School of Fear

SCHOOL OF FEAR

By:  Gitty Daneshvari

FIRST SENTENCE

“A bell is not a bell.”

SUMMARY
from goodreads

Everyone is afraid of something…

Madeleine Masterson is deathly afraid of bugs, especially spiders.

Theodore Bartholomew is petrified of dying.

Lulu Punchalower is scared of confined spaces.

Garrison Feldman is terrified of deep water.

With very few options left, the parents of these four twelve-year-olds send them to the highly exclusive School of Fear to help them overcome their phobias.  But when their peculiar teacher, Mrs. Wellington, and her unconventional teaching methods turn out to be more frightening than even their fears, the foursome realize that this just may be the scariest summer of their lives.

REVIEW

I can describe School of Fear in one word….wait for it….QUIRKY!  I bet you thought I was going to say spooky or scary or phobias or fearful.  It has those too, but it’s mostly quirky.  And I really like quirky.

The four main characters are children with serious phobias.  So serious, in fact, that their parents have sent them to the School of Fear to be cured.  My favorite character was Madeleine  She was smart and soft-spoken, but she also had a major fear of bugs – especially spiders.  I can relate to that.  Bugs are scary!

Another character that I enjoyed was Mrs. Wellington, the children’s teacher at the School of Fear.  I don’t even know if quirky is a strong enough word to describe her.  Her antics had me laughing as I read.  I was surprised by her unusual teaching methods. 

School of Fear is a great middle grade book that is not so much scary as it is funny and QUIRKY.  Thank you to Little, Brown and Company for sending this book for me to review.

RATING

5        Plot

5        Characters

4        Attention Grabbing

4        Girlie Meter

4        Ending

22      TOTAL

5        STARS