Story Time: A Great Fall and Halloween Read for Teens

by Edward Bloor

George and Kate are promised the finest education when they transfer to the Whittaker Magnet School. It boasts the highest test scores in the nation. But at what price? Their school's curriculum is focused on beating standardized tests; classes are held in dreary, windowless rooms; and students are force-fed noxious protein shakes to improve their test performance. Worst of all, there seems to be a demon loose in the building, one whose murderous work has only just begun.

A bitterly funny satire about the state of modern education from the author of Tangerine and Crusader.

Includes a reader's guide and an author's note.

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Horror, Teen, Humor

444 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2001

About the author

Edward (William) Bloor

Personal Information: Born October 12, 1950, in Trenton, NJ; son of Edward William and Mary (Cowley) Bloor; married Pamela Dixon (a teacher), August 4, 1984. Father to a daughter and a son. Education: Fordham University, B.A., 1973.

Career: Novelist and editor. English teacher in Florida public high schools, 1983-86; Harcourt Brace School Publishers, Orlando, FL, senior editor, beginning 1986.

* Tangerine, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1997.
* Crusader, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1999.
* Story Time, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2004.
* London Calling, Knopf (New York, NY), 2006.
* Taken, Knopf (New York, NY,) 2007.

Media Adaptations:
Tangerine audiobook, Recorded Books, 2001.
Story Time audiobook, Recorded Books, 2005.
London Calling audiobook, Recorded Books, 2006.

Reviews

[Brandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This struck me as what would happen if Lemony Snicket wrote a book with a more realistic setting and plot. And, um, with demons. And standardized testing. And superweapons. So I guess it's maybe not so realistic at all. But it still had a certain Lemony Snicket-esque vibe in the wordplay and the sarcasm.

Ah, hell. I can't be articulate. I liked it. It was good.

[Dan Keating · Rating 1 out of 5]

It legitimately pains me to be writing this review. Bloor's "Tangerine" is, and will probably always be, my favorite young adult novel ever, but after reading his "Crusader" and now this, I've come to accept that Bloor hasn't been able to duplicate the success of his first novel - while duplicating many thematic elements in a way that reveals his writing as somewhat formulaic.

Story Time tells the story of eighth grade Kate and her sixth grade Uncle George and their family, as Kate and George are enrolled in the Whittaker Magnet School, which utilizes an over-the-top satirical "test-based curriculum," which is so focused on standardized testing that when an English teacher puts up a Shakespeare poster in her room, since Shakespeare doesn't appear in standardized testing the school's headmaster fires her on the spot. The story focuses on Kate and George's dissatisfaction with their school and their attempts to uncover the supernatural events there, which routinely result in horrific injuries, and how those events are related to various problems in their own personal lives.

The snapshot above of a teacher being fired on the spot for putting up a Shakespeare poster can pretty much prepare you for the tone of most of Story Time. The first family of King's County, the Whittaker-Austins, who rule the school (which is also a public library built by their ancestor Cornell Whittaker Number One - yes, that was his name, according to the story), are consistently portrayed in as over-the-top a manner as possible, from promoting their own empty-headed children as superstars to covering up murders in order to save the reputation of the school. While their antics do occasionally merit real loathing - the matriarch, Cornelia, dismissing an accusation of sexual harassment against her son due to the accuser having no witnesses - the fact that they're utter caricatures, and nothing else but, keeps them from being truly effective antagonists. As such, it appears that Bloor is using as inspiration the Wormwoods from Roald Dahl's Mathilda and the Dursleys from Harry Potter. However, the Dursleys manage to be fleshed out into three-dimensional, if whimsically satirical, characters (largely on the strength of JK Rowling's prose), and the Wormwoods, while unquestionably abusive and bad, never go so far as to sweep sexual harassment or murder under the rug for their own gain. As such the Whittaker-Austins leave a big hole in the novel, and every time they appear the reader groans, knowing pretty much what to expect next.

