about the book
As the other children in the village of Gavaldon writhe in their beds, thrashing through nightmares of being ripped from their sheets by the mysterious Schoolmaster, Sophie blissfully dreams of castles and princes. She has waited her whole life to be kidnapped.
The children of the village do little but read fairy tales. For the last two centuries, every four years on the eleventh night of the eleventh month, the scary Schoolmaster snatches two children over the age of twelve. One will attend the School of Good and learn honor, valor, and purity. They will be a hero or a princess and find Happily Ever After. The other will attend the School of Evil where mischief, malice, and villainy are studied. They will become witches or something equally repulsive. Every student graduates into his or her own fairy tale.
Gorgeous Sophie believes she deserves to be taken. Every morning, her rigorous beauty regiment takes hours, her wardrobe consist mainly of glass slippers and frilly gowns, and she counts her good deeds daily. Sophie’s best friend, ugly Agatha, lives in the cemetery in a house atop Graves Hill. Bitter and grumpy, Agatha is a freakishly pale loner, wears black exclusively, and has a vicious cat named Reaper. How could anyone be more perfect for the Evil School? That is why Agatha befriended her. They are the ideal two to be snatched!
Of course, that is exactly what happens…but both are in for a shock!
Ugly Agatha is dropped to the School of Good while perfect Sophie plummets into the School of Evil!
If that isn’t bad enough, both Sophie and Agatha are shunned, mocked, and feared by their new classmates who haven’t a clue what a fairy tale is! As the dour Agatha scoffs at her princess etiquette studies, the stunned Sophie trains in uglification! They try to switch places but can’t! They try to escape but can’t! Their friendship is quickly put to the test in ways they never imagined. They have just one chance to make this work and that means they have to work together!
Can the girls fight their fates…or are they doomed to Happily Never After?
about the author
Soman Chainani grew up in Key Biscayne, Florida, one of the island’s only Indian families. He was a lot like his character ugly Agatha in his first book for middle grade readers, The School of Good and Evil. Soman had a dark edge as a kid. He was passionate about Disney animations but was drawn particularly to the female villains. Using manipulation and trickery, he found they were far cleverer than the brute force of the male villains.
By the time he entered Harvard, Soman’s fascination with female villains was entrenched. Luckily, he took a class from Maria Tatar, the chair of Harvard’s folklore and mythology program, and she later became his mentor. He wrote his senior thesis on the reinvention of wicked women as fairy-tale villains and graduated summa cum laude. Soman went on to study film at Columbia University’s MFA program and worked as an award-winning movie writer and director.
When Soman decided to write a children’s novel, he noted how young females in today’s marketing and culture are targeted to be pink, sparkly, and plastic perfect. He says even boys have no idea how to live up to expectations. So he set a secret goal: to “scare the pink princess out of a lot of little girls.” Soman wants to give his readers insights into different forms of good and evil. With his trilogy now translated into 26 languages on six continents and slated soon to be a major motion picture, it looks like Soman has met his goal. He is currently working on the scripts for books two and three.
Soman makes his home in New York City and, when not writing or directing, this die-hard tennis player is on the courts. He could boast of never losing a first-round match for over ten years…until he wrote The School of Good and Evil. Now he loses all the time. Could it be some villainous curse?
Sources:
Author website
Author spotlight: Harvard Magazine
Author interview: USA Today
Book trailer: The School for Good and Evil
Also by Soman Chainani:
The Last Ever After (School for Good and Evil, Book 3). Harper Collins. 2015.
The World without Princes (School for Good and Evil, Book 2). Harper Collins. 2014.
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