Book Review: School of Fear

Title: School of Fear

Author: Gitty Daneshvari

Date: 2009

Publisher: Scholastic

ISBN: 978-0-545-28440-0

Length: 339 pages plus preview of forthcoming sequel

Quote: "School of Fear is an exceedingly select institution...aimed at eradicating children's fears through unorthodox methods."

Behavior modification for phobias uses two techniques: progressive desensitization, and flooding. Many people are able to use both at home, for themselves or (with the person's informed consent) their friends and family. School of Fear is a comic exaggeration designed to introduce these techniques to middle school readers who can use the techniques on themselves.

For progressive desensitization, someone with a fear of spiders and insects, like the character Madeleine in School of Fear, might try reading about these animals in books, then looking at pictures of them, and finally exposing himself/herself to living spiders and insects, while remaining calm and relaxed. (C.S. Lewis said in Surprised by Joy that this had worked for him.)

For flooding, someone with a fear of confined spaces, like the character Lulu in School of Fear, might spend time on an elevator deep underground, telling herself/­himself that no other claustrophobic experience can be as bad as this one. It's generally a good idea for those who want to try flooding to do it with one or more supportive friends nearby. Embarrassment about a phobic reaction can aggravate the phobia sufferer's misery.

In School of Fear, these two ridiculously phobic girls and two equally phobia-ridden boys (Theo, afraid of death, and Garrison, afraid of deep water) confront their fears with the additional help of a distractingly silly "school" run by a couple of elderly comic actors. Before the summer is over they'll have to descend through a potentially insect-infested underground tunnel, and cross deep water, to report a death.

I don't expect many readers would be surprised if the death turned out to have been faked for therapeutic purposes. Suffice it to say that the four twelve-year-olds bond by confronting their fears as a team, and they'll be back for more counter-phobic comedy next summer.

How scary is it? For adults, not very.