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Gordon Korman
Black and white photograph of Gordon Korman, author of young adult fiction, speaking at the National Book Festival in September 2011. The photograph depicts Korman in profile view, facing left and speaking into a microphone. His right hand is raised to approximately shoulder height, palm facing the audience, with fingers slightly closed as if grasping an invisible ball.
Korman at the 2015 Texas Book Festival
Born (1963-10-23) October 23, 1963 (age 61)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Occupation Author
Nationality Canadian, American
Alma mater New York University (BFA)
Period 1975–present
Genre Realistic fiction, adventure fiction, young adult fiction
Notable works
  • Macdonald Hall
  • Swindle
  • The Toilet Paper Tigers
  • The 39 Clues (contributor)
  • Faker

Gordon Korman is a super popular Canadian author. He writes exciting books for kids and young adults. His books have sold over 30 million copies all around the world! Many of his stories have even been number one bestsellers on The New York Times list.

About Gordon Korman

Early Life and Education

Gordon Korman was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on October 23, 1963. He lived there until 1970. Later, he grew up in Thornhill, Ontario, which is just north of Toronto. He went to German Mills Public School and Thornlea Secondary School for high school.

After high school, Korman moved to the United States. He attended New York University to study film and writing for movies. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in 1985. His degree focused on dramatic visual writing, with a minor in motion pictures and television.

How His Writing Career Began

Gordon Korman wrote his very first book when he was only 12 years old! It started as an assignment for his 7th-grade English class. His English teacher was actually a gym teacher, which is pretty cool.

This school project turned into the book This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall. It was the first book in his famous Macdonald Hall series. Korman was in charge of the Scholastic Arrow Book Club for his class. After finishing his story, he decided to mail his manuscript to Scholastic.

This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall was published by Scholastic Press in 1978. Gordon Korman was only 14 years old when his first book came out! Before he even graduated from high school, he had already written and published five books. That's a lot of writing!

Gordon Korman's Books

Gordon Korman has written an amazing number of books. He has written 105 books in total! His 100th book was called The Fort. His books have sold more than 35 million copies worldwide.

Gordon Korman's Books and Series

Standalone Books

Here are some of Gordon Korman's books that are not part of a series:

  • I Want to Go Home! (1981)
  • Our Man Weston (1982)
  • No Coins, Please (1984)
  • Don't Care High (1985)
  • Son of Interflux (1986)
  • A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag (1987)
  • Radio 5th Grade (1989)
  • Losing Joe's Place (1990)
  • The Twinkie Squad (1992)
  • The Toilet Paper Tigers (1993)
  • Why Did the Underwear Cross the Road (1994)
  • The Chicken Doesn't Skate (1996)
  • Liar, Liar Pants on Fire (1997)
  • The Sixth Grade Nickname Game (1998)
  • No More Dead Dogs (2000)
  • Maxx Comedy: The Funniest Kid in America (2003)
  • Jake, Reinvented (2003)
  • Born To Rock (2006)
  • Schooled (2007)
  • The Juvie Three (2008)
  • Pop (2009)
  • Restart (2017)
  • Whatshisface (2018)
  • The Unteachables (2019)
  • Notorious (2019)
  • War Stories (2020)
  • Unplugged (2021)
  • Linked (2021)
  • Operation Do-Over (2022)
  • The Fort (2022)
  • The Superteacher Project (2023)
  • Mixed Up (2023)
  • Slugfest (2024)
  • Faker (2024)
  • Old School (2025)
  • Snoop (2025)

Book Series

Gordon Korman has written many popular book series. Here are some of them:

Macdonald Hall Series

This is the series that started it all!

Bugs Potter Series

  • Who is Bugs Potter? (1980)
  • Bugs Potter LIVE at Nickaninny (1983)

Jeremy Bloom Series

  • The D− Poems of Jeremy Bloom: A Collection of Poems About School, Homework, and Life (Sort Of) (1992)
  • The Last-Place Sports Poems of Jeremy Bloom: A Collection of Poems About Winning, Losing, and Being a Good Sport (Sometimes) (1996)

Monday Night Football Club Series

  • The Quarterback Exchange: I Was John Elway (1997)
  • Running Back Conversion: I Was Barry Sanders (1997)
  • Super Bowl Switch: I Was Dan Marino (1997)
  • Heavy Artillery: I Was Junior Seau (1997)
  • Ultimate Scoring Machine: I Was Jerry Rice (1998)
  • NFL Rules! Bloopers, Pranks, Upsets, and Touchdowns (1998)

