Flunked

Flunked

Flunked by Jen Calonita is a spin on all of your favorite fairy-tales, while incorporating some new details as well.

Plot Summary:

Gilly is a thief. Let me rephrase that, a “minor” thief. But she steals for a good reason, right? She steals for her family, a poor, rag-tag, group of people who live in a very cramped boot. Her father, is a shoemaker who was the actual inventor of the glass slipper. Now Princess Ella’s fairy godmother can make them with a flick of her wand, but her family must put in a lot of work for just a standard boot, much less a glass slipper they created. But she does not just steal from anybody. She steals items from people who can live without them. Taking back what is rightfully her’s and her family’s. She steals from royals. She steals anything from dragon tooth clips to day old bread. One day, this has never happened before and she swears it will never happen again, she gets caught by the Enchantasia Police. (An initiative headed up by Princess Ella or Cinderella.) She is immediately sent to FTRS. (Fairy Tale Reform School) Fairy Tale Reform School is a school to reform former criminals, thieves, killers, and, most importantly, villains. But, is Gilly really a criminal? Three minor offenses, really? (That she had been caught on.) That’s all it took to get her sent for who knows how long to a reform school who’s headmaster is the former stepmother of one of their beloved princesses. She has to get back to her family and soon. If she doesn’t, her siblings will not have enough to eat or will not get to have a treat once in a while.

Author Praise:

Jen Calonita’s characters come alive, once again. Gilly and Samantha Montgomery’s, the main character of the beloved Sleepaway Girls also by Jen Calonita, voices are very similar despite the two completely different stories. The best part of this entire book was setting. Because the setting is not realistic, Ms. Calonita has to use a lot of description and she succeeds. My favorite setting in the book was FTRS. The school was huge and it would be exciting to see. The ending did not do the entire story prior justice. The ending did not resolve everything, especially the climax. The ending was pretty disappointing.

Rating and Reasoning:

I give this book three stars. The plot, characters, and setting were all very well developed. The ending, however, was very disappointing.

Audience: 5th graders to 6^th graders

Publisher: Sourcebooks

Date Published: March 3, 2015

ISBN: 9781492601562

Format: Hardcover

Genre: Fantasy/Fairytale