Release Date: July 30, 2013
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Goodreads page
This review describes an uncorrected proof. The published version may be different.
Who hasn't wished that they could overpower the minds of lesser men by giving them a good hard stare? How many of us have actually tried it? (I have.) In Hypnotize Me, Jax Opus learns that this might not be as great a gift as it sounds. He discovers that he is the world's most powerful natural hypnotist, and then becomes enmeshed in the plots and counterplots of rival hypnotist societies. Danger escalates to the point that Jax has to psychically battle an evil mastermind for the future of America!!
Gordon Korman always delivers. Every book of his has interesting characters, an exciting plot, and buckets of cheesy joy. Korman's books are not trying to teach you life lessons or make you a better person; they just want to have a good time. My students have embraced this attitude. They can sense that Korman respects them as readers and won't patronize them. This author may be in no danger of winning a Newbery, but he deserves a medal for encouraging literacy among reluctant readers.
The plot of this book, which reads like a junior version of Scanners, is a slam-dunk for any tweens and teens who dream of limitless power. The clearly-drawn characters draw strong reactions and make the events more exciting. I have no doubt that this will be another popular addition to my Gordon Korman shelf. (The current king of that shelf is Born to Rock.)
Reading as an adult, I enjoyed the ride and finished it within twelve hours of getting my advance copy. There are also some parts of the book that bugged me, although most of them would go unnoticed by the target audience. For example, Korman uses the phrases "soldier on" and "sucked the air out of the room" a few too many times, and it makes the prose feel rushed. The editors might catch that before the final copy comes out, though.
Jax' naiveté got a little old. Korman lays on so much foreshadowing that the reader sees the next plot twist far before Jax does, which makes him come across as kind of dense.
The most significant gap concerns the supporting characters. After developing the other hypnotist characters at Sentia, Korman just abandons them two thirds of the way through the book. I was curious about Augie and Kyra, and I wanted to know which side they would choose in the final showdown. I was looking forward to it, but then they just didn't show up! It's not even clear whether they'll be in the sequel. It would be helpful if Scholastic put a tag on the end that said something like, "Find out what's next for Jax, his family, and the rest of the Sentia students in the Hypnotists, Book 2!"
I recommend this book to anyone who likes Korman's other books. The Korman fans at my school tend to be people who like laughing, don't take themselves too seriously, and enjoy reading a good yarn. More specifically, I would recommend this book to anyone who has wondered what it would be like to have a super power. Cheers!
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