The School of Possibilities - Hardcover

"The dark, richly detailed setting of this Finlandia Junior Prize nominee will capture imaginations. Ikonen's illustrations accentuate the surrealist horror as the tale spirals into thriller."

"Part dystopian novel and part sinister fairy tale, Finnish author Parkkola's first book explores order-loving adults' attempts to suck the free spirits out of children-at any cost. The author's black-and-white expressionistic drawings add an air of eerie unreality... [that] will set readers to thinking about their own possibilities-and futures."

"This cautionary tale, first published in Finland, explores the concept of whether giving up freedom for the greater good is wise or worthwhile... The teens in the story are multidimensional... The book suggests that having a childlike enthusiasm is the key to being truly free." - VOYA
This story's suspenseful trajectory will keep readers turning pages as events spiral to a climactic finale.

Storm is an intriguing narrator...Ikonen's gritty, expressionist black-and-white illustrations heighten the surreal, increasingly suspenseful tone of the novel. Offer this to horror fans, particularly Gaiman buffs...

"The School of Possibilities has been called part dystopian novel and part sinister fairy tale. However you'd like to classify it, it will school you in it's deep dark secrets.

Young readers will immediately hit it off with Storm who's down to earth, but edgy enough to be classified as the cool kid you always imagined what it would be like to hang with. As the School tightens it's leash around Storm, you'll want to help him escape and break free from the obsessive adults attempting to steal his free spirit." - examiner.com

"a fierce little story with edgy characters." - Red-Headed Book Child

"This book reminded me of Coraline by Neil Gaiman because it has the strange, curious, dark and horror movie feel to it. This book has great imagination and I thought the writing was good with an interesting plot and a great main character--Storm Steele is smart and brave... I thought the illustrations in the book a nice addition and it's like something Storm might have drawn. All in all, I recommend this book to middle grade readers and those who enjoy Coraline-like stories." - Michelle and Leslie's Book Picks

"I will try anything as unexpected as a teen novel from Finland. So I did. And I was happy about it. For, like the Finnish school system and digital telephony, The School of Possibilities, a modern fairy tale that dances with horror and delight, is an extremely successful item." - Pink Me

"It has a Roald Dahl-ish quality that is both startling and appealing: a kind of parable/horror /adventure story, complete with very eerie illustrations... The writing is clean and sparse, yet quite poetic and filled with dialogue that is true to the characters the author has created and has a kind of sophistication and cleverness that kids and adults will both appreciate." - Lit for Kids

After being convinced by his Dad's new wife, the "step-monster," that Storm is an impossible child, his father packs him off to the School of Possibilities for troubled youth where he meets a group of children who have escaped from the strict school before being transformed into zombies of good behavior; together they seek to discover the school's sinister secret.