September 2023 School days

this is a work in progress, stay tuned

Welcome to the September thread School Days! This topic is loaded with books

A few examples:

one room school houses Village School The Year of Miss Agnes

boarding-school novels Frost in May,Little Men

day-schools novels The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Claudine at School

or focus on fictional teachers Villette, Anne of Avonlea

or read a play The Children's Houror a book later made into a movie To Sir, With Love

or search out some non-fictional "teacher memoirs" Up the down Staircase, The Water is Wide

or about college Changing Places,Foreign Affairs

Just a few guidelines.

Let's keep it to fiction that's reasonably "realistic," staying away from fantasy (no "Harry Potter" or "Vampire Academy"). And let's get something that's predominately school and not just a few chapters . Also think about books about schools from another time period and/or another country

links to book lists

best books set in High School or college

boarding school books

five novels set in the world of schools academia

list from Good reads about books set in a school

sorry, mistaken duplicated post, we apologize for the inconvenice!

books from RTT Theme School Days in 2016

Claudine at School, The Complete Claudine by Colette

The Getting of Wisdom by Henry Handel Richardson -

Hilda at School by Phillis Garrard -

The Moth Diaries by Rachel Klein -

Once was a Time by Leila Sales -

Poison for Teacher by Nancy Spain -

Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson -

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl -

Incidentally, the Claudine novels, including Claudine at School, were translated by Frost in May author Antonia White. White actually made more money as a French-to-English translator than she did has an original writer. And in addition to Frost in May for boarding school, the second book in the quartet, The Lost Traveller, satisfies day school. (Claudine at School, incldentally, is mixed boarding and day school, with Claudine herself being a day student).

Others not yet mentioned that I find in my own TBR (boarding school, unless otherwise noted):
Abigail by Magda Szabó (Hungary)
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay (Anglophone Australia)
Unfinished Desires by Gail Godwin
The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine (day school, middle reader, school desegregation, to be reread)
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (Anglophone Australia)
The Land of Spices by Kate O'Brien (Anglophone Ireland)
The Secret History by Donna Tartt (college)

Question, does school sufficiently "predominate" in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man? I'd say it does not sufficiently "predominate" in Jane Eyre or in Dickens.

And dang it, there's an author I'm trying to remember who wrote a novel influenced by Villette. It was about a young woman who had a male sponsor who anonymously financed her way to college (and this is an older book, so female college life was strictly regulated, making it feel more like a high school boarding school). It was kind of creepy (unintentionally on the author's part, I think), the relationship between the anonymous sponsor and the young woman. The author also wrote a sequel where another young woman, I think from the same school, becomes head of a school of her own with a rather blustery professor who I think speaks with a Scottish accent and the young woman eventually becomes attracted to him but it's not creepy like the first novel. Does this ring a bell with anyone?

OMG! How could I have forgotten? Life with Mother Superior by Jane Trahey. It was the basis for one of my all-time favorite movie comedies, The Trouble with Angels (1966), starring Hayley Mills (my childhood screen crush) and June Harding as two "inmates" of a Catholic girls' boarding school, with Rosalind Russell as Mother Superior. Hayley was twenty at the time (with June Harding a few years older) and it was the last of Hayley's "child character" roles. There was a sequel, Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows (1968), a sort of "singing nun" movie in which fortunately neither Hayley nor June appeared.

There's also a middle reader classic, Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer. It's the third book in a series "Aviary Hall" but is readable completely stand-alone. My copy is a Puffin reprint, but it's an early enough reprint (I don't have the book right in front of me so I don't know the date of the reprint edition) that it includes a really wonderful closing chapter, sort of a postscript or an epilogue. For some reason, Farmer deleted this conclusion at some later point in the reprint history. Try to get an edition that includes that finale.

Fascinating about Claudine and White -I had not read Frost in May I knew nothing about Colette except for her name, until I watched the excellent bio pic from a few years back "Colette" with Keira Knightley and Dominic West. I practically swallowed the Claudine books then read her book about her mother.

Re your question about Jane Eyre - it was the bording school section that as a child attracted and appalled me. i barely read the rest of it until HS when I picked on the romance. So yeah that part is minimal, but it made a big impact on me. Havent read Portrait of an artist as a young man, so Id say make your own decision if you can include it or not. Im not keeping score :)

Adding a girl is a body of water for bording school. translated work from Uganda

>7 CurrerBell: Frost in May is likely my third favorite novel, after Jane Eyre and The Master and Margarita. Frost in May, incidentally, was the very first Virago Modern Classic, Virago founder Carmen Callil having been a close friend and passionate admirer of White. The influence of Colette on White's own works would make a fascinating dissertation topic, though it would require a doctoral candidate with a great fluency in French who could do a proper analysis of White as a Colette translator.

