Intended Audience: Mature Teens
Genre: Real Life / Thriller
Notes for parents: Contains violence, coarse language and mature themes.
The Back Cover
Who knows what goes on behind the doors of The School for Dangerous Girls?
The school’s mission is clear: To take girls who’ve caused trouble and to reform them into model citizens.
Its methods?
No freedom. No medication. No leniency.
No escape.
Some girls are meant to get better. And, as Angela is about to learn, some girls are meant to stay forever.
What the Back Cover doesn’t tell you:
The School for Dangerous Girls is actually called Hidden Oak, a desolate former boys’ school that gets cut off from society when it snows.
What’s good?
This story has a strong beginning, solid characters, and an interesting setting.
Best part: The history of the school.
What’s not so good?
Any hope there was of me liking Angela disappeared when she let the hamster die. In fact, I didn’t like any of the characters, except for, maybe, Carmen. The premise was unoriginal, plot development was very weak, and the story goes completely downhill after Angela is sent to the basement. I would have liked to know more about the girls’ background and about the school’s history, and less about all of the crazy evil that somehow continues. Did every girl who’s ever passed through the school have ridiculously stupid, naïve parents?
Worst part: The hair dye at the end. What was that about?
Recommendations þoooo
I read this book because there were great reviews listed on the back. Kirkus called it “Gripping, violent and terrifying.” Booklist said it was a “page-turner.” Most surprising of all, Newsweek said it was an “acutely observed, smoothly written confection.” Sorry, I don’t agree. I don’t recommend this book.
Schrefer, Eliot. The School for Dangerous Girls. New York: Point, 2009.
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