Gordon Korman (born October 23, 1963) is a Canadian author, primarily of novels for children and young adults. He lives in Long Island's Great Neck, New York, with his wife and three children.
Korman was born in Montreal, Quebec where he lived until 1970. Korman grew up in Thornhill, Ontario just north of Toronto, Ontario and attended public high school Thornlea Secondary School in Thornhill, Ontario. Korman moved to the United States to attend college at New York University where he studied in the film and film-writing department. Korman received a BA from New York University in 1985; his degree was in Dramatic and Visual Writing with a minor in Motion Picture and Television.
Korman wrote his first book unexpectedly when he was twelve years old. While in 7th grade at German Mills Public School, his 7th grade English writing assignment became the manuscript for Korman's first book
This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall, the first book in his Bruno and Boots series. Mr. Hamilton, Korman's 7th grade English teacher, was a track and field coach who suddenly found himself teaching English for the first time. Hamilton required students to write a novel during the semester. Korman was the Scholastic Arrow Book Club monitor for the class; after completing the assignment, he mailed his manuscript to Scholastic.
This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall was published by Scholastic Press in 1978 when Korman was only fourteen years old. Before graduating from high school in Thornhill, Ont., Korman wrote and published more than a handful of books, including
Beware the Fish,
Losing Joe's place and
Go Jump in the Pool.
Korman went on to publish many more books, including
No Coins Please,
Go Jump in the Pool,
The War with Mr. Wizzle, and
Swindle.
Non-series books
- Who is Bugs Potter? (1980)
- I Want to Go Home (1981)
- Our man Weston (1982)
- Bugs Potter LIVE at Nickaninny (1983)
- No Coins, Please (1984)
- Don't Care High (1985)
- Son of Interflux (1986)
- A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag (1987)
- Radio 5th Grade (1989)
- Losing Joe's Place (1990)
- The D- Poems of Jeremy Bloom (1992)
- The Twinkie Squad (1992)
- The Toilet Paper Tigers (1993)
- Why Did the Underwear Cross the Road (1994)
- The Chicken Doesn't Skate (1996)
- Liar, Liar Pants on Fire (1997)
- The Sixth Grade Nickname Game (1998)
- Hollywood Hustle (2001)
- Son of the Mob (2002)
- No More Dead Dogs (2002)
- Maxx Comedy: The Funniest Kid in America (2003)
- Jake, Reinvented (2003)
- Born To Rock (2006)
- Schooled (2007)
- The Juvie Three (2008)
- Pop (2009)
Bruno and Boots/Macdonald Hall series
- This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall (1978, retitled as This Can't Be Happening! with the re-release of the books in 2003)
- Go Jump in the Pool (1979)
- Beware the Fish (1980)
- The War With Mr. Wizzle (1982, retitled The Wizzle War)
- The Zucchini Warriors (1988)
- Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood (1991, retitled Lights, Camera, Disaster!)
- Something Fishy at Macdonald Hall (1995, retitled The Joke's On Us)
Monday Night Football
- The Quarterback Exchange (1997)
- Running Back Conversion (1997)
- Super Bowl Switch (1997)
- Heavy Artillery (1997)
- Ultimate Scoring Machine (1998)
- NFL Rules! Bloopers, Pranks, Upsets, and Touchdowns (1998)
Slapshots series
- The Stars From Mars (1999)
- All-Mars All-Stars/The Dream Team (1999)
- The Face-off Phony (2000)
- Cup Crazy (2000)
- Slapshots The Complete Collection (2008)
Nose Pickers series
- Nose Pickers from Outer Space! (1999)
- Planet of the Nose Pickers (2000)
- Your Mummy Is a Nose Picker (2000)
- Invasion of the Nose Pickers (2001)
- The Ultimate Nose-Picker Collection (2006)
Island series
- Shipwreck (2000)
- Survival (2001)
- Escape (2001)
- Island Trilogy Bind-Up Book (2006)
Everest series
- Everest, The Contest (2002)
- Everest, The Climb (2002)
- Everest, The Summit (2002)
Dive series
- The Discovery (2003)
- The Deep (2003)
- The Danger (2003)
On the Run series
- Chasing the Falconers (2005)
- The Fugitive Factor (2005)
- Now You See Them, Now You Don't (2005)
- The Stowaway Solution (2005)
- Public Enemies (2005)
- Hunting the Hunter (2006)
Kidnapped series
- The Abduction (2006)
- The Search (2006)
- The Rescue (2006)
Swindle series
- Swindle (2008)
- Zoobreak (2009)
- Framed! (2010)
The 39 Clues series
- One False Note (2008)
- The Emperor's Code (2010)
- Vespers Rising (2011)