Old School by Gordon Korman

A boy raised in a retirement village must give up his Old School for seventh grade with . . . actual seventh-graders.

Old School by Gordon Korman. Harper, 2025, 276 pp.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 10-14

Dexter Foreman has been getting along just fine with his Grandmother at The Pines retirement village. His teachers are stellar: a best-selling author for English and composition, an actual WWII codebreaker for math, and a cranky Mr. fix-it for all the practical skills. But then the truant officer shows up. Maybe Dex doesn’t have to go to middle school, but his grandmother thinks he should try it. So the very next day he’s standing on the curb dressed in slacks and a cardigan, carrying a briefcase and surrounded by all his octogenarian friends, when the school bus pulls up. Hardly an auspicious intro to the curious bus riders: how weird could one kid be? The nicknames invariably follow: Gramps, Ancient One, Old Codger.

The only student who befriends him is Gianna Greco, and that out of curiosity. Gianna is an aspiring journalist always on the lookout for a story, and here’s one who just walked into her school. Her brother Ronny is more the bullying type, as is Jackson Sharpe, the school’s athletic and academic star. Jackson plays it cool until Dex starts outshining him as a mathlete, and then the knives come out. Not just figuratively: Dex is not only smart, he can fix anything with his Swiss Army knife, but it’s that very skill, and implement, that gets him in serious trouble.

The resolution makes for a feel-good ending with a touch of sadness (for the very, very old, death is not far off). But a host of sixth- and seventh-graders discover that old folks have a lot of know-how and wisdom to share, not to mention a taste for hot tea that creates a lunchroom mini-boom for teabags. And the young rejuvenate the old.

Bottom Line: Both funny and heartwarming.

Also at Redeemed Reader

• Reviews: Lots of middle-grade novels by Gordon Korman, including Faker, The Fort, Linked (starred review), and Restart (starred review). Also the thriller series beginning with Masterminds.
• Reviews: Two MG novels featuring difficult grandparents: The Vanderbeekers Make a Wish, and The Runaways.

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