick, and If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period by Gennifer Choldenko.