Title: Flunked
Series: Fairy Tale Reform School #1
Series: Fairy Tale Reform School #1
Author: Jen Calonita
Publication Date: March 3rd, 2015
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Pages: 256
ISBN: 149260156X
Source: ARC from Publisher
Rating: 
Synopsis (from Goodreads):
Synopsis (from Goodreads):
OUR MISSION:
To turn WICKED DELINQUENTS
and FORMER VILLAINS
into FUTURE HEROES
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?
There’s a boy up there, standing on the crystal chandelier! He has slightly curly blond hair and is wearing a uniform—a navy sweater vest over a white shirt with khaki pants—but his boots are muddy. He’s stepping on priceless crystals with cruddy boots? Is he insane?
“Jax! What are you doing up there?” Kayla whispers heatedly.
“I’m cleaning the crystal for Flora,” Jax says and rolls his eyes. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m making
a break for it.”
Kayla applauds. “Yay! This time I know you can do it.”
I shade my eyes from the light bursting through the stained-glass window next to the chandelier Jax is perched on. “Busting out? Why?” I ask Kayla. “I thought you said this place was cool.”
Jax laughs loudly and looks at me. I feel slightly stunned. I’ve never seen violet eyes before. “FTRS was fun for a while, but strange things have started happening and I don’t want to be here when something bad goes down.”
Strange things? What kind of strange things? Why does Kayla suddenly look pale?
“He’s exaggerating,” Kayla tells me, but she doesn’t sound convincing.
Drip. Whatever Jax is holding is leaking. Kayla and I move out of the way so we don’t get wet. “Grease,” Jax explains to me. “It lubes the window.” He swings the chandelier, and as it nears the window, he uses a fork to try to pry the window open. “A few more tries and I’ll have it.”
“Then what are you going to do, genius?” I ask. “You’re two stories up.”
Jax’s eyes gleam. “I’ve jumped from higher spots before.”
“It’s true,” Kayla says to me. “Jax once jumped from the gym to the dining hall turret. That was three stories up. We call him the Escape Artist. One time he even managed to break into Azalea and Dahlia’s rooms and borrowed their keys to the indoor pool so the whole dorm could take a midnight swim.”
“Impressive,” I tell him. “And I thought I was good at tricking obnoxious royals.”
“She stole a dragon’s tooth clip from one this morning,” Kayla fills him in.
“Nice,” Jax says. “Your first pull?”
“No, I’ve been doing it for a while,” I brag.
“Me too,” Jax says. “My father is a farmer. You can only get so far trading vegetables. I needed to kick things up a notch.”
For some reason, I don’t think any of us are going to make the transformation Headmistress Flora is looking for. “Why do you want to break out so bad?”
“I’ve got places to see, and Enchantasia isn’t one of them.” Jax swings the chandelier so hard the crystals clang together. The window latch pops open, and I watch Jax leap from the chandelier to the tiny window ledge. I’m in awe. Jax looks down at us smugly before pushing open the window. “Are you sure you two don’t want to join me?”
“There’s no time for us,” Kayla says. “Get out of here. Wait!” Her eyes widen. “You deactivated the alarm on the window, right?”
“There isn’t one,” Jax insists. “If there was, I wouldn’t be able to do this.” But when Jax lifts the window, we hear:
EEEEEE! EEEE! EEEE! Unauthorized exit! Unauthorized exit!
The shrieking sound is so intense that Kayla and I cover our ears. Within seconds, Flora is out of her office and running toward us.
Swoosh!
I feel something brush past me and I whirl around. When I look up at Jax again, a large, muscular man with a long mane of hair is hanging on to the window ledge, his furry hands pulling Jax back by his shirt. How did the man get up there without a ladder?
“Mr. Jax,” the man says in a low growl, “we really must stop meeting like this.”
Jen Calonita is the author of the Secrets of My Hollywood Life series and other books like Sleepaway Girls and Summer State of Mind, but Fairy Tale Reform School is her first middle grade series.
She rules Long Island, New York with husband Mike, princes Tyler and Dylan, and Chihuahua Captain Jack Sparrow, but the only castle she’d ever want to live in is Cinderella’s at Disney World.
She’d love for you to drop her a line at jencalonitaonline.com or keep the fairy tale going at http://books.sourcebooks.com/enchantasia/
Ever wonder what happened to the evil step-monster in Cinderella? Or perhaps the Evil Queen from Snow White or the Big Bad Wolf? Chances are, they've attempted to turned their lives around. Imagine Cinderella's castle and Hogwarts had a child...it would be the Fairy Tale Reform School. Ran by Cinderella's ex evil step-mother, the school is a place to help the creatures of fairy tales set on the right path.
Gilly lives in a boot with her family. She has developed a habit of stealing to help feed them, and after being caught one too many times, she is sent to the reform school. This is the school's 5th anniversary, and there will be a ball that all the Royals will be attending. During preparation, Gilly begins noticing some shady behaviors and mysterious happenings that cause her and her friends to set out to save the school.
If you love storybook legends, magic, and charming humor, you'll get sucked into the world of Enchantasia. There were a lot of times I laughed because the writing is very witty. The main characters were great, and I enjoyed watching their personalities unravel. The secondary characters do seem a bit underdeveloped, but this is a short Middle Grade book, so I had to lower my expectations. However, some of the scenes left more to be desired. I wanted the world around me to be built a little more, but the environment lacked detail. For the size and audience it isn't that big of a deal, but I would have enjoyed those elements being added into the story.
This is a charming book, and it's a very light, quick read. I look forward to the sequel!
Gilly lives in a boot with her family. She has developed a habit of stealing to help feed them, and after being caught one too many times, she is sent to the reform school. This is the school's 5th anniversary, and there will be a ball that all the Royals will be attending. During preparation, Gilly begins noticing some shady behaviors and mysterious happenings that cause her and her friends to set out to save the school.
If you love storybook legends, magic, and charming humor, you'll get sucked into the world of Enchantasia. There were a lot of times I laughed because the writing is very witty. The main characters were great, and I enjoyed watching their personalities unravel. The secondary characters do seem a bit underdeveloped, but this is a short Middle Grade book, so I had to lower my expectations. However, some of the scenes left more to be desired. I wanted the world around me to be built a little more, but the environment lacked detail. For the size and audience it isn't that big of a deal, but I would have enjoyed those elements being added into the story.
This is a charming book, and it's a very light, quick read. I look forward to the sequel!
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