Boarding school stories for DD(9 yo) who had devoured Malory Towers, Trebizon etc?

Noel Stretfeild as well for WW2 as a back drop and 'family dramas' starring children

Beswitched is great and DD loved it. Charlotte Sometimes was a favourite of mine as a child. Wonderful stuff.

More of a ww2 book and a bit obscure but I really enjoyed the Wheel of Surya at about that age which is about Indian independence and the aftermath in postwar Britain.

Not boarding school exactly (set in a department store) but she might like Katherine Woodfine's Sinclair mysteries?
I second Beswitched by Kate Saunders and the Wells & Wong mysteries by Robin Stevens.

What an amazing thread! Yes to all of the madly hilarious chalet school, the brilliant Antonia Forester, Jennings, Silver Sword and Michelle Magorian. Does anyone remember another boarding school time travel book called Charlotte Sometimes?

If you're after old-fashioned ones, Joanna Lloyd's Catherine Goes to School, Jane Runs Away From School, and Catherine: Head of the House are very enjoyable and funny.

Josephine Elder always had some good ones - Annis in Exile (Farm School), Evelyn Finds Herself, and Barbara Goes to School are three I've enjoyed.

If your DD likes Anne Digby, A Horse Called September was always my favourite of hers.

For war stories - Michael Morpurgo & Michelle Magorian might go down really well. I also still love Ian Serraillier's The Silver Sword.

The Little House on the Prairie series? The later ones are very good - 'These Happy Golden Years' is lovely...

Back Home by Michelle Magorian

Second 'What Katy Did at School'

Not BS but Tom's Midnight Garden

2 more votes for chalet school and Antonia forest's Kingscote.

(There are chalet school selling sites on Facebook, also look on ebay)

What about 'swish of the curtain' (I think the author was Pamela brown??) Not a school story, but kids who are in to theatre decide to start one! In later books they go to stage school. (Might be a bit old for her, but there's nothing unsuitable in it)

There were Chalet School threads on here where a poster had archived all the books and you could download them as e-books. There were some links form what I remember might be worth looking at old threads.

Antonia Forest's are good too.

The second in the Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit series is good too, "Bombs over Aunt Dainty" (?) but the third, which is set just after her mum has had a suicide attempt because her partner isn't doing what she wants is a little dark for a child.

Anne Frank (although dd2 did ask if there was a sequel) might interest

Ds loves the Lone Pine series which start in WWII-they're mystery rather than school though.

Have asked 11 year old DD her opinion. She thinks Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson would be a good one. And that if she doesn't mind murder the Murder most unladylike books are good. Although they are a bit gruesome she thinks

Not boarding school, but Alan Davidson wrote a trrrific series of books about Annabel Fidelity Bunce and her adventures at St Willoughbys. A couple of the titles were 'Just Like Annabel' and 'a friend like Annabel". He also wrote a fab mystery book called the Bewitching of Alison Albright.

Chalet School - the first 40! The others are worth it, just unintentionally hilarious (see long-running Chalet threads here...)

The central character Jo gets to middle age, her eldest girls (triplets!) are hitting the sixth form and she keeps interfering (or offering her amazing insight, aka stating the bleeding obvious), has more babies, and when after 11 kids the author clearly thought that was sufficient, starts adopting pretty much any new girl that appears, most of whom turn out to be long-lost relatives of other characters (some of which you may never have heard of...)
The one with guns and drugs and kidnappers who carefully leave a drugged teenager with a valid train ticket in her pocket is a particular highlight!

When you say the author of Chalet School 'went a bit odd' after Switzerland, which books are worth reading - the first 15 or so?

Lou, the character who was central to the earlier books became OTT in the later books, when she was an adult, and the quality of the writing did decline, as the author aged.

But a young reader would probably still enjoy them, it's really only on re-reading as an adult that the decline becomes evident.

@HelenaJustina - eBay or Amazon should help you out there.

Another recommendation for the Chalet School though - all of them!

Murder most unladylike series also set in boarding school and are modern. My 9 year old loved them

Witch Week is set in a boarding school isn't it? Dianne Wynne Jones anyway - and then she might like some of her other books.

Actually, I've just re-read your post and she's not fond of the fantasy element, so maybe scrap that! I'll leave it up though in case anyone else is looking for similar books.

What Katy Did At School was my favourite of the What Katy Did books.

She might like Beswitched by Kate Saunders! A modern girl time-travels to a 1930s school.
Possibly also Anstey's Vice Versa - it was written in the 1880s and is set in a school in the 1860s, so a little bit of understanding of historical context is necessary, but it's very funny. Pompous Victorian father switches bodies with his son.
Not set in a school, but how about Little Women or What Katy Did?

"Beswitched" by Kate Saunders is great. It's a one-off novel as far as I know. Modern-day girl goes off to boarding school and ends up travelling back in time to an old-fashioned boarding school.

If you manage to get hold of Chalet school at a decent price anywhere, please post a link! My girls would love them but as they are out of print I find them hard to source. Desperately waiting for my 17yr old Dsis to give up her collection!

Oops I've just seen that she's read it