The Gifted School

The Gifted School

Adult/book club fiction
When I was a kid growing up in Beverly, Massachusetts there
wasn't really talk about school choice. It was pretty much cut and
dried. The rich kids from the better neighborhoods went to the
exclusive and pricey private schools. The Catholic kids went to the
parochial schools with the dreaded ruler-wielding nuns. The rest of
us walked or bussed to a neighborhood school.
By the time I was raising kids of my own and serving on school
committee things had become a lot more complex. Charter schools,
varying widely in quality, were proliferating, drawing students (and
funding) from the public schools which were (and still are) the only
educational entities mandated to accept more challenging and
challenged students. In cities and towns all over Maine (and probably
all over America) a new crop of moral and ethical questions was being
debated or swept under the rug. Bruce Holsinger's The Gifted School
explores these issues within the reader friendly format of a well
written novel.
The central characters, whose narratives appear alternately, are
four women who have been friends for eleven years, ever since they met
in a baby swim class, and their families.
*Rose, a doctor, is still (but shakily) married to househusband Gareth
who hasn't been able to write anything since his one published novel.
Their daughter, Emma Q, is besties with another Emma,
*Emma Z, who is the daughter of Sam(antha), stay at home mom and wife
of Kev, a wealthy professional who is also big in town government.
*Azra and ex husband, Beck, have split custody of their soccer star
twins, Charlie and Aiden. Both are entrepreneurs. Beck is having
trouble with a second marriage.
*Widowed Lauren is a social worker. High school daughter, Tessa, is
working her way back into the group's good graces. She has a vlog the
adults should actually pay attention to. Son Xander is chess
obsessed, long on abstract cognitive skills, and short on social ones.
When middle and high school age students are invited to test in
for potential admission, parents (even some with real doubts about
whether a new charter school is a good idea) become zealous about
getting their kids in. Friendships and family loyalties are about to
be tested. Adults are about to cross lines and incur real consequences.
The Gifted School is one of the book club worthy volumes I've
ever encountered. The issues, the plot, the characters, and their
relationships serve up a bounteous feast for discussion.
On a purrrsonal note, after I got back from church Sunday I made
Eugene and me sandwiches for lunch. Then we went for a drive with the
truck windows open. We made a stop at Goodwill where I got lucky on
some super clothes. (Jules).
She got some great stuff. (Tobago).
A great big shout out goes out to Eugene.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway


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