About Gordon Korman

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ABOUT GORDON KORMAN Welcome to the wonderful world of a regular guy who just happened to write 90-something books for kids and teens. I was born on October 23, 1963 in Montreal, Canada, and grew up mostly in the Toronto area. My writing career began virtually by accident when I was in 7th grade. The track and field coach had to teach English. For creative writing, he gave us total freedom to work on whatever we wanted for the rest of the year. It was February. That added up to a class period per day for more than four months. The result was my first novel, THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING AT MACDONALD HALL. I sent my manuscript to Scholastic because I was the class monitor for Scholastic Book Orders, and figured I was practically an employee. Seriously. (Full disclosure: my mom had to type my book for me.) It was a totally flukey and random way to launch a publishing career, but here’s the thing: It worked.!THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING AT MACDONALD HALL was published by Scholastic when I was a freshman in high school, and I was on my way. I’ve been writing for more than three-quarters of my life. My books have been translated into 32 languages and have sold over 30 million copies worldwide. I have a BFA degree from New York University with a major in Dramatic Writing and a minor in Film and TV. I now live on Long Island, outside New York City, with my wife and family. When I’m not writing, you can usually find me driving one of my three kids to some practice or rehearsal or game. Either that, or I’m on the road, appearing at schools, libraries, and bookstores, meeting my readers. HOME THE BOOKS GORDON'S BLOG READER'S FORUM MORE RESOURCES AUTHOR VISITS CONTACT FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM Copyright © 2013 Gordon Korman. All Rights Reserved • Website by Jeffrey Korn Creative.

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Swindle Series Discussion Guide (PDF)
DISCUSSION GUIDE Grades 4-7 About the books In these fast-paced and entertaining stories, readers will meet friends who work as a team, each contributing a special talent to their adventures. In the process, they face ethical dilemmas, learn how to think quickly, and demonstrate both the courage and cleverness they will need in order to carry out Griffin’s plans. In the face of seemingly impossible odds, these friends never give up until justice is served. swindle Griffin Bing is known as The Man With The Plan. Griffin acquires a rare baseball card, only to be cheated out of its true value by an unscrupulous dealer named S. Wendell Palomino—who is quickly nicknamed “Swindle” by Griffin and his friend Ben. After a failed attempt to retrieve the card, Griffin recruits a group of classmates. Each member of the group is able to contribute a specific skill, but even the best of plans can be disrupted by unexpected circumstances. Luckily for the reader, these circumstances create hilarious and heart- stopping adventure. Zoobreak Griffin’s class visits a floating zoo, where his friend Samantha finds her own recently stolen capuchin monkey. Planning a break-in to retrieve the monkey requires the talents of all Griffin’s friends. The plan becomes more complicated when Samantha becomes determined to help all the animals escape their terrible conditions. They soon realize that they will need to stage a completely different sort of break-in. Framed When Griffin’s dental retainer shows up in a locked display case where a valuable Super Bowl ring should be, even The Man With The Plan is stumped.
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Discussion Guideguide Grades 4-7
DiscussionDiscussion GuideGuide Grades 4-7 Griffin Bing is known as The Man with a Plan, especially one that involves kids outwitting adults. In Swindle, Griffin acquires a rare baseball card, only to be cheated out of its true value by an unscrupulous dealer, S. Wendell Palomino, who is quickly nicknamed “Swindle” by Griffin and his friend Ben. After one failed attempt to retrieve the card, Griffin recruits a group of classmates, each with a specific skill his new plan requires. But even the best of plans can be thrown off by unexpected circumstances, creating hilarious and heart-stopping adventure for this motley group of sixth graders. In Zoobreak, Griffin’s class visits a floating zoo where his friend Samantha finds her own recently stolen capuchin monkey. Planning a break-in to retrieve the monkey requires the talents of all Griffin’s friends, and a lot of last-minute changes to make the plan work. But when they reach the zoo boat, Samantha becomes determined to help all the animals escape their terrible conditions, making the plan much more complicated. Dividing up the animals and keeping them safe in a variety of ways, the kids soon realize they will need to stage a completely different sort of break-in. In both of these adventures, the friends work as a team and learn a lot about each other in the bargain. They face some ethical dilemmas, learn how to think quickly, and demonstrate both courage and cleverness in carrying out their plans. PRE-READING VOCABULARY EXERCISE 1. In Swindle, Gordon Korman introduces a lot of words that are associated with crime and wrongdoing.
