Urban Schools

At 15, Victor Rios found himself a human target - flat on his ass amid a hail of shotgun fire, desperate for money and a place on the street. Faced with the choice of escalating a drug turf war or eking out a living elsewhere, he turned to a teacher, who mentored him and helped him find a job at an auto shop. That job would alter the course of his whole life - putting him on the road to college and eventually a PhD.

Through blood and cunning, my mother and I escaped the sadistic clutches of House Redbriar. Now, I just want to finish my first year at Wraithwood Academy in peace, studying demonology and magecraft alongside my boyfriends while unraveling the mysteries of the school. If only I could be so lucky. War has erupted between the two most powerful mage families. On one side are my old enemies from House Redbriar, and you'd better believe they're out for my blood. On the other is troubled, ruthless Arcturus Nightfeld, whose dark past threatens the fragile connection growing between us.

The last semester of classes for Sophie Briggs at The School of Roots and Vines is racing to the end. A confrontation and battle with the Serpent, Azdaja, is fast approaching. The legendary Thicket Hall is dying and no matter what the Defenders do, they can only slow the ancient tree's death, not stop it. Could its end lead to a new beginning?

When Jack left Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children she was carrying the body of her deliciously deranged sister - whom she had recently murdered in a fit of righteous justice - back to their home on the Moors. But death in their adopted world isn't always as permanent as it is here, and when Jack is herself carried back into the school, it becomes clear that something has happened to her. Something terrible. Something of which only the maddest of scientists could conceive. Something only her friends are equipped to help her overcome.

Eleven-year-old Jane Grandison, tormented by her stutter, sits in the back seat of a car, letter in hand inviting her to live and study at the Sybil Joines Vocational School for Ghost Speakers & Hearing-Mouth Children. Founded in 1890 by Headmistress Sybil Joines, the school - at first glance - is a sanctuary for children seeking to cure their speech impediments. Inspired by her haunted and tragic childhood, the Headmistress has other ideas.

When an elf is kidnapped by a nefarious gang, Raine must use her magical abilities and team up with some unlikely allies in order to rescue her friend.

On the surface, Riverview High School looks like the post-racial ideal. Serving an enviably affluent, diverse, and liberal district, the school is well-funded, its teachers are well-trained, and many of its students are high achieving. Yet Riverview has not escaped the same unrelenting question that plagues schools throughout America: why is it that even when all of the circumstances seem right, black and Latino students continue to lag behind their peers?

As they say, there are a thousand ways to use a knife. If one method isn't working, don't keep doing it. It's time you try another effective method to help students see themselves and the world from a different, much better perspective.

There is another school for children who fall through doors and fall back out again. It isn't as friendly as Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children. And it isn't as safe. When Eleanor West decided to open her school, her sanctuary, her "Home for Wayward Children", she knew from the beginning that there would be children she couldn’t save; when Cora decides she needs a different direction, a different fate, a different prophecy, Miss West reluctantly agrees to transfer her to the other school.

Most kids at the Colorado branch of Mythos Academy know me as Rory Forseti, the daughter of Reaper assassins. Secretly, I'm a member of Team Midgard, a group of students and adults tasked with stopping Covington, the evil leader of the Reapers of Chaos. For me, the mission is a deeply personal one, since Covington is also the man who murdered my parents. When my friends and I get a lead on a powerful artifact that Covington wants to steal, we think we finally have a chance to thwart the Reapers and stop them for good.

It's the final year for most of the Defenders at the School of Roots and Vines. It's hard to imagine that Sophie is beginning her senior year and planning her wedding to Marcus the following summer. The group still needs to find their 6th Defender in order to save Thicket Hall and prevent the Serpent from being unleashed.

A shy poet, Imogen has always been bullied at her all-girl's private school, St. Nocturne. She's learned to adapt and ignore the torments of the Golden Girls as much as possible, and in fact, she feels a secret thrill whenever they're near. If the Golden Girls knew her secret, however, Imogen's life would be ruined. They could never know that she madly, passionately loved one of them.

Most teenagers have to deal with grades, school dances, and curfews. At the School of Necessary Magic, Alison and her crew have school elections, a musical to put on, a tournament in Louper to win while learning how to use their growing magical powers - and a sudden outbreak of werewolves. All before third period and a class on potions.

It’s anything but a calm, quiet semester at the School of Necessary Magic. Dangerous magical criminals are near, and Homeland Security puts the school on alert. Can Raine Campbell finally show her future boss - the FBI - what she can do, or will it all go sideways? The criminals think they can convince Raine and her friends to help them. But Agent Connor has taught her well. Their junior year gets even more challenging when students’ secrets are exposed. Do Raine and friends help their fellow students or turn them in? Should they follow the rules or do what’s right?

Raine Campbell and her friends arrive to team up with another school to tackle the Magical Multitudes Project, ready for a little fun during the school break. But the island is full of secrets and creatures not normally found on Earth. And the island doesn’t stay quiet for long. Earthquakes plague the area, and Raine even thinks she sees other people on the island - people who aren’t supposed to be there. When the students find a dead creature, they finally know for certain - there’s trouble on the island.

When rumors of a black dog roaming campus turn into grisly attacks, Raine must put aside her busy class schedule to investigate and make sure no one else gets hurt.

Sophie Briggs will have to fight her way out this time but without her elemental gift of life. It's the spring semester of Year Two at the famous School of Roots and Vines. The National Elemental Skills Trials are coming up, and Sophie and her friends are called to represent the school in faraway Colorado. Dark forces and powerful, all-too-familiar enemies are out to kidnap Sophie and steal her elemental powers. They'll stop at nothing to get their revenge.

Sophie Briggs has made it to her junior year at the School of Roots and Vines, but it isn't all fun and games for the Defenders. Change is coming. Some good and some . . . not so much. Friends are breaking up—will Sophie have to take sides? Sophie and Marcus are struggling, too. Marcus is pushing Sophie and the rest of the gang away, worried that being a Templeton will put them all at risk. He thinks he needs to do this by himself. Does he have to go it alone?

Unsettling Choice traces the contestations that surfaced when, in the wake of the 2007-2009 Great Recession, public schools navigated austerity by expanding choice-based programs. Ujju Aggarwal argues that this strategy mobilized mechanisms rooted in market logics to recruit families with economic capital on their side, solidifying a public sphere that increasingly resembled the private.

Everything is changing. It's the last semester of junior year for the Elemental, Sophie Briggs and her friends at The School of Roots and Vines. But will it be for better or worse? Classes take a priority for the teenagers but work and figuring out how to be a Defender is a close second. Both Marcus and Sophie's mysterious new tutor at the EBI have secrets to hide. Will Sophie harness a new curiosity in pursuit of the truth about them both?