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Chain Gang Elementary

by Jonathan Grant (Goodreads Author)

3.69 of 5 stars 3.69 · rating details · 32 ratings · 18 reviews

"In the first place, God created idiots. This was for practice. Then he created School Boards." -Mark Twain After a murder at Bonaire Elementary, Richard and Anna Lee Gray seek a good school for their son Nick in a safe neighborhood. Their search leads them to Malliford, a "school of excellence." When redistricting sends scores of minority students to Malliford, iron-wille...more

Paperback, 344 pages

Published July 14th 2011 by Thornbriar Press (first published June 26th 2011)

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Jun 05, 2012 Liza rated it 4 of 5 stars

I do not think I will ever join a PTO after reading this novel (LOL)! The politics involved, the backstabbing, the affairs, the arrests and the children caught in the middle. Oh, did I forget the mild racism?

I bet this type of thing goes on almost all the PTOs at schools where it is the pinnacle of excellence in comparison to other schools in its district.

Sometimes you have to move away... Awesome book! Would recommend.

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Aug 05, 2012 Grady rated it 4 of 5 stars

He who laughs last....

Grade schools are often microcosms of world situations and nowhere is that more evident than in the talented Jonathan Grant's novel CHAIN GANG ELEMENTARY. Grant writes with a soothingly casual style that pauses here and there for infusions of philosophy, a wondrous description of Richard, a stay at home dad, and his beloved son Nick, some biting observations about authoritarian head of faculty, and some practical advice (in the form of a story) of how we can approach and ev...more

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Mar 17, 2012 Jane rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: to-review, author-chain, 4

When Richard Gray moves his family to a new town he finds himself thrown in at the deep end as PTO president at his sons new school. Malliford is a ‘school of excellence’ but with redistricting the school is forced into taking less fortunate kids from the ‘apartments’ causing all kinds unrest amongst the parents and the staff who worry the test scores will suffer as a result. After witnessing some very disturbing incidents where staff were unnecessarily cruel to the new students Richard makes it...more

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Jan 15, 2012 Bee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Chain Gang Elementary by Jonathan Grant is about Richard Gray, a work-from-home father elected as head of the Parent-Teacher Organization. This novel details his escalating war with the principal aka dictator of Malliford elementary school and Richard's deteriorating marriage. The last quarter of the book is especially gripping, when all of the forces at play finally bubble over into a crazy (but believable!) ending.

I enjoyed the writing style. Despite the occasional grammatical error, it is a...more

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Feb 03, 2012 Indie Books List rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-of-the-month-finalists, formal-review, january-2012, book-of-the-month

This review for Chain Gang Elementary originally appeared at Indie Books List. This book was the winner of January's "Book of the Month".

What can I say about Richard Gray? He’s a flawed, kind, well-meaning man who calls meetings to order with the “rap-tap-tap” of a Duncan yo-yo. As the protagonist in Jonathan Grant’s “Chain Gang Elementary”, he’s pitch perfect. Gray possesses a conflicted social conscience, a sharp tongue, and has the cojones to be an unapologetic, stay at home father. He’s a S...more This review for Chain Gang Elementary originally appeared at Indie Books List. This book was the winner of January's "Book of the Month".

What can I say about Richard Gray? He’s a flawed, kind, well-meaning man who calls meetings to order with the “rap-tap-tap” of a Duncan yo-yo. As the protagonist in Jonathan Grant’s “Chain Gang Elementary”, he’s pitch perfect. Gray possesses a conflicted social conscience, a sharp tongue, and has the cojones to be an unapologetic, stay at home father. He’s a Southern male that isn’t a simpleton, a redneck, or a dandy…I mean…Charlestonian.

When Richard is drafted to be head of the Parent Teacher Organization at Malliford Elementary, he is aware that his presidency will face obstacles. The aging Miz Rutherford is at once Principal, non-benevolent dictator, and Nurse Ratched to the children and parents who inhabit Malliford. She’s not fond of Gray’s impudent questions, or the changes he would make in student life.

