Flunked

Calonita, Jen. Flunked. 2015. 244p. ISBN 978-1-49260157-9 . Book 1 of the Fairy Tale Reform School series. Available as an eBook from Overdrive.

Following the disastrous allegations that followed Cinderella’s ball and the incident of the glass slipper, Flora, Cinderella’s wicked stepmother, realized the error of her ways and, to atone for her violent tendencies and evilness, she created the Fairy Tale Reform School where every character that needs to be reformed can be safely taught together so they can change their ways. With princesses in charge and with the 7 dwarves and their minions enforcing their will, Enchantasia has never been this peaceful.

Unfortunately, not everything is as it should be. Two major villains managed to escape the dwarves and now lurk in the dark edges of Enchantasia. Worse, peace has not improved the prosperity of the people. Gilly’s father is the craftsman who created the glass slippers, but ever since their popularity went through the roof they have been made magically, putting him near bankruptcy. With no prospects of money and a belly always empty, Gilly has been stealing from the Royals in the marketplace to make sure there’s always something to eat. But when she gets caught a third time, Gilly is sentenced to the Fairy Tale Reform School.

Staffed with former villains, such as the Bad Wolf and Snow White’s Evil Queen, the school at first seems daunting. As Gilly makes friends, however, she quickly realizes that things are not at all as they appear, and that it may be impossible for some villains to truly be reformed. With her friends, Gilly will try to stop an attempt on the princesses’ lives, but can she save Enchantasia without losing herself?

Outrun the Moon

Lee, Stacey. Outrun the Moon. 2016. 391p. 607 mins. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Mercy Wong is dedicated to achieving her goal of owning her own enterprise and pulling her family out of poverty. Living with her little brother, her mother, and her father in a small apartment in San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1906, Mercy experiences daily discrimination. Her father runs a laundromat and works sixteen hours a day, seven days a week. Her younger brother is sick and frequently needs medicines. Her mother is a fortune teller who has predicted her own death. Americans dislike the Chinese and have closed off their borders to more Chinese immigration, so even though Mercy is born in the United States and therefore a citizen, she’s considered an alien by the local population.

Having read and thoroughly internalized a treatise on business, Mercy embarks on a mission to join the most prestigious high school for girls in San Francisco, the St. Clare’s School for Girls, where the scions of San Francisco’s rich families go to perfect their education and social graces before meeting a husband. Mercy, however, plans on developing her business acumen and make contacts. Her friend Tom, whom she is romantically interested in, wants to build air machines and refuses to join his father in his herbalist business, planning instead to move to Seattle to work with a certain individual named Boeing.

Mercy convinces Mister Du Lac, a board member of the school and the owner of the most prestigious chocolate maker in the country to help her join the school. She has to pretend to be a Chinese heiress even though she’s never been to China and doesn’t know many of her culture’s more refined customs. None of that deters Mercy, however, who will persevere through mean girls at the boarding school, a strict and disciplinarian headmistress, and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fires that destroy most of the city to achieve her goals of not only succeeding in American society but changing it as well. Filled with humor, this book provides a great look at a relatively unknown period of American history.