Flunked (Fairy Tale Reform School, #1)

by Jen Calonita

Tossed into Cinderella's stepmother's reform school for fairy-tale villains after stealing a hair clip, twelve-year-old petty thief Gilly meets fellow students Jax and Kayla, who reveal the school's true evil purpose. Book #1

When petty thief Gilly, who lives with five younger brothers and sisters in a run-down boot, gets caught stealing, she is sentenced to three months at Fairy Tale Reform School, where all of the teachers are former villains, including the Big Bad Wolf, the Evil Queen, and Cinderella's Wicked Stepmother.

• ISBN10: 1322607567
• ISBN13: 9781322607566
• Publish Date: 1 January 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 19 May 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 257
• Language: English

Reviews

[Berls]

This review appeared first at Fantasy is More Fun.
I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

3.5 stars.
I remember when I broke my oath to stay away from NetGalley for a while to pick up Flunked. I saw it on Michelle's Sunday Post and I had to have it - I mean, look at that cover! Although I did enjoy it, I'm afraid I didn't love Flunked like I thought I would.

I think the principal reason I didn't love it was that I was the wrong audience. I think I went into expecting a YA and I got a Middle Grade. I think it's probably entirely my fault - looking at the details now, I realize it wasn't marketed as a YA. I should have paid more attention.

But, it's not like being an MG is a deal breaker. Harry Potter started off MG (I feel it grew into YA), and I ate that up (still do). Flunked actually had several similarities to Harry Potter, particularly in the Howards-esque Fairy tale Reform School and the brave students/troublemakers. I enjoyed these elements, because - while they felt familiar - they still bore their own unique stamps.

I liked the characters and the concept - take the villains of fairy tales and show them on the course to redemption, while they teach youngsters who are in danger of becoming villains on their own to pick a better course. And Flunked had several messages about how to make good decisions, despite disappointments, disadvantages, and setbacks.

Flunked was entertaining and I'm thinking it might be a great book to make available to my 5th graders. I just would have preferred the YA version for myself, I think.

[Silvara]

Check out my other reviews, discussions and link ups at Fantasy of the Silver Dragon.

"Never send a hero to do a villains job."

 

So I've never listened to an audio book before this one. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to pay enough attention to it while doing other things. But the girl who narrates this one does voices for all the characters, and her voice itself was super-expressive. Just the right amount of snark in the right places, and sadness, and all the other emotions the characters felt.

Gilly wasn't super-likable at first. I mean, she's stealing things in order to be able to afford to buy food for her 5 siblings. And that's understandable. But the level of hatred she has for the Royals for most of the book was almost excessive at times. Towards the end, she finally starts to realize that not all Royals are as bad as she thought they were.

There didn't seem to be a lot of character development, especially for the secondary characters. I hope they get fleshed out more in the next book. Especially Gilly's siblings and parents. I really liked Jax (or Jaks? not having a physical book makes spelling of names harder... oops?) he was a fun and interesting character even before the twist near the end. I hope he plays a big role in the next book as well.

You don't really meet the Royals in this book, they show up twice but they're more like background characters. Most of the book focused on Gilly, Jax, Kayla, Cinderella's Step-Mother, the Evil Queen from Snow White, and Jocelyn (the Evil Queen's little sister).

There were adds for various magazines and things at the end of each chapter. It might have been cute to read them in a physical or e-book copy, but listening to the book as an audio book, was a bit jarring. You'd go from the story, to suddenly having a commercial break, and then the next chapter.

There's a lot of humor and jokes sprinkled through the book. Like the sign on the Archery classroom that says "Don't lose an eye! Announce yourself before entering." I'll be picking up the next book in the series once it's out, and if you haven't read this book yet, I recommend you try it.

This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon

[limabean74]

My Review:

Not only was I totally drawn to the cover but the synopsis sounds like so much fun. You always read about the good guys so it was a nice change for once to read about the villain, even though they were now good guys....sort of, but no....oh, nevermind.

I am a lover of fairytale retelling, this book was fantastic. Kind of had a Harry Potter type feel to it with the school, teachers and the group of friends. Gillian Cobbler just wants to help her family but when she is caught stealing one to many times she is sent to Fairy Tale Reform School to help her see that doing bad isn't the way to go, she needs to turn herself around to the side of good. I love Gillian and I really think what she was doing would not be seen as bad but a good thing for her family just not going about it the right way. The story is told on her POV and I loved her, she is really cute, caring and just worried about her family. Even though the character is said to be 12 years old I kind of felt like she was older maybe about 16 so that was throwing me off just a little, the other characters Kayla, Jax, Maxine and Ollie are super cute but I wish they had a little more character build which I hope will happen in the next book. I also wanted a little more world build just to get a clear picture of the school and the world this was set it. I loved the idea that the princesses ruled the land and the concept of the book is brilliant.

The story is fantastic, I love the idea that kids that could be going toward a life of evil have a chance to redeem themselves by going to reform school and seeing all the evil villains as the professors. Just a wonderful idea, I noticed that some of the stories about the princesses and villains were taken from the original stories not the Disney version and this made me love the book even more.

Needing little more character and world build this book was a 4.5 star for me. It was fast moving with non stop action and some great twists and turns, I loved the characters and looking forward to the next book to see what happens to Gillian and her friends. I think this is a great start to what could be a fantastic series.

This review was originally posted on Because reading is better than real life

[tweetybugshouse]

Flunked by Jen Calonita is a middle grade book full of creativity and surprises. Anyone who is a fan of fairy tales and wants to see some of the main villains reimagined is in for some fun. I thought everything about this book was cute including the cover. There were some pleasant surprises and creative retellings throughout the story and it was fun to run into familiar characters and see them put in situations where they had to teach a bunch of middle school delinquents. I think that most middle school children will like this book and it was a joy to read.