The Superteacher Project

Oliver is the class clown of his seventh grade class. He is a master of the spitball, and when his new teacher shows up in homeroom, he is ready. He has his favorite launcher at the ready, plenty of paper to work into perfect spitballs, and his best friend Nathan to witness his genius. He takes his time with the spitball, making sure it’s just the perfect amount of wet, and then lining up his shot. As the new teacher bends over to look at something on the desk, Oliver prepares. But the new teacher, Mr. Aidact, is somehow even faster than Oliver and catches the perfect spitball right out of the air. Oliver realizes this is no ordinary teacher. And it’s true that Mr. Aidact is no ordinary teacher. For one thing, he is followed around by an older man, Mr. Perkins, who he describes as his student teacher. And like the other teachers at Brightling Middle School, who all teach a single subject, Mr. Aidact teaches classes across several different subjects. Nathan is in his math class, and he struggles to understand ratios until one afternoon, when Mr. Aidact literally pulls the window blinds down to give Nathan a visible demonstration of what he is trying to teach. That is how Nathan finally understands ratios, and how he knows that Mr. Aidact is a teacher like he’s never known before. Rosalie is a seventh grader who is already looking forward to college. She picks her classes with that in mind and works hard to keep her grades up. But she also thinks that field hockey will help pad her college applications. She’s not much of an athlete, but with Mr. Aidact coaching, she finds herself learning skills. But she struggles to understand the game itself, until their first real competition against another team. As Mr. Aidact fights for them against a bad call, Rosalie finds herself feeling like she’s part of a real team, and the chemistry between her and her teammates gels, and they find themselves scoring, and even maybe creating a chance to win. But Mr. Aidact is far from a regular teacher. He takes over more and more of the other teachers’ activities, like watching over detention and the lunch room. His widespread knowledge of song lyrics and trivia make him popular with the students, and his ability to listen without judgment means that some of the outsiders find a friend in him as well. As his popularity grows with the students, the other teachers grow resentful of him, especially since they know the truth. Mr. Aidact is not really a teacher. He is an experiment by the Department of Education to see how an artificial intelligence could handle teaching middle school students. The principal was honored that her school was chosen for the experiment, and while she could inform the other teachers, she was told not to inform the students or parents. She knows that if the parents found out, they would be angry. But how would the...

Gordon Korman is my favorite middle-grade author, and I have yet to read a book that I have not enjoyed. This one was no exception. As usual, there were multiple points of view to keep track of, which did make it a little harder to follow and why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. I also had a hard time getting into this book at first, but it was still a wonderful novel overall. As a teacher myself, I found parts of it comical and relatable, like having one teacher on campus that volunteers to be overworked. I also absolutely loved the ending. Highly recommend if you are looking for a fun G-rated read or for something for your preteen to

Brightling Middle School has a new teacher, but not every student is a fan. From the very first day in Homeroom, when Mr. Aidact catches Oliver in the act of trying to launch a spitball, Oliver has known something is up. Along with his best friend Nathan, the famous rule-wrecker Oliver is determined to show Mr. Aidact who's the boss. After all, he calls the students pupils! Who does that? But as the school year progresses, they and other students begin to realize that Mr. Aidact is not a typical teacher. He never complains as the other teachers slowly dump their extra duties on him; when the school needs a new girls' field hockey coach, he's suddenly an expert; he listens to students when other teachers don't; and he is unstumpable in trivia. But what the students don't realize is that Mr. Aidact really isn't like the other teachers: he's an android powered by an AI. We all know that secrets don't often stay secret for long. And if the news about Mr. Aidact gets out? What will happen then? Oh, man. What happens then is chaotic and amazing. If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would. I have read and loved many books by Gordon Korman, but I think this one has been my favorite of all the ones I've read so far. I loved the way Korman captured the middle-school students. Their characterizations were very well done, complete with all sorts of issues that many middle schoolers deal with. In addition to that, although we don't get much exposure to the other teachers in the school, what we do get was incredibly realistic. As an added bonus, I loved the insert chapters that consisted of the project updates being sent by Mr. Perkins to the Department of Education regarding the project. I think my favorite part of those was the special expenses included at the end - always a little nod to whatever craziness the students and Mr. Aidact had gotten up to. Finally, while I don't want to give away any spoilers, I thought the way things played out toward the end was done really well, especially the reactions. We've seen versions of that play out around the country with other aspects of education, and while we haven't been exposed to an android teacher yet - that we know of, anyway - I have no doubt that what happened here (perhaps with the exception of the ending) was very realistic. This is definitely a book that I will look forward to reading again and again.

A wonderful story. It kept me smiling throughout. Highly recommended!

Kids will be enjoying this book for years to come. It shows how everyone can work together for a good reason.