Rutherford is intent on making her school a “five-star school of excellence”. The only people standing in the way are Richard Gray, agent provocateur Rita Malloy, and the academic pariahs that inhabit the Chantilly Arms apartment complex. Of course, the school isn’t racist for wanting to reassign them to another school. It’s strictly an issue of test scores and property values.

This is where the war begins. This war will be won not through frontal assaults, but from good old-fashioned skulduggery and passive-aggressive behavior. This book is the show “Desperate Housewives” wishes it could be, and has the scathing social satire “Suburgatory” pretends to provide.

Gray’s personal life is hopelessly endangered by his success as PTO President, with his son Nicholas providing an unbiased look at the effects of his professional achievements. Richard’s frosty wife, Anna Lee is alternately unimpressed with, and angry about Richard’s “accomplishments”.
Her emotional indifference creates a situation ripe for extramarital excursions. These aren’t too difficult to initiate when you are a powerful, stay-at-home dad, surrounded by bored housewives.

The question Gray finds himself asking is “Will it be worth it?”

The answer is “Yes.”, but only in response to the question “Should I read this book?” Chain Gang Elementary has a massive cast of characters that are all fully developed, with sub-plots that weave in and out of the main storyline gracefully. It’s rare to look at a book and say “This was crafted.” This book combines loving attention to detail, page-turning tension, with a wry humor that stops short of meanness.
This is a long read. A lesser story would make the length of ”Chain Gang” unbearable. As things stand, it’s a satisfying experience, worth far more than the price of admission.
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Aug 21, 2012 Shay Caroline rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Shay by: Mama Zen

Shelves: southern-fiction

What happens when a stay-at-home dad with demons in his past takes the position of PTO president (and soccer coach) at his son's elementary school? Why, Machiavellian plots, shocking betrayals, a kinky affair, grand larceny, spying, bodies being unburied (literally!) and gun play, of course.

Author Jonathan Grant has taken a crew of Anytown stock characters and set them down in a suburban twilight zone of school year craziness. He eases the reader into this story so skillfully that it all seems...more What happens when a stay-at-home dad with demons in his past takes the position of PTO president (and soccer coach) at his son's elementary school? Why, Machiavellian plots, shocking betrayals, a kinky affair, grand larceny, spying, bodies being unburied (literally!) and gun play, of course.

Author Jonathan Grant has taken a crew of Anytown stock characters and set them down in a suburban twilight zone of school year craziness. He eases the reader into this story so skillfully that it all seems completely plausible, not to mention hugely entertaining, when it all veers off into a wild and darkly comic bad trip of a climax.

There is Estelle Rutherford, queen bee and principal, ruler for life it seems, and not about to let one bit of her primary school empire slip away. And by the way, she would like the PTO to buy her a Persian carpet and cherry wood furniture for her office, thank you very much!

There are the two apparently CIA-trained counselors she hires to extract usable secrets out of her enemies' children, so that she can ruin them.

There is Stan, a rumpled rabble rouser whose mission in life is to promote No-TV Week each year. He takes this mission *very* seriously.

There is Teresa, the married former exotic dancer turned PTO treasurer, who has eyes for her PTO president.

And there is Richard Gray, at the center of all of this, taking on, almost accidentally, the mantle of office. Richard has a stale marriage, a son he loves dearly, and an urge to Do The Right Thing. Naturally, this embroils him in every horror a sleepy suburb has to offer, and if his obsessions, a vindictive principal, or his sexy treasurer don't do him in, then the flying bullets might.

"Chain Gang Elementary" is darkly funny, entertaining, well-written, and has a great deal of heart as well. One of my favorite things about the book was how Grant shows how a teacher known variously as "Bullfrog Eyes" or "Mz Ebonics" turns out to be not only the best teacher in the school, but the bravest.

My quibbles with this book are small. Richard's wife, Anna Lee, makes a Frigidaire seem toasty. I wanted to know what brought them together in the first place, but there is really nothing about that in the story. A paragraph or brief flashback would have sufficed. My other quibble is easy to fix. Mr. Grant, would you please write another book with Teresa the sexy treasurer in it, as Joshilyn Jackson did with a side character who got her own novel in "Backseat Saints"? It's a small thing to ask. It will only take a year. What could go wrong?

