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Original poster

Chalet school book advice please!

56 replies

Itshouldntmatter · 30/09/2015 20:46

My DD ADORES boarding school books. In the summer she read all of Malory Towers, the Naughtiest girl in School and St Clares. She has begged me for more boarding school books, so I thought I'd see if she likes the Chalet School. I didn't read them as a child and assumed they were as safe as the Enid Blyton ones. However, a very helpful MNetter has told me they may not all be suitable, and has sent me here for expert advice!

My DD found Heidi too emotionally raw (in her defense Heidi does get anxious and depressed in the middle - this is where she gave up). She is a very good reader but she is only 6, and hates anything to do with parents dying.

I have bought her a bulk buy of the Chalet School books (first 20 I think) on eBay, and was really hoping the Chalet School experts could give me an idea of which of the books might be safe for a sensitive boarding school book fan! Thanks so much!

OP posts:
BondGate · 30/09/2015 21:02

Yes, lots of dead parents in the background. No getting away from that.

Also, not sure how early the TB sanatorium appears, but the Chalet School has close links with the sanatorium, so lots of references to pupils with ill / dying / deceased relatives in the sanatorium.

WhoTheFuckIsSimon · 30/09/2015 20:57

Oh, just seen she's only 6yo. I would box them up for a few years.

WhoTheFuckIsSimon · 30/09/2015 20:56

I guess the first couple are a bit more concerned with orphans. Joey and Juliet and I think Grizel.

Then in the middle of the series there is all the escaping from the Nazis drama.

I read them from probably the age of 10 and loved them. There's always a happy ending and the overall feeling of the books are happy.

BarbourWindsor · 30/09/2015 20:55

What about Jennings? Dated language - no more so than the Chalet School - but very straightforward content.

BarbourWindsor · 30/09/2015 20:54

IIRC the Chalet School books brim over with dead parents. The heroine Jo lives with her sister because their parents are dead. They end up adopting another girl who is orphaned. Other girls have lost one or both parents - I suppose it's a very helpful device in fiction if you want to ship a load of gels off to an Alpine boarding school.

Most of the school stuff is fine - a few high jinks with people falling off cliffs and into icy lakes, a few chemistry lab explosions. But a lot of the books are also about relationships - the girls, the staff, the extended circle of school friends, difficult step-parents - and I would think that would be beyond a 6-y-o's interest or understanding? Also eventually people get married - probably within the first 20. Also within the first 20 you get the Nazis, and the heroine falling properly in love.

They are clearly written and easy to read, so from that pov ok, but I don't think they're right content-wise for a little 6-year-old.

IrenetheQuaint · 30/09/2015 20:50

Hmm. I have to say there is quite a high parent mortality rate in the CS, though generally as background - you only meet the characters after the parent has died.