The novel's whimsical tone is inconsistent as well. The realistic concerns of some characters are overshadowed by the satirical excesses of others. For instance: George and Kate's family are required to work at the school/library in order to pay for their tuition. George's parents (Kate's grandparents) are only ever shown clogging; whether they have professions that support the family is unclear, but it is clear that they're required to work six hours a day, three days a week, at the library. For just about anyone who already has a job to support their family, the idea of throwing in an extra 18 hours a week is mind-numbing; however this is not directly addressed as being a particular hardship. This lapse in realism would be excusable if the novel stuck to its whimsical tone, but characters like Kate and George are grounded in realistic logic; even their experience of the ghost/demon is grounded in a realistic description of what they see and how they reason through to understanding what it is. The disparity makes the whole thing confusing, especially leaving the reader wondering why George, the critical thinker of the group, hasn't raised the issue.

Finally, the main characters themselves lack enough depth to really make them stand out. As with so many stories today this can be attributed to pace issues - the novel is in such a hurry to make things happen that character growth is largely left behind. These issues are highlighted most by Kate, who is arguably the central character of the novel and whose struggle, with social alienation at Whittaker and with her parents' broken marriage, is the most emotional of the novel; despite several scenes in which we begin to see Kate growing as a character - including heart-wrenching scenes where she examines her mostly-pitiful mother and says to herself, as though addressing her absentee father, "I would leave her too," and later when she realizes that her mother does care and try to protect her - overall that growth is limited and given second priority to more far-flung antics from the novel's flat antagonists. Also complicating issues of character growth is June, Kate's mother, who more or less makes a decision to stop being emotionally traumatized and finally tell her daughter why her father left and why she's been a mouse of a person ever since; while there is some lead-in to this growth on June's part, there isn't nearly enough.

Bloor's points about the status of public education, and the emphasis on standardized testing, are good ones, but they're so wrapped in emotionally-empty caricature that it just doesn't feel like it means anything. "Tangerine" was so successful, in my view, because it relied on the strong characterization of Paul Fisher to tell its politically-charged story. "Story Time" tries to rely more on the Whittaker-Austins, who are intentionally one-dimensional and just not interesting enough to be the driving force of the novel.

"Story Time" very greatly disappointed me. I don't know that I'll be sampling any more of Bloor's writing - I certainly won't be purchasing blind any more of his books, which, I'm ashamed to admit, is primarily how I pick up new literature. In the end, I wouldn't recommend this book, even to people who are interested in the debate around standardized testing - because if you're familiar with the debate, you won't really get anything out of this book, and if you're not familiar, sadly a list of "cons" on website would do pretty much everything for you that this book could.

[Laurie (barksbooks) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a good satire on the current state of our education system and the No Child Left Behind program. In this story 8th grader Kate and her genius uncle George (who is actually younger than her) are invited to attend the Whittaker Magnet School. George, who is a bit of genius, is thrilled but Kate, notsomuch. The Whittaker Magnet School is the last place Kate wants to go. She loves her public school and has been practicing her whole life for the lead in their production of Peter Pan. She's also heard stories about the weird kids that attend and how the atmosphere of the school turns them into breathing mushrooms. She's forced to attend because she now lives in the Whittaker school district and doesn't want to mess up George's chances of attending by screwing up and getting expelled as much as she dreams of doing so.

I lost interest in this story about halfway through and can't pinpoint a reason other than I was too distracted and it wasn't involving enough to grab me.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a hard time slogging through it, it didn't really capture my interest. It's intended as a scathing criticism of standardized testing and education, but that's such a minimal part of the book, it's more like tepid criticism. The paranormal parts weren't very interesting or exciting, and the characters, other than Uncle George, were flat. I like demons as much as the next person, but we learned so little about them, where they came from, why they were in the book, and why they liked to hurt people; they just seemed part of the story thrown in for suspense, not a meaningful plot point. I think kids would have a hard time getting through this, there isn't enough fun stuff for them, and adults who read it for the commentary on education are going to be disappointed.