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Swindle Series Discussion Guide (PDF)
DISCUSSION GUIDE Grades 4-7 About the books In these fast-paced and entertaining stories, readers will meet friends who work as a team, each contributing a special talent to their adventures. In the process, they face ethical dilemmas, learn how to think quickly, and demonstrate both the courage and cleverness they will need in order to carry out Griffin’s plans. In the face of seemingly impossible odds, these friends never give up until justice is served. swindle Griffin Bing is known as The Man With The Plan. Griffin acquires a rare baseball card, only to be cheated out of its true value by an unscrupulous dealer named S. Wendell Palomino—who is quickly nicknamed “Swindle” by Griffin and his friend Ben. After a failed attempt to retrieve the card, Griffin recruits a group of classmates. Each member of the group is able to contribute a specific skill, but even the best of plans can be disrupted by unexpected circumstances. Luckily for the reader, these circumstances create hilarious and heart- stopping adventure. Zoobreak Griffin’s class visits a floating zoo, where his friend Samantha finds her own recently stolen capuchin monkey. Planning a break-in to retrieve the monkey requires the talents of all Griffin’s friends. The plan becomes more complicated when Samantha becomes determined to help all the animals escape their terrible conditions. They soon realize that they will need to stage a completely different sort of break-in. Framed When Griffin’s dental retainer shows up in a locked display case where a valuable Super Bowl ring should be, even The Man With The Plan is stumped.
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Discussion Guide
DISCUSSION GUIDE Grades 4-7 About the books In these fast-paced and entertaining stories, readers will meet friends who work as a team, each contributing a special talent to their adventures. In the process, they face ethical dilemmas, learn how to think quickly, and demonstrate both the courage and cleverness they will need in order to carry out Griffin’s plans. In the face of seemingly impossible odds, these friends never give up until justice is served. swindle Griffin Bing is known as The Man With The Plan. Griffin acquires a rare baseball card, only to be cheated out of its true value by an unscrupulous dealer named S. Wendell Palomino—who is quickly nicknamed “Swindle” by Griffin and his friend Ben. After a failed attempt to retrieve the card, Griffin recruits a group of classmates. Each member of the group is able to contribute a specific skill, but even the best of plans can be disrupted by unexpected circumstances. Luckily for the reader, these circumstances create hilarious and heart- stopping adventure. Zoobreak Griffin’s class visits a floating zoo, where his friend Samantha finds her own recently stolen capuchin monkey. Planning a break-in to retrieve the monkey requires the talents of all Griffin’s friends. The plan becomes more complicated when Samantha becomes determined to help all the animals escape their terrible conditions. They soon realize that they will need to stage a completely different sort of break-in. Framed When Griffin’s dental retainer shows up in a locked display case where a valuable Super Bowl ring should be, even The Man With The Plan is stumped.
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SAMPLE PAGES Informational Texts with Answer Keys
By Gordon Korman SAMPLE PAGES Informational Texts with Answer Keys from A Novel Teaching Pack by Margaret Whisnant Copyright © 2013 Margaret Whisnant e-ISBN 978-1-934538-71-5 All rights reserved by author. Permission to copy for single classroom use only. Electronic distribution limited to single classroom use only. Cover images © Graphics Facory.com Title Font: Fontspace.com I A Novel Teaching Pack Schooled By Margaret Whisnant By Gordon Korman Table of Contents Informational Texts with Questions Gordon Korman, Author . .1-4 The American Search for Utopia . 5-10 The Hippies . 11-16 Life on a 60s Rural Commune. 17-21 Answer Keys with CCSS Alignments Informational Texts. 22-23 Copyright © 2013 Margaret Whisnant Taking Grades Publishing Company 2 Informational Text 1 Schooled Author Bio By Gordon Korman Gordon Korman, Author By Margaret Whisnant “Maybe the answer to all the world’s problems is: keep on laughing!” Gordon Korman Gordon Korman wrote his first book when he was 12 years old, but not on purpose. He was simply completing an assignment given to him by Mr. Hamilton, his track and field coach. All of this took place at German Mills Public Schools, near Toronto, Canada. Gordon’s coach learned quite unexpectedly that he was also the school’s new 7th grade English teacher. With no experience as a writing instructor, Mr. Hamilton gave his students a straight-forward assignment. “Work on whatever you want for the rest of the year.” Young Gordon dutifully obliged by writing This Can’t Be Happening at MacDonald Hall. At the time, he served as class Scholastic Arrow Book Club monitor, so he decided to mail his manuscript to the company.
