This past summer, I revisited my favorite childhood book series, The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani. I met Soman when I was in fourth grade, he visited my elementary school as a part of his book tour. At the end of his presentation and storytelling session, I received a signed copy from him. In all honesty, I don’t even remember asking for a signed copy, I think my mom just ordered one with the rest of the forms that came home with me every Friday evening. Once I got the book, I put it in my bookshelf, and I didn’t touch it for almost a few months.
Later that year, I was moving rooms in my house. As I was packing up my stuff, I noticed the amount of books on my shelf that I never bothered to pick up to read. I pulled The School for Good and Evil off my shelf, and once I started reading, I immediately fell in love. The plot for the book is as follows:
Two girls, Sophie and Agatha, are kidnapped from their small village and taken to a magical world. This world is a realm of fairy tales, the world that Cinderella, Peter Pan, King Arthur, The Evil Queen, etc.. live in. Now, how did these fairytales even come into fruition? All of these fairytale characters, from the heroes to the villains, had to go to the School for Good and Evil, and their class ranking when they graduated determined the role they take in the fairytale world. Currently, the children of these fairytale characters such as King Arthur’s son and the Great Witch’s daughter are first years in the school. Sophia and Agatha live in the “real world”, in the woods beyond this realm. Every four years, two children get kidnapped from the village, one good child and one evil child. Sophia is the poster child for good, she looks like a princess and is known for her high maintenance beauty routine and her surface level good-deeds. Agatha lives in a graveyard with her mother and her black cat. Pretty self-explanator
y, right? Despite their unusual circumstances, they are both best friends. When they are the chosen ones and this said mysterious force takes them away from their homes, Agatha is dropped off at the School for Good and Sophie is dropped off at the School for Evil. The rest of the book (along with the rest of the series) takes us on the most unexpected journey regarding love, war, good, and evil. Each book is around 600 pages long, which might give you a sense of the complexity of the plot, characters, and just the mere amount of twists and turns each book holds. It is actually mind-blowing how much Chainani develops the storyline and how far the last book has strayed from the first. He famously said “Truth and lies and good and evil — they mix in the world, both sides claim to be good, both sides claim to be telling the truth. The power of a lie that feels true and drives people’s behavior is at the heart of the book — a theme that feels very now”. Each book he navigates adapts the storyline to address the nuance between good vs evil in the first book, boys vs girls in the second book, young vs old in the third book, and the truth vs the lie in the fourth book.
This summer when I reread the series, it was literally all that was on my mind. On a car ride to Michigan, I ignored Ivy for four hours, my eyes not glancing up from the page once. I fell in love all over again, and it was a nice escape from my everyday life – I was surrounded in a world filled with characters I have come to love. So, when I saw the movie a few days ago… I died a little bit inside. The movie was so bad. It was a Netflix original (I already knew it was doomed). The casting was absolutely awful. Chainani had already painted the how the characters look on his beautiful covers along with black and white sketches throughout the book. His drawings captured his description of the characters perfectly – and played a key role in how I envisioned this fantasy world . None of the characters matched the covers and description, which completely ruinred the visual aspect of the book for me. Also, they directed the movie like only 5th graders were going to watch it. It was comical, satirical, and way too whimsical. It lacked the sophistication and maturity that I expected.
It was basically a children’s movie (but I guess it was a children’s book so I am trying not to be too upset). It is kind of like the Percy Jackson or Harry Potter movies, but just worse. It took me twice as long to watch the movie because every five minutes I had to stop and text Izzy everything wrong with the scene I just had viewed. Oh my eyes. Overall, it was very disappointing. Chainani has these book trailers he released before every novel (they were animated and teased the plot), and even those two minute videos were better than the entirety of the movie. Overall, the movie lacked the sophistication and depth that could have been drawn from the books. I was distressed to say the least.
Never watch the movie of your favorite book. It ruins it.