[Tam Tam · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just okay...but I almost didn't like it. It was entertaining enough at the beginning, I mean an evil school that has tests everyday was fun to read about...but then towards the end I just wanted it over with. I even skipped through some of it just to get to the end. The actual plot though was kind of dumb. I would have liked it much better if it wasn't about some demon from a book, but something else more believable. I mean, it didn't really make complete sense how the demon could come out from the holographic scanner or what not. (At least in the book Inkheart, reading the actual characters out of books seemed understandable! Having a demon come out of a book because you put it on a scanner and then transfers to a book and then into you...um,...right.) I don't think I'd recommend this book to anyone.

[Nora · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Tangerine, so I was expecting to love this. Story Time is about a school that has kids take standardized tests all day, every day, to improve their scores. The government thinks the school is AMAZING from the test scores, but we know better. Bloor's Tangerine was a terrific, funny satire on environmental issues and from this book jacket, I was expecting a similar satire on today's standardized testing. But Bloor added this whole demon thing to the plot that just didn't work. It was a devil, or someone traveling in time through a demon, or just a haunting- I couldn't keep it straight, and by the end I was just glad the book was over. Darn!

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book at a thrift shop. It was signed by the author. I had never heard of him but I was intrigued by the story line about a school that was run on a test based curriculum. I thought it might be an interesting commentary on today's education system. I was disappointed that the test based curriculum really was not a major part of the plot. Instead, to book was more of a dark look into how an evil family took over a school and made the lives of the kids there miserable in many ways. The plot intrigued me however, when I became very satisfied to see that the "bad guys" got what they deserved in many humorous ways.

[Peyton Rollie · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book “Storytime”, it appears to be a fantasy book. I usually don’t read fantasy, but I would highly recommend this book. However, the character Kate, is shown to be the protagonist because she had ended up getting a letter about going to an elite school for a test, and on her side, she has an uncle who’s name is George, but she is younger than her. While Kate, and her uncle are at the school, the school highly values test scores and they were at a strict school which had caused them a life or death situation. Their school has been in dreary, windowless rooms, and the students are forced to drink noxious protein shakes, because they are believed to improve in their test performances. Then, while they are focusing on their test, there has been a demon on the loose, which when they work on the test, it’s only accomplishing the devils work. I think this book is well written because it gives different perspectives of each character, and it doesn’t give just on POV, which I felt was quite soothing. However, I would highly recommend it because it gives an unexpected twist that you wouldn’t expect from a school that highly cares about test scores.

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this. Part ghost-story, part satire, a good story that makes it's point without losing the elements of good storytelling.
If you have a child in public school, you are familiar with the horror that the "Test Based Curriculum." You know, "teaching to the test", meaning standardized testing? Designed by androids whose only desire is to suck every scrap of joy and wonder out of learning, this unmitigated crap is the current standard here in the good old US of A. (Thanks Bush. Don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya.)
Bloor does a nice job giving this junk the skewering it so richly deserves. I enjoyed it.

[*Sklip* · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best paranormal book I've read in a long time. It's better than all the paranormal romances that keep coming out lol!

I really liked the idea of a haunted college-prep school that branches out. There's really nothing to say, but it's fast-paced and full of interesting little bits of information and kept my attention the whole time.

I don't really have a favorite character or a hated character in this book for some reason. However, the characters in this book was amazingly created. Each character was definite, dynamic, and different from each other. (Oh hey look, alliteration!)

[Carriebcook · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. It is a funny satire of the whole "Standardized Testing" in public education. It is a young adult book, but worth the read.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting and humorous read.

[Saloni (earnestlyeccentric) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author: Edward Bloor

Rating: 4/5

When George and Kate gets letters of admission from Whittaker Magnet School, George is thrilled and Kate, devastated. Whittaker boasts the highest standardised test scores and the finest education in all of America, if not the world. But at a great price.

Spoilers ahead.



Plot and Pacing: Story Time is a satire about the importance we place on standardised testing (such as the PSAT and SAT). On the surface, the plot may seem to be about demons hiding in books, aching to break free, and George and Kate’s mission to wreck havoc on the school. However, it’s much deeper than that. Bloor was very effective in showing how ridiculous those test scores are by creating an extreme example of a school (Whittaker Magnet School) and placing our two protagonists in it.

