American Library Association “Best Books for Young Adults” American Library Association “Quick Picks for Young Adults”
Martin Anderson and his friends don’t like being called losers. But they’ve been called that for so long even they start to believe it. Until Martin makes an incredible discovery: each of his friends has a special hidden talent.
Edgeview Alternative School was supposed to be end of the road. But for Martin and his friends, it just might be a new beginning.
Martin is famous around home for shooting off his mouth, constantly getting himself in trouble both with his parents and with authority figures at school. After getting thrown out of a series of schools, he ends up at Edgeview, a boarding school for trouble boys that is seen as the last stop for them. At first Martin's attitude toward his new school is horrible. He gets on the bad side of the principal and all of the teachers the first day, and his roommate and roommate's friends are all very strange.
Soon, though, Martin begins to see something different in his classmates' strangeness. Flinch seems to see things coming at him before they happen. Cheater always knows the answer to trivia questions. Torchie is insistent he isn't setting the fires that pop up all around him. Martin suspects that his friends might have special powers. The hard part becomes convincing the boys themselves that they are more than the losers and outcasts they've been told they are for so long.
I liked the basic story, as well as the characters. However, we know from the title of the book and the description on the back that the boys in this story have "hidden talents." Therefore, the part of the book leading up to Martin realizing it and then the boys themselves realizing it is excruciatingly slow. I kept wanting to shake them, to make them open their eyes and see the evidence that was piled up in front of them. The part of the book in which they actually accepted and used their powers was too short compared to the leadup.
I LOVE David Lubar's style. My son is 14 and I am considerably older, but we both love Lubar's books. He has such a marvelous grasp of the adolescent mind. This one starts out a little slow, but is worth the wait.
