The Naughtiest Girl Series

[Stephen]

I got the 2007 edition of 'The Naughtiest Girl Again' from the library today, and I think it's the first time I've read one where the weekly allowance was £2.00. I'd nearly always known it as 20p (although I think I once read a copy where it was the original two shillings). Anyway two pounds, it was explained, was for "...anything you need, such as stamps, sweets, ribbons, shoelaces, and so on." Funnily enough, that might have sounded reasonable as recently as 2007, but I still don't think it sounds enough in 2013 with prices rocketing as they are! First class stamps are currently 60p, so with just one that's over a quarter of your money gone already!

[Katharine]

I can't help thinking that updating the books like that is a bit silly. Apart from the fact as Stephen points out that with it being 50p for a second class stamp, £2.00 wouldn't got very far, how many of the items listed would modern children actually need that £2.00 for? More likely to put it towards a top up for their mobile than a stamp I would have thought. Admittedly I don't know what it's like inside a boarding school, but I would think today's children are more likely to keep in touch with their families either by e-mail, text, Skype or even good old-fashioned talking on the phone (mobile of course).

Sweets would still be relevant, but would modern girls want hair ribbons? More likely to need hair spray or gel I'd have thought, and shoelaces? Well maybe, but I think it's unlikely.

[joanne_chan]

If one had to (and it's a big if) I'd of said £5 would be more realistic but as you suggest it relates to what you'd spend it on which leads you taking more liberties with the original story.

[Daisy]

All of which goes to show what problems you can run into when you try to up-date the stories.

[Stephen]

Even as an 80s child, I never had trouble with old money in Blyton books. They used shillings when this was written. They don't use them now. Simple!

[honesty]

Anyone know if Whyteleafe School is a real school in England???

[Deej]

There is a Whyteleafe primary school. Not sure if it is the same one featured in the Naughtiest Girl series.

[Fiona1986]

There were one or two progressive schools Blyton may have taken ideas from for Whyteleaf (indeed she ran her own small school for a while) but no, Whyteleaf was not a real place.

[Lexie293]

One of the main thing I loved about Whytleafe when I was a child was that they had such an array of activities available to them. Gardening, horse riding, music, lacrosse and hockey. My schools, both primary and secondary weren't boarding schools but offered virtually nothing (although I did have violin lessons like Richard). I loved that they had animals and part of their responsibilities was to look after them, but it was seen as a privilege rather than a chore to be allowed to do this. I was also very jealous they had french lessons when I first read the books as I was at primary school at the time and was desperate to learn french. Fortunately I got to do this at secondary school.

The books I read had the 20p pocket money, which even in the 80s I thought wasn't much to do anything with.

I'd love to see a TV series of the books, but only if it was carefully done and as true to the books as possible. One of the things I hate is when adaptations miss out huge chunks of the book. Also I would want to keep it true to the time of the original and wouldn't try and modernise it with them having mobile phones and computers etc. Let's be honest such a series wouldn't be made for the benefit of children, but us adult EB fans.

[Tony Summerfield]

I'm sure this has been said before in the forums, but at the risk of doing an 'Isabirye' I will repeat that it seems very likely that Whyteleafe was at least partially based on A.S. Neill's Summerhill School in Suffolk. This is a school where all decisions are taken at school meetings, where pupils and staff all have an equal vote. If you want to check it out you can see that it has a lot in common with Whyteleafe.

http://www.summerhillschool.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Moonraker]

It has been said many times, Tony!

Whyteleafe was not a real place.

[Stephen]

I can't remember the first time I heard of Summerhill, but I'm sure I was of school age myself - and I certainly couldn't understand how such a place could work in real life! The idea that children didn't have to attend lessons if they didn't want to just seemed to defy all common sense. Obviously it has worked or it wouldn't be still going over ninety years later, but it wasn't until seeing it pointed out on these forums that I saw at least a slight comparison with Whyteleafe.

[Francis]

I have only just discovered this series as today I bought 'The Naughtiest Girl is a Monitor' a 1945
hardback but no dustwrapper for £2. I was surprised to find a Blyton school story about a co-educational
school with socialist leanings - Enid never fails to amaze me! I would have loved to go to a school where the children had a major say - after all myself and my friends barricaded ourselves in the headmaster's study in 1968 demanding the same. Perhaps some of the so-called progressive critics of Enid should read these books.

[Paul Austin]

How many here pronounced it "why-tea-leaf" instead of "white-leaf" as children?

[Poppy]

Split from another topic.

I've been reading The Naughtiest Girl In the School which is a highly amusing and enjoyable read. It is very different to Enid's other Boarding School stories: because obviously not only only does the school welcome both girls and boys, but of course, we hear about all these interesting school ethics and the roles of 'monitors'. I still haven't completely decided whether the pocket money thing is totally fair. It seems a bit hard on children who have brought a lot of hard earned money, to not benefit as much as those who have brought a smaller amount.