Pat and Isabel O'Sullivan are eager to return to St. Clare's boarding school for their second term in this sequel to The Twins at St. Clare's. Unfortunately, they are accompanied by their stuck-up cousin Allison, who has trouble fitting into the school body. Another problem pupil is the irritable Margery Fenworthy, who quickly alienates all of the other girls, and is sent to Coventry after spoiling their chances of being taken to a play, by her rude behavior to mistress. When some of Pat's things start to turn up deliberately vandalized - he sweater, her notebook - everyone blame Margery, when the real culprit is Erica, a 2nd former with a history of telling on the other girls. As Erica is sent home in disgrace, the girls learn that Margery has a very difficult home life, and Pat and Lucy try to lend a helping hand. Janet, in the meantime, decides to revenge herself on Mam'zelle, the French mistress, with unexpectedly serious results...

Published in 1942, the year after The Twins at St. Clare's, The O'Sullivan Twins is another entertaining, lighthearted schoolgirl romp. Like its predecessor, it was an assigned text in the class I took on the history of children's literature, while I was getting my masters. The story here is engaging, and the main characters (for the most part) sympathetic. I did wonder a bit at the fact that we are led to sympathize with Margery, and to understand that her bad behavior has a cause - the unhappy home life - but Erica seems to be depicted as naturally bad, with no real explanation given for her behavior, other than malice. A contradiction that stands out? I was also struck by the the fact that the episode involving Janet and Mam'zelle was so similar to the story of Miss Kennedy, in the previous book. Here again we have a schoolgirl prank gone wrong, and deeply affecting the teacher target, who turns out to have a sick relative, and to be human after all. It's not that I didn't enjoy this part of the story, but it felt like Blyton was recycling the same idea too quickly.

Although I didn't enjoy it quite as much as The Twins at St. Clare's, this was still an engaging read, and is one I would recommend to those who enjoyed the earlier book. I'll have to see about rereading these, perhaps, and carrying on with the series. ( )

I actually really enjoyed this one, which is surprising seeing that I thought the third installment was pretty dreadful. I enjoyed all the minutiae of school life and the lush descriptions of food and of lovely things. It's a very manichean world but Blyton does have some characters who do unexpected things which I suppose redeems her somewhat. It's a formulaic series but I thought The O'Sullivan Twins was a cut above - there's some really puzzling behaviour but for once the girls genuinely see how wrong they are. I'm glad the new girl (the O'Sullivan's cousin) ends up being very decent, which is a bit of a departure from stereotypes. There's also a very lovely girl in the book who gets the amount of praise she deserves - praise isn't very abundant in Blyton's world so this was a nice surprise. ( )

I remember loving this as a kid... I never read any of the others in the series, I do not know why... maybe I just never found them? ( )

I still have a great fondness for many of my really old favourites, even though, sadly, some of them are definitely starting (about time perhaps?) to bore me. I reserve my old (and new) favourites of this kind for Sundays and days when I'm sick or otherwise have no brain whatsoever. I know that when I wake up on Sunday morning, comforting nothingness awaits me.

Some of my old books may be starting to lose their charm for me, but I remain surprised by how much I can still enjoy Enid Blyton. Her scenes and characters are depicted so vividly and with such a minimum of fuss that it is impossible for me not to be captured. Her moral certainties are wonderfully comforting and seductive, providing I don't think too closely about whether or not I would have fit in well with my fantasy universe of the moment. Of course, the argument goes that the very simplicity is what spoils children for other books - they become too used to not having to work for their enjoyment and have no stamina for real literature. But I still maintain that it was not until I read my first Famous Five (my first ever Enid Blyton for that matter) that I understood that reading was capable of actually creating worlds in which I could live. Once I had grasped that miracle, my whole approach to reading changed and I actively sought to enter every written world I encountered thereafter. It was perhaps lucky that my next author was Noel Streatfield - equally vivid in style but using slightly more complex language and ideas. I had an easy road into the extraordinary.

In terms of school stories, my heart remains with Malory Towers (even over the Chalet School), but The O'Sullivan Twins, though not as transfixing now as it once was, is still a nice way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. ( )

The O'Sullivan twins are back and this time with their cousin Allison. It is difficult to quite understand the British "Form" system from these books....the First Form students appear to be about 13 or 14, yet there are six forms. The math doesn't equal our high school system! ( )