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

[SorchaMumsnet]

To celebrate the release of The Tennis Term at Trebizon, we're offering you a chance to win a set of the classic Trebizon series by Anne Digby and a great way to play tennis in the garden.

This delightful series follows the adventures of Rebecca and her friends through their time at Trebizon boarding school and the ups and downs of friendship. In the latest book, The Tennis Term at Trebizon, Rebecca has been picked for the tennis team, and Trebizon has high hopes of winning the cup. But then there’s a hoax phone call, and a fake fire alarm, and Rebecca finds herself under suspicion. If Rebecca and her friends can’t solve the mystery, there will be serious consequences...

“As warm and comforting as a cup of cocoa, the Trebizon books are a real treat” – Katherine Woodfine, author of The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow

Did you love boarding school books? If so tell us why for a chance to win this fab tennis-themed prize worth over £100: a set of SEVEN Trebizon books including The Tennis Term at Trebizon PLUS a tennis garden set!

This discussion is sponsored by Egmont and will end 1 August

[Ikea1234]

I loved Trebizon, Mallory Towers, St Clair's.....having a son though has meant I can't pass on my love of these to him.

[poppygolightly]

I like loved Trebizon books in the 1980's when they had the white covers. Pure escapism - I took up tennis because they were always playing tennis. I remember my friend and I going away and staying in a b&b with her parents and pretending we were at boarding school. I loved them so much I'm going to buy some at the weekend for my daughter.

[LindsayLancs]

It was fascinating that you could live at school & have never ending adventures with your friends!

[Lullabullacoo]

I loved the Chalet School books because the girls seemed so sophisticated as they spoke French! I was obviously easily impressed 😊. Enid Blyton's boarding school books were so different from my own school experience which made them exciting.

[NotCitrus]

I read Malory Towers just because they were there when I was 5 or so, read all of Blyton and the Chalet School - the latter gave you views from the staff, so seemed much more grown up and even the abridged ones were an insight into social history. And then when my parents dropped the bombshell that we were moving abroad and I would have to go to boarding secondary school, I read Antonia Forest and the early Trebizon books too - mostly the latter as Forest is too uncomfortable! Loved the relationships with the boys and the local newspapers and gossip-mongering Mrs Tarkus.

[scarrick87]

Ive never read any of these books so would love to give them a go now - and the tennis would come in handy for the summer with my daughter. Fingers crossed x

[helly27]

I used to like the worst witch series in which they used to board at school

[Tusty]

I was a big fan of boarding school books. Trebizon was one of my favourites, as well as the cheeky girls at St Clares, and Mallory Towers. I wasn't keen on the chalet girl series.

Then I boarded for 6th form - wasn't quite the same as the books, but we still got up to some escapades.

[Mindfulofmuddle]

I adored boarding school books when I was around 8-11. I read every series of boarding school books going, starting with Malory Towers and including Trebizon, and was so in love with the world of midnight feasts and classmates being like family. When I was offered the opportunity of going to one myself, I jumped at the chance and it is something that shaped me and I'm so grateful to all those fabulous books that sparked my interest in the first place. DS1 is just at the stage where he could share this reading experience with me, and I would love to make Trebizon his first boarding school series.

[jammy388]

It was the fantasy element as it was rather different from my own experience, and the friendships.

[loosechange]

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.

[barricade]

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?

[techywife]

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...

[shadydelta]

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!

[GranAnn42]

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.

[Gazelda]

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.

[boo2410]

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!!

[Donthate]

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.

[Stinkerbelle37]

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?

[shewhomustbeEbayed]

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

[emwithme]

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.

[Charlene1]

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!

[FishTailPlait]

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!

[Choccybadger]

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.

[Daphne01]

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 :)