The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association

by Caitlin Rozakis

Synopsis:

Two parents and their recently-bitten-werewolf daughter try to fit into a privileged New England society of magic aristocracy. But deadly terrors await them – ancient prophecies, remorseless magical trials, hidden conspiracies and the PTA bake sale.

When Vivian’s kindergartner, Aria, gets bitten by a werewolf, she is rapidly inducted into the hidden community of magical schools. Reeling from their sudden move, Vivian finds herself having to pick the right sacrificial dagger for Aria, keep stocked up on chew toys and play PTA politics with sirens and chthonic nymphs and people who literally can set her hair on fire.

As Vivian careens from hellhounds in the school corridors and demons at the talent show, she races to keep up with all the arcane secrets of her new society – shops only accessible by magic portal, the brutal Trials to enter high school, and the eternal inferno that is the parents’ WhatsApp group.

And looming over everything is a prophecy of doom that sounds suspiciously like it’s about Aria. Vivian might be facing the end of days, just as soon as she can get her daughter dressed and out of the door…

Caitlin Rozakis’ The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association is a pretty fun book about parenting a werewolf kid, learning to fit into a whole new community, and the fact that there’s always the mean clique, wherever you go.

I’ve seen it touted as cosy, so I would point out that the main character has childhood trauma (which isn’t discussed in great detail, but is obvious from the way she blames herself for every single thing) and adulthood trauma from seeing her child’s throat bitten out by a werewolf right in front of her. There’s a lot of drama, and though there’s fun worldbuilding and amusing references and all of that, there’s also a lot of emotional stuff going on.

Speaking of which, Vivian honestly gets a bit frustrating at times because of this: she tries to blame everything on herself, she shuts her husband out (though he’s not blameless either, to be clear), she sees things in black and white, and is quite prepared to repeat her parents’ mistakes. There’s some ambiguity about some of the people she’s choosing to suck up to, but Cecily is an obvious awful snob the entire time, and Vivian herself blindly ignores all the warning bells because this will be “best for Aria” (when it clearly isn’t). She is trying very hard, buuut at times her behaviour and wilful ignorance is annoying.

For those wary of anything mentioning Harry Potter, this book doesn’t mention it by name, but references it a couple of times (not super positively). So that’s worth knowing, and it’s definitely unavoidably influenced by it (though personally I’d have skipped mentioning it at all). It’s not just Hogwarts with the serial numbers filed off, to be clear: it deals with younger children, and feels very American.

It did get to a point near the end where I kinda went, c’mon, we’ve figured it out already, let’s wrap this up, and certain aspects of it were pretty predictable… but mostly I enjoyed the wrap-up, even if I could’ve done with a bit less of Vivian kicking herself first. Overall, worked pretty well, and I had fun.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)