School of Fear

by Daneshvari, Gitty.

Format: Print Book 2009
Availability: Available at 7 Libraries 7 of 8 copies
Available (7)
Location Collection Call #
CLP - Main Library First Floor Children's Department - Fiction Collection j FICTION Daneshvari
Location  CLP - Main Library
 
Collection  First Floor Children's Department - Fiction Collection
 
Call Number  j FICTION Daneshvari
 
 
Cooper-Siegel Community Library Children's Fiction j FIC DAN
Location  Cooper-Siegel Community Library
 
Collection  Children's Fiction
 
Call Number  j FIC DAN
 
 
Moon Township Public Library Juvenile Fiction JF DANESHVARI
Location  Moon Township Public Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Fiction
 
Call Number  JF DANESHVARI
 
 
Mt. Lebanon Public Library Children's Fiction j DANESHVARI
Location  Mt. Lebanon Public Library
 
Collection  Children's Fiction
 
Call Number  j DANESHVARI
 
 
Sewickley Public Library Juvenile Fiction J F DAN
Location  Sewickley Public Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Fiction
 
Call Number  J F DAN
 
 
Shaler North Hills Library Juvenile Fiction j SERIES DAN
Location  Shaler North Hills Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Fiction
 
Call Number  j SERIES DAN
 
 
Wilkinsburg Public Library Juvenile Fiction J DAN ADVENTURE
Location  Wilkinsburg Public Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Fiction
 
Call Number  J DAN ADVENTURE
 
 
 
Unavailable (1)
Location Collection Status
Andrew Carnegie Free Library Juvenile Fiction CHECKED OUT
Location  Andrew Carnegie Free Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Fiction
 
Status  CHECKED OUT
 
 
Summary
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, 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.
Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "Although it starts out shakily as it flatfootedly introduces the four incoming students of the mysterious School of Fear, Daneshvari's debut children's book gains momentum as the school's headmistress unleashes her wildly unconventional curriculum, designed to help children overcome their phobias. Like Willy Wonka, Mrs. Wellington is an eccentric and highly suspect leader; she seems to disdain her charges and their petty fears. The fears are not small to the four kids though Madeleine is petrified of spiders and insects, Theo can't bear the thought of death, Lulu hates confined spaces, and Garrison, the group's jock, dreads even the sight of deep water. Each chapter opens with Everyone's Afraid of Something, followed by a definition of a phobia, reminding readers of the school's mission and the characters' challenges, yet sometimes the details and plot developments seem haphazardly dispensed. Ultimately the unnerved students unite as a team and take part in a heroic, character-building, fear-slaying attempt to right a notorious wrong. Gifford's illustrations impart a fitting, neo-Charles Addams vibe.--Nolan, Abby Copyright 2009 Booklist"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "Imagine a humorous middle-grade novel by a less self-absorbed Woody Allen to get an idea of this intelligent and witty children's debut. Daneshvari assembles a precocious cast of 12- and 13-year-olds with outsize fears, including Madeleine, whose obsessive fear of insects keeps her drenched in bug repellant; Theo, "the most dramatic, hysterical, and neurotic boy in the borough of Manhattan"; brazen Lulu, with crippling claustrophobia; and hydrophobic Garrison. Desperate families entrust these kids to Mrs. Wellington, the snarky "deranged beauty queen" of a headmistress at the secretive and fairly terrifying School of Fear ("Perhaps when the summer is finished you'll write a letter to the board of camps to complain," Mrs. Wellington tells the children when they learn they are the sole campers. "And please do not let the board's hypothetical status deter you"). What ensues is tautly paced, spine-tingling and quite funny, as the children overcome their fears and learn to work as a team. The ending proves as clever as the premise and shows that while everyone is afraid of something, tremendous achievements can be won by facing fear head-on. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8-12. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved"
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Additional Information
Subjects Phobias -- Juvenile fiction.
Schools -- Juvenile fiction.
Interpersonal relations -- Juvenile fiction.
Self-actualization (Psychology) -- Juvenile fiction.
Phobias -- Fiction.
Schools -- Fiction.
Interpersonal relations -- Fiction.
Self-actualization -- Fiction.
Publisher New York :Little, Brown,2009
Edition 1st ed.
Contributors Gifford, Carrie.
Language English
Description 339 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm
ISBN 9780316033268
031603326X
Other Classic View