School of Fear (School of Fear, 1)

Four unusual children with phobias are sent to a special school for the purpose of overcoming their fears. Weirdness ensues. Yes, this sounds like a clever plot for a book, but the execution is very dull and repetitive.

Several other reviewers have mentioned similarities to "The Mysterious Benedict Society." I agree. Except that "The Mysterious Benedict Society" is a very interesting and entertaining read - a near-5-star book. "School Of Fear"...not so much.

The characters are completely one-dimensional, defined exclusively by their phobias and annoying eccentricities. The gist of the book is weird characters behaving weirdly in weird situations over and over and over again (for an excruciatingly long 333 pages that seems more like 666 pages). That's pretty much it. If your child is entertained when you make weird faces, and tells you to "Do it again"...over and over again...laughing each time at the same basic joke...then he/she may be entertained by this book...

As a mother who screens all the books her 11-year-old daughter reads, I am generally partial to books depicting unusual school-life. "School of Fear" certainly is that! While I found the book to be just a bit over-the-top, I recognise that that is part of the charm for said daughter. Fear is, after all, reasonable - while phobia is not! Said daughter enjoyed the book so much, she actually made time (there are just so many good books out there these days!) to read it twice, so that made me happy! Now we're waiting for the movie to come out. This being that kind of book, it will more likely than not transfer splendidly to film! In the words of said daughter (the five stars rating is hers):

"The book 'School of Fear' by Gitty Daneshvari is an outstanding book about how kids overcome their phobias. Madeline Materson, Theodore Barthlomew, Lulu Punchalower and Garrison Feldman are all terrified of something. That's why this summer was especially petrifying for them when they are forced to go to the School of Fear for six weeks. Yet, they manage to survive the experience with the help of Macaroni the dog, batty but smart Mrs. Wellington and Schmidty.

"The book was funny, interesting and kept me guessing till the end. I loved it! I liked all the characters but my favorite was Madeline because she is scared of bugs and spiders just like me, and she is short and smart. The only person I had just a tiny problem with was Theo and that was only because he was very annoying and his fear of dying is silly to me. However, without him, the book would be boring and not quite as funny. I give the book five stars and two thumbs up."

I gave this to my 10 year old daughter to read. She got about half way through before she gave up on it. Asked to give a one word summary, she said "Boring!" For a slightly more detailed review she cited that there was no real story to it and they just kept doing the same stuff over and over.

Honestly I think a good rule of thumb (especially for a kids) is that if a book can't capture some interest in the first couple of chapters it's best to put it down and move on to a book that can. Reading should be a pleasure not a punishment.

In it's extreme, this story does make fun of phobias. It is an enjoyable story to read. It's ending might be a surprise to young readers, but was predicatable for more seasoned readers. The story is engaging and made for a book hard to put down. Overall I can recommend it for older young readers. As a parent I treat this book as PG -- parental guidance. It might best be read and discussed with younger readers. In all it's an engaging and entertaining (sometimes gory) -- but fun because it is so extreme. I would look forward to reading more from this author.

Good book. I thought it was more for younger kids, but was more for an older child. I just began reading chapter books for my 5 year and although she is educationaly advanced, it was a little too much for her age group.

This book looked like it would interest my daughter, so I handed it to her for a review. She was thirteen when she first read the book, but she wrote the review a year later. Here is what she said.

"Four middle-school children--Garrison, Lulu, Theo, and Madeline, who are afraid of water, confined spaces, dying, and bugs, respectively--are sent to a secretive school in an attempt to get rid of their fears. However, the school is run by ex-beauty pageant-winner Mrs. Wellington, whose teaching methods include smearing Vaseline on the students' teeth and gums to improve their smiles, and putting a ruler into the back of their pants to correct their posture. Through a series of outrageous events (which include Mrs. Wellington faking her own death and willing everything she owns to her dog), the children help to keep the school up and running while things are being straightened out. After their summer stay at School of Fear, Garrison, Lulu, Theo, and Madeline return home slightly--but not completely--cured of their fears.

"I found the book to be too descriptive. There were too many modifiers and extra phrases that did not add anything to the story. Also, there is a lack of sentence variety. Most sentences begin with the subject of the sentence, so it was boring to read."

I read a portion of the book myself, and I found it to be very boring indeed. For example, in Chapter Three the students visit a museum. When it is time for the students to go up to the next floor, Lulu, who is afraid of confined spaces, does not want to enter the elevator. After two pages of repetitive (and boring) dialogue between Lulu and her teacher, at the end of which Lulu is pushed toward the elevator, we come to this paragraph: "Lulu's heart pounded ferociously. All she could feel was the suffocation of her breath and the cold metal of the cuffs against her skin. She dug her Converse sneakers into the floor futilely, trying to stop the wave bearing down upon her. The plastic soles squeaked loudly as she skidded across the concrete." Really??? "Suffocation of her breath"? Why bother mentioning the "plastic" soles of the shoes? How would digging your sneakers into the floor stop a wave? Ugh. Way too much filler and little substance.

My daughter did enjoy the story, but she didn't want to read it again. I would recommend the book to children under the age of twelve because of its simple plot and writing style.

I just happened to be at Barnes and Noble one day when I saw this book and thought it looked interesting. I read it and found its plot very clever and the characters well-developed. The book is so detailed and descriptive that I actually feel like I am really right there with the characters.

I honestly feel that someone should make this into a movie. It would be a shame if they didn't...such a great story!!

I do think that children will appreciate this book far more than adults will. I found it funny and clever, and the ending of the very last book in the series was very good and left me satisfied. Though I wish the author would write another series just like it!

This book is a very special book. I read it each night to my nine year old daughter and we laughed so much. The characters are gems, and you just fall in love with them all. I am such a "judge a book by the cover" type person and the cover drew me in and I am so glad. It is splendid from the cover to the last page. Thank you for writing such a wonderful book.

Daneshvari begins by introducing us to four adolescents who display strong phobias: water; dying; confined spaces; and bugs (spiders). The parents of these teens are so desperate that they send their children to the School of Fear, which is a program that treats phobias. Once there, the characters meet the head mistress of the School: Mrs Wellington. Mrs. Wellington has scary teaching methods individualized for each student. The story describes the unusual treatments that each student receives. The students also complete a mission to save Mrs. Wellington's dog. During this, each student is challenged by their phobias. The story itself has humorous moments, is well written, and deals with serious issues. The beginning of each chapter highlights a different phobia and its meaning, so there is some educational value as well as the entertainment value.

My daughter (now 9) took some time before she was able to read this. Numerous attempts were made, but she just couldn't get into it. I asked her to try one more time, and she ate it up like cotton candy! Highly recommended for advanced readers in third grade and up.

There are 4 tweens that have phobias that probably all young kids experience at some point in their life. They are sent to a school to help them with their fears. They eventually have to face their fears and it's comical the conversations they have with the headmaster, Mrs. Wellington. Quite a cute book and would make a fun summer reading program book. Not sure a 10 year old would get some of the humor but if it's read to them with the proper tone of voice, you'll definitely get a giggle.