ETA: And don't let anyone ever tell you that White didn't have a sense of humor. There's an hilarious scene in Frost in May where an elderly and near-blind nun accidentally pierces a girl's earlobe while trying to pin a decoration on her for First Communion. White also had a positively hilarious short story in her collection Strangers, I think titled "The Exile," a monologue by a nut job who wants to be a nun but the bishop won't have anything to do with her and she plans on making a pilgrimage on foot to Rome to appeal to the Pope. It helps in appreciating White if you were a cradle Catholic in the pre-Vatican II era (like myself, though I'm now Presbyterian).

Here is the location of September's Wiki for School Days:

https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Reading_Through_Time_Challenge#SEPTEMBER...

I have a couple of books that I am considering for September - Goodbye Mr. Chips by James Hilton
Dear Teacher by Jack Sheffield

I'll be reading Tales from a Village School by Miss Read.

>6 CurrerBell: I think that's Daddy Long-Legs, the name of the sequel is Dear Enemy, I think.

My own choice for this topic is Der Schüler Gerber, unless it turns out to be too dark...

>13 MissWatson: YES!

I've got Storm in the Village (Miss Read) or Goodbye, Mr. Chips.

ETA Staring Goodbye, Mr. Chips today. It's a paperback and once read off it goes! Only 144 pages, will probably finish today!

What a great way to spend a few hours! I did in fact read Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton This was a re-read for me. The story of a loveable boy's school teacher in the early 20th century. Great character development. The book is off to charity, now! 4 1/2 stars. I read this early as school starts next week and I'm not sure when of if I could fit it in---plus, I "found" the book on my shelf and had an afternoon.

I am considering reading Election by Tom Perrotta but am not sure if this book would be considered historical fiction. From the description it seems like it could be set in anytime period.

I also thought about Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay. It is set in 1900 but it seems to be classed as horror or paranormal fiction.

A really good book that is definitely historical fiction is To Serve Them All My Days by R. F. Delderfield. I loved this book but my copy was about 700 pages so it is a long one.

>16 benitastrnad: I have a strong suspicion I'm going to do Picnic at Hanging Rock, which I've never read nor have I ever seen the movie, so it will all be delightfully new to me. I think it gets compared with Shirley Jackson.

I also suspect I'm going to do a reread of Villette. It's been a few years, and maybe I'll like it better after this my fourth or fifth reread. I really get much more enjoyment out of Shirley, though you really do need a good background in Brontë biography to catch some of the humor.

im going to have to take a break for a few days my carpal tunnel has come back with a vengence. Illl still be readiing along

To confirm, we want to focus more on schools than education or teaching, in general? Thanks!

I’d like to read The Year of Miss Agnes:) I don’t think I’ve read a book set in Alaska before!

wrist is feeling better...>20 LibraryCin: I think all are equally appropriate. Not sure about non fiction education, but books like David Lodge focus on academia probably sounds ok. And like DeltaQueen I hesitate to put any bounderies here. That being said, what do you all think?

It is good to hear your wrist is feeling better Cindy! I am new to the group and think these are great picks! I am also planning to read Anne of Avonlea and Villette besides the Miss Agnes book, both I’ve wanted to revisit:D

>22 cindydavid4: I am absolutely in favor of not setting up boundaries and letting everyone interpret the theme as they wish - but, it is, of course, the host's choice. :)

yeah i saw the guideline about no fantasy on the old post, but now Im not so sure. What does everyone think?

The main group description of Reading through Time is to "read about history" (fiction and nonfiction), so if history is a part then that would fit.

>26 kac522: mmm, I think thats what the OP was thinking. sure

I'll give a better idea of what I was thinking when I asked about education or teaching, rather than school.

I'm leaning towards something about Helen Keller. There is a book called
Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, which I believe is about her teacher... well, probably about both.

That being said, I haven't checked if my library has it or not.

Thanks for all the comments.

>28 LibraryCin: Yes that is a perfect idea! Not heard of that book be curious what you think of it.

"I'll give a better idea of what I was thinking when I asked about education or teaching, rather than school."

well given that the three are linked along with the students I think any similar book would work

>29 cindydavid4: Thanks so much!

