Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Reading Teacher

I teach The Great Gatsby to college students taking an introduction to literature course and I teach Jake, Reinvented to high school reading students (those who have trouble with comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary). I love Gatsby and I love Jake, Reinvented. My students read Gatsby in their English classes, so before we started our read aloud of Jake, Reinvented, we watched the movie version with Robert Redford. The kids were once again enamoured with the story of Gatsby and Daisy as they are with Jake and Didi in Jake, Reinvented.

Korman does what he does best: write teen fiction. He doesn't wish it to rival Gatsby, he seems to be doing it more as a tribute. My students love it, and they are learning to make connections, compare and contrast, and further understand the depth of Gatsby in their terms: high school romance.