Here are some characteristics of Whittaker Magnet School:

In every class, students are essentially doing multiple-choice tests.
Classes are taught by nameless teachers (i.e. they are called by the subject and grade level—Mathematics 8).
Everyone is biased towards the owner’s two children Heidi and Whit.
Little children (think five-year-olds) are taught GRE vocabulary and engage in “bubble time” i.e. doing multiple-choice tests.
There are demons trapped inside some of the books.
Whittaker is one of those schools which are very organised and have a rigid structure to them. The demons, on the other hand, believe in fun times and play. Since the demons are trapped, they aren’t exactly happy when they’re set free.

The book was well-paced. I was concerned about the supposed ending when Rosetta Turner made everyone sign an agreement to cover up the incident with the First Lady. Yeah, even the First Lady visited the school. Of course, that didn’t go according to plan because one of the demons chose that moment to make an appearance by haunting a member of staff. I didn’t like how submissive everyone was (even though they did get one wish each). It especially ruined some of the rebelliousness the characters had shown.

However, I was proved wrong. The characters all worked together for one last showdown (which isn’t shown in the book). It ends with them leaving Whittaker behind and never looking back.

Characters: There are a variety of characters with contrasting personalities. There’s Kate who is confident, rebellious, and quite brash—especially towards her mother, June. Kate’s greatest aspiration is to play Peter Pan in the Lincoln Middle School play. Her admission into Whittaker Magnet School prevents this from happening though.

George is Kate’s uncle who is two years younger (in the sixth grade while Kate is in the eighth). He’s a genius and gets a perfect score on the Whittaker Magnet School entrance exam. The two couldn’t be more different. However, towards the end of the book, they do seem to have more shared personality traits. For instance, they go back to Lincoln Middle School and George gets the part of Peter Pan!

June was one of my favourite characters. She is Kate’s mother but an incident from ten years prior has left her as an invalid. She’s a dynamic character. June becomes much more resilient and strong. She’s the one who planned the showdown for the President’s visit to Whittaker. One of my favourite parts of the book was seeing Kate respect her mother rather than treat her horribly.

Whit and Heidi are the children of the owners of the school. They serve as a metaphor of how rich people, even without talent, always seem to be at the top of everything. There’s a certain bias towards them. I’m not accusing anyone of anything, simply stating what I felt the book was claiming.

There are other supporting characters such as Pogo, Mrs. Brennon and Molly. And the can man. He gets run over by Cornelia (one of the owners) and is revealed to be Kate’s father. It was a nice twist.

While there wasn’t anyone I could instantly connect to, I liked the varied cast members. They were able to tell the story very nicely.

Writing Style: Bloor has a humorous writing style. While I didn’t laugh out loud, his writing did make me smile. I loved the horrific things the demons made their hosts too. They were extreme and Bloor didn’t shy away from describing them.

I had received my SAT scores just a few days back and my scores weren’t that great. Reading this book made me feel better about that because I understand the point the author is making. Life is more than just a bunch of test-scores. Education is so much more than test-scores. The reality of the situation is we place too much emphasis on tests and our grades. School isn’t a fun place anymore. As Edward Bloor so succinctly put it, "We risk producing a generation that could read for pleasure, but chooses not to."

[Richard L. Haas III · Rating 2 out of 5]

They say to never judge a book by its cover, and let me say that is 100% true. Back in middle or elementary school I had asked my mom to buy this book for me mainly because the cover had a little demon on it. I was starting to get into horror and the description made it sound like a couple of kids had to deal with a mischievous demon running amuck. Let me also tell you, that is far from what happens. All I can say now is, thank goodness it’s taken me this long to read it, because I would have been extremely disappointed.

First off, I wouldn’t recommend this for many children, especially nowadays. Not because of any violence or thematic stuff like that— but because it’s main purpose is to function as a satire against George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind and that’s such a dated reference at this point. I mean it still works as a story but without that background knowledge it leaves much to be desired.

