Gordon Korman. Slugfest. Balzer + Bray, 2024.

For a shorter review see:Slugfest by Gordon Korman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Slugfest is another Gordon Korman funfest. Like many of his novels such as Ungifted, it is a fish out of water story, and much of the humor stems from that.

Summer school at Robinette Middle School is for the people who have problems with their subject. A new state law requires that all students pass eighth grade physical education to enter high school in the fall. The students who did not pass gym class, then, have to take phys ed for summer school. if they want to go on to high school.

Now, this does include some of the usual suspects: Kaden, the brainy, but uncoordinated victim of teasing; Arabella, who proudly has skipped gym for three years; the Fidelio twins, Stuart and Sarah, who spent so much time fighting each other in class that they lost credit for not participating; and practical joker Jesse, who flunked after a prank of his flooded the locker room. The middle schoolers call the summer PE students the slugs: stereotyped as slow and lazy and lacking strength.

But the class also includes two athletes. Cleo broke her foot in a skiing accident and missed too many gym classes while she was in rehab. Because of the seriousness of her injury, she has sworn off sports. And then there is Arnold Yashenko. “Yash” was a star quarterback for the high school junior varsity team. If anything, he did more athletics than most of his classmates, but in order to make it to football practice at the high school, he was allowed to miss his last period class. Guess what his last period class was?

There is a great sense of injustice or unfairness among the slugs, especially with the new state requirement. Arabella signs up for an extra credit summer class in journalism. The teacher is a local television reporter who became famous in the town for exposing a car wash that cut corners. Arabella wants to somehow expose unfairness in the summer school program. And she thinks she may have the goods on Mrs. Finnerty, the retired second grade and home economics teacher who is doing the summer gym class.

Her problem is that everyone likes Mrs. Finnerty. Yes, she does have them do elementary school games like duck-duck-goose sometimes, but she is really sweet and every day she brings delicious desserts. Even Arabella likes her, she just does not think taking the class is fair.

Meanwhile, prankster Jesse has developed some fake news regarding toilets. For his journalism project, he wants to see if his social media posting gets any traction.

Things get complicated for Yash. Sure, he does fine in the gym class, but while he is taking summer school, the rest of next fall’s J.V. football team is practicing. Even though he played for the coach last fall, the coach refuses to let him come late to practice. He learns that there is a new kid in town who is every bit as good a quarterback as he is. That newcomer already has a nickname, Nitro Nate. Even Yash’s two best friends on the team become more distant as Nate’s speed and skills impress the whole team.

As with so many of Korman’s stories, the mixed ensemble cast provides a lot of humor and conflict. At the same time, the kids each in their own way try to make the best of a bad situation. But it takes time. And they have a lot to teach each other. Slugfest is a lot of fun.

What will Arabella do about her research on Nate and Mrs. Finnerty? Will Jesse’s big prank work this time and give him credit in the journalism class? Watch how Yash learns to play the twins off each other to get them to play football. And Kaden really is a poor athlete, but he can instruct Yash on the best trajectory for a football pass.

And there is a big climax that affects everyone. It may not be the same as a truckload of Vuvuzelas floating down the river as in The Unteachables, but it is fun with a purpose. Gordon Korman has crazily creative mind.