ETA: I've read a couple of other books by the author and she appears to do a lot of good research.

I picked up the book from the library mentioned “The Year of Miss Agnes” to read in September:)

Ohh I am glad to see the group can start books early for the month’s theme! I’ll be starting my book today:) ^Tho I am an adult I love children's literature anytime.

>32 Jade.Nicole.Beals: Speaking only for my own perception, I think we are pretty easy-going, especially when you have to get the book from the library and most of the time there is no control over that. Sometimes I get the book the day I request and sometimes it's a 4-6 week wait.

Tess_W I know a wait can be difficult at times yet it is nice to see the group is more relaxed with certain deadlines. The library nearby me can be a long wait too at times, ‘tho I am looking fwd to reading some more school books this September. :)

I also really loved The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill and definitely recommend it to anyone, very unique and pleasant of a book :)

>32 Jade.Nicole.Beals: Many of us do. what book are you reading?

>35 cindydavid4: cindydavid, After The Year of Miss Agnes, I just began reading Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, although not listed for the theme I plan to look up another novel for the Sept. school theme for my next read…How about you?

^ I’ve just found one from the Sept. list for my next book… Frost in May
and requested it from my library so it should be ready to pick up soon :D

hee thats good because Im naving trouble picking up something I havent read that might interest me. Really want to go back in history, or go to anothr (non anglo)country to explore this Anyone have any ideas?

I am reading Miss Timmins' School for Girls by Nayana Currimbhoy for one of my books for September. It is a novel set in India during the monsoon season of 1974 in a girl's school run by Canadian missionaries. I have had this book on my shelves since 2011 and I figured this would be a good time to read it.

I am also going to try to read Gentleman & Players by Joanne Harris. this is a novel set in a boys school in New England.

think I found it The Lost Education of Horace Tate: Uncovering the Hidden Heroes Who Fought for Justice in Schools

I changed my mind for now for the next school book, and I think I will reread Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery picked especially for a light, sweet kind of story…a pretty popular book maybe someone else is thinking of reading too.

>41 Jade.Nicole.Beals: I really like Anne of Avonlea. It's the first appearance of Miss Lavender, if I recall correctly.

Welcome to Reading Through Time, Ann. I hope you enjoy Daddy Long-Legs.

Welcome to your new rabbit hole! First saw Daddy Long Legs as the classic movie with Mary Pickford, loved it.Never read the book tho I have it on my shelves. Need to do that

>42 CurrerBell: Oh perfect I remember the name :) I will probably start reading tmrw…and maybe meet Miss Lavender then too :D

>48 Ann_R: We all have different feelings. I have a church friend, a now-retired University of Pennsylvania professor of English, who found Daddy Longlegs creepy in a stalking kind of way. I can definitely understand how she felt. At the same time, I kind of liked Dear Enemy – it has a strong feeling of CB's Villette to it but without the stalking. Been a while since I've read either, though; I didn't notice a problem with the Dear Enemy orphanage, but I'd have to do a reread on that one.

>47 Ann_R: there is more than one, the silent and a couple of more talkies. Only saw the silent

>46 Jade.Nicole.Beals: You know, now that I think about it, Miss Lavender reminds me in a way of a certain Henry James character, John Marcher of the "short" story The Beast in the Jungle, though her ultimate outcome is a lot happier. Check the spoiler after you read Anne of Avonlea and see if you know that Jamesian character (who isn't someone you might suspect).

the lost education of horace tate is an excellent introduction to the beginnings of the civil rights movement starting after WWI and the harrowing account of the devoted black educators who battled Southern school segregation and inequality. I thought I knew about this, apparently I didn't know enough. Not finished yet but already know it will rate high. --highly recommended for anyone wanting to know more about that earlier battle and what it eventually led to.

Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller / Sarah Miller
3.5 stars

This is a fictional account of a young Annie Sullivan (20-years old) who shows up to teach deaf and blind Helen Keller in the late 1800s. It is told from Annie’s point of view, as she tries to get through to a stubborn, tantrum-filled, overindulged 6-year old who cannot see nor hear.

This is fairly short and ends only after about a month of Annie living with the Kellers, just after the well-known breakthrough of spelling water on Helen’s hand to try to get her to understand. Assuming it stayed fairly accurate to true life, the parents and family of Helen sure didn’t help, as they just gave in her tantrums, feeling badly because she was unable to understand why they might deny her what she wanted. It’s short (meant as YA, I think), but it has definitely made me want to read more, probably nonfiction. I liked that there was a broad continuation at the end of the book that quickly explained more of Helen and Annie’s lives together. Because Annie did stay with Helen (though she also got married) for the rest of her (Annie’s) life.

