(US/UK Links)
Flunked (Fairy Tale Reform School)
by Jen Calonita is released this week in the US and UK. See Fairy Tale Reform School: Flunked (UK Link).Remember how I mention trends in fairy tale retelling publishing sometimes? Fairy tale schools are definitely an official trend. We've had The School for Good and Evil
and Ever After High: The Storybook of Legends
and don't forget the Fairy Tale High Dolls
which are NOT Ever After High.I think there are a few mores but those are the ones I remember as I spend a few minutes composing this post.Book description:
Flunked is an exciting new twisted fairy tale from the award-winning author of the Secrets of My Hollywood Life series. "Charming fairy-tale fun." -Sarah Mlynowski, author of the New York Times bestselling Whatever After series.
Gilly wouldn't call herself wicked, exactly...but when you have five little brothers and sisters and live in a run-down boot, you have to get creative to make ends meet. Gilly's a pretty good thief (if she does say so herself).
Until she gets caught.
Gilly's sentenced to three months at Fairy Tale Reform School where all of the teachers are former (super-scary) villains like the Big Bad Wolf, the Evil Queen, and Cinderella's Wicked Stepmother. Harsh. But when she meets fellow students Jax and Kayla, she learns there's more to this school than its heroic mission. There's a battle brewing and Gilly has to wonder: can a villain really change?
In addition to the fairy tale school stuff you mentioned, there's also a cartoon entitled Teenage Fairy Tale Drop-Outs, which basically uses the same concept.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as the fairy tale blogosphere's resident pop culture junkie, I'd like to point out that the "special school" trope in which a fantastical genre is applied to the familiar setting of school is a very old and well-used theme in children's popular culture. There are superhero schools, ninja schools, wizard schools, spy schools, etc. However, the most popular is probably the monster school. It's kind of an obvious metaphor though: making high school into a literal living nightmare.