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Scholastic US
Scholastic U.S. Frankfurt 2010 Rights Guide 557 Broadway New York, New York scholastic.com/rights Artwork from the cover of Forever by Maggie Stiefvater, (Scholastic, July 2011) Our dedicated rights website and database www.scholastic.com/rights Visit Us To: • Browse our entire backlist and frontlist • Read breaking news on titles and authors • Access marketing and publicity materials • Find updates on awards and movie news • View book trailers, commercials, author videos, and more... Table of Contents 4 Multimedia Publishing 6 Paperback Bestsellers 8 Paperback Series Scholastic is 10 Hot Titles celebrating its 90th Anniversary 12 Young Adult with a global literacy 14 Middle Grade campaign! Read Every 16 Graphix Day, Lead a 18 Picture Books Better Life underscores the 20 Klutz and Readers importance of reading to better prepare children 22 Bestselling Brands of the 21st century to live complete and successful lives. Your Rights Team Rachel Horowitz Janelle DeLuise Director Senior Manager [email protected] [email protected] Lisa Mattingly Noel Baca-Castex Maren Monitello Domestic Rights Associate Contracts Manager Cross Channel Assistant [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] MULTIMEDIA The 39 Clues Continues! 4 Announcing an all-new adventure with the release of The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers! Six Books, Six Bestselling Authors, including: Gordon Korman, Jude Watson, Peter Lerangis, and David Baldacci! Now Available: The 39 Clues: The Black Book The 39 Clues: of Buried Secrets Vespers Rising The ultimate full color guide to the world The Cahills weren’t the only family searching for the of The 39 Clues. Plus a brand new story Clues.
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WEST SCHOOL AUTHOR VISIT! Author Gordon Korman Will Visit West School in Glencoe on Wednesday, October 4, 2006!
WEST SCHOOL AUTHOR VISIT! Author Gordon Korman will visit West School in Glencoe on Wednesday, October 4, 2006! Best-selling author, Gordon Korman (www.gordonkorman.com) will visit Glencoe West School on Wednesday October 4, 2006, for a day of presentations. The visit is being underwritten by the Glencoe PTO. The New York-based author of more than 55 books, with 7 million copies in print, Korman is best known for his Bruno and Boots titles, as well as his award- winning young adult books, including Son of Interflux. His newest titles include Born to Rock, a new young adult title from Hyperion (published Spring, 2006) and Kidnapped, an adventure series published this summer According to his official bio, Gordon Korman was born October 23, 1963 in Montreal, Quebec in Canada. He wrote his first book, This Can't be Happening at Macdonald Hall when he was 12 years old for a coach who suddenly found himself teaching 7th grade English. He later took that episode and created a book out of it, called the Sixth Grade Nickname Game. Mr. Huge, a character in the book, was based on that 7th grade teacher. His first book was published with Scholastic. The company then published his next 20 books. Hyperion and Scholastic both publish Korman’s books. Gordon divides his time between Toronto, New York and Florida, and is currently under contract for several more books, the six-volume On the Run adventure series, and new young adult and children’s titles. Korman will talk to Glencoe West School students about characterization, how he goes about finding topics to write about, and other tricks of his writer’s life.
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Swindle Storia Teaching Guide (PDF)
BOOK STATS Grade Level Equivalent: 4–7 Ages: 9+ Lexile Measure®: 710L Pages: 252 Genre: Realistic Fiction Subject/Theme: Adventure, Humor, Mystery Common Core Reading Writing Listening & Language State Standards Speaking Grade 4 RL.4.1, RL.4.3, W.4.3, SL.4.1, SL.4.4 L.4.4 RL.4.4, RL.4.9 W.4.7 Grade 5 RL.5.1, RL.5.4, W.5.3, SL.5.1, SL.5.4 L.5.4 RL.5.5, RL.5.9 W.5.7 Grade 6 RL.6.1, RL.6.3, W.6.3, SL.6.1, SL.6.4 L.6.4 RL.6.4, RL.6.5, W.6.7 RL.6.9 Grade 7 RL.7.1, RL.7.3, W.7.3, SL.7.1, SL.7.4 L.7.4 RL.7.4 W7.7 Teaching the Book Griffin Bing had a rare Babe Ruth baseball card in his hands—until he was tricked into selling it by a fast-talking collector named S. Wendell Palomino OVERVIEW (a.k.a. Swindle). Gordon Korman’s fast-paced adven- Book Summary ture novel is ideal to teach students how to analyze the sequence of events in a plot and how they are Griffin Bing is The Man With The Plan. So when connected. Activities engage students in research- he finds a Babe Ruth baseball card in an abandoned ing great swindles in American history, practicing house, he immediately sells it to help solve his fam- baseball card math, and creating a collectible card ily’s financial woes.
