Schooled (novel) facts for kids
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| Author | Gordon Korman |
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| Cover artist | Ellice M.Lee |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English (America) |
| Genre | Children's novel |
| Publisher | Scholastic |
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Publication date
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2007 |
| Media type | NotPrint |
| Pages | 208 |
| ISBN | 978-1-4231-0516-9 |
Schooled is a 2007 children's novel by Gordon Korman.
Plot Summary
The plot begins with Capricorn Anderson, nicknamed "Cap," being arrested for driving without a license. When questioned, Cap tells the arresting officer that he was driving his grandmother, Rain to the hospital after she injured herself climbing a tree. When questioned further, Cap tells the police that he and Rain are hippies living on Garland Farm; a far-removed hippie commune with no telephone service. Rain's injury requires her to undergo physical therapy for two months, leaving Capricorn without a caretaker, or a teacher, being homeschooled. With no other choice, Capricorn is sent to a social worker to be placed in a temporary home. The social worker, Flora Donnelly, also being a former resident of Garland Farm, realizes that she herself is the best person to look after Capricorn and takes him into her home instead. This decision is to the ire of her teenage daughter Sophie, who finds Cap abnormal and potentially disruptive to her social life, dubbing him "Freakazoid." Flora enrolls Cap in Claverage Middle School as an eighth grader in the meantime while Rain recovers.
At Claverage Middle, (dubbed C Average by the student body) Cap is bewildered by modern student life, finding himself completely unfamiliar with most social situations and convivences. On his first day, he meets eighth grade bully and jock Zach Powers, who singles him out as a target for the school's biggest prank; to elect the most unpopular student as Eighth Grade President, and beset the victim with impossible demands and other tasks, causing failures and nervous breakdowns. Cap also meets Hugh Winkleman, a social outcast at school, and befriends him. When Zach gets Cap nominated without his knowledge, Hugh decides to let it happen, knowing he would have been nominated instead, and Cap becomes the eighth grade president at C Average. Flora is informed of this by the vice principal, Frank Kasigi, and Sophie tells her that Capricorn is being pranked, likely due to his abnormal appearance and nature. Flora, realizing that Cap's obliviousness to social life and bullying protects him from the brunt of the abuse, reluctantly keeps silent. Meanwhile, Zach advances his plans to prank and cause Cap to break down, enlisting the majority of the students; one of whom is Naomi, a girl with a crush on Zach. She writes Cap fake love letters to get Zach's approval, but begins to find herself drawn to Cap. He is unaffected however, due to his pacifistic beliefs and zen-inspired mindset. He merely believes the abnormal happenings around him to be normal, and any inconveniences are unrelated. Cap carries on as usual, practicing Tai Chi on the school's front lawn and playing songs from the sixties on the guitar in the music room.
During a bus ride home, the driver has a heart attack and Cap steps up to drive the bus to the hospital, saving the driver's life and impressing the students on board. Capricorn is arrested for driving without a license, but Flora gets him released. Despite disapproval from adults and the authorities, Cap gains newfound popularity at C Average, causing Zach's plan to ultimately backfire. The students, including the popular kids, begin to genuinely admire Cap, and begin to practice Tai Chi with him and listen to his music. They also offer to help him with planning events, including the popular Halloween Dance. Kasigi gives Cap signed checks to pay for the planning, but Cap, oblivious to the fact that money can run out, begins to sign checks liberally, donating to charities and earning him even more popularity. He also uses the school's money to buy a belated birthday gift for Sophie, pretending it's a gift from absent father Bill, and also gives her driving lessons when Bill flakes on Sophie yet again. Hugh however, becomes resentful and jealous of Cap's popularity, especially when being Cap's best friend doesn't improve his outcast status. He becomes furious with Cap after he inadvertently rubs in the fact that Hugh isn't liked at school, and then gets into a relationship with Naomi. Zach is also resentful of Cap stealing his popularity, and uses Hugh's anger to his advantage in an unlikely team-up to take revenge. During a pep rally, Hugh and Zach dress Cap as a player on C Average's rival football team and send him out to the field to be tackled by the entire football team. When Zach's best friend Darryl realizes the former's involvement and that he was used, he angrily confronts Zach and attempts to punch him, only for Cap to throw himself in front of the blow in an attempt to stop the fight. Cap is picked up in an ambulance containing Rain, who has recovered and takes him out of school and back to Garland Farm.
Kasigi and Flora discover Cap's misspending of the school's money, and the former cancels the Halloween Dance. This, along with the circumstances of Cap's removal from school, and lack of further information, leads to rumors that Cap died as a result of his injuries. Zach and Hugh, now vilified by the students because of their plan to hurt Cap, come up with a new plan to save face by holding a "memorial service" for Cap in lieu of the cancelled Halloween Dance. Back on Garland, Cap begins to miss modern student life, much to Rain's chagrin. He decides to head back to see the Halloween Dance, oblivious as ever. He is picked up by Sophie, who has passed her driving exam and feels remorseful of her scornful behavior towards him, having realized who her belated gift came from. Cap and Sophie discover the memorial to him, and Cap reveals himself to the students, who become overjoyed with his return. He tells the students his time at C Average is over, and performs the impressive feat of saying goodbye to each individual student, having memorized all of their names. This impresses even Zach, who also begins to appreciate Hugh for standing by him. Before he departs, Flora lectures Rain about the fallibility of the hippie lifestyle, noting how Cap misspent the school's money and how Rain cannot sustain him forever. Having said his goodbyes, Cap goes back to Garland with Rain.
Later, Cap is arrested once again for driving on Garland Farm without a license, and is told that he no longer has permission to drive on the property because Rain no longer owns Garland, having sold it. She tells Cap that Flora was right, and that her accident was a wake-up call to make sure Cap is taken care of, knowing she won't live forever. She reassures Cap however, that she has not completely sold out on the ideals of the sixties. She tells him that she sold Garland for seventeen million dollars, and that she has bought a condo for the two to live in, and has taken inspiration from Cap's actions with the school's money to create a charitable foundation. In the meantime while she oversees the transactions, she tells Cap that he'll be staying with the Donnellys again, and that he'll be able to return to C Average. Cap is overjoyed, noting that he already knows everyone's names.
