Bursting with wit, warmth, music, and unexpected friendships, Trevor the Noteable GOAT is an inspiring story about embracing who you are, finding confidence, and discovering that your differences make you extraordinary. Trevor Chaplin has always felt a little different— brilliant at math, but uncomfortable in social situations and bullied by his peers. As a boy with autism, he sometimes struggles to connect with others. But when a surprise pop quiz reveals his extraordinary math talent, Trevor is launched into a whirlwind of remarkable experiences with music and new friends. He’s introduced to an exceptional piano teacher— who also happens to be a music therapist— and she helps him discover a love for music. With the support of new friends and a growing passion for problem-solving, Trevor begins a journey of positive self-discovery.
The book’s unique title is a play on words: Trevor is celebrated as the "Noteable G.O.A.T." (Greatest of All Time) for his new connection with musical notes and his personal achievements. Full of music, heart, humor, and determination, Trevor the Noteable GOAT is an inspiring story about friendship, confidence, and the incredible magic of believing in yourself. There is an add-on website that accompanies the book: https://trevorthenoteablegoat.com.
Bursting with wit, warmth, music, and unexpected friendships, Trevor the Noteable GOAT is an inspiring story about embracing who you are, finding confidence, and discovering that your differences make you extraordinary. Trevor Chaplin has always felt a little different— brilliant at math, but uncomfortable in social situations and bullied by his peers. As a boy with autism, he sometimes struggles to connect with others. But when a surprise pop quiz reveals his extraordinary math talent, Trevor is launched into a whirlwind of remarkable experiences with music and new friends. He’s introduced to an exceptional piano teacher— who also happens to be a music therapist— and she helps him discover a love for music. With the support of new friends and a growing passion for problem-solving, Trevor begins a journey of positive self-discovery.
The book’s unique title is a play on words: Trevor is celebrated as the "Noteable G.O.A.T." (Greatest of All Time) for his new connection with musical notes and his personal achievements. Full of music, heart, humor, and determination, Trevor the Noteable GOAT is an inspiring story about friendship, confidence, and the incredible magic of believing in yourself. There is an add-on website that accompanies the book: https://trevorthenoteablegoat.com.
Trevor silently watched out the window of the school bus and counted the telephone poles whizzing by. “Ninety-one…...ninety-two…..ninety-THREE,” he whispered to himself. The ninety-third pole was exactly halfway to school, and they’d be arriving in a little over three minutes. He’d calculated how long the dreaded bus ride would last at the beginning of the year, after he’d tripped on the steps and all the kids had laughed at him. Blushing, he scooted into the seat behind the bus driver so he wouldn’t have to face the other kids’ derisive stares that day. Two months of school had passed, but he still chose the same seat every morning.
His mom knew he hated riding the bus, and she would gladly have driven him to school every day. But his dad thought it would toughen him up to face the other kids. He didn’t want Trevor to “take the easy way out,” so he wouldn’t let his mom drive Trevor to school. Since Trevor was doomed to ride the bus, he counted the telephone poles on the way to school and back again, to keep his mind off the fear of being laughed at. One hundred eighty-six poles from the bus stop to the school with 125 feet between each pole made a round trip of 8.8 miles for those 372 poles. With the bus averaging 40 mph, it took about six minutes and 36 seconds each way for the miserable trip to end.
This morning’s ride was almost over, the 170th telephone pole had just passed by, and Trevor could see the school playground in the distance. He sighed and gathered his backpack up off the floor. If he could get off the bus quickly and go directly into the classroom, there was less chance for the other kids to make fun of him. Not that he enjoyed sitting in the classroom. At least his teacher never seemed to notice when he drifted off into a daydream, so he could be at peace for a while. As a matter of fact, Miss Gottschalk didn’t notice much of anything about any of her students. She was the worst teacher he’d ever had.
After quickly exiting the bus and managing to avoid attracting attention from anyone, Trevor trudged to his classroom. The first lesson of the day was all about long division in math, a subject that Trevor had already studied on his own. Miss Gottschalk’s whiny voice became drone-like, and the class groaned as she passed out a surprise quiz. Trevor couldn’t have focused even if he wanted to. He drifted off into his own thoughts as he gazed out the window, completely bored.
