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This series is a lot of fun and silliness for children. It provides some good examples of fears and overcoming then too, which I believe is important for most children. Next week I'll read the last one with my daughter, as I've done with the first two, and I'm sure it will be enjoyed just as much. ( )

Back again for another summer, Madeleine, Lulu, Theo, and Garrison join Mrs. Wellington, Schmidty, and Mac at the school of fear. They are also joined by a new student. Hyacinth is a 10 year- old, Indian girl who has mono phobia, the fear of being alone. She is also accompanied by her pet ferret, Celery. Upon meeting Hyacinth, who insists on being called Hyhy, the students find her completely annoying. Hyacinth is obsessed with being "besties" with anyone and everyone she meets. She also is convinced she can speak to ferrets, and blames anything she does or says wrong on her ferret. For instance, if she insults some one she said that Celery said it. Or if she does something wrong, she says that Celery told her to do it. When they finally talk to Mrs. Wellington, she tells her students that most of her wigs and make-up has been stolen. The next morning, Madeleine wakes up, only to find one of Mrs. Wellington's cats dangling a spider over her. When she tries to push to cat off of her, she ends up making it drop the spider on her face. Without hesitation, she slaps her head so hard the spider looks like it exploded. She then faints from fright. As she wakes up, Schmidty and the other students inform her that when the burglars were stealing again, they knocked over some Triple Bs & Double Bs. When Madeleine asks what they are, Mrs. Wellington says that they are Bulgarian beetles and Balinese Brown and Burgundy spiders, with 100 of each. After, Mrs. Wellington receives a letter from the burglars, telling her to meet them in a park at a pageant. Without a moment to lose, she borrows a car from the sheriff, and takes off with Schmidty, the students, and Mac. The kids soon discover that Mrs. Wellington is a terrible driver who barely pays attention to the road, drives way above the speed limit and doesn't care for the other cars. As expected, she is pulled over and arrested. At the police station, Mrs. Wellington is given a single phone call. She calls Munchauser and tells him to call the governor. Unbelievably, the governor calls the station and tells her to let Mrs. Wellington and Schmidty go free. Once again, Mrs. Wellington continues her reckless driving. She barely makes it on time, and when she enters she is overjoyed at what she finds. The pageant is a owner and dog pageant. The students decide to split up to find the burglar while Mrs. Wellington participates in the pageant with mac. With Madeleine and Lulu paired up, Theo and Garrison are forced to take Hyacinth with them to search. Only moments later, Celery jumps of of Hyacinth's shoulder and into the crowd. Hyacinth runs after, leaving Theo and Garrison behind. Unable to find her they continue on with the search. When the Lulu, Madeleine, Theo and Garrison meet up again, they see Mrs. Wellington dressed in a partially ripped tutu with dog ears. Mac has the other part of the tutu and Mrs. Wellington's brown wig. Before anything else can happen, the Knapps confront her (also dressed as dogs with their dog) saying that she miss treats Mac. They say that dogs should be treated to all kinds of ridiculous things like yoga, and being feed their food piece by piece so they don't choke. Finally, when the pageant host stops the fight, she bans the Knapps from all dog shops and activities like yoga, pedicures, and dog clothes. After she bans Mrs. Wellington from all doggy and owner pageants. After returning, the sheriff gives them even more bad news by saying that a reporter is going to publish a story about how the school of fear drove a former student, Abernathy, into the woods for years thus destroying the future for the school of fear. Shocked and enraged, Mrs.Wellington demands to know who told the reporter. Hyacinth admits that she did it only because the reporter and her were also besties, and because Celery told her to. Angered the students tell her off, saying she didn't know one thing about friendship and she is selfish to not take responsibilities for her actions and blame them on her ferret. The students then refuse to see or speak to Hyacinth, and she spends her time alone in her private room. This makes her have to face her worst fear, being alone. They make Schmity tell them about Abernathy. He tells that that Abernathy was Mrs.Wellington's only failure. Abernathy had a fear of Stepmothers. He refused to to be associated with anyone with a stepmother, talked to a stepmother or knew a stepmother. After coming to the school of fear he actually made progress. What caused him to run away was when Mrs. Wellington and Abernathy's single father fell in love. Soon when they get married, they move the original school of fear to summerstone. When Abernathy's father dies, Abernathy runs away into the forest. The other students then decide to find Abernathy by luring him out of the woods. They do manage to lure him out to listen to him, but he only escapes back into the woods without saying anything. They return sadly, with Mrs.Wellington refusing to come out of her room. Schmidty tells them that the school of fear will be closing the next day and they will be sent home. Feeling guilty, Hyacinth decides to try to lure out Abernathy by herself. Will she looks around the forest, she decides to sing. Unfortunately, she sings horrible off-key. But, Abernathy comes out and claims it is the best thing he had ever heard. She and Abernathy return to the school of fear. Schmidty welcomes Abernathy back home. The rest is to be continued in the third book of the series.
I think this book is better than the first one. I love the new characters and revealed secrets. But like the last one, I think its too short and doesn't contain much about the students adventures in the school of fear. I also find Hyacinth's personality hilarious. And I think that its such a surprise that Mrs.Wellington is Abernathy's stepmom. Never the less, I can't wait to read the next book. I wish there were more books in the series. ( )

Liked it as much as the first, and I was impressed by how the most annoying character was actually outdone by a new one... yet as the book went on, you felt compassion for both.

Enjoyed this one a lot. It kept me laughing all the way through, and convinced my mom to start the series. The kids are back at School of Fear for a "refresher" session. This time there's a new girl who is afraid to be alone, to the great annoyance of the old group of friends. Even more annoying, she's brought her pet ferret, and is continually translating for the rest of the group the "ferret"'s supposed opinions about all of them, which she prefaces with a statement like, "I think you're nice, but the ferret ...."

Hilarious. ( )