Content-wise I really wanted to enjoy the story and the characters but for the most part it drags them out into blandness or pointlessness. (Light Spoilers Ahead) George acts older than a sixth grader and Kate acts younger than a eighth grader. Honestly I felt like to make them more believable characters, Bloor should have switched their ages; furthermore, it would have been way more beneficial for the storyline to simplify and make Kate and George siblings instead of niece and uncle. For one thing, George’s parents too weird and offer nothing to the story. I legit cringe every time they “whoop.” Furthermore, the ending has no ending for them, proving their characters were truly pointless. However, the storyline with Kate’s mother and estranged father was almost worth it by the end, but he’s shrugged off and Kate changes her last name so it’s pointless again.

The book doesn’t feature much horror at all (not sure why some reviewers are saying it does), mainly just feels like a mashup of other middle school age novels at the time including Artemis Fowl and Alex Rider with a heavy push on education satire. Sounds fun right? The themes started out pretty tame and then got more adult, such as sexual assault which was a pretty aggressive thing to tackle in a chapter then just throw it to the side and forget what almost happened.

I don’t know. It’s not a terrible book, but it’s not a must read for any age group— maybe in 2005, but the book itself did not age well. Honestly if you want to read a book with a similar writing style that explores similar themes, check out Anthony Paolucci’s Creatureton Trilogy and skip this novel.

[dela :) · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, my English class has this thing where each marking period (quarter) we have to pick a book that doesn't have a show or movie, and we have to do like 2 projects on it. If you couldn't tell,Story Time was my book for the 1st marking period. And if you were wondering, the projects I had to do were a TDA for the external AND internal conflict in the first half of the book, as well as making an off-brand Instagram account for the main character.



Story Time is about a girl named Kate Peters who gets a letter to go to this elite school for test-taking. Aka the Whittaker Magnet School. The only reason why she got accepted was because her uncle, George, also got accepted, and they live right next to each other (it's confusing (￣▽￣)).



Anyway, Kate and her uncle go to this school, but turns out there's a demon haunting the place. Yeah, the plot makes literally no sense but whatever. The demon is called "Jack", and that's referring to the nursery rhyme of Jack & Jill. Honestly, the whole story was so confusing and bad to the point where I cannot physically write out the plot- (*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ)



The only semi-interesting parts of this book was when the demon possessed people for like 5 minutes. Some of those were fun. Other than that, this was terrible and this is also the reason as to why I never get books from my school's library. ＼(٥⁀▽⁀ )／



Read more of my shitty reviews here: https://sites.google.com/view/miniloafs-shit-talk/ :D

[Rajiv Kommareddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very odd story that had me going back a paragraph or sometimes even a page to collect myself and say, “Wait, what just happened there?”

The cast of characters and air of mystery reminded me a lot of book 5 of A Series of Unfortunate Events. However, it lacked the charm and wit that drew me to that series. A lot of how the story unfolded just felt “too convenient”.

Wasn’t for me, but then again I’m a grown man who just read what I assume was a YA novel.

Page 149:
“So I guess I don’t believe in wishes coming true, either. If I really want good things to happen, and bad things to stop happening, it’ll take more than wishing. I have to act. And I have to act now.”

Page 411:
“But if you sit down with a book and you supply your imagination, it can become something more. It’s like anything in life, you two. You get back what you put in.”

[Tiffany Remsburg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is proof that you shouldn't always trust the opinions of others. Yes, I'm including my previous posts about novels in that statement. This was on the shelf of a coworker that we have as an option for kids to read in our classes. I picked it up to read the back and my coworker told me they didn't enjoy the book at all. Knowing that we tend to have different reading interests, I read the back and aid yea but I will give it a try.

Do I think this is the most amazing piece of literature ever written? No. Do I think it was a good read geared towards young adults in order to get them interested in mystery and supernatural? Yes.

This book was good in that it was able to keep me interested, it was a way read, and there was a nice little twist at the end. Maybe there are a few things I would do differently; sure but overall I'm not mad at this one.

