Hidden Talents

Rating:
Summary: Hidden Talents
Review: I really liked this book because of the psychic elements in it. It's a very original concept. Martin gets sent to the end of the line, and along with other social dropout kids, discovers that he has mental powers. The most intriguing part of it is that these powers are the things that got them kicked out of all the schools in the first place. Little by little, their powers start to emerge, in a very clever way. I recommend this book because it really makes you think.

Rating:
Summary: Hidden Talent
Review: I think that the book is realy good. I realy like action books that have a lot of fighting in it. That is why I put the rate as a 3 star. You should have a little more action in the book. My favorie charecter is Torchie, I like that he is not a bad person in the book. You should realy make a move for the book. It might be a hit to all the people who read the book. Maybe to the people that haven't read the book. Other than the school being realy weird in a sence, the book is my favorite non
action book.I think that Bloodbath should not have been so mean in the book. If he was nicer he might have had a lot of friends.

Rating:
Summary: Loved it, loved it, loved it!
Review: If you liked Holes by Louis Sachar, you will love this book! You will really come to know and like Martin and his friends, empathisize with them, and root them on. Great cast of characters from the teachers, the students, etc. As a matter of fact, this would make a great movie!

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Summary: A book for people who think they don't have talents.
Review: If you're down in the mouth, and you believe you have no talents, read this awesome book. In Hidden Talents these kids are sent to an alternative school for things they say they didn't do. Martin is the new guy and thinks that everyone has a talent. They don't believe him. He's a loner. If you don't think you have a talent, you might discover you do. --Jacob Virzi, Matthew McMinn and Brandon Stover in Ms. Marik's 6th grade class

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book for all ages.
Review: It's all about a boy who gets sent to a school with tons of kids that have been rejected from other schools. This boy Martin makes friends with other friends who are truly good, but secretly have powers that get them in trouble. Coming here causes Martin to realize his true talent and helps him lead a better life. In the end, he realizes what is truly important to him and tries to set everything right that he had set wrong before.

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Summary: The Best Book Ever
Review: Martin Anderson entered his new school, Edgeview, where the students have problems in their city public schools. He began to wonder if he wouldn't get homesick from being so far from home. Phillip, his roommate, meets him, who takes him up to their room and gives him a tour around and introduces the school. He slowly begins to feel calm until the next day, when he starts his lessons.
Things started out bad for Martin the next day. His new friends took him to each of their classes and told him about each teacher. He kept on talking back to the teacher and driving them crazy. His trouble was his mouth, saying the wrong words to his teachers. Martin wants to keep his mouth shut, but it seemed as if his mouth was in power. But he found out that he and his friends were different. They were bodily different. They each had power of something, a gift that they thought they never had. This talent has given them power to rule the school and to have victory in every difficulty they had. But could they save their school, which was going to be moved?
The reason I like this book is because I like adventures. This book is interesting to read because it seemed like a talent everyone wants. The powers to read minds, move objects with minds, see the future, etc. This is the first book I read with these kinds or talents and being victorious.
My favorite part was when they finally discovered their special talents. At first, they seemed a little disappointed to be different from others, but they learned to deal with it. How can someone so terrible that got expelled from 5 different schools turn out to be a hero? It is the first time to read a book about the evil person to become the hero at the end. That's why I think this book is a incredible adventure book.

Rating:
Summary: Hidden Talents
Review: Martin Anderson needs to find a way to stay in Edgeview, (Alternative School). Because he's been transfered from so many schools, that he needs to go to an alternative school, so he was sent to Edgeview. Martin doesn't like his new school very much, but he likes the kids that he's meeting. He's on the way; he just
made a new friend named Torchie.And he meets a kid named Bloodbath, his real name is Lester, (Lester Bloodbath), but everyone calls him by his last ame or else. Martin wants to stay away from him he doesn't want to get into any trouble.

In my opinion, I think that Hidden Talents was one of the best books that I have ever read. It's loaded with humor and action, great for book reports just like the one your reading right now. The author of this book is David Lubar. And as some of you may know the title is "Hidden Talents".

I met David Lubar at my school. He's a pretty nice guy. He had a lot of confidence and determination to become a writer.