>54 LibraryCin: he parents and family of Helen sure didn’t help, as they just gave in her tantrums, feeling badly because she was unable to understand why they might deny her what she wanted

yup that was true and honestly knowing many parents of children with special needs its all to easy to gt into that patten. some of my fav moments teaching these kids is helping the parents see what the possibiites are for the child when they stop.

Not sure if its mentioned but Annies beginnings were awful. she and her brothr were orphaned and they were placed in the Massachusetts State Almshouse at Tewksbury. Miss. though badly mistreated she managed to learn to read despite losing her vision after an illness and was placed in the Perkins Perkins Institution for the Blind in 1880. Surgery the next year restored some sight, and she graduated from Perkins at the head of her class in 1886. That lead her to become the teacher she was

I wish I could remember the books I read about her that talks about her early life, I do know that helen keller wrote her memoir the story of my life which is quite good and Annie also wrote the story of hr life, which I think is what I read; remembering it covers a lot of her growing up. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/story-of-my-life-annie-sullivan/1017657221?ean=...

I do know I started learning fingerspelling from reading it (another friend of mine did too and got in trouble using it at school) and I know it was one of the reasons I wanted to teach deaf children

>55 cindydavid4: Not sure if its mentioned but Annies beginnings were awful.

Yes, I forgot to mention that in my review! She did flash back to Annie's own life as an orphan with her brother, but he died. And she was blind, too (until she had surgery).

And thank you for mentioning at least one of the books I meant to add to my tbr! There was a good bibliography at the end of this one, and there were a few I meant to add, but forgot to actually do that!

I am reading a different Anne, Anne of Avonlea, book 2 in series and while I’ve read this before and don’t really remember it I have to say I am not that into it this time…I love the focus on imagination and dreams and storytelling imagining, along with the little lessons on bringing out the good in others, in this case, students but I am a little overall bored. I plan to continue reading am ab halfway thru :)

>52 CurrerBell: CurrerBell It’s been well worth the read to get to the part about Miss Lavendar, when Anne & Diana get lost and end up at tea with Miss Lavendar at her house at Echo Lodge in Anne of Avonlea.
I will be glad to see which Henry James you refer to when I finish this Book 2. I love the romantic era style and wisdom.

I think Miss Lavendar is a very fun character, could have a book of her own really.

my review of the lost education of Horace Tate

https://www.librarything.com/topic/351927#n8226524

I read A Separate Peace by John Knowles for this challenge. This was a re-read for me. I read this back in high school. However, I honestly didn't remember anything about the book at all. I didn't remember that it was set during WWII, which makes it also work for the Reading Through Time Quarterly Challenge. I didn't even remember the plot twist at the end.

The book tells the story of boys at a boarding school in New Hampshire during 1942-43. The heart of the book is the relationships between the various boys at the school. It is primarily about the protagonist, Gene, and his friend Phineas, their friendship and their rivalry. But the war is an ever present background, which eventually intrudes in the story when one student leaves to enlist, and suffers a mental breakdown as a result, before he is ever sent overseas to fight.

Overall, this is a sad story, and I have mixed feelings about it.

I read Tales from a Village School by Miss Read. Miss Read (Dora Saint) taught in a rural school in Kent in the 1920s and then as a supply (substitute) teacher in the Cotswolds after WWII. These are stories based on her real-life teaching experiences. The stories were originally published in various British magazines between 1949 and 1962, and they eventually led to the publisher Michael Joseph asking her to write a full-length book about her experiences. And so the Fairacre and Thrush Green series were born.

The school stories collected here are arranged according to the school year: from September to the last day of school in July, and as in all of Miss Read's books, we watch as the seasons change in nature and in the lives of the villagers. Each story is only 3-4 pages in length, and are great fun and sometimes laugh-out loud funny. A wonderful way to start out the new school year.

