Hypnotize Me (The Hypnotists #1)

Librarian Fail. I never read a Gordon Korman book.  I recommend the heck out of him to boys looking for something that will interest them...but have never, ever looked at anything more than the spine (okay, maybe the cover) of a Korman book.  However, when Scholastic sent me an ARC for the first in a new series called The Hypnotists, I figured I should give it a shot...and I'm so very glad I did.

Jackson Opus is twelve years old, and has always been persuasive.  He won the student council election without even running, he got the other team's star basketball player to shoot like a toddler, and can get any bus to stop for him.  What he doesn't realize is, he's descended from a long line of very talented hypnotists.  When he's accepted into the esteemed Sentia institute, he's very excited- and his parents are very proud. Soon he's learning to bend minds, and his best friend Tommy thinks it's the coolest thing ever! However, things are darker and deeper than they seem, and soon Jax is in over his head. Will Jax be able to control his powers, or will Sentia control him?

This is a great read, especially for middle-grade boys.  I'd say probably 3rd-7th.  The dialogue is funny, and there's just enough challenging vocabulary to make it educational, too.  The characters are well-written, and not just one-dimensional.  There are some great moments of hypnotism gone awry- one of my favorites occurs in the school cafeteria, and also some heart-stopping action-y moments.  

I'm always on the lookout for books to sell to boys.  It's not that I'm not on the lookout for books to sell to girls, too, but, truthfully, girls are an easier sell.  Girls don't care, usually, about the gender of the protagonist, etc.  I think boys definitely love stories about guys their own age being chosen to do extraordinary things (like Horowitz's Alex Rider series, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, even the 39 Clues series...which also has books written by Korman!)  

Full of action and adventure, fantasy, and humor, this book gets two thumbs up from me!  There's even some political intrigue thrown in for good measure!








Hypnotize Me (The Hypnotists #1) is published by Scholastic.  ARC provided by publisher.
Release Date: 08.2013