Did you love boarding school books? If so tell us why for chance to win a tennis-themed prize worth over £100 incl Trebizon books + tennis garden set

I remember reading the Mallory Towers series when I was about 7 or 8 and desperately wanted to be sent to boarding school. ...probably a bit weird for a youngster but I longed to be part of this cornish gem where everything was spiffing. It was probably the numerous midnight feasts, pranks and adventures that littered these fantastic books. I loved the 50s covers as well. They reminded me of my mum's vintage mandy and bunty annuals.

Absolutely loved Mallory Towers it was this school world so far away from my world pure magic

Bunter ...blooming autocorrect

I loved Billy Hunter, because it was so funny. Also loved Mallory towers, though blush to think so. There is just something about the idea of living amongst other children. I think the film "If" better sums up my sense of it all now.

As a child I loved boarding school books, with Enid Blyton one of my favourite authors. I recently re-read a couple of 'The Naughtiest Girl' books and it took me right back to those days of laying on my bed ploughing my way through books and daydreaming of school councils, lacrosse games and midnight feasts! Fingers crossed.

I love boarding school books because as a child I used to want to go boarding school and live with friends in big castles. The books are full of imagination and great story lines.

I never read these books myself, but I wish to catch up and would like my kids to read them!

I used to love Chalet School and Mallory Towers. Was always at the library borrowing them. Used to imagine going to boarding school myself. It sounded so fab. Never did of course. And now my boys keep telling me that they will go to Hogwarts when they are old enough

I used to love the Enid Blyton boarding school books and I'm hoping to pass down the Love to my child and these modern books look ideal.

I loved the camaraderie of the boarding school stories. I started off with St Clare's and Mallory Towers series and progressed onto the Chalet School stories. I loved the setting and the introduction of 'exotic to me' European school girls. Attending suburban state schools and living at home in a cul de sac boarding school life seemed very exciting. I'm sure my DD is going to be equally enthralled.

I loved the Mallory Towers and St Clairs books, my cousin and I used to go and buy them as soon as a new one was out :)

Wow, what a flood of memories. Mallory Towers, St Clare's and the Chalet Girls were such exciting reading. Torch under the bedcovers exciting for me!
I am reading Mallory Towers with my 8 year old and she is enjoying it so much we are cracking through it. It's another set to cement her love of reading.

I loved Malory Towers, St Clare's, The Chalet School (though they were hard to find even back in the 80's) & Trebizon. It did give me some false preconceptions when I actually attended boarding school but there were a few traditions that were still there even in oh so glam 1980's!

I would love to re-read this series with the tennis, the realistic views on friendships & how important having your friends in a dorm with you was ( we were never allowed to pick who we shared with!) We did use to discuss boarding school books to compare with our actual lives - midnight feasts were one of the few things we had in common!

The midnight feasts and having friends with you every day - loved Malory Towers, St. Clare's, Trebizon, Naughtiest Girl, Chalet School - any boarding school books I could get my hands on.
Loved the pranks and how the girls learned to grow up and be good people.
There was always a train journey and a tuck box involved as well!

Oh I loved them.

Naughtiest Girl In the School - having 20p a week pocket money (and people trying to sneak £5 past the monitors), the School Council, John and his gardening; and then the Naughtiest Girl not being naughty any more but growing up and being responsible.

Mallory Towers - I wanted the uniform SO BADLY. 30 years on I can't imagine wearing anything worse than a brown tunic with orange piping but it seemed so much nicer than my (infant) blue and green or (junior) grey boring uniform. I wanted to have midnight feasts and make apple-pie beds what is an apple pie bed, btw? and swim in the pool. I wanted to play lacrosse and ride horses and have a wild gypsy friend called Carlotta.

It was the most wonderful escapism from 1980s Coventry and even now I can be taken back to reading by torchlight under the bedcovers.

I loved the girl camaraderie, escapism, kind teachers, different from the reality of life.

Trebizon! I remember learning a lot about tennis rankings, loved that aspect. Bit more grown up than MT and St.C - didn't Rebecca end up with a boyfriend?

I loved the escapism of boarding school books. It all seemed so exciting, living away from home, having more independence, making great friends and going on adventures together. So much so that I begged and pleaded to be allowed to go to boarding school. I had an image of myself eating bread and jam, having midnight feasts, sneaking into town and playing lacrosse. My parents had other ideas and I went to the local comp where we ate garlic bread at break time, pretended to have injuries to avoid PE and had daily battles with the neighbouring school.

I've been a bookworm for as long as I can remember. The books of my childhood were Mallory Towers and St Claire's. I so wanted to be at boarding school as it sounded so much fun when I was in middle school. It was so exciting back then. Haven't read them since, wonder what I'd think of them now? Would my more grown up cynical self scoff and shake her head at the antics or would I be transported back to a carefree childhood? I'll have to read them again and find out!!

I absolutely loved Mallory Towers. DD is reading them now and enjoying them as much as I did.
I dreamed of being with the girls - midnight feasts, adventures, scrapes and games. I longed to be Prefect, but secretly loved the cheekier girls too. It was all so safe at boarding school, and full of love, lifelong friendships and warmth.

I love to read - always and anything now - but as a child it was Enid Blyton and boarding schools. They were a means of escape from my 'normal lifestyle'. I passed the eleven plus and school life was so remote from all the stories I read especially those written by Enid Blyton.

I was an avid fan of the naughtiest girl books. My favourite story was the naughtiest girl is a monitor and iv since passed on my dog eared copy to my 9 year old daughter who thinks midnight feasts are to die for. Even though she never manages to stay awake past 930pm!

I loved Mallory Towers when I was younger, I absolutely devoured them. In particular it was the introduction to "tuck shops" and midnight feasts which really appealed! It all sounded so much fun and a world away from my bog standard junior school! Though I was a bit of a wuss and in reality would've been far too homesick to cope as well as the girls in the series did. I think my daughter (who's an avid reader) will love the Trebizon series, in fact I might just have to read it with her for old times' sake...

Love boarding school books? Absolutely. For some reason, they always represented freedom and adventure. For a start, you're away from home so not under the watchful eye of parents! Not that you'll do anything bad, but when you go exploring that deserted, crumbling castle, and forced to spend the night there to nab some crooks, you wouldn't want you parent worrying over your absence, would you?

I loved all the boarding school books. There was always a heroine, who got into scrapes, and usually wasn't the conventional "good girl". The Enid Blyton books were a fantasy world of midnight feasts and adventures. Trebizon was an older, more realistic version with a good plot.