[Tiffany Fay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is proof that you shouldn't always trust the opinions of others. This was not the shelf of a coworker that we have as an option for kids to read in our classes. I picked it up to read the back and my coworker told me they didn't enjoy the book at all. Knowing that we tend to have different reading interests, I read the back and aid yea but I will give it a try.

Do I think this is the most amazing piece of literature ever written? No. Do I think it was a good read geared towards young adults in order to get them interested in mystery and supernatural? Yes.

This book was good in that it was able to keep me interested, it was a way read, and there was a nice little twist at the end. Maybe there are a few things I would do differently; sure but overall I'm not mad at this one.

[Timon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Partnership Book Theme Project (Poetry)
Timon Xu E2

Theme: Prestigious Education is Not for Everybody
The Higher Education - Franklin Pierce Adams

"Father," began the growing youth,
"Your pleading finds me deaf;
Although I know you speak the truth
About the course at Shef.
But think you that I have no pride,
To follow such a trail?
I cannot be identified
With Princeton or with Yale."

"Father," began another lad,
Emerging from his prep;
"I know you are a Princeton grad,
But the coaches have no pep.
But though the Princeton profs provide
Fine courses to inhale;
I cannot be identified
With Princeton or with Yale."

"I know," he said, "that Learning helps
A lot of growing chaps;
That Yale has William Lyon Phelps,
And Princeton Edward Capps.
But while, within the Football Guide,
The Haughton hosts prevail,
I cannot be identified
With Princeton or with Yale."
Explanation:
Both the poem “The Higher Education” by Franklin Pierce Adams and the book “Story Time” by Edward Bloor both share a theme of education, specifically that prestigious education and structured high class education isn’t for everybody. It can also be comprehended as “perfect” education is not achievable since everyone’s unique and is not uniformed and therefore the only “true” perfect education is a system that is tailored according to each student’s ability which is physically impossible.

Starting from the first stanza, the author of the poem suggests that the father of the son is urging him to take courses in “Shef” or Sheffield University of England along with Princeton University or Yale University. These universities are all famous for their low-acceptance rates along with prestigious learning. However, the “son” portrayed refuses his father and wants to continue his dream in the field of sports and therefore sparks an argument. This also happens in the book “Story Time” where Kate, the main character, is forced to enter the “Whittaker Magnet School”, which is nationally renown for its unusually high test scores, with her uncle George (who is actually younger than Kate herself), since George is a child prodigy and even managed to ace his entry test. Kate, however, aimed to pursue a school that isn’t so uniformed and she sees herself dissimilar to the other students while being continuously forced to endure a system of education that she thought was only suitable for prodigies, but not normal students such as herself. This is true because on page 9 Kate says “Listen: It’s okay if you (George) want to go there. I’m just telling you that there’s no way on earth I’m going there. I am going to Lincoln Middle School.” This statement supports my claim because from this quote one could infer that Kate understands why George, a child prodigy, may want to enter this prestige and nationally renowned, but she herself prefers to stay with her old classmates and friends in a school that may be relatively less well known, but could help her pursue excellence in life further rather than the school George is going to.

In the second stanza it is stated that the father is a Princeton graduate and therefore prefers his son to follow his own footsteps and get into a prestigious college and eventually having a well-respected and high-paying job. However, the son strongly disagrees and it is stated that the son cannot “be identified with Princeton or Yale” which implements that the true potential of the son is not able to be shown if he attends a prestigious university that usually leads to a career in law, politics or business. The exact replica of the situation happens to Kate, as she is extremely talented in performing arts such as musicals or plays, but she is also a free thinker and a appalling test-taker which causes her to have minimum success in a school that focuses all of its energy on test scores and uniformity. For example, on page 259 Cornelia, the headmaster of the Whittaker Magnet School, states “it’s the word of the worst student at this school (Kate) against the word of the most admired young man (Whit,Cornelia’s Son) in this county.” This statement may be exaggerated, but it does show approximately how unsatisfactory Kate’s test score is in this school and it definitely is a big piece of evidence that Kate is achieving relatively less in this “prestige” school compared to the more normal education system in Lincoln Middle School.

