Finished: The Gifted School (Holsinger) A book I simply could not put down because I just had to see who made it into the gifted school lol. The story of four mothers, best friends, who met eleven years earlier in an infant swimming class when their children were babies. Now, the children are all fifth-graders of varying talents and closeness and the mothers remain close friends. A new academy for gifted children, grades 6-8 for the lower school and 9-12 for the upper school is opening in Crystal, Colorado and only 1000 spots will be available for all the students in the four surrounding counties. The competition will be fierce and will also show us exactly what our mothers (their spouses) and the children are all made of, and if their relationships will survive at all after the competition to be granted entry to the school ends. To be honest, out of all the parents, there is only one who I like....who isn't some kind of helicoptering or over-achieving or living-vicariously-through parent. She's the mother of twin boys, and her ex-husband, their father, is a piece of competitive work. There is only one child I like in the entire bunch too...oh wait...no there isn't. Not a single child is unaffected by their entitlement. They talk about other school children when with each other; they are jealous and lie about their sibling (i.e. the twin boys); they are so self-involved that they don't understand how the consequences of their actions could harm other people. Mind you, these are still just fifth-graders we are talking about. Sometimes I feel like they were written a bit too old...as if they're in their teens. However, maybe the times have just changed that much! Anyway, there is one little boy I do like from the poorest county, Atik, whose mother cleans the houses of two of the four best friends. He is brilliant and eager and kind and talented. I'm so happy that he makes it into the school As for the shenanigans that some of the parents get into, well, they are jaw-dropping and you'll just have to read like I did to see whose friendships survive and who gets into the school after all is said and done...other than Atik, of course. :-)