School of Fear by Gitty Daneshvari

Synopsis:
Four kids with immobilizing phobias are sent to a very special boarding school to cure them of their fears–if it doesn’t kill them first.

Review:
I really enjoyed Gitty Daneshvari’s wit in School of Fear. She has a dry sense of humor that really animates all the characters and elevates the book beyond what could have been just a by-the-numbers genre read. You can tell that she really cares about language and wants to put something original into the world, which is not something you can say about some of the YA authors I’ve come across.

School of Fear has a sense of gothic adventure that reminded me of John Bellairs crossed with EL Konigsburg–in other words, it’s great fun for middle grade readers.

Many thanks to Little, Brown for the review copy.