Rating:
Summary: Accepting Hidden Talents
Review: The book Hidden Talents by David Lubar is a story of six boys who have been kicked out of every school they have ever been in. For different reasons that are normal to troubled young people they have all wound up at Edgeview Alternative School where they meet and become friends. The character that this book centers around is Martin. The other five boys, "Torchie", "Cheater", "Trash", "Flinch", and "Lucky" were at the school prior to Martin's arrival, however, it is when Martin arrives and notices something strange about his new friends that everything starts to get interesting. As Martin goes about his daily routine of getting yelled at by teachers and avoiding the bully, "Bloodbath", he observes that his newfound friends act slightly differently than the average kids. Eventually he does some studying on what he thinks are their conditions and confronts them with the possibilities. Appalled by the thought that they might be as "freakish" as Martin suggests, the other boys shun him. He is eventually reconciled to them as they band together to use their special gifts to save the school from being destroyed by "Bloodbath" and closed by the Board of Education. In the end it is Martin's own "hidden talent" that he did not even notice that saves the day, and the school.

The themes of this book are very applicable to many young people, I believe. The major theme that can be seen throughout the story is that everyone should accept their differences. The importance of doing so is shown through another theme of working together and synergy. When the boys finally accept their "hidden talents" and strengthen them, they are able to use them as a group to perform a task that they never would have been able to do on their own. At first the boys were afraid of being different and being seen differently, but when they realized that being different is not a bad thing then everything is better than ever between them. Each one of them has a part in the final conflict that is very important and leads to the final resolution.

What was most striking about this book was a few stylistic things that Lubar chose to include. The most obvious thing is the addition of small pieces of writing such as school assignments or notes at the end of each chapter. These little notes give us as readers an insight into the inner mind of one of the characters, a foreshadowing of things to come, or a clarification of events that have already occurred. One such example occurs in two chapters toward the end of the book. There is a short assignment written by "Lucky" saying that people like him because he is a generous boy and such. In the following chapter we see that perhaps "Cheater" does have a special power to read peoples' minds as he writes the exact same thing for his assignment. Another stylistic thing that Lubar does is he keeps the chapters short. I was very impressed at how he brought small pieces of information into each chapter and then moved on to another chapter while at the same time keeping the pace of the story going. I also liked how he introduced characters to the story. Lubar does a very good job of easing characters in to the story and giving the impression that there is something special about them without beating the reader over the head with this fact. He hides the "gifts" of each student behind a normal characteristic that a troubled child would have and then later brings it out as a positive thing. It is little stylistic things such as these that help make Hidden Talents stand apart from a typical story for this age.

As I read Hidden Talents by David Lubar, I was reminded of another school for special students who were outcasts from normal society, the X Men. This being said, there are many differences between this story and the X Men, but I can see how a young reader would equate the two and feel an impulse to continue on with the book because of it. I would recommend this book for young adults because they could connect with the boys in the story and what they are going through. Because the story is based around six boys as the main characters, I think this is a book more suited for the male population, but not exclusively. Hidden Talents is a book that combines good lessons and strong moral value with an enjoyable plot to create a book that I would recommend to any reader who likes a story that breaks a little bit from reality.

Rating:
Summary: Best Book Ever!
Review: This is one of the best books I've read in my life! An extremely clever concept! I read it in 3 days, and one of my friends read it in 1 night. This is a great book for boys and girls ages 9-19! Hooray for Hidden Talents!

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Summary: Fine misadventures of youth
Review: When it comes to adult authority. junior high school student Martin Anderson cannot keep his mouth shut as he rejects the constant advice with smart answers and insults. He has been expelled from six schools, the boy scouts, and the little league. He rides the bus to his final destination the prison-like Edgeview Alternative School, an institution used to lock up the violent and other losers (where is Pink Floyd when you need them?)

Martin realizes he must be on the cutting edge to survive the ready fists of bully Bloodbath and the shock therapy of Warden, (make that Principal) Davis. On the plus side Martin meets four fellow weirdoes with special psychic powers. Torchy lights fires without matches or lighters; Cheater copies test answers from anyone sitting anywhere; Lucky steals anything; and Trash trashes stuff. Martin believes his only power is what adults label acerbic while he would say satirical tongue. The five losers band together as Martin discovers his HIDDEN TALENTS and try to stop a plot to shut the school of last resort down.

Though the climax seems out of character for the magnificent five, the Harry Potter crowd will enjoy their misadventures. The quintet is at their diabolical best when they interrelate with one another. Although much of the key secondary cast seems stereotypical, readers will enjoy sharing a pizza with Martin's beleaguered parents as they and the young audience will wonder what will he do or say next.

Harriet Klausner