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This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall!
smrasura This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall! AN APPLE PAPERBACK SCHOLASTIC INC. New York Toronto London Auckland Sydney No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo copying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., 730 Broadway, New York, NY 10003. ISBN 0-590-44213-9 Copyright © 1978 by Gordon Korman. All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., 730 Broadway, New York, NY 10003. APPLE PAPERBACKS are a registered trademark of Scholastic Inc. 12 11 10 7 8 9/9 0/0 Printed in the U.S.A. 40 About the Author GORDON KORMAN wrote his first book, This Can't Be Hap pening at Macdonald Hall!, when he was twelve years old. By the time Korman had graduated from high school, he had written and published five other books including Go Jump in the Pool!, Beware The Fish!, and The War with Mr. Wizzle. He has written fourteen books for Scholastic, two of which, A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag and Son of Interflux, are ALA Best Books for Young Adults. His most recent book is Losing Joe's Place. Korman is a native of Ontario, Canada, and was graduated from New York University's School of Dramatic Writing in 1985. He divides his time between Toronto and New York City and writes full time. Contents 1 "It's always us!" 1 2 The Fish's decree 11 3 The cannon at midnight 20 4 Assignment: obnoxious! 25 5 You keep ants? 36 6 Round two 46 7 Desperate measures 56 8 Raid! 60 9 Expelled? 70 10 Breakfast at Scrimmage's 81 11 "Congratulations, boys" 88 12 Help! 92 13 Scrimmage's to the rescue 103 14 No end to miracles! 109 It's aliway s us! East of Toronto, just off Highway 48, you will find a beautiful tree-lined campus right across the road from the famous Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies.
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Make Reading a Daily Habit This Summer!
Go for the gold! Pick books Read%every% Book ideas day!% that interest are attached! your child! Take a peek! Talk%about% Read% the%books!% together!% Make reading a daily habit this summer! Show your stuff! Return the attached reading log next fall! Happy Reading from the Lower School Library! Summer reading ideas for students entering Fifth Grade • Read at least four complete chapter books appropriate to reading skill. • Note the books on your reading log. • Books need not be on this list. • Fifth grade students will have the opportunity to join the middle school for a Skype session with author Gordon Korman and an in-person visit by Margaret Peterson Haddix. We encourage you to read something by either or both of those authors. See the suggestions below. Stop here for some favorite Korman and Haddix choices: • Slacker by Gordon Korman. Hot off of the presses, this novel looks to be a winner! Cameron is very into gaming—so much so that he doesn’t notice when his kitchen catches fire. As a result, Cameron loses his gaming privileges and needs to start a “new” activity. His new activity is a school club to do good deeds. Really it’s a front for him to continue to game. What will happen when other kids try to join, wanting to do good deeds? Get ready to laugh! • Other great titles by Gordon Korman: No More Dead Dogs, Swindle (series) and the On the Run series. • Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix. In a world where the government has enforced a two child per family rule, third children must be kept hidden in order to survive.
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Gordon Korman
Gordon Korman “ I grew up, but my imagination is fi rmly rooted in the middle grades.” —Gordon Korman PHOTO © 2013 OWEN KASSIMIR Gordon Korman is the #1 New York Times bestselling What is the secret of Gordon’s success? author of more than 75 books for kids and young adults. His writing career began at the age of twelve when his “It’s a combination between real life and pure imagination,” seventh-grade English assignment became his fi rst novel, he says. “I always start off with something real, but then I which was then published while he was a freshman in unleash my imagination to make it more exciting, funnier, or high school. a better story. To be honest, by the time a book is done, you can’t recognize much of the real-life part. It’s been changed Now, decades later, he is a full-time writer, with more too much. But I never could have gotten there without it.” than 17 million copies of his novels in print. His books have been translated into 14 languages. A native of Canada, Gordon now lives with his family in Long Island, New York. Nickelodeon recently brought Gordon Korman’s New York Times bestselling Swindle series to life gordonkorman.com in a made-for-TV movie. Each year, Gordon travels extensively, visiting schools, libraries and conferences, bringing his trademark humor and adventurous style to readers everywhere. Funny Fiction by Gordon Korman This Can’t Be Happening The Chicken at Macdonald Hall! Doesn’t Skate Ages 7–10 • 144 pages Ages 9–12 • 224 pages Paperback: 978-0-545-28924-5 • $5.99 Paperback: 978-0-545-28925-2 • $6.99 Gordon’s fi rst novel and the beginning “Zany situations; a fast pace; of the immensely popular Bruno and likable, well-drawn characters; contemporary dialogue; and lots of Boots series.
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Talking Book Topics January-February 2018
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