Finally, in the third stanza it is stated that the son knows that the university his father is urging him to go in to has produced many well known figures, but he still believes that football is his talent and he is definitely following his own path rather than his fathers. This idea, once again, could be related to in the book “Story Time”. For example, it is universal knowledge in the book that the Whittaker Magnet School produces geniuses in every field and anyone who enters and graduates is often the upper class of society, but similar to the “son” portrayed in the poem, Kate does not intend to be a genius, instead she prefers to achieve success in her life her own way either through performing arts or other wise and therefore she thinks that the education environment that would help her the most would be the one at a normal middle school rather than the “genius-producing” middle school.

From these two works of literature, one can see the cons of a “flawless” education and as I have stated before, the true “perfect” education would always be different according to everyone’s opinions and in my opinion it is not correct that one specific system is “perfect” and every other education system is completely “flawed”.

[Roxana Rathbun · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is labeled as YA but for all intents and purposes, I rate it YA and up. I loved this book. The characters were new and contemporary. Kate is two years older than her Uncle George who is a genius. There is a demon or two that lives inside books at the state of the art school that only takes in those with the highest intelligence (of course, Kate is forced to go since she happens to live with her genius uncle). This book is filled with Adult vs. Child shenanigans and has a nice tidy ending. It was great to find a good YA novel that didn't need a follow up story.

[bea ★ · Rating 2 out of 5]

i remember finding this in my elementary school library as a 4th grader and finding myself completely confused but entertained? idk i just spent 30 minutes looking for this on the internet bc i remembered what the cover looked like and that there was something about demons and a test at a school and nothing else so there’s that. literally don’t remember anything about this book so it probably wasn’t very memorable or good

[Esteban Mannion · Rating 4 out of 5]

After School Special
By Suzy Kassem

Dear Mr. Schneider,
I attended your elementary
School almost thirty years ago
And I'm very sure that
You will remember
Me.

My name is Suzy.
I'm that hyperactive girl
From the Egyptian family
Who used to always play dead
On the playground during
Recess.

You used to keep me
After school a lot,
And then my father would
Force me to make the long
Walk home in the cold or rain.
Sometimes I would arrive
After dark.

I'm writing to tell you
That I was bored as a kid.
I was bored by your curriculum
And the way I was always taught a
Bunch of useless
Junk.

I did not like being locked up
In a prison of scheduled time
Learning about irrelevant material,
And watching belittling cartoons and
Shows approved by academia that
Made me even more
Bored.

As a kid
Who was constantly
Growing, evolving, and
Being shaped by all around me,
I wanted to travel,
See other kids
In the world like me,
To understand what was going
On amongst us and around us,
To know what we were here for
And what was our real purpose
For existence.

I have some questions
I would like to ask you, Mr. Schneider,
Now that I know that you are no
Longer a school principal,
But the new superintendent
Of the entire school
District.

I want to know
Why racism today
Was not clearly explained to me
Even though we covered events
That happened long ago.
I want to know why you
Never shared with us
Why other countries
Never liked us,
Why we are taught to compete,
To be divided in teams,
And why conformity is associated
With popularity, while
Eccentricity is considered
Undesirable?

I want to know
Why my cafeteria lunches
Were slammed packed
With bottom-tier
Processed junk food
Only suitable
For pigs?
And why is it
That whenever a bully
Slammed a kid into a locker for
His lunch money,
Nobody explained to us
That egotism, selfishness and greed
Were the seeds of
War?

I want to know
Why we were never taught
To stick up for each other,
To love one another, and that
Segregation sorted by the
Occupations of our fathers,
The neighborhoods we lived in, our houses,
Choices of sport, wealth, clothing,
Color of our skin
And the texture of our hair
Should never, ever
Divide us?

And lastly,
I want to know why
Is it that whenever I pledged
Allegiance to the flag,
I was never told that I was
Actually hailing to the
Chief?

