Hidden Talents by David Lubar Martin Anderson has been thrown out of a long list of schools. He has an authority problem, he's disruptive, he's rude, and teachers just don't like him. So he gets sent to Edgeview Alternative School, which is a boarding school. As he is being shown the school, there are shouts of "Fire!". Martin's new roomate turns out to have the nickname Torchie; Torchie lights fires all the time, although he constantly protests, "I didn't do nothing!". Worse is the school bully, named Lester Bloodbath; nobody uses his first name if they don't want to become his second.
Although this is mostly a narrative(Martin's), the reader is also shown many letters and documents. Some of these documents are about Edgeview, which is coming up for review by the board, which may decide to close the school. This is especially problematic because the residents of Edgeview do not like having an Alternative school near them.
Despite his bad start at Edgeview, it's not long before Martin has made friends with Torchie and Torchie's friends, each of whom has a nickname. Cheater says he never cheats; and because he seems to know everything, it's hard to see why he would. Lucky claims he never steals; he is just incredibly good at finding things. Flinch never gets hit by anything, he always flinches out of the way. Often he flinches at strange moments.
Martin concludes that his friends have special powers- Torchie is telepyric and can set fires with his mind, Cheater can read minds, and so on. He is surprised at his friends' reaction when he tells them. They are angry. They do not want him to tell them that they are different. When it becomes obvious that they won't let him sit with them, Martin sits next to the only kid who sits alone, Trash. Trash is called trash not because he is trash, but because he always trashes everything around him. Things near him have a tendency to go flying. Martin decides that Trash is moving things with his mind because he never sees Trash throw anything.
Martin's friend do take him back after a few days on the condition that he drop the hidden talents thing, and he is happy to go back to them, but Martin can't drop it. When the science teacher asks the kids to suggest an experiment, Martin suggests mind reading. The class does the experiment, and nobody tests high. Martin is disappointed, but he prints out the test results anyways. He checks Cheater and finds that Cheater has scored an improbable 0 on the test. He shows the test results to his friends, and the truth comes out; they do have special talents.
Martin suggests that they invite Trash to join them, and they do. The kids begin working on their talents and quickly begin to improve. Cheater learns to alter what he is thinking and write that on tests, so that teachers stop thinking he is cheating. Flinch flinches later than when he feels like, so that he doesn't seem to be flinching at nothing. Torchie learns to set fires at will instead of by accident. Trash learns to control his talent as well. Martin begins to feel left out as his friends greet each other "psi five", and he is only Coach.
When the inspectors come, Bloodbath and his friends try to damage the school and make as much trouble as possible, and Martin and his friends are busy thwarting them. The inspectors are undecided; they say they want talk to a typical kid at Edgeview, and they pick Martin. Nobody is happy. Martin always talks back to adults, and Martin and the pricipal are both of the opinion that Martin will make a horrible impression on the inspectors. The psi five have a sursprise in store though. They tell Martin that he also has a a hidden talent; he can tell what people's weak points are. To prove it, Lucky gets in his face, and Martin blursts "You're pretty cool for someone who still wets the bed."
Knowing about his power makes all the difference, and Martin makes a great impression on the inpectors. He tells them what he thinks is wrong with the school, that kids like Bloodbath don't belong, and that many of the kids are good kids trying to get their acts together. He also tells them that kids need to have the chance to go back to regular schools. The inspectors take his advice.
This is a great book, although there a number of improbabilities in it. One thing I wonder about: If someone told you that you had a special power, how would you feel about it? Would you deny it?
Happy reading.