“Hey, Old Lady Got Chalk has her back turned, you guys!” came a loud whisper from the back row. It was Hector, the class bully. He tore strips off his math paper, chewed them up, and started throwing spitballs at the girls. Glad to be distracted from the math quiz, several boys in the class joined in, and wet thunks were soon heard all over the classroom.
The sounds, loud to his sensitive ears, snapped Trevor out of his daydream. He knew that he was usually the target whenever those things started flying. He closed his eyes and ducked his head onto his desk as a spitball flew by. It landed with a dull phptp in the hair of the girl sitting in front of him. Trevor cautiously peered up and saw the spitball stuck smack in the middle of her braids, perfectly in the center of her part. The girl whirled around and glared at Trevor as she swiped at the back of her head.
Trevor groaned and put his head back down on his desk. He focused on the hum of rhythmic, textured buzzing created by the spitball chorus. Each one made a neat, wet swish as it whizzed by, and then the swishes all combined to make a different humming sound. “Hey, this is cool!” he thought, straining to hear more. He moved his tongue in a whisper to find the right syllables to imitate the sound. Zzzaabhunggggg! Yes, that sounded just like those spitballs flying through the air! He kept repeating it softly and then found himself yelling “Zzzaabhungggg!!!” at the top of his lungs.
An awful moment of silence echoed Trevor’s shout, followed by a burst of laughter from the whole class. Horrified, he looked around and saw everyone laughing and shrieking with delight at his outburst. Guffaws came from every corner of the room, and Trevor blushed to his toes. He looked down as they all kept hooting. “Oh, man, I only meant to whisper,” he said to himself, as he repeatedly thumped his head on his desk.
Miss Gottschalk also turned and glared at Trevor. Annoyed by the interruption, she snapped, “Well, class, since you clearly understand long division already, I’ll just go ahead and collect your quiz papers. Pass those sheets down to the front of the rows. Now!” Everyone but Trevor groaned; those sheets, containing ten long division problems, were mostly blank.
Miss Gottschalk didn’t seem to notice their dismay as she poured herself hot tea from an orange-and-brown checked thermos on her desk. After a few minutes, she put down her tea and looked at the students’ papers. All blank? Her lesson plan was perfect. Why were they confused?
“Hmph,” she groused. “You’d better pay more attention this year if you expect to pass up to middle school in May.” She plucked a sheet at random from the pile on her desk. Of course it belonged to Trevor, and of course it was blank except for his name.
Trevor had gone back to daydreaming. He gazed at the ceiling, and his dark blue eyes were far away. When Miss Gottschalk slapped his paper down on his desk, he gave a startled, high-pitched yelp. It sounded like the time he’d stepped on Siegfried’s tail. The memory that he’d unintentionally caused his poor dog pain was so vivid that Trevor yelped again. An awful moment of silence followed Trevor’s shouts. Then came another burst of laughter from the whole class. Horrified, Trevor looked down and again thumped his head on his desk.
Despite his fervent wishes, Trevor hadn’t disappeared in a puff of smoke, and neither had Miss Gottschalk. She was still standing beside his desk, glaring down at him and tapping her foot. “Trevor, why didn’t you work your math problems?” she demanded. Trevor bit his lip to keep from crying. He hoped the floor would open up and swallow him. His mind flicked to his DDATA list: Don’t Do Any of This Again. Imitating the sound of flying spitballs was definitely going to be added to the list as soon as he got home!
“AHEM!” snapped Miss Gottschalk, dragging Trevor back to his current humiliation. He looked down at the paper and back up at Miss Gottschalk. She sure was mad. Uh-oh, he thought. I’d better do something. He stared intently at the math paper for a few seconds, and then quickly wrote down each answer and handed the paper back to her.
The laughter stopped abruptly. Miss Gottschalk sputtered. Hmph, she thought, I’ll correct this right here in front of him, and he won’t do that again. Imagine the nerve of this child pretending to finish that quickly! She looked at the paper and scanned it for the mistakes she was sure she’d find. But as she checked his answers, a look of astonishment crossed her face…they were all correct!
