Zapadły pałac

The young heroes arrive at the titular ramshackle palace to participate in a private school recruitment camp. Initially, having failed to get into secondary school, they feel like failures, but it turns out that their invitation to the palace was no coincidence. The palace has plans for them and will subject them to a series of dangerous trials. They must participate in challenges related to classic European fairy tales – which, being modern teenagers, they either don’t know or don’t remember. Deprived of access to their electronic devices, they enter into a game whose rules they don’t understand. They take it in turns to fight with an animated statue, turn into a lamb, freeze solid, or get swallowed by a toad. Along the way, they celebrate small victories and suffer defeats. As they do so, they begin to understand the importance of friendship and cooperation in the fight against a dangerous world. The characters – all of whom are misfits, sometimes atypical, or living with disabilities – are sure to be understood by modern readers.