Saturday, 5 April 2025

Gordon Korman Children’s Storytellers - Chris Bowman

Gordon Korman Children’s Storytellers
Chris Bowman
Blastoff! Readers
Bellweather Media
ISBN 9781626176485
eISBN 9781681033785

Gordon Korman Children’s Storytellers - Chris Bowman

I stumbled upon this volume while working on a review of a book by Korman. I could not read as a kid because of a dual form of dyslexia and have been working my way through Korman’s complete canon, currently a little over half way through. I have read one other bio of Korman, from the Remarkable Writers Series Gordon Korman by Sheelagh Matthews. I admit I much preferred that volume to this. In some ways this feels like a scaled back Coles Notes version of the volume by Matthews. But I am glad I tracked it down and gave it a read.

Description of this volume states:

“Did you know that Gordon Kormans mom typed his first book for him? This is because Gordon became a published author before he even graduated high school! This author profile for children introduces the lifelong writer responsible for sending troublemakers Boots and Bruno to Macdonald Hall.”

The chapters in the book are:

Who Is Gordon Korman?
An Early Start
No Slacker
A Writing Mastermind
Going on Adventures
Still Busy Writing
Glossary
To Learn More
Index

There were a few facts in this volume I had not encountered before, such as:

“Gordon’s mom typed his first book for him.”  

And I loved the quote:

“I love my job. The way I see it, I get paid for making things up – something I used to do for free.”

I do wish however that the quotes had been attributed to be able to search the sources. 

Overall it was an interesting read. But as mentioned there is a better option.  

Gordon Korman Children’s Storytellers - Chris Bowman Sample 1

Gordon Korman Children’s Storytellers - Chris Bowman Sample 2

Gordon Korman Children’s Storytellers - Chris Bowman Sample 3

Books by Gordon Korman:
MacDonald Hall Series:
         (formerly The War With Mr. Wizzle)
Light’s Camera, Disaster (1991)
          (aka Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood)
The Jokes on Us (1995)
          (formerly Something Fishy at Macdonald Hall)

Bugs Potter Series:

Jeremy Bloom Series:
The D−Poems of Jeremy Bloom (1992)
The Last-Place Sports Poems of Jeremy Bloom (1996)

Monday Night Football Series:
The Quarterback Exchange (1997)
Running Back Conversion (1997)
Super Bowl Switch (1997)
Heavy Artillery (1997)
Ultimate Scoring Machine (1998)
NFL Rules! Bloopers, Pranks, Upsets, and Touchdowns (1998)

Masterminds Series:
Masterminds (2015)

Slapshots Series:
The Stars From Mars (1999)
All-Mars All-Stars/The Dream Team (1999)
The Face-off Phony (2000)
Cup Crazy (2000)
Ouch I got slapped (2023)
4-in-1 Slapshots: The Complete Collection (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)
4-in-1 The Ultimate Nose-Picker Collection (2006)

Island Series:
Shipwreck (2001)
Survival (2001)
Escape (2001)
3-in-1 Island Trilogy Collection (2006)

Son of the Mob Series:
Son of the Mob 2: Hollywood Hustle (2004)

Everest Series:
The Contest (2002)
The Climb (2002)
The Summit (2002)
Everest Trilogy Box Set (2002)

Dive Series:
The Discovery (2003)
The Deep (2003)
The Danger (2003)

On the Run Series:
The Stowaway Solution (2005)
Public Enemies (2005)
Hunting the Hunter (2006)

Kidnapped Series:
The Search (2006)
The Rescue (2006)

Swindle Series:
Swindle (2008)
Zoobreak (2009)
Framed (2010)
Showoff (2012)
Hideout (2013)
Jackpot (2014)
Unleashed (2015)
Jingle (2016)

Titanic Series:
Unsinkable (2011)
Collision Course (2011)
S.O.S (2011)

The 39 Clues Series:
Vespers Rising (2011)
The Medusa Plot (2011)
Flashpoint (2014)

Hypnotists Series:
The Hypnotists (2013)
Memory Maze (2014)
The Dragonfly Effect (2015)

Ungifted Series:
Ungifted (2012)
Supergifted (2018)

Slacker Series:
Slacker (2016)
Level 13 (2019)
...

Non Series Books:
Maxx Comedy: The Funniest Kid in America (2003)
Born To Rock (2006)
Schooled (2007)
Pop (2009)
Restart (2017)
Notorious (2019)
War Stories (2020)
Game On (contains The Chicken Doesn’t Skate and The Toilet Paper Tigers (2021)
Unplugged (2021)
Linked (2021)
The Fort (2022)






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