Here is a compilation of the book trailers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDgqX3PAcuQ
Here is the movie trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aftysDQ4hpI
Meg,
OMG I love these books so much. I know we have talked about them in the past, I think it was sophomore year over zoom in whichever class we had together (I am not 100% sure). But wow these books are amazing. Like you I too re-read them over the summer. I actually started re-reading/reading them back in the summer of 2021 where I read the first three. Then this summer I finished up with the last three, and I too LOVED every second of it. I completely agree with you on how HORRIBLE the movie was. I was extremely disappointed. They missed out on some of the most important plot points in the first novel. What was with the school master out and about during the whole movie? The slow burn between Agatha and Tedros was soooo bad. And don’t even get me started on the ending. I was physically upset with how they left off. The drama, the suspense, and the intensity all robbed out of those last couple of minutes. When I was younger, that very ending was the reason I just had to read again. If they made another movie, I am not so sure I would watch it. I think they should have stuck to making it into a TV series and just kept everything the same about the books. One thing I did appreciate was that Soman got to make an appearance. But, overall, I would have to agree with you on this when you say to not watch the movie. It was not a complete waste of my time but was a true disappointment.
Hi Meg! I always wanted to read these books throughout elementary and middle school! My first interaction with The School for Good and Evil was in my elementary school library, I was in 4th grade and the librarian wouldn’t let me check it out because it was a “5th-grade book.” From then on, I never really got the chance to pick it up again.
The way you describe your love for this series has made me really miss reading fantasy books. They really are the ultimate form of escapism, and I’m all about complex characters and slow-burn development as you described in your post. For my 4th grade self’s sake (and my current self’s stake), I might pick it up over Thanksgiving break.
I know the disappointment of having a movie adaptation absolutely butcher a beloved book. For example, the Artemis Fowl movie was immensely disappointing. I really loved the entire series, and the film absolutely fell flat. I’ve seen clips of the movie on TikTok, and I can imagine your dissatisfaction. I’ve learned that I have to lower my expectations when it comes to adaptations of childhood favorites because the target audience remains children.
On the topic of childhood adaptations, I really hope that Disney does Percy Jackson justice…
Hey Meg, I personally believe you should be a part of Soman Chainani’s PR team. Honestly, your description of the plot of the novel without ruining it was impressive. It gave just the perfect amount of plot introduction and definitely makes me want to read the series. I find it really intriguing how every book in the series has a different theme: good vs. evil, boys vs. girls, young vs. old, and truth vs. lies. I am curious as to how young vs. old comes into play at a school with fantastical children.
Moreover, I 100% agree with you that you should never watch the movies of your favorite book. I remember when I watched the Ender’s Game movie I was so disappointed. In my head, I had imagined how everything was and then all my imagery was shot out the window when I watched the movie. I am also an avid Harry Potter enthusiast, although I do not think the movies were too far off from the book to be upset about it ( there were definitely some differences don’t get me wrong).
Overall I really enjoyed your blog this week and I always look forward to seeing the screenshots you provide. Got to go read The School for Good and Evil now!
Hey Meg,
This book has been on my radar since elementary school. When someone tells me to think of a random book, the odds of me thinking of The School for Good and Evil are strangely high for not having ever read this book. I remember my sister being obsessed with it and begging me to read it. When I finally decided to pick it up and give it a try, I dropped it after the first chapter. I don’t think I was even conscious in fifth grade, let alone a dedicated reader. I vividly remember reading both of their kidnapping scenes and kind of liking it. Reading your description of it, makes me want to pick it back up. Anyway, when I was on netflix one day and saw that they turned it into a movie, I recognized the title and thought “this must be a good movie because I heard the book was really good”. I never got around to watching the movie, though. I appreciate your review of the movie because now I don’t have to put myself through watching it. I will say, one book-turned-movie I really enjoyed was called Hugo which was based off the book “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” by Brian Selznick. I also enjoyed both the movie and TV show adaptation of Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events. I do think, however, that books are better often left alone.