Miss Gottschalk’s mouth was hanging open, and she had a smudge of orange-red lipstick all over her front teeth. The class began to realize what had just happened, and everyone started whispering and staring at Trevor again. How in the world did he do that? The moment was shattered by the loud “Clang!” of the recess bell, and everyone, including Trevor, jumped up and ran for the door. Miss Gottschalk was left staring at Trevor’s paper in disbelief. He must be cheating, somehow. But how?
Everyone but Trevor headed for the playground when they got outside. Some kids went for the swings and the jungle gym, while some boys and a girl or two circled up with a soccer ball to play Monkey in the Middle. Trevor walked in the opposite direction instead and found a corner next to the building where he could sit by himself. He gave a deep sigh and ran his hands through his hair. It was good to be free of the class, if only for the 20 minutes of recess. He’d gotten used to the other kids always laughing at him. They didn’t want to be his friends, and it had been that way for a long time. As Hector the Bully sneered, “Stay away from Chaplin. He’s special.”
On the playground during recess, the sunlight warmed his face, and the memory faded of the dismal class experience with Miss Gottschalk. It was a beautiful October morning, he was away from the classroom, and he decided it was a great time to have a talk with his imaginary best friend about what had just happened. Trevor had always admired Mr. Albert Einstein. He’d read every book he could find about him and felt a deep connection with Mr. Einstein, because he knew people had made fun of him as a kid too. For several years now, he’d loved his imaginary talks with his special friend. He began to visualize Mr. Einstein’s tangled hair and gentle sense of humor…. sure enough, the familiar face emerged in his mind’s eye.
“Hello, my young friend Chuck!” exclaimed Mr. Einstein. It was the same greeting he spoke whenever he saw Trevor, and it always brought a big smile to them both. “That was a marvelous accomplishment in your math class today!”
“But, Mr. Einstein, you know I’m Trevor, not Chuck,” Trevor said and grinned back at his imaginary hero. He loved the friendly teasing and the special nickname. Chuck sounds way cooler than Trevor, he thought.
Reading his thoughts, Mr. Einstein winked. “Yes, my friend, and you know that Chuck is a great name. It’s constructed of excellent syllabic sound and phonetic content. So, you don’t mind if I continue to call you that?” Trevor shook his head.
“Good!” said Mr. Einstein. “Now, I know you were on your computer reading about my work last night. I’m continuing my research in thermodynamics. You know, the computers you have now make it so much easier to work with data than when I was a young man without such things. They’re just marvelous! I giggle whenever I see a new device of the ‘Pad’ or ‘Phone’ from that wonderful fruit company. You just hold them in your hand…it is amazing, is it not?” Mr. Einstein giggled until he snorted, causing an unexpected hiccup and a drool bubble to pop out of his mouth. Trevor laughed.
“Well, anyway,” Mr. Einstein said, wiping his mouth and catching his breath. “The look on your teacher’s face was priceless when you solved those problems. An excellent day! I’m very proud of you, young Chuck!”
“Thanks, Mr. Einstein,” Trevor said, smiling broadly. Then he remembered the spitball fiasco. “But before I solved those math problems, the class all laughed at me when ‘Zzzaabhungggg’ kind of popped out of nowhere.”
“But it’s a marvelous word! Remember what I’ve always said: imagination is more important than knowledge, and your imagination will help you succeed. I personally believe you will greatly succeed if you have the power to create such glorious words and conquer those math problems.”
“Thanks! I appreciate that,” Trevor said, trying hard to smile. “But honestly, Mr. Einstein, I have a hard time thinking I’ll succeed with anything as long as everyone keeps laughing at me.” Tears stung the back of his eyes.
“Poof and piffle!” cried Mr. Einstein. “Did you know that I didn’t say anything to anyone until I was three years old? I too faced some interesting reactions to my occasional creative outbursts. But I consider the experience was a giant step forward in helping me find my own inner self. It’s simply a part of the package you live with when you’re creative like we are, Chuck. Now, you mark my words, the other youngsters in your class will want to be your friends soon!” And with a small pop that sounded a bit like the phpht of the spitball landing in the girl’s hair, Mr. Einstein vanished.
