School of Fear

by Gitty Daneshvari

Book Overview

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 elusive and exclusive School of Fear to help them overcome their phobias. But when their peculiar teacher, Mrs. Wellington,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031603326X
• ISBN13: 9780316033268
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.5" x 7.9"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

one of the best books i've read!

i saw a ad for this book in one of my magazines. im not sure what it was but something made me want to read it. so as i looked for it in book stores all of the copies were hardback and quite expensive ( as high as 19.99). when my father gave me a kindle for christmas,this was the fisrt book i wanted to buy. i read the first chapter and could not stop reading due to the fact that i wanted to know what would happen nxt. by the end of the book, i had fell in love with the book. the odd children,weidr fears and stories to tell. i am 13 years old and still thought that this bokk was fun,cute,and a great read. i would recommend this book to anyone that takes risks and like reading books that arent your normal read. i tell every friend that is looking for a good read about this book. =)

Exciting and funny book!

Reviewed by Madeline McElroy (age 8.5) for Reader Views (12/09) This is a story about Madeleine Masterson, Theodore Bartholomew, Lulu Punchalower, and Garrison Feldman. They attend a school to help them with their fears, such as: spiders, dying, tight spaces, and deep water. They have many adventures trying to save their teacher, which was really a lesson in overcoming their fears. I mostly identify with Madeleine, not only because of our name being the same, but we share many of the same fears. We are both afraid of bugs, especially spiders. She is a very calm person until she is around bugs and then she becomes hysterical. She is actually a lot more afraid of bugs than I am. She always wears a mosquito veil and carries bug spray on her belt; she even wears it in her sleep! This is the longest book I have ever read, over 300 pages! "School of Fear" by Gitty Daneshvari is an interesting, exciting, and funny book. I was very surprised by the ending and you will be too! Reviewed by Maggie Desmond-O'Brien (age 14) for Reader Views (9/09) There's fear and then there's a phobia, as the family, friends and even minor acquaintances of Madeleine Masterson, Theodore Bartholomew, Lulu Punchalower and Garrison Feldman have found out the hard way. With few options left, their parents elect to send them to the top-secret and extremely exclusive School of Fear, run by the more than slightly batty Mrs. Wellington. When their treatment turns out to be far more terrifying than their fears, the foursome realizes that they are in for a very frightful summer indeed! From the first page, this book has all the dry wit of Lemony Snicket and the delightful wackiness that you can imagine a children's novel by Terry Pratchett might have. Though the story was slow to take off, I was enchanted by Gitty Daneshvari's clever writing and her endearing, albeit highly caricatured, protagonists. One bone to pick, though, was how detached the story felt--I was never racing through it like I did for "A Series of Unfortunate Events" even though in some ways it's a better book (certainly less depressing). However clever a book is, it needs some empathy to make it work, and despite how cute and funny the characters in "School of Fear" were they were not as likable or relatable as the ones in Snicket's series. It also could have done with some editorial streamlining to get rid of the long and mostly irrelevant buildup to going to the school. I would have rather seen more action within School of Fear's walls than hear about the foursome's escapades outside of them. Despite those relatively minor flaws, fans of the emerging genre of creepy-crawly comedy will definitely not want to miss this one. After reading the back cover blurb I was anticipating a much more frightening read than it actually was, so horror fans will probably be disappointed if they pick it up in a bookstore; but scaredy-cats like me will be able to laugh at the protagonists' predicaments almost 100% scare-f

Quirky and offbeat...it's a great read

This is the type of book that reminded me why juvenile fiction books are fun for adults to read sometimes. This book was a real gem of quirkiness. Four children with varying phobias are sent to The School of Fear to cure them. The teacher seems a bit off her rocker and that worries them even more. The story revolves around the children and how they learn to adapt to this *school* and ultimately push themselves to get past their "fears" by trying to save a beloved cat. I hope this ends up being a series. I adored it and can't wait to share it with my kids.

A great book for kids

the very very very end of it was a bit lame however, especially for a book that was generally very cute, clever, and enjoyable. the finale is also a bit predictable but as this is a kids book I imagine they'll never see it coming. This delightful book is about four kids who are each plagued by an extreme phobia of some sort or another. The phobias are interfereing with living a normal life so they go to this very exclusive school and under go treatment by an ecentric old widow with delightful results. The writing is a delight and very crisp and witty. I would recommend reading this book to your kids for this is the kind of book that's more enjoyable when shared.

Don't fear the School of Fear

What is it about boarding schools that make such great books? School of Fear is about four kids, each with his or her own paralyzing phobia, who go to a summer session boarding school for a six week program designed to cure their fears. But as soon as they get there, it becomes apparent that the weirdness of the school may be more to deal with than the phobias... I just got my advance copy of this 330-page book yesterday, and I had to stay up late last night to finish reading it. The plot is delightfully unpredictable, the dialogue snappy, and the characters vividly fleshed out. Somebody take note - this would make a really fun movie! I laughed out loud so much while reading it that my husband put down his usual science fiction to borrow School of Fear today. At its heart, this is not a heavy book, despite its theme of children dealing with phobias. Yes, it's about fear, but it's not really insightful into the nature of fear - it's not bibliotherapy, nor meant to be. Instead this is a lighthearted romp in a world of crazed ex-pageant queens, a library of horrible smells, and the wonderfully named Fearnasium, where the kids - what else? - exercise their fears. The only thing I didn't like about the book was that the ending seemed rushed (a common problem I've noticed with beginning novelists; this is Daneshvari's second book). While a lot of time is given early in the book to wonderful descriptions that don't advance the plot but DO set the mood and tone beautifully, when it comes to the climactic moment at the end, when the kids make a sudden discovery that SHOULD be a huge shocker, instead the discovery is dealt with almost summarily, mid-chapter, with little sense that the kids are surprised. That last chapter REALLY should have been at least three or four chapters - the lead up to the discovery with the discovery itself coming at the chapter's very end, the explanations, and then some resolution of what happens to these kids when they return to their regular lives each are worthy of a chapter to themselves in my old-fashioned notion of how stories should develop. Nevertheless, this was a very well-written book, just a little rushed at the very end. I look forward to Daneshvari's next book!