Supper Hall Book Club: The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

The New York Times bestselling The School for Good and Evil, the first book in the series, is an epic journey into a dazzling new world, where the only way out of a fairy tale is to live through one. This paperback edition features an Extras section, giving readers a chance to see which school they'd be in and a Q&A with the author, Soman Chainani. With her glass slippers and devotion to good deeds, Sophie knows she'll earn top marks at the School for Good and join the ranks of past students like Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Snow White. Meanwhile, Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks and wicked black cat, seems a natural fit for the villains in the School for Evil. The two girls soon find their fortunes reversed—Sophie's dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School for Good, thrust among handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication. But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are?
-Amazon

After months of sinking into literary novels, I wanted a nice imaginative vacation of sorts, and stumbled into a cinematic treasure trove of princessy goodness!

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani centers around Sophie and Agatha in the town of Gavaldon, where two children are kidnapped every year and taken to the School for Good and Evil where they are swept into an epic fairytale with the enormous task of tipping the scales for Good or Evil. Sophie is one of the most beautiful girls in Gavaldon, and has her sights set on a life Ever After with her Prince at the School for Good. Meanwhile, Agatha is a loner, who lives on a graveyard, seeking to hide from townspeople who have all but labeled her a witch, and has but one treasure, her unlikely friendship with Sophie. Agatha often mocks Sophie’s obsession with becoming a princess, fairytales, and the enigmatic school that she is so certain will choose her for Good. However, they both receive a rude awakening when they’re kidnapped, Agatha for Good, Sophie for Evil.

I haven’t read a Middle Grade Adventure in a long while, but when I saw this in beautiful hardcover a few years ago, it looked to have that special something that would draw you in. It has not dissapointed. Soman Chainani has done a wonderful job of creating a fairytale that both harkens back to folklore that we know and love, whilst also placing his own special signature on it. School for Good and Evil has everything we love about fairytales: castles, glamorous Princesses, magic, fiendish villains, even, Tedros, a handsome prince (the son of King Arthur and Guinevere) who is self assured and soft hearted. Agatha’s encounters with the Evers at the School for Good, and Sophie’s encounters with the Nevers at the School for Evil are classic. So funny, and full of witty discourse that made the ride such a pleasure, whilst tugging at your heart as they create solid friendships with unlikely players.

What’s truly special about this novel is Chainani’s attention to friendships and self worth. Whilst Sophie spends much of the novel taking Agatha’s friendship for granted, in light of her dreams for a Prince, Agatha’s journey is priceless, as she fights to save her friendship, and discovers her purpose as Princess in this grand fairytale. Sophie’s dissent into Evil is also engrossing, and made all the more realistic by subtle nuances that make her the perfect villaness to love and hate. Pitting Agatha and Sophie as mortal enemies in the grand scheme of their destiny, however, is priceless. How intriguing is it to explore the journey of best friends who will eventually keep the other from experiencing their happy ending? Awesome!

I truly enjoyed my journey into this witty and imaginative fairytale! It has a timeless quality that will delight readers of any age. I most appreciated the care Chainani has taken to explore the power of self worth. There were moments in the novel where Agatha’s struggle to love herself, and appreciate what she has to offer the world mirrored my own struggles, especially as a young girl. I wish I had read this novel when I was in Grade School, as I know I would have taken something so beautiful from it.
If you’re a fan of Disney or Once Upon A Time, this will be the perfect series to jump into during the seasons’ (OUAT) hiatus.

In a short sidebar, I was privileged to attend BEA this year, and fortunately had the opportunity to meet Soman Chainani in person. In the quickest exchange known to man, I was able inform him , not so subtly, that he rocks, as he autographed a beautiful print spotlighting the glorious finale to the SGE series, The Last Ever After arriving in stores on July 21st. Whilst reading I discovered that it will also become a film very soon, but before I could get really nervous, I discovered that Chainani’s written the script. Finally! We don’t have to fear that a film will be so far from the book that it’s incredulous to even call it an adaptation. As you can probably tell, I’m super excited.

Happy Reading!

SUPPER HALL BOOK CLUB TV

***Supper Hall Book Club was inspired by a chapter of the same name in SGE: A World Without Princes, where one of my favorite Nevers, Dot, creates a book club of the same name. Thought it would be the perfect name for the bookish section on my channel and here on Novel Days. All credit goes to Soman Chainani and if there is any copyright infringement involved, I will gladly change the name :-).

"What a treacherous thing it is to believe that a person is more than a person."

ND Tunes | D'arline by The Civil Wars

When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night—dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows her. Margo’s always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she’s always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q . . . until day breaks and she has vanished. Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they’re for Q.Printz Medalist John Green returns with the trademark brilliant wit and heart-stopping emotional honesty that have inspired a new generation of readers. -Amazon

Dear Blue,

I finished it! I finally understand what Margo Roth Spiegelman means to everyone!

I spent all summer trying to finish this book (and believe me, this is in no way, evidence that Paper Towns is a boring novel). It's just been one of those summers of noncommittal reading. I also started a book club of sorts with a lovely girl when we both discovered our love for YA...she actually lives around the corner from me, believe it or not. I had recently started Paper Towns, and she had begun a reread of the same, and we both decided that it should be the first of many books in our makeshift club. But you know what happens when you have an obligation to read...it lays dormant at the bottom of my bag, ignored for other novels, left on my bed when I meant to pick it up... Either way, the important part is that I finally finished it during the past week.

Paper Towns by John Green is about Quentin Jacobsen and his unparalleled fascination with the adventurous and enigmatic girl next door, Margo Roth Spiegelman. More importantly, it's a story about a journey towards truly knowing someone.

Everyone has a Margo Roth Spiegelman in their lives. That one person that almost seems mythic in their conception. Floating just above the mundane nuances of everyday life. Any time I surrender to a fevered crush, I look at each guy as if he's the single most fascinating person on the planet, and everything from the velvety tone of his voice, to the sound of his dress shoes on the carpet carries some form of poetry. And then one day, I walk into the communal area on my job, and watch as he nervously sops up steaming coffee frothing over the edge of his styrophone cup, and I realize he wakes up just as disgruntled on Mondays as everyone else does.

One of the most eye opening facets about this novel is how it reveals the ideas we have about people. Fantasies that we often choose over the real thing because it can be more fun to piece a person together like a paper doll, than to deal with someone of flesh and bone with feelings, emotions, and a host of flaws. This is the thing I think I love about John Green the most. He has the ability to make human again the person once untouchable. It's a lot of fun to read novels where the main character attracts that seemingly unattainable character, but it's gold to observe an author turn fantastical ideas on their heads, and make real life that magical thing we all should seek after.

I'll say that I wasn't as moved by this novel as I was by The Fault In Our Stars, but that doesn't diminish the truth it holds, and I recommend that you read this novel at least once.

Also, if you've read Paper Towns, you know how strongly Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass pulses through it. I've never read any of Whitman's work, but John Green has inspired me to jump in. Who knows. Maybe I'll highlight passages and leave it for someone special to find.

 Hugs and Love, 

 Britta