Title: The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy

Author: Kate Hattemer

Release Date:

Reviewed by: Olivia



Ethan is a sarcastic high school student at the Selwyn Academy art school with a passion for drawing– which he’s not very good at. He deals with an insane crush on the beautiful ballerina in his English class while helping to raise his triplet little sisters. But there’s a monstrous weight within the walls of the academy. It’s not the poetic, nerdy English teacher they all look up to nor the obnoxious, snide Miki Reagler of the school. No, this burden that’s squeezing the artistic life out of Selwyn is a reality television show.

And it’s not so much “reality” as most people think.

For Art’s Sake is a show by kTV, a channel that is taking over the school with its drama and art-challenges. Not to mention the winner’s crazy prize of a $100,000 scholarship to their choice of an art college which has everyone head-over-heels.

But the hatred boils within Ethan and his best friends for the show as the talk in the halls turns to the latest cast-off on the show rather than Van Gogh pieces. And they’ve got a plan to stop its corrupt brain-washing.

While studying Ezra Pound in English, the determined group of friends get the idea of creating a vigilante, long poem about the horrors and destruction of For Art’s Sake and distribute it to the student body anonymously. But when Ethan’s closest friend gets invited to go on the show, things take an unexpected turn. Lies and secrets are corroding the relationships between teachers and authorities while the drama rises, even for Ethan himself (where he least expected himself to be). Left with a stab-in-the-back from his best friend and a new, upside down world, Ethan finds himself doing all he can to win his dream girl, get his best friend back, and find out the truth behind this show and his school.

A silly, light read with lines that made me laugh out loud! This is a humorous tale about a boy and what he believes in that will have you flipping the pages until the end.