I read Anne of Avonlea book 2 of the series. The beginning was very focused on appearances and ‘not very good neighbors.’ I wrote my own review of the book, and I did really like the philosophy in it with the characters Davy and Dora, with Davy being very honest and often getting into trouble, and I really enjoyed the part with Miss Lavendar that CurrerBell mentioned as it was more geared toward a general adult audience too and I liked all the imagination presented in the whole book, very sensory with the setting, and the place called Echo Lodge. Now I can uncover the spoiler about the Henry James book:D

While I was interested in The Island of Missing Trees and that also opened with a school scene, I felt more ready to read a realistic novel right now, am reading Little Men by Louisa May Alcott…”an experimental school for boys”…Sounds a little odd! but will see:)

Sara Donati's "Into the Wilderness" weaves multiple story lines together with Elizabeth Middleton caught in the middle. She has moved to America to join her father and brother with the intent to become a school teacher but becomes entrapped in her father's schemes to use her for his own purposes. Yes, there is romance and betrayal set against the backdrop of native Americans set against whites with their trickery and theft of native lands, but I still feel that her drive to serve the community as a teacher sits at the heart of the story.

I like that in Little Men the book begins with a boy named Nat finding welcome and at home after being homeless, and that there’s a feeling of freedom & fun and not so based on a lot of rules. :)

>66 Jade.Nicole.Beals: abolutely loved that book as a child. If you watch the new Little Women movie the end shows some of that. with girl students as well.

>65 cfk: that series by Donati is one of my all time favorites!

Landscape with dead dons is a mystery set in Oxford in the 1950s when it was still a cosy, self-contained world for big egos and eccentrics. Unfortunately, the mystery itself was not very good and the author's pretentious prose annoyed me.

I finished The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig (2006), which is set in a homestead area in Montana during the 1909-1910 school year. Told from the point of view of sixth-grader Paul, it centers around his family, their neighbors and the area's one-room rural schoolhouse.

Joan Lindsay, Picnic at Hanging Rock (along with The Secret of Hanging Rock). Not tremendously impressed. I gave (rather generously) the main volume 3½*** with 2½** to the supplemental short eBook, which consisted of the final chapter of Picnic (along with some critical commentary on the chapter and the entire book) that Lindsay's publisher had persuaded her to omit from the original publication and which she arranged to be published posthumously.

This book's value is probably more in Peter Weir's movie that resulted from it and that, I understand (though I've never seen the movie), is a seminal work of Australian cinema.

>71 CurrerBell: The film is a classic Gothic mystery, but I found the book somewhat disappointing.

I have read Tom Brown's Schooldays for this theme. Not perhaps a very original choice, but as it it inspired a whole literary genre, justifiable in my view.

I found the novel amusing in many places, and pointed in its detailed description of the customs of school (Rugby) life, though it also dragged for me in places and it took me a longer to read than a novel of its length (slightly under 300 pages in my version) normally would. There is a real historical personage here - Dr Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of the real Rugby School at the time. The author, expressing his views and experiences through the title character, clearly has a lot of respect for Dr Arnold, and the changes he brought about to the "public" school system; as one (adult) character says "perhaps ours is the only corner of the British Empire which is thoroughly, wisely and strongly ruled just now".

The real central "character" of the novel, though, is probably the custom-bound way of life of the school itself, with its arcane traditions that the students value and revere more than the masters if anything. There are detailed descriptions of the original version of the sport of rugby as well as, of course, cricket, described by one character as "the birthright of British boys old and young, as habeas corpus and trial by jury are of British men", as it is an "unselfish game" that "merges the individual in the eleven; he doesn't play that he may win, but that his side may", as opposed to individual sports where the object is to win for oneself.

I thought this was an interesting examination of the life and mores of a particular section of society at a particular time, but which has been massively influential on the literary genre well beyond that place and time.

I have completed reads of Dear Teacher by Jack Sheffield and Death at the President's Lodging for this month's theme. I was hoping to also read Goodbye Mr. Chips but I doubt if I will be able to fit it in.

I don’t have many books set in schools in my stacks but I came up with Curse of the Blue Tattoo, a rollicking adventure in the Bloody Jack series. After the first book when Jacky Faber was at sea, she was found out to be a girl so when the Dolphin made dock in Boston she was put ashore and she and her prize money were given to a local girls school. The thought was to prepare her to be a lady but, as usual, she set everyone on their ear. There were interesting glimpses of life in a girls school back in the time of sailing ships.

I'm finishing up Good-bye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton to wrap up the month.

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. Life of a junior academic at a British “red brick” university in the 1950s. Far, far funnier than it sounds.

>77 booksaplenty1949: I have that. Maybe I should have read that rather than Tom Brown's School days.

>78 john257hopper: Yes indeed. And have you read Flashman? Further adventures of bully/drunk/cad expelled from Tom Brown’s school. Turns out to have all the qualities the British Empire really needed.