With a very impressive 1,718,800,000 hours viewed, and ranked number 1 on Netflix’s most popular shows in English, the first season of Wednesday captured a lot of people’s attention. I was teaching second grade at the time it was released, and I couldn’t escape the hype of this show even at work. Everyone, from my friends to my students, raved about the twist ending. So, chances are you probably have seen it. Or, at least know a bit about the Addams family from one of its other iterations.
The show, starring Jenna Ortega and directed by Tim Burton, takes the beloved character of Wednesday and makes her the main character. Wednesday Addams, who after getting kicked out of her school for putting piranhas in the pool, is sent to Nevermore Academy. Here, at a school where her parents are esteemed alumni, she is around other “outcasts” like herself, almost all of whom have supernatural abilities.
If you are looking for something a bit spooky for the Halloween season, or just want to get more Wednesday vibes, the book series you should pick up is The Scholomance Series by Naomi Novik.
Like Wednesday, The Scholomance Series takes place at a magical boarding school. But what makes this book series especially feel like the popular show is that it shares the same dark humor and deadly consequences. When I recommend this book (which is very often), I often say it is like a darker version of Harry Potter. But, while the characters are young wizards who are learning magic in an enchanted school, Novik makes this world feel unique and her own. There are consequences to magic, and no one has an everlasting supply. While Harry Potter points out the privilege rich and established families have in the wizarding world, in this series being a part of important families or having connections with them really means life or death.
The school, called the Scholomance, is supposed to protect students. Teens are at their most bright and tasty to all of the monsters in the world. However, it is not impenetrable, it just means the nastiest or most persistent ones make it inside. Not having allies or power could mean that you get eaten while you are taking a shower or choose the wrong route to class. And this is the situation our protagonist, 16 year old Galadriel "El" Higgins is in. She doesn’t come from an enclave, or have any friends, and so every step out of her room each day is a calculation of risk versus reward, from where to sit in the library to getting food in the cafeteria. Against the odds, she has stayed alive and (mostly) unscathed in her junior year, so far at least.
The first book of the series, A Deadly Education, is my favorite of the trilogy. Like Wednesday, this book and the rest of the series have that sprinkle of magic with a dark side. Both have themes of community and belonging. Wednesday and and EL are both grumpy, solitary teenagers, who must come to realize that relying on others and letting them in is not (always) a liability.
Both also feature a bit of gore.
I hope that if you like Wednesday, you will pick up A Deadly Education and the rest of the Scholomance series. If you have read The Scholomance Series and/or watched Wednesday, leave your thoughts in the comments below!
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