St.Clares v Malory Towers

[WaitMonkey]

My 8 year old loves the Secret Seven and Famous Five. I think she would enjoy the school books. But I can't remember the
series I preferred. Are one set of books better than the other ? Thanks.

[barefootcook]

Is much preferred Malory Towers. I enjoyed them all. I think I only read one or two of the St Clares books.

[PortofinoRevisited]

i preferred Mallory Towers I think. Dd has a full set and preferes Horrid Henry and Tracy Beaker. This upsets me.

[PortofinoRevisited]

I might have to read them though

[WaitMonkey]

Thanks. Looks like we will give Malory Towers a go. The dd's aren't into Horrid Henry or Tracy Beaker, who annoys me incredibly, though Dd1 did get a TB annual at Christmas. They have been reading a lot of Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, David Williams and my personal preference the Worst Witch series.

[ChampionofWitterers]

Oh, I loved both Malory Towers and St Clares, and read both the entire series! If I HAD to choose a favourite I'd choose Malory Towers.

[EBearhug]

I preferred St Clare's, mostly because I came across them earlier, and reread them more - I had all the St Clare's, my friend had all the Malory Towers.

But I don't think it needs to be an either/or situation. St Clare's, Malory Towers, Chalet School, Abbey School, Trebizon... I read them all.

[Louise1956]

I enjoyed them both, though i think i found mAllory towers more exciting, with the seaside setting, the swimming pool cut out of the rocks, and the horses etc. i liked the last book less than the others, because it got too heavy for me, generally i prefer my fiction on the light side.

The mallory towers series follows the heroine, Darrel, through her years at the school, with one book per year (i think only one term per book though, not always the same term). the St Clare series, as far as i can remember, is less clear cut, and does not end with the girls leaving school. I think if you like one of them, you will probably like the others one too.

[EBearhug]

I appreciate the last Malory Towers more as an adult - EB is often slammed (and not without reason) for stereotyped characters and gender roles, but at the end of Malory Towers, they're all heading off to college or to set up their own businesses and so on. They may mostly be female-friendly fields, like horses and music and so on, but there's no hint of marrying any of them off at 18, which would have been normal enough for the time.

[EmpressOfJurisfiction]

I hadn't thought of that but they are, aren't they? That's great.

[areyoutheregoditsmemargaret]

My dds have read and loved both sets, Malory Towers has the edge for me but my Mum prefers St Clare's! Doesn't matter which you start with, if she enjoys one, she'll want to read the other.

[MirandaWest]

I prefer Malory Towers but probably because I read them before the St Clares ones. DD has read the Malory Towers ones and the 6 extra ones that have been written by someone else, as Felicity gets older.

I will of course be introducing her to Antonia Forests Kingscote books at some point :)

[LauraChant]

They are kind of interchangeable in my opinion, to the extent of basically having the same characters: Angela/ Gwendoline, Bobby/ Alicia, PatandIsobel/Darrell.

I preferred St Clares because I liked the characters more: Claudine, Carlotta, Alison...and I liked their summer uniform! But I liked Malory Towers swimming pool and the one where they put on a pantomime.

[mimiasovitch]

I always preferred Malory Towers, but my DD2, now 10 loved them both, and is now halfway through Trebizon. The sets are often available from the Book people so I'd say get both. That'll be summer sorted

[nonicknameseemsavailable]

nothing beats the Worst Witch IMO. I am just reading my way through the more recent ones (only 1-3 existed when I was a child and DD has now read all 7).
I liked both Malory Towers and St Clares but personally I preferred the Chalet School.

[Cantdothisagain]

I loved both but have marginal preference for Malory Towers I think... Though I love Claudine at St Clare's and the subsequent one with her naughty cousin Antoinette playing tricks on the bossy Mirabel and the snobby Angela.

I loved Trebizon too and the CS - favourite is Kingscote though. Absolutely love those and keep rereading them...

[jeee]

Pretty much indistinguishable - but Malory Towers wins out because it has (a) a fabulous tidal swimming pool, and (b) is in some kind of a castle.

[revolutionarytoad]

St. Clares was brilliant! Carlotta, the midnight feasts, Claudine, and the shy/bold pair- Mirabel and Gladys was it? And Anna and Elsie the lazy/spiteful prefects. I loved both series but I think St. Clare's was a bit less clean, bit rougher, more scratty, more fun!
Loved the borderline xenophobic views of French people having no sense of honour (have French relatives and thought it was hilarious how she kept on about it).
Oh god- and all the fat girls were mean, dishonest and unpopular. Honestly Enid- any residual jealousies from childhood you want to work out perhaps? Freud on line one listening close....

jeee indistinguishable heresy

Trebizon was fab, and Drina. Still waiting to get my hands on those elusive last few.

[EmpressOfJurisfiction]

There really is an old carol called King Herod and his Cock.

[EmpressOfJurisfiction]

Oops sorry (runs back to Chalet School thread)