Review: Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Title: Hex Hall
Series: Hex Hall
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's
Publication Date: 1 April 2010

Source: Own



Synopsis: From Amazon
In the wake of a love spell gone horribly wrong, Sophie Mercer, a sixteen-year-old witch, is shipped off to Hecate Hall, a boarding school for witches, shapeshifters and faeries. The traumas of mortal high school are nothing compared to the goings on at "Freak High." It's bad enough that she has to deal with a trio of mean girls led by the glamorous Elodie, but it's even worse when she begins to fall for Elodie's gorgeous boyfriend, Archer Cross, and frankly terrifying that the trio are an extremely powerful coven of dark witches. But when Sophie begins to learn the disturbing truth about her father, she is forced to face demons both metaphorical and real, and come to terms with her own growing power as a witch.

Review:
This book has a most refreshing take on the paranormal/supernatural genre. I adored the snarky first person narrative voice (you know I adore sarcasm) Sophie was so easy to relate to, normal teen angst, hot boy crushes and mean girl cliques mixed with kicking butt magical powers. The direct address to the reader at intervals gave it a really personal feel to the story.

Beautiful scene setting and background detail revealed throughout while keeping the element of surprise. As you are probably aware I am good at guessing plot twists - I think it stems from the amount of reading I have done (or my age) - but this one took me completely by surprise on so many levels.

The school itself is an interesting concept, the descriptions conjure southern Gothic imagery set alongside the idea of a reform school for magical beings; providing a setting that is both prison like yet strangely comfortable, oxymoronic within my imagination (that is my word of the day I just wanted to use it).  The way in which the cliques and allegiances were portrayed it was difficult to know who was good and who was bad. This really kept me on my toes.

There are some really beautifully executed twists, I really did not see them coming, this is very rare. The unexpected discoveries added to the suspense of the plot. The action is fast paced, dynamic drama, romantic tension and suspenseful anticipation all add up to a compelling read.

All the characters were individually interesting and their interactions were well executed. The way in which relationships change due to circumstances was skillfully portrayed in the narrative. I have to say that each individual character played a unique role to the plot, some in very surprising ways. I adored the friendship between Sophie and Jenna, initially formed by their joint outcast status it quickly progresses to a deeper bond. Plus who can resist a vampire that has such an obsession with the colour pink lol.

The romantic interests I actually enjoyed even though I am burnt-out on the love triangle aspects used so often at the moment, I have to say that this wasn't so much a love triangle as more life getting in the way of romance.

I have actually had this book for a while and pushed it to the top of the pile as the second book arrived from UK Book Tours - I am so glad I did. I am equally glad that I had the second book to read straight after it.

Guest Post: Bullying: A Teachers Perspective by Kirsty at The Overflowing Library

One of the things that can make or break a child's experience at school, whether they are successful and achieve within their potential, is if they feel safe happy and secure if their environment. Sadly bullying can be one of those things that mean a young adult feels threatened and insecure in their surroundings. Having worked in a variety of school I'm glad to say all of them recognise this is an area that needs addressing and I have seen a variety of ways it has been dealt with (some more successfully than others). In this post I am going to tell you how the school I currently work in deals with bullying with a notable level of success.

To start with I am lucky I work in a good school. Most of the kids want to be there and there aren't any major problems with behaviour or discipline (they aren't always angels either). Over the past few years we have gained a reputation for being a school that does not tolerate bullying and as a consequence we often gain quite a few children over the year who have struggled at other schools.
I think this is down to two reasons:

Firstly we had a lovely head teacher, whom as a younger man had experienced bullying, as a consequence had not time for it himself, even going to the point of never shouting at the kids himself. I think this set the tone of our school which had continued since he left a few years back.

Secondly the anti bullying policy that is in place works well. Obviously hard core cases are dealt with Heads of House and not tolerated in any way shape or form. These are few and far between and not the type of bullying problem most children encounter at some point in their life. For the day to day minor (but equally traumatic) problems a peer support system has been put in place in school called Friendly Faces. It has been in place for about 7 years now and is award winningly successful in keeping our school a bullying free environment.

Friendly faces is run by a group of Year 11 coordinators. Their job is to manage the day to day running of the scheme. To be a coordinator they have to have served as a Friendly Face for a year in Year 10 and apply and interview for the position. Under them there are around 40 Friendly Face pupils who are all Year 10. They man the Friendly Face base and are on duty once a fortnight at either break or lunch and are available for other pupils to drop in (or make appointments) to discuss problems including, but not limited to, bullying. If a problem is reported to them, they often get both parties together and try to resolve the issues that exist. Most of the time it works and the problem is dealt with. On occasions when it isn't they pass the problem on to a member of staff who will help out. To become a Friendly Face they have to apply, then go through a day of training run by the coordinators. If they impress the coordinators they are invited to be a Friendly Face. The positions are very sought after within the school with a variety of pupils applying (not just the geeky ones) and pupils can lose their positions if they abuse it. Friendly Faces keep records of all the problem they deal with and are expected to respect confidentiality of all those involved.

Another thing that Friendly Faces also do is they help with the transition of pupils from primary to secondary school. This can be a concern for pupils and parent's alike, especially as we have tiny feeder schools and the change can be unnerving. To help with this a Friendly Face Roadshow goes out to visit each of the primary schools in the June before they are due to arrive and they talk and play games with the year 6 pupils to help ease any worries they might have about the move to High School. They produce a pack of useful information to take away and are around on the following induction days when the year 6 pupils first come to high school.

All in all it is a system that I would high recommend. It works well and as I said earlier is award winning. For the past 5 years the Friendly Face team have won the Princess Diana Award, and 2 years ago they won the prestigious Philip Lawrence Award for their work. I think it is effective as it is primarily based on a peer support network and breeds a ethos of zero tolerance amongst the student body and have proved to be the main reason why pupils flock to our school and feel safe and secure in their environment.

Thank you for that insight into the Bullying Policy implemented at your school. It is lovely to see a school where the pupils take ownership of the anti-bullying policy so well. Awards are well deserved. Well Done.