I recommend "Chain Gang Elementary." I'm glad I got the chance to read it.

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Jun 04, 2012 Brittany (The Book Addict's Guide) rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, signed, currently-own

I was sent this book courtesy of the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review.
First off, Jonathan Grant is a really gifted wordsmith. I really enjoyed reading his constant play in words and names, clever use of double meanings and wide variety of vocabulary. His wording was extremely enjoyable and I was rather impressed with quite a bit of it.
Richard Gray as the main character was someone I could root for. I wasn't so sure how I felt about the affair with Teresa (just my personal mora...more

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Sep 09, 2012 Sandy Pfefferkorn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: teachers, parents

I just finished this book on my Kindle Fire on Friday and recommend it wholeheartedly! Jonathan Grant captured the bureaucracy of a school ruled by a controlling principal who refuses to give up control at all costs. Teachers will especially enjoy it as stay-at-home parent Richard Gray accepts the position of PTO president and battles the principal and her toadies as they try to keep people from "the apartments" from infiltrating their "school of excellence." Although Malliford is an elementary...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Katy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: parents of grammar/middle-school students, people involved in PTA/PTO organizations, etc.

Recommended to Katy by: Jonathan Grant

Shelves: ebook

This review can also be seen on my blog, Now is Gone.

Book Info: Genre: Satiric Literary Fiction Reading Level: Adult

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this eBook from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: In the first place, God created idiots. This was for practice. Then he created School Boards. – Mark Twain

After a murder at Bonaire Elementary, Richard and Anna Lee Gray seek a good school for their son Nick in a safe neighborhood. Their search leads them to Malliford, a "s...more

3 likes · like · see review

Apr 10, 2012 Miranda Sherman rated it 2 of 5 stars

Richard Gray was a Father of an elementary school boy in a school district filled with drama. Gray was thrust into the world of PTO and the politics that goes with it. When the prestige school is faced with redistricting and the addition of the “apartment kids” or the poor kids and low test scores the school and PTO is in an up rise and the social battle of a lifetime.

Chain Gang Elementary is one of the longest, grueling book I have read in a very long time. The plot seemed to drag on forever...more

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Apr 03, 2012 Elizabeth A. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Richard Gray thought he knew what he was getting into when he accepted the position of PTO President at “four-star school of excellence” Malliford Elementary. He would have done well to adopt General Sherman’s attitude about the presidency: “If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve.”

Instead, Richard quickly finds himself at war with Malliford’s ancient and entrenched principal, Estelle Rutherford, and her hardcore supporters among the faculty. For that matter, a vocal group of...more Richard Gray thought he knew what he was getting into when he accepted the position of PTO President at “four-star school of excellence” Malliford Elementary. He would have done well to adopt General Sherman’s attitude about the presidency: “If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve.”

Instead, Richard quickly finds himself at war with Malliford’s ancient and entrenched principal, Estelle Rutherford, and her hardcore supporters among the faculty. For that matter, a vocal group of his fellow parents are also less than pleased with his reformist ways, especially when he challenges them on the basis for their opposition to a redistricting plan which would bring an influx of students from a low-income apartment complex into Malliford.

It’s Rutherford’s implementation of “forced labor” during detention that really escalates things to the next level, however, earning Malliford the scandalous nickname “Chain Gang Elementary,” as well as an exposé in the local paper and Richard’s outspoken criticism. Rutherford is less than amused, and brings in outside reinforcements in the form of two (because one apparently wasn’t enough) school psychologists and the founder of a prominent right-wing “family first” type group to bolster her position, and to help oust Richard…at any cost.

Woven in amongst the main storyline of political in-fighting in education, Richard’s shaky marriage tries to weather his attraction to a fellow PTO member, financial shenanigans involving PTO funds take place, a long-buried childhood secret comes back to have life-altering consequences for more than one person, and a marginalized PTO member’s “No-TV Week” campaign becomes deadly serious when he’s pushed too far by Rutherford and her cutthroat tactics.

