Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. What was your initial reaction to the story’s blend of middle school comedy and science fiction? Did you find the humor effective? How did it shape your experience of the novel’s more serious themes?

2. Gordon Korman often writes about unconventional teachers and students, as seen in books like The Unteachables, Schooled, and Ungifted. If you’ve read his other work, how does Mr. Aidact’s story compare or fit within Korman’s broader exploration of education?

3. Were you satisfied with Mr. Aidact’s escape and the epilogue? What did you make of his final, triumphant laugh?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Mr. Aidact’s teaching style is unconventional, from destroying a venetian blind to explain ratios to quoting rap lyrics to connect with a student. Thinking back on your own school days, did you ever have a teacher whose unique methods made a lasting impact on you?

2. Oliver is a self-proclaimed “rule-wrecker,” and his philosophy is that rules are made to be wrecked. What is your own attitude about rules and rule-breaking? Have you ever broken a rule in order to achieve something positive or right a wrong?

3. The community’s sudden rejection of Mr. Aidact after his identity is revealed is a major turning point. Think about a time you learned something completely unexpected about a person you thought you knew well. How did that discovery affect your perception of them?

4. Reflecting on Nathan’s constant anxiety about Oliver’s schemes, when have you felt torn between loyalty to a friend and your own better judgment?

5. The students’ journey from admiration to fear and back to fierce loyalty is central to the plot. When you were in school, did you ever find yourself caught between parental attitudes and peer pressure?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. How does the novel’s depiction of Project AIDACT reflect current conversations and anxieties about artificial intelligence in our classrooms and daily lives?

2. The story is set within the distinct social ecosystem of a middle school, complete with social hierarchies and the tension between conformity and rebellion. In what ways does the book feel like an accurate reflection of those adolescent pressures today?

3. What does the community’s fearful reaction to Mr. Aidact suggest about how societies often respond to new technologies or beings that challenge established norms?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. The story is told through the perspectives of several different characters, along with the confidential reports from Paul Perkins. What effect did this narrative structure have on your understanding of Mr. Aidact as he developed throughout the novel? How might it have been different if only told by one of the students?

2. What significance does Mr. Perkins’s briefcase hold? How does its meaning evolve when Mr. Aidact takes it with him at the end of the novel?

3. How does the recurring motif of pranks, from simple spitballs to the complex escape plan, trace the development of the book’s exploration of rule-breaking?

4. Principal Candiotti’s decision to block the engineers’ van is a key moment in the novel’s climax. What does this act reveal about her character’s transformation? How does it contribute to the novel’s examination of rule-breaking?

5. Mr. Perkins compares Mr. Aidact’s development to the story of Pinocchio. How does this novel engage with or update the classic “artificial being becomes human” narrative we see in other stories?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. If you were a student at Brightling and part of the escape plan, what creative distraction would you have proposed to help Mr. Aidact get away?

2. Imagine you had the chance to present a case to the Department of Education to prevent Mr. Aidact’s deactivation. What would be your core argument, and which specific events from his time at the school would you use as your primary evidence?

3. What do you imagine Mr. Aidact’s new life is like in Colorado, and what new adolescent traits might he have developed?