Hidden Talents

In the 1999 fantasy novel Hidden Talents by David Lubar, an angry boy sent to an alternative school discovers his own and his friends’ powers and uses them to save the school from bullies and bureaucrats. The first book in a two-part series for middle graders, Hidden Talents explores the struggles of troubled teens as they learn to accept themselves and turn the tables on those who would hurt them. The novel won an ALA Best Book for Young Adults award.

Before his writing career, author Lubar designed and programmed computer games, including the classic Frogger. He has since published over four dozen books for young readers, notably the Weenies series and the novels Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie and Character, Driven.

The eBook version of the 2015 Tor Teen edition of Hidden Talents forms the basis for this study guide.

Plot Summary

Martin Anderson is a smart, sarcastic 13 year old who was expelled from every school he attended. He gets sent to Edgeview Alternative School, a last-chance dumping ground for misbehaving kids. The school operates in an old, worn-out building; the principal is a cold bureaucrat; the cafeteria food is terrible.

Martin meets his roommate, Torchie, a nice kid with a bad habit of starting fires. Martin also befriends Cheater, a brilliant boy who’s so good at tests that teachers think he’s cheating and routinely fail him. A bully, Bloodbath, punches Martin and warns him to hand over any goodies he receives from home.

The school’s teachers are an eccentric bunch. Many are themselves rejects from regular school systems. Most have their own welcoming process that puts Martin on the spot; nearly every time, he manages to insult and alienate them. After a month, the staff votes to hold him at Edgeview. Once this happens, it’s permanent.

Torchie invites Martin to join him, Cheater, a nervous kid named Flinch, and a big, friendly older boy named Lucky on a secret jaunt into town. They sneak out through a drainage tunnel and visit an arcade where they play video games and pinball. Flinch is supremely good at the games; Martin realizes Flinch can see the future. He begins to think that all his new friends have psychic abilities.

Back at school, Martin looks up paranormal phenomena at the library. He tries to prove that Flinch has foresight, Cheater reads minds, and Torchie starts fires with his thoughts, but they don’t agree, and they shun him. Frustrated, he cranks up the sarcasm in class and ends up in detention, with his wrist strapped to a machine that zaps him whenever he says something malicious.

One day at lunch, he notices when Trash, a kid who always throws things, reaches for his fork, it flies away from his hand. Convinced this is telekinesis, Martin decides to watch all the students for signs of abilities. In science class, the boys design an experiment that uses cards with symbols to test mind reading. Most kids can’t do better than guessing, but Martin discovers Cheater got every card wrong. This is impossible, and Martin confronts him; Cheater confesses that he was trying to hide his ability, partly from himself, because he’s afraid it means he has a mental illness.

While listening to this, Torchie’s hand sets fire to his chair, and he realizes he can trigger flames with his mind. Flinch admits he can see things just before they happen; Lucky says he’s got a weird ability to find things; and Trash joins the group when they realize he can hurl objects without touching them.

The kids begin training to control their powers. Cheater learns how to paraphrase what his mind picks up during tests, so his answers seem original. Martin throws punches at Flinch so he can practice ducking a little slower to hide his power. Torchie and Trash also learn to control their abilities. On a Friday night sneak-out, they compete in a pinball tournament at the town arcade and win the top three prizes. Local kids gang up on them at the city limits, but the Edgeview boys defeat them by using their powers. When they try to climb back into their school building, Bloodbath breaks their rope ladder, and Flinch falls and breaks his arm. The boys pretend to the staff that Flinch was injured while inside the building, but they decide to make Bloodbath pay for his crime.

The street fight turns local residents against the school, and its semi-annual inspection gets moved up. If the school flunks, the boys will be merged into a bigger, even worse place and possibly separated.

They decide they don’t want that, but they learn that Bloodbath plans to cause chaos on inspection day and get the school shuttered. They’ll try to foil the bully’s plans.

Cheater gets close enough to Bloodbath to hear his thoughts about candles. On inspection day, the boys find burning candles in closets; they’re attached to big firecrackers, some fastened to water pipes, ready to explode. Torchie uses his mind to douse the candles. Frustrated, Bloodbath and his gang get ready to cause a fight at the cafeteria, but Trash remotely ties their shoelaces to table legs, and when they rise up to fight, they all fall over.

The inspectors need a student to interview; they randomly choose Martin. Lucky tells him it’s time to use his power. Martin says he doesn’t have one, but Lucky and the boys agree that he can sense people’s deepest sorrows and use these against them. Instead, Lucky suggests Martin find their greatest happiness and use that to make them feel good.

Unsure about all this, Martin goes to the interview, where he senses the inspectors' doubts and yearnings but avoids insulting or buttering them up. Instead, he focuses on telling them that the school would be better if the bullies were removed, and the remaining students got a chance every few months to be re-evaluated and released back to their old schools.

Bloodbath confronts Martin, saying the boy and his friends have ruined his plans. Martin sees in Bloodbath’s angry face his own father, who for years has bullied Martin. Bloodbath is about to beat up Martin when Martin throws a punch—well practiced from hours working with Flinch—that knocks Bloodbath out.

The school removes Bloodbath and the other bullies; the staff restarts the evaluation program, and Martin is soon released back to his parents. At home, his father still bullies him verbally, but Martin learns to stay calm, and he uses his power only to make others feel happy. The other boys decide they, too, will work toward getting released.