Slapshots Series

  • The Stars From Mars (1999)
  • The Dream Team (formerly The All-Mars All-Stars) (1999)
  • The Face-off Phony (2000)
  • Cup Crazy (2000)
  • Slapshots: The Complete Collection (4-in-1, 2008)

Nose Pickers Series

  • Nose Pickers from Outer Space! (1999)
  • Planet of the Nose Pickers (2000)
  • Your Mummy Is a Nose Picker (2000)
  • Invasion of the Nose Pickers (2001)
  • The Ultimate Nose-Picker Collection (4-in-1, 2006)

Island Series

  • Shipwreck (2001)
  • Survival (2001)
  • Escape (2001)
  • Island Trilogy Bind-Up Book (3-in-1, 2006)

Son of the Mob Series

Dive Series

  • The Discovery (2003)
  • The Deep (2003)
  • The Danger (2003)

On the Run Series

  • Chasing the Falconers (2005)
  • The Fugitive Factor (2005)
  • Now You See Them, Now You Don't (2005)
  • The Stowaway Solution (2005)
  • Public Enemies (2005)
  • Hunting the Hunter (2006)

Kidnapped Series

  • The Abduction (2006)
  • The Search (2006)
  • The Rescue (2006)

The 39 Clues Series

Gordon Korman contributed to this popular series with other authors.

Swindle Series

Titanic Series

  • Unsinkable (2011)
  • Collision Course (2011)
  • S.O.S (2011)

Ungifted Series

Everest Series

  • The Contest (2002)
  • The Climb (2002)
  • The Summit (2002)

Hypnotists Series

  • The Hypnotists (2013)
  • Memory Maze (2014)
  • The Dragonfly Effect (2015)

Slacker Series

  • Slacker (2016)
  • Level 13: A Slacker Novel (2019)

Masterminds Series

  • Masterminds (2015)
  • Masterminds: Criminal Destiny (2016)
  • Masterminds: Payback (2017)

Books Made into TV Shows and Movies

Some of Gordon Korman's amazing books have been turned into TV shows and movies!

The Jersey TV Series

His Monday Night Football Club series became a Disney Channel TV show called The Jersey. This show was on TV for four years, from 1999 to 2004.

Swindle Movie

The book Swindle was made into a movie. It aired on Nickelodeon in 2013.

Bruno & Boots Miniseries

Three books from the Macdonald Hall series were adapted into a miniseries called "Bruno & Boots." These books were Go Jump in the Pool, This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall, and The War with Mr. Wizzle (which was called The Wizzle War for the show). The miniseries starred Jonny Gray, Callan Potter, and Peter Keleghan. The first part, Go Jump In The Pool, premiered on April 1, 2016, on the Canadian TV network YTV. The other two parts aired on YTV the next year on the same day.

Other books that have been considered for movies or TV shows include No Coins, Please, I Want to Go Home, the Island trilogy, and The Twinkie Squad.

Awards and Special Recognition

Gordon Korman has won many awards for his books. Here are some of them:

  • He received the Air Canada Award for promising authors in Canada when he was just 17 years old.
  • In 1991, he won the Manitoba Young Reader's Choice Award for The Zucchini Warriors. Schoolchildren in Manitoba chose this award.
  • His book The Toilet Paper Tigers was recognized by the American Library Association (ALA) in 1999 as a Popular Paperback for Young Adults.
  • In 2001, the ALA also recognized Losing Joe's Place and The Chicken Doesn't Skate as Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults.
  • Son of the Mob was named one of the ALA Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults in 2003.
  • In 2003, he won the Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice Award for No More Dead Dogs. This award is chosen by schoolchildren in the Pacific Northwest.
  • Jake Reinvented was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults in 2004.
  • Son of the Mob won the PNLA Young Reader's Choice Award again in 2005.
  • Schooled won the PNLA Young Reader's Choice Award in 2010.
  • Swindle won the Charlie May Simon Children's Book Award in 2010–2011, chosen by schoolchildren in Arkansas.
  • Zoobreak won the Charlie May Simon Award in 2011–2012.
  • He received the Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature in 2016.
  • Restart won the Young Hoosier Book Award (Intermediate) in 2020.
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