The School For Dangerous Girls [Hardcover]

Eliot Schrefer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2009

Girl, Interrupted . . . as written by V. C. Andrews.

Angela's parents think she's on the road to ruin because she's dating a "bad boy." After her behavior gets too much for them, they ship her off to Hidden Oak. Isolated and isolating, Hidden Oak promises to rehabilitate "dangerous girls." But as Angela gets drawn in further and further, she discovers that recovery is only on the agenda for the "better" girls. The other girls -- designated as "the purple thread" -- will instead be manipulated to become more and more dangerous . . . and more and more reliant on Hidden Oak's care.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up—Angela Cardenas's parents have had enough of her irresponsible and difficult behavior and, as a last resort, they send the teen to the Hidden Oak School for Girls, a boarding school in rural Colorado. There the girls are divided into two streams, those who can be rehabilitated—the gold thread, and those who can't—the purple thread. Gold thread girls get schooling and etiquette class, whereas purple thread girls are imprisoned underground. They brutally self-govern, are subjected to mistreatment, and resort to violence to survive. Instead of allowing herself to be convinced that she deserves the punishment she receives, Angela decides to find a way to close the school permanently. A romance with the son of a teacher and the discovery of mysterious deaths from when Hidden Oak was a boys' prep school add suspense; however, the plot becomes too muddled, with some holes, and the tension comes too late. Angela's character is complex and full of contradictions, but all of the adult characters are either vicious or clueless. The extended detail used to establish conditions at Hidden Oak is disproportionate to the quick resolution. The struggle and eventual triumph of the bad girls over the evil teachers makes for an intriguing conflict that many teens will appreciate; however, some may find the easy ending a disappointment. For more discussion of nature vs. nurture, suggest Catherine Jinks's Evil Genius (Harcourt, 2007).—Amy J. Chow, The Brearley School, New York City
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

“What the hell kind of school has a blindfold as standard issue?“ Angela Cardenas discovers that blindfolds are not the only odd things about Hidden Oak boarding school. Supposedly a last-stop chance for rehabilitating “dangerous” girls, the school has an agenda that is not necessarily what it advertises. After having their possessions and clothing taken from them and uniforms issued, the freshmen spend the first month isolated from the rest of campus. As the month draws to a close, girls start to disappear one by one. Those who are redeemable are sorted into the gold thread; the others, Angela later learns, are sorted into the purple thread and are living a “Lord of the Flies” existence with little adult intervention. In an effort to save her friends, Angela decides to be really bad in hopes of getting moved to purple thread. Teens might behave dangerously themselves to get their hands on this page-turner with its commentary on education. Angela cautions, “You’re totally playing into their power system.” Rebecca replies, “Isn’t that how all schools work?” Grades 8-11. --Cindy Dobrez

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 15 and up
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Press (January 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0545035287
• ISBN-13: 978-0545035286
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,681,152 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in Chicago and moved around the states during my childhood. After graduation I taught philosophy at a small school in Italy, and then came to New York where I worked as an SAT tutor for three years while working on my writing. You can see a short story significantly different from Glamorous Disasters at www.swinkmag.com/schrefer.html

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book; fast read and intriguing from the start, February 26, 2009

By 

Sherry Berry (Elgin, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The School For Dangerous Girls (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

What happens when you're a girl who is so bad that your parents decide that the last resort is to send you to a school designed for dangerous girls?

This is exactly what this book entails. Right from the beginning, the author captures you and lures you into this world that is captivating. I started to read the book without seeing who the author was and was certain that it was a woman who wrote the book. Imagine to my surprise when I see in the back cover that it's a man who wrote this. What Schrefer is able to capture is the voice of a girl who is often misunderstood and rebellious only because to her, it's the only way.

Angela's psychological torture and development as a character drives the story more than anything else. The adventures are fun, yes, but the psychology concepts that were thrown in the book was very intriguing to me. Sure, this is a teen book. However, there's also something deeper to it. There is a sense of maturity to the topics at hand.

All in all, I couldn't help but read as fast as I can because I want to know what happens to the girls and if the school would ever turn Angela submissive.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best new works of fiction I've read lately, February 25, 2009

By 

Teenreads.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The School For Dangerous Girls (Hardcover)

Angela Cardenas knows she's probably not the best or most well-behaved daughter out there. But then again, she's 15, her grandfather just died, and her parents are being completely mean and forcing her never to see her boyfriend, Trevor, again. It's tough being a girl.

Still, Angela's parents decide she has had enough chances, and they forcibly enroll her at Hidden Oak, a school for dangerous girls. When Angela arrives, she and the other new girls listen to one of the school's teachers explain the rules and mission statement behind Hidden Oak. The particularly haunting motto is, "You are your own worst enemy. And together we will defeat that enemy."

While the treatment of the girls during their "orientation" is horrible, Angela has little trouble finding her niche with a few girls: her roommate, Carmen, who is timid and shy; Riley, who seems to hate Angela but puts up with her anyway; and Juin, their half-French ringleader. Together, they form a "coven" and try to determine what is going on at Hidden Oak. But just as they're starting to figure some things out, girls from their orientation group start to disappear, and it isn't until Angela herself disappears that she realizes what's happening: the teachers are dividing them into dangerous girls who can be corrected and dangerous girls who cannot.

Of course, Angela must do a little detective work. Desperate to learn the history of the school and find out the fate of her cousin, Pilar, who has also attended, she just can't help getting on the bad side of some of the teachers, especially Mrs. Vienna, who seems to have a special vendetta reserved for Angela.

THE SCHOOL FOR DANGEROUS GIRLS is excellently crafted. One part HOLES, one part PREP and one part THE SHINING (the school is even situated in Colorado and becomes nearly invisible and non-existent during the heavy winter snows), its beginning is strong, with plenty of suspense, mean characters, and even subtle commentary on what defines promiscuity and how girls should use their sexuality. As the book draws to a close, however, it loses its uniqueness and tries too quickly to tie up loose ends. It is there that I fell a bit out of love with the novel, as its extremely clever premise ended predictably.

Despite this shortcoming, though, THE SCHOOL FOR DANGEROUS GIRLS is one of the best new works of fiction I've read lately. Its snappiness and meanness will appeal to fans of Gossip Girl and the like, and its clever premise and plot will appeal to fans of mystery and suspense. Best of all, Eliot Schrefer does not shy away from realism, which is both refreshing and jarring. It made me respect him all the more, but it made the book that much creepier because it seemed like Hidden Oak could actually exist.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Hannah Gómez

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars School For Dangerous Girls., December 2, 2011

By 

Brittney Moore - See all my reviews

This review is from: The School For Dangerous Girls (Hardcover)

As you might expect from the presentation of this book, this is a dark story. Hidden Oaks is a "last chance" school for dangerous girls. It's the only hope for rehabilitation, and the last chance for these girls to be "fixed." Everybody has given up on these girls; their families, friends and even his boyfriends. Hidden oaks presents them with an opportunity for rehabilitation, seems almost too good to be true. Angela is sent to Hidden Oaks in Colorado, she finds herself in what seems like a prison. The girls are cut off from the rest of the world. They are divided into two groups; those who can be rehabilitated and those who can not. Those who can not are locked away underground, ensuring that the bad girls can not contaminate the others. Angela is expected to face some of her own issues, but is mainly concerned with the harsh tactics the school uses to reform. Angela meets many other girls: some quite, disturbed and dangerous, and some like her, who don't really deserve to be there. One thing is clear it's not a nice place to be regardless of why you are there. Angela is determined to escape. This task turns out to be more difficult that she thought.