Though the premise for Chain Gang Elementary sounded intriguing, I admit I went into it not entirely sure what to expect, just hoping to be entertained. What I got instead was a book that not only gripped and entertained me as much as any thriller – who knew grade school politics could be so damn Machiavellian? – but which also brings to the table some very timely issues about the state of education in America, especially as relates to standardized testing and its emotional and financial impact on students, teachers, and schools.

Author Jonathan Grant puts his experience as both a former journalist (newspaper coverage of the controversies that swirl around “Chain Gang Elementary” play a prominent role in the fight between Richard and Rutherford) and PTA president to good use, bringing a verisimilitude to the story that makes even the more extreme behavior of the parents and teachers disturbingly believable. Grant also uses well placed doses of humor to temper the seriousness of the underlying topics, and keeps the story moving along at a nice clip without ever getting bogged down in the more policy-centric passages.

Doing time at Chain Gang Elementary is (not so) hard labor you’ll actually enjoy being sentenced to. (less)

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Jun 06, 2012 Danielle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

This was a pretty solid book. I was rather excited to read it because I basically spent my high school career fighting the school board over cutting the newspaper. Some of it is rather far fetched, but if you accept that then it is really quite entertaining. There was never a moment in which I was bored reading it.
I could see this book making a really good movie actually, somewhere along the lines of Gone Baby Gone mixed with The Departed. If some of the humor was taken out, it wouldn't seem so...more

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Mar 03, 2013 Neil rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was not really expecting this type of book when I started reading it. I did like the main character for the most part and it was easy to understand where he was coming from. I did have a difficult time keeping interested into the book because it mostly revolves around the politics of the school. I will have to say that the book did have a fast and interesting ending that I really did enjoy.

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May 30, 2012 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: wins

Maybe I'm just biased because I'm a teacher, but...I loved this book! I completely related to the shady politics of public schools, the idea that "no good deed goes unpunished," and the endless fight for doing what is right by kids, not by finances, politics, or climbing the district ladder. I like that the story has scandals, secrets, mysteries, crimes, and romance...and it's well-written too! The author is hilariously sarcastic, and refreshingly intelligent. A good read, for sure :)

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Dec 29, 2011 Leah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: free-won

I want to give this book a 2.5 for glaring errors including typos and grammar problems, as well as a disjointed plot, but I was captivated towards the end and read the last third in one sitting. Even though the writing was below par the story itself was interesting. A real review up soon.

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Nov 10, 2012 Beth Creviston rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Beth by: Fabulous Tucker Book Club

oh the politics of public school.

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Apr 06, 2012 Amber marked it as to-read

So want to read this book

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May 13, 2013 Amanda rated it 1 of 5 stars

I won this book.
I tried reading it for 2 months. I realized I had to " force " myself to read this book. I finally stopped in the middle of the story. Very disappointed.

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May 17, 2013 River marked it as to-read

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Mar 18, 2013 Amanda Mckenna marked it as to-read

Feb 04, 2013 Roy Huff marked it as to-read

Feb 04, 2013 Renee is currently reading it

Jan 29, 2013 Sandy marked it as to-read

Jan 08, 2013 Marty Bryan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Nov 25, 2012 Danielle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Nov 24, 2012 Jayne marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Nov 10, 2012 Katie marked it as to-read

Nov 04, 2012 Bonnie Lamer added it

Oct 24, 2012 Jenny is currently reading it

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About Jonathan Grant

Brambleman author Jonathan Grant is an award-winning writer and editor (The Way It Was in the South: The Black Experience in Georgia).

His firstnovel, Chain Gang Elementary (Thornbriar Press), tells the tragicomic story of a war between a reform-minded PTA president and an authoritarian principal. A Thousand Miles to Freedom, his screenplay based on the real-life adventures of escaped slaves Willia...more

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The Way It Was in the South: The Black Experience in Georgia

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