You used to say that
I was a troubled child,
A misfit, and that I needed
Obedience training,
But you never acknowledged that
I was the fastest runner in the district
And that I took the school
To State and Nationals to compete
In the Spelling Bee among kids
Grades higher than me.
And that it was me,
Who won that big trophy
That sat in your office when you
Used to detain me for hours
And tell me I was no
Good.

Mr. Schneider,
If we are not taught truths as kids,
Then how do you expect us to
Grow up to be truthful citizens?
If we are only being taught the written way,
And it has not shown positive effects
In societies of yesterday or today,
Then how can we progress as a
United and compassionate
Nation?
What good is it,
To memorize the histories
Of our forefathers,
Without learning what could be
Gained from their lessons and mistakes
To improve our future
Tomorrows?


And finally,
I want to thank you;
For I know you have a tough job
Dealing with rebellious children like me.
Your job of mass processing and boxing
The young minds of America has not been an easy one,
And I congratulate you
On your recent promotion.
But I sincerely want to thank you,
Thank you,
And thank you,
For always pointing out
That I was
Different.”


——————————————————————————————————————————
(Suzy Kassem has cultural currency, she has been a writer for most of her life, has publishes many books and directed some tv shows, too. This poem is an extract from her book Rise Up and Salute the Sun.)
——————————————————————————————————————————

I feel as the poem After School Special by Suzy Kassem relates to by book, Story Time, in a deep thematic way. When looking for a poem that related to my book, I didn’t actually look for a poem about poor education, which is a heavy theme embedded in Story Time. I was actually looking for a poem with a theme about being different and standing out, so I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that this poem shared two themes with the book that I read.
First, I will begin by giving evidence that the themes of change and a poor education system are present in the book. First of all, on page 53, George and Kate first entered the school and they realized that the school wasn’t what they expected. In school, they only took tests, and rarely did anything else in their classes. I think that the author really made these scenes as sarcastic as possible and it really emphasized the theme of a bad education system. Second of all, in the middle of the story there was clear evidence that George had changed. When George was up against Cornell in the science fair, he knew that he was going to lose, because the judges gave a clear bias in favor or Cornell. George then gave a poor effort to show of his device in the science fair, which is very unlike him because earlier in the story, you saw that George was very enthusiastic with science.

[Alicia Weaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very bizarre book with an underlying message about the educational system and censorship. On the surface the book is about two kids who go to a prestigious private school after one of them scores high on an achievement test. when strange things happen and are covered up by the school these two seek to figure it out.

[BM · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read, more in a James and the Giant Peach type-story, in that there are clear heroes and villains and weird happenings. I would say this story would fit the Middle School age set quite well. As other reviewers have pointed out, definitely a commentary on our current education systems overemphasis on testing, along with some interesting additions of the supernatural.

[Shelby Wiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never read anything by this author before and I am glad that I stumbled across this book. It was a fun story with interesting characters and an ending that wrapped everything up nicely. Even though there were demons in this story it wasn't scary; the author was able to make the scary parts comical at times. Overall I enjoyed this story.

[L · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, entertaining read, but I much preferred the school satire (spot on, sadly) to the ghost story (too gruesome for me). A few too many loose ends for me as well. But I am interested in reading the author's other, more school-focused novels (that he mentions in the author's note). 2.5 stars.

[Janelle Hammonds · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could not get into this story. It seemed as if it wanted to be both a whimsical satire while also being completely serious. It was an over dramatized version of the school system that relies on test taking as their primary and sole form of accomplishments.

[Deloneva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over-the-top villains, uninspired protagonists, and an abrupt ending are all that spoil this hilariously brutal take down on testing culture, gerrymandering, and the inbred nature of small-town politics.

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounded up to 4 stars... fun audiobook for the road. A few giggles. I see some YA mentions but this is really teen, IMO. A little darker subject matter, but the FMC and MMC are in 6th and 8th grade.

[Megan Crusante · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was great, but I think it would have been scarier without the supernatural element.