to think that Amy March is one of the most irritating literary characters ever.

[squoosh]

God she annoys me, throwing Jo's book in the fire, being a general brat and then sin of sins marrying Laurie when she had no business do any such thing.

I don't care what the subsequent books may say the Amy/Laurie union was a stupid idea.

They should have left her to drown in the icy river.

Also Joey as an adult is v. controlling, I cringe at the bit where she unilaterally tells Theodora she needs a new name. Her sons' wives would totally have been on MN whinging about their infuriating MIL.

Yeah but Kaffee und Kuchen would swing it for me.

Poor old Theodora ends up as TED!!!!

Not even Thea which would have been lovely.

On reflection, I think I'd rather be a member of staff at the Chalet school - they do seem to have quite a lot of fun, and mostly end up marrying handsome doctors from the San.

Ah squoosh, you share my feelings on this one

The Chalet staff seem to do fuck all teaching. Mostly skiing and going on long walks.

Isn't that what all teaching is like?? >

There is some actual teaching in The New Mistress at the Chalet School, as I recall. And there is a bit on teaching methods - EBD (a teacher herself, of course) was v keen on arguing from cause to effect rather than rote learning.

Most of their energies however go in escaping the countless threats that encompass the school on every side.

Lovely nostalgic thread. My childhood was steeped in Narnia, Ballet Shoes, Chalet School - and Willard Price's 'Adventure' stories. Oh, and Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Managed to read all of Narnia books to DD when she was small, also couple of the 'Adventure' stories. Little House and Little Women didn't go down so well. Harry Potter, Northern Lights and Eragon (1st 3) all followed. And then she was 14 and rebelled!

yes, cause and effect is a recurring theme. As well as strictly rockerless cradles.

Seeker, yes, the Romney Marsh books with Tamsin, Rissa, Meryon and Roger!

I was never sure if I wanted to be Pauline or Posy. Petrova didn't appeal at all.

Teaching historical movements across Europe rather than following the kings of England are also mentioned a lot in the CS. And learning languages by the direct method of having to speak them all day long. And um, using 'modern methods' of mathematics as opposed to the type favoured by the likes of Polly Heriot. She's another one who started life as Hildegard Mariana Sophonisba and wound up as Polly, by the way.

I didn't think Mary Lou fell in love either - I thought she gave up archaeology nobly to look after Verity Carey when her mother died. Maybe she did fall in love in a later book, though.

No- sorry, I got it wrong. Mary Lou was the token blue stocking!

"Seeker, yes, the Romney Marsh books with Tamsin, Rissa, Meryon and Roger!"

Yay! The white pony on my profile as so nearly Cascade-but we decided she was too old to change her name. The girl could well have been Tamsin too, but my dp put his foot down!

Has anyone read this? The fans are not pleased. Does sound a bit grim.

www.amazon.co.uk/Chalet-Girls-Grow-Up-Sequel/dp/0953395200

Oh I loved the Romney marsh books

I wanted mostly to be Posy.

I love the way her siblings squabble in all the books.

And I love The Dark is Rising series. I wanted to be Will.

Preferred Kingscote to the Chalet School. And also to the Abbey girls series. All those twins.

I read the little house series to Ds who enjoyed them, tho he enjoyed the one about Almanzo less, funnily enough.

I've read that, squoosh - I wasn't at all happy with it either. It was just disaster after disaster, each more unbelievable an the last. I think what upset me the most was the way that so many of the characters acted totally out of character. Tbh, I am not even sure if I still have it - I might have thrown it away in disgust.

I have just read the plot summary of Chalet Girls Grow Up.

Oh my god. Chalet school meets Eastenders. It is HILARIOUS.

Someone offered this as a serious sequel? Really? How did they ever have the nerve?

Just wanted to add that reading the Little House books has vastly improved my 9 yo DD's attitude to household chores!

Mrs Fred - Farmboy was my fav - loved the bit where he ruined the parlour paper & Eliza covering up for him & when they make the ice cream.

As my user name would suggest, I am a huge fan of Noel Streatfeild. I think I have pretty much all her childrens books and a few of her adult ones (sadly, most are out of print). The Whicharts is worth reading. It's an adult version of Ballet Shoes and is very dark. I have a short story (found somewhere on-line a couple of years ago) about what happened next for the Fossil girls.

If I have a daughter her name will be Posy

For Noel Streatfeildfans