Trevor’s eyes glazed over again. He was so deep in thought that he hadn’t noticed that a girl was standing right in front of him. “Do you mind if I sit down?” she finally asked. Startled, Trevor let out his third yelp of the day. He jumped clumsily to his feet and made room for her. It was Tasha Goforth, the girl who sat in front of him in class. Everyone called her a tomboy because she loved baseball and was fantastic at sports. She was tall, skinny, and one of the only three African-American kids in the class. Today she wore braids threaded with red ribbon that matched her school polo shirt. Trevor remembered from gym class that she was the only one who could climb the rock wall all the way to the ceiling. She was pretty good with math too, as he recalled. But she’d never tried to talk to him before. If Trevor had been paying attention to his classmate, he’d have noticed that she usually stayed to herself and didn’t talk much to anyone else, either.
“Hey, I know you weren’t the one who hit me with that spitball. It had to be Hector and his buddies. That was too bad the way Old Lady Got Chalk picked on you. But I gotta ask: how on earth did you work those long division problems in your head?”
“I mean, well, it wasn’t much,” stammered Trevor. He was stunned. He didn’t think anyone had ever noticed he was good with math. “I learned about long division from a website. Today’s problems weren’t very hard.”
“Wow! You learned it all by yourself?”
“Umm, yeah,” said Trevor. Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t remember ever having learned anything useful in school about math—or anything else. He mostly learned things by working online on the computer in his room, and he didn’t think there was anything special about that.
“My piano teacher says that people who are good at math can sometimes do wonderful things with music, too,” said Tasha. “Do you play any instruments?”
“No,” replied Trevor. “There’s a piano in our living room. My mom used to play when I was younger, but I haven’t heard her play in a long time. I remember she used to love to listen to all kinds of singing too. She even named our dog Siegfried after a famous opera.”
Tasha grinned. “Tell you what. I can show you some stuff on the piano, if you can show me how you did those long-division problems so fast!”
Trevor didn’t hesitate. “Deal!” was all he could say.
“My mom works until 4:30, so I go to after-school care,” Tasha went on. “Maybe I could ride the bus home with you?”
“That oughta work. Let’s ask our moms if we can do that. Tomorrow!” Trevor was in awe that he was actually having a conversation with a girl. Not only that, but they’d also made plans to get together. When the bell rang to summon the kids back to class, he didn’t feel quite so discouraged.
Trevor the Noteable G.O.A.T. by Martha Summa-Chadwick tells the story of Trevor Chaplin, a boy who has always felt different from his peers and eventually learns why. His classmates tease him and his teacher, Miss Gottschalk, dismisses his strengths, so he turns to numbers and talks with his imaginary mentor, Einstein, who calls him "Chuck." Math just makes sense to Trevor in a way that much of the world doesn't. His world begins to change when the girl who sits in front of him in class reaches out and really sees him. Tasha’s friendship and after-school visits to his house become a bright spot he never thought he'd have. His mother accepts and loves him for who he is, but his father struggles to understand him and often seems frustrated by their differences. Then he's diagnosed with autism and starts music therapy with Mrs. Hopkins. She helps Trevor find a new outlet for the patterns and structure he has always loved through music. He meets and forms a special bond with Hakeem, who always knows what to say. The opportunities that follow are bigger than Trevor could have imagined.
Through Summa-Chadwick’s words, Trevor feels like a real person rather than a lesson or diagnosis. The emotional toll of bullying and feeling misunderstood comes across clearly. Adding to that is his relationship with his father, which is especially frustrating. But it’s those moments of heartache that make it easy to cheer for Trevor. While there is a focus on his tough experiences, the author celebrates his strengths even more. His gift for mathematics, his creativity, and his growing connection to music become powerful reminders that every child has something valuable to offer. The illustrations are a nice addition throughout the book. They will help younger readers connect with the story. The epilogue stands out as one of this read’s most rewarding chapters. It adds helpful background and context.
By the end, Trevor the Noteable G.O.A.T. becomes less about autism and more about how differences can become strengths. This book is highly recommended for middle-grade readers, families, and educators. It's also a good fit for anyone looking for an uplifting and encouraging read.
Trigger warnings: bullying, social isolation, ableism.