Etiquette & Espionage

Bibliographic Information
Title: Etiquette & Espionage
Author: Gail Carriger
Type of Media: Audio CD
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Copyright Date: October 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-0316190107
Genre: Mystery, Science Fiction, Fantasy
Reading Level: Lexile 780
Interest Age: 12-18







Plot Summary
Sophronia is a trouble maker who is always embarrassing her mother. In order to set her straight and turn her into a proper young lady Mrs. Temminnick enrolls her in a finishing school. Not just any finishing school but Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality. Sophronia goes with the expectation of being miserable but before long she begins to get a feeling that things are not quite what you would expect from a finishing school. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's the girls are learning how to finish not themselves but others, it is a school built to train assassin's and spies. So when Sophronia gets tangled up in a web she will need to learn quickly who she can trust and how to be great at what she is training to do. Welcome to the first year of finishing school.

Critical Evaluation
This is another great book about female assassins but this one focuses more on the art of espionage than on killing making it a more tame read for those who want to stay away from  romance and violence. The plotline of this story is well planned out from beginning to end. Taking a page from J.K. Rowling, Carriger sets this series up to follow Sophronia's years at the finishing school following her through the challenges and adventures that seem to find her. A great theme in this book is that of friendship. Realizing that friendships can be made with people who are quite different from yourself and that what makes a friend true goes much deeper.

Reader's Annotation
A finishing school with vampire and werewolf teachers which teaches girls how to become "proper" assassins, does it get any better?

Author Biography
Gail Carriger writes to cope with being raised in obscurity by an expatriate Brit and an incurable curmudgeon. She escaped small town life and inadvertently acquired several degrees in higher learning, a fondness for cephalopods, and a chronic tea habit.
Her bestselling novels are urbane fantasies mixed with steampunk comedies of manners. They have been published in eighteen different languages, made the USA Today list multiple times, and the New York Times list thirteen times (on seven different lists). Curtsies & Conspiracies, the second in her critically acclaimed Finishing School series for young adults, debuted at #5 and Soulless Vol. III the manga at #1. She has received the Prix Julia Verlanger from French readers. Her debut novel, Soulless, won the ALA's Alex Award and was nominated for Compton Crook, Campbell, and Locus Awards. The first book in the Finishing School series, Etiquette & Espionage, won the French Elbakin Award for best YA novel in translation. And the third, Waistcoats & Weaponry won the Steampunk Chronicle's Reader's Choice Award for YA. She also recieved a 2012 Starburner award.
Her other hats (neither pith helmet nor fedora) have included tromping the globe excavating ancient cultures, torturing undergraduates with science, and writing cryptic reviews of non-fiction children's books for the Horn Book Guide.

Gail Carriger longer bio. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.gailcarriger.com/about/gails-bio

Book Talk Ideas

• Espionage
• Technology in Future

Possible Challenges
 I do not see any challenges arising for this novel

Defense File

Have the library's selection policy and the Library Bill of Rights ready to hand out

Access to honest reviews from trusted sources

Know the awards, if any, the book has earned

Understand the material so you can explain the use of the book as a good talking point for serious and sensitive issues

A lot of times people just want their concerns heard, so make sure you listen

If they are still persistent be able to offer them a reconsideration form

 
Reason for InclusionThis is a great novel for anyone looking for a fun school based adventure series. With both girl and boy characters and really cool gadgets it can appeal to everyone.