Chalet school book advice please!

[Itshouldntmatter]

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

And Juliet - let's not forget that she gets abandoned by her parents (they enrol her at the school, then run off and leave a letter essentially saying, "we're not coming back, the kid's your problem, bye") before her parents die and leave her an orphan.

Oh darn. I was thinking DD's reading woes (resulting from the lack of new boarding school fodder) were over. I should say she doesn't mind if parents have died as long as it is a past thing and not in the current story. If death is part of the story she gets upset. The problem with so many of these books is getting hold of them. And how fast she reads them. Glad I checked - the advice is appreciated.

Hmmm. The sanatorium and nazi Germany are not going to work! Into the loft they will go for now. Blast.

As a child I read all these boarding school books, still have them. To be honest I think the reference to Nazis and the dead parents thing might go over her head. I say that as I honestly can't remember that at all and I'm reading the comments now going 'really?'.

I don't think I even realised the books were set during the war as at that age I knew nothing about it. It took me a while to realise the St Clare's and Mallory Towers were set in the '50s! I just thought that's what kids did.....6 is quite young but unless she is versed in WW2 history, I don't think she'll understand some of the content.

They brim with dead parents, near-death experiences, delicate children (the school's USP) continually about to die, and there's a neighbouring Sanatorium brimming with people -and I quote - 'falling asleep to wake with God'. My real issue with them for a sensitive young reader would be the sickly, coercive Christian message, though.

ideas

Would the Worst Witch books be worth a try? I think they're boarding school books and more light hearted than the Chalet School.

X-posted there..

Actually just looking at Simon's link reminds me of Robin Stevens's own books - I think there are three in the series now - Murder Most Unladylike is one of them. They are young girls (probably tennis?) who meet at boarding school and get solving cases. There are dead bodies but not in a horrifying way, they are like a combination of spoofy Agatha Christie / Elsie Oxenham and while I wouldn't have thought they were pitched at 6, if she's an advanced reader she might like them.

robin-stevens.co.uk

Limosa that did make me laugh! Are Antonia Forest more suitable? She likes Noel Streatfield (not as much as Enid Blyton).

Those ideas were interesting! I just looked at Witch Week but the themes sound too old. Would the Trebizon books be okay? I don't know if any of you have heard of the Drina Ballerina books, but she loved 1-6 of those (me reading - the language is hard!). But I stopped when Drina started being interested in boys!

I absolutely hated Heidi.

She has read all of the worst witch. Those came before Enid B. She loved those too.

There are boyfriends galore in Trebizon. They're good books though and there's a lot of tennis and ice skating. Antonia Forest's books are probably the best boarding school ones - they really are so good - but not till she's about 11 I'd guess.

I'm not familiar with Drina Ballerina but if she likes ballet there are all the Wells books - though not exactly boarding school. I think though she will probably enjoy them all if she comes to them at the right time - 6 is so young. It's a constant problem, though, finding good books for a good reader without ending up with inappropriate content.

Anne Digby needs to write some more Malory towers then! Appears to be the only way DD is going to get her boarding school needs met

There are lots of us over on the Chalet School threads who remain unscathed by the dead parents, Nazis, Catholicism and mad usurping cousins . I would wait until she's about 8 though.

OMG royalty

She devoured the Enid Blyton ones. She chose to spend hours on holiday curled up inside her books. I love how much she loved them. As you say Barbour Windsor, it is SO hard finding suitable stuff! I tried to get the saddlers wells ones but couldn't get them cheaply enough.

I collect boarding school stories, and I would second the Jennings suggestion. They were always my favourites.
I was never a huge fan of the Chalet School (though that hasn't stopped me collecting them). The books remind me of Little Women - a bit too cloying in parts for me.

Definitely no upsetting themes in Jennings, just lots of hilarity (although one of my old 1950's copies does have an incident of a racist word. I'm sure it's been edited out in later editions.)