Gordon Korman’s Ungifted drops an impulsive “average” kid into a school for prodigies, forcing two very different worlds—Hardcastle Middle and the Academy for Scholastic Distinction (ASD)—to collide. Through robotics showdowns, hallway politics, and a district-wide manhunt, the cast tests what giftedness really looks like and how unlikely friendships can rewire a community.
Main Characters
Donovan Curtis
Donovan Curtis is the impulsive prankster whose disastrous run-in with a statue accidentally lands him at ASD, where he tries to stay invisible to the superintendent while becoming indispensable to the robotics team. Though he lacks traditional academic “gifts,” he brings creativity, loyalty, and social intuition—naming and deftly driving the team’s robot, Tin Man Metallica Squarepants, and giving his brilliant classmates a bridge to the “normal” world. His closest connections at ASD are with Chloe and Noah, while Abigail is his sharpest critic; outside school, the Daniels tug him back toward old habits, and his pregnant sister Katie grounds him in real-life stakes. Over the course of the novel, Donovan learns to own his choices, discovers the value of his unconventional strengths, and becomes the team’s “heart and soul,” redefining what success looks like.
Dr. Schultz
Dr. Schultz is the rule-obsessed superintendent whose clerical mistake enrolls Donovan at ASD, turning him into the book’s dogged antagonist. Determined to protect the district’s reputation, he hunts for the gym-destroying “culprit” while juggling administrative fires that make him curt, anxious, and blind to nuance. His relationship to Donovan is a tense cat-and-mouse chase, and his view of the Academy swings between pride and exasperation as the robotics team invites chaos along with achievement. By the end, Schultz is pushed to recognize the students’ humanity—and Donovan’s loyalty—showing that even rigid systems can bend toward fairness.
Chloe Garfinkle
Chloe Garfinkle is a brilliant ASD student who craves a “normal” teen life and immediately recognizes Donovan’s value beyond grades. Warm, curious, and perceptive, she acts as a welcoming committee for him, translating between hyper-academic peers and everyday experiences like dances and school spirit. She often clashes with Abigail’s single-minded competitiveness, but her friendship with Donovan helps her build confidence and balance, proving she can be both gifted and socially fulfilled. Chloe’s openness is the social glue that helps the team become a community rather than a collection of geniuses.
Noah Youkilis
Noah Youkilis is ASD’s super-genius, so unstoppably bright that he tries to fail for the novelty of it. Literal-minded and bored, he’s electrified by Donovan’s unpredictability—YouTube rabbit holes, wrestling, and all the messy surprises that can’t be graphed or solved. He wants out of the gifted track to taste “normal,” but his bond with Donovan teaches him that uncertainty is its own worthy challenge. Noah’s proudest moment is being proven wrong about Katie’s baby, which opens him to possibility and shows that life’s best lessons aren’t on a syllabus.
Abigail Lee
Abigail Lee captains the robotics team with laser focus, measuring worth in points, ranks, and results—and initially sees Donovan as dead weight. Competitive, serious, and pragmatic, she resents his presence but grudgingly acknowledges his essential role in the team’s success and her classmates’ growth. Her rivalry with Chloe sharpens the book’s debate over what giftedness should mean—excellence at all costs, or excellence balanced with joy and humanity. Abigail’s quiet turning point—bending rules for the team’s greater good—reveals a leader learning to value strengths that don’t fit a spreadsheet.
Supporting Characters
Katie Patterson
Katie Patterson is Donovan’s pregnant sister, whose sarcasm and steady common sense tether the ASD kids to real life when she becomes their Human Growth and Development “project.” She forms a heartfelt bond with the team as their “birthing crew,” and her labor catalyzes the story’s climax, entwining school stakes with family urgency.
Mr. Osborne
Mr. Osborne (“Oz”) runs ASD’s robotics program with patience and warmth, mentoring the students to find strengths beyond test scores. He suspects Donovan isn’t conventionally gifted but champions him anyway, modeling a humane approach to education that values teamwork and character alongside IQ.
The Daniels (Daniel Sanderson and Daniel Nussbaum)
The Daniels are Donovan’s chaos-loving best friends from Hardcastle Middle who dare him into his worst impulses and mock ASD’s seriousness. They symbolize the pull of Donovan’s old life and act as foils to the Academy kids, yet they ultimately prove loyal by helping the team reach the robotics meet.
Minor Characters
- Ms. Bevelaqua: ASD’s skeptical math teacher who’s convinced Donovan cheated on a retest and mounts an investigation to prove it.
- Donovan’s Parents: Overjoyed by the idea of a “gifted” son, they unintentionally pressure Donovan to maintain the lie until his father ultimately prioritizes honesty and support.
- Brad Patterson: Katie’s husband, a deployed Marine whose absence heightens family stress and underscores the story’s real-world responsibilities.
- Beatrice: Brad’s pregnant chow chow who dislikes Katie but adores Donovan, starring in his initially misguided science project.
- Mr. Del Rio: The principal of ASD, managing the school’s high-wire balance of brilliance and bureaucracy.
Character Relationships & Dynamics
The heartbeat of Ungifted is the evolving bond between Donovan and the ASD robotics team. At first an outsider, he wins them over not with code but with creativity, humor, and joystick finesse, transforming their robot into a mascot and their classroom into a team. Chloe’s warmth amplifies his acceptance; Noah’s fascination turns friendship into a mutual education; and even Abigail, the skeptic-in-chief, learns to factor Donovan’s social intelligence into the team’s success equation.
The novel also contrasts cultures: ASD’s hyper-achievement and awkwardness versus Hardcastle’s rough-and-tumble normalcy. That tension peaks at the Valentine’s dance, where the Daniels’ taunts force Donovan to choose—he sides with his new friends, proving that belonging is built, not assigned. Later, at the robotics competition, the Academy kids echo Donovan’s rebellious spirit, showing how influence runs both ways.
Adult figures shape the field of play. Mr. Osborne nurtures the team’s sense of purpose and community, creating space for kids like Donovan to matter; Dr. Schultz’s relentless crackdown tests that growth, only to yield when he recognizes the students’ loyalty and grit. Together, these relationships demonstrate the book’s central insight: a community thrives when it values many kinds of smarts—and makes room for the unpredictable.