What is your favourite school series?

[Yak]

Whyteleafe was very advanced for its time if you think about it. This idea that they all got the same pocket money and could apply for extra if needed was very communistic. I wonder if all the parents approved tho.

[mynameisdumbnuts]

Whyteleafe is like Spandex: great in theory, but when real people use it, the results can be pretty ugly.

I don't agree with the "everyone gets the same amount of money from the box" idea. If you take humanity as a whole, it is very unfair that some people have so much and some people have so little. But at a probably quite pricey boarding school? Not so much. As long as the very wealthy don't crow over the not-so-wealthy, I think it's good for children to learn that some people have stuff you don't. And that's part of life. If Jane can afford three chocolate bars a week and Anne can afford one, I don't think Jane should have to give up one of her chocolate bars. (This might be coloured by the fact I really want some chocolate right now....)

As for the weekly meeting, I think on the one hand it's good because if a student does make a complaint, there are so many witnesses and it can all be hashed out. But I bet it's nerve-wracking to stand up!

[mynameisdumbnuts]

Oh, and I've figured out what I like about "Mystery at St. Rollo's." It's one of the few school stories where we see so much from a boy's point of view. I mean, you do learn about John, Robert, Harry and especially Julian at Whyteleaf, but it's mostly from Elizabeth's point of view. At St. Rollo's, a lot of the action is played out among Mike, Tom and Hugh. The sister -- Jane? Joan? Can't remember -- is more on the sidelines. I wonder why Blyton didn't try to make the genders even as she normally does?

[Anita Bensoussane]

I don't agree with the "everyone gets the same amount of money from the box" idea. If you take humanity as a whole, it is very unfair that some people have so much and some people have so little. But at a probably quite pricey boarding school? Not so much. As long as the very wealthy don't crow over the not-so-wealthy, I think it's good for children to learn that some people have stuff you don't. And that's part of life.

I quite like the idea in theory because it would make the school feel like a family, with pocket money being allocated fairly. However, I doubt it would work because I can't see many parents, guardians or other relatives choosing to contribute any more than the average amount each term - and some may well give less.

As for the weekly meeting, I think on the one hand it's good because if a student does make a complaint, there are so many witnesses and it can all be hashed out. But I bet it's nerve-wracking to stand up!

It would be something of an ordeal either to accuse or be accused, and I think it only works because the children of Whyteleafe are shown to be extremely tolerant and ready to give miscreants a second chance. In real life, there would surely be some who would delight in taunting and gloating for weeks or even months or years over some of the revelations.

[Ming]

This idea that they all got the same pocket money and could apply for extra if needed was very communistic. I wonder if all the parents approved tho.

It sounded fine and dandy when I read it for the first time, but looking back at it I think it's extremely unfair. It might have made life easier for the less fortunate, but that's giving them a false hope and not reflective of reality - i.e., there will always be someone who's better off than you are, and you can either whine about it, or do something yourself about it, instead of waiting for the pennies to drop from the trees.

[Yak]

True but remember you're talking about a bunch of upper-middle class (largely) kids here. I doubt that any of them went on to live in abject poverty. Which makes it all the more strange that such a system was needed in the first place.

[7upromana01]

I think I prefered the Malory Towers series but always get them confused with the St Clares. Was it Miss Grayling that headed up Malory Towers and Miss Theobald, St Clares - or the other way around?

Your right. Miss Grayling is the headmistress of Malory Towers(even though I haven't read it) and Miss Theobald is head of St.Clare's. On to the point I think St.Clare's is the best boarding school book!!

[Paul Austin]

If Darrell were real, she'd be 78 this year. Sobering thought!

[Yak]

Olider than that I would have thought? when was MT published, early to mid forties? That's seventy years ago at least. If you assume she was born eighteen years before the last book surely she'd be well into her eighties.

[Icecream342]

My favourite MT book is...... ....... ....... ....... 1st Term at Malory Towers!!!

[Fiona1986]

Olider than that I would have thought? when was MT published, early to mid forties? That's seventy years ago at least. If you assume she was born eighteen years before the last book surely she'd be well into her eighties.

She was 12 in the first book (1946) so would have been born in 1934 or 1935, making her 77 or 78. By the last book (1951) she was 18.

[Yak]

ah right thanks .. they are later than I had thought then

[db105]

Merged with an older topic.

Between Malory Towers, St Claire and The Naughtiest Girl series, what are the differences in style? Which is your favourite?

[Stephen]

I personally prefer Malory Towers, but that's probably because I'm far more familiar with them than St Clare's. The last time I read a St Clare's, I did actually quite like it, but it was still involving a whole lot of different, non-MT characters that I wasn't used to. I also liked the way MT started with Darrell's class being the youngest, and then each book would see them move up a year until the last book when they were ready to leave school. St Clare's by contrast seemed a lot less uniformed. The first three books were set in the first year, then they rapidly went up, apparently missing the third year altogether.

The Naughtiest Girl series is very different again, almost predominantly focussing on one person. And I've only ever read the Dean books with Rene Cloke's ubiquitous illustrations, and the little girl in them seems quite a bit younger than how I would envisage the MT and SC girls. But the school itself with the children making the rules and the odd system with the money is very notable.

[Daisy]

What makes the Naughtiest Girl trilogy stand out is the fact it is set in a co-educational boarding school and follows the fortunes of one girl as Stephen says. Many here rate the series very highly.