Soman Chainani: “Daring Deeds & Helpful Heroes”

Lael Ponder is a 13-year-old middle school student who plays volleyball and write books in her free time; she studied karate from kindergarten to the fifth grade. The story genres she likes to write and read are fantasy and education nonfiction. She plans on attending Tuskegee University and becoming a veterinarian when she gets older.

Soman Chainani is the New York Times bestselling author of the School for Good and Evil series. The fairy-tale saga has sold more than 3 million copies, been translated into 31 languages, and will soon be a major motion picture from Netflix, which Soman will executive produce. His most recent book, Beasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales, was also an instant New York Times bestseller and is in development to be a TV series from Sony 3000. In Rise of the School for Good and Evil (HarperCollins), two brothers – one good, one evil – watch over the Endless Woods. Together they choose the students for the School for Good and Evil. Together they train them, teach them, and prepare them for their fate. Then, something unexpected happens, something that will change everything and everyone. Who will survive? Who will rule the school? The journey starts here, with magic and surprises filling every step. Daring deeds test courage, loyalty, and who you really are. But they only lead you to the very beginning of the adventures that are the School for Good and Evil.