Ethan Marcus Makes His Mark, by Chicago-based author Michele Weber Hurwitz, shows us a character thrust in a situation where he doubts, not only his ability to do something, but also his desire to do it. We watch Ethan figure out a lot of things; how to find his passion, how to figure out his own direction and in the process how to overcome those feelings that he got selected for an elite “Innovation Camp” as part of a cosmic joke.

The story has five main characters and each of them narrates different sections. Sometimes I find this device distracting, especially when the author leaves me hanging on one story line and zips me to another, but Hurwitz does a good job of keeping each section short and self-contained. Ethan, a goof off and scatterbrain, is the main character; but we also hear from Erin, his ultra-organized and hard-driving older sister; Brian, Ethan’s friend and fellow goof off; Zoe, Erin’s friend who is crushing on Ethan; and Marlon, the outsider who can’t figure out how to be part of the crowd.

The story is a sequel. In the first book, Ethan Marcus Stands Up, Ethan and his friend Brian participate in a school-wide invention day. Their idea is an adjustable desk for kids who have trouble sitting still. The execution of that idea involves kitchen implements and duct tape. In this sequel, that event results in several students being nominated and then selected to participate in a hip, happening, pop-up tech camp run by big-time guru Zac Canseri.

Those selected include Ethan, Erin, Brian and Marlon. The early scenes of Ethan trying to decide whether he should go and his parents and Erin subtly  — and not so subtly — expressing their doubt made me cringe at the times I may have done something like that to one of my kids. All in the name of “supporting them.”

A visit to the museum with his family convinces Ethan to go. In a Wright Brothers exhibit, he learns that they weren’t engineers or scientists and still they built an airplane. This inspires Ethan to believe that he is capable of measuring up at camp, even if the camp will be “genius world and me, a visitor from duct-tape land.”

The central plot device of Ethan, Erin and Marlon going to this tech camp is not one I have read before. Watching these kids come up with a cool idea and figure out how to execute them was a very engaging plot element. The depiction of Canseri was an intriguing commentary on the reality behind some people we admire and even worship.

The story underscored for me the idea of people having different kinds of intelligence. Yes, Ethan is scattered and Erin is not, but it’s not that one style is superior to another. They are just different. And, in the case of Marlon, sometimes being super smart is not all it’s cracked up to be. Even Brian, who chooses not to go, ends up having a couple pivotal insights.

Also, spoiler alert, they all learn that they work better together…