Fifth Formers of St. Clare's

The last book in the St. Clare's series written by Enid Blyton leaves the twins in a happy place after finishing their fifth form year, but we won't see them as sixth formers... unless we read the last continuation novel by Pamela Cox, which I intend to do.

Anyway, the book was entertaining, with a lot going on and a lot of drama. The focus in this one, with the girls older and supposedly more dignified, is not on tricks and midnight feasts, but on their character flaws that cause all kinds of problems, some of them related to new-found leadership roles some of them have.

Allison is back to her mindless hero-worship, Mirabel is games captain and becomes a tyrant, Angela misuses the authority she has over younger girls... There are new show more girls with their own troubles too, of course. But here some of the veteran girls have their share of trouble. Which allows us to see more of them, but at the same time it has the problem that it negates character development they had in previous books... Oh, well.

If anyway, the book is a bit overwrought. For example, that scene with girls of all sorts wandering through the school at night for different reasons, while Mamzelle keeps locking them in cupboards thinking they are burglars... It is funny, both for the ridiculousness of the situation itself, but also for how exaggerated the writing is.

As always, at this point, having read both the Malory Towers and the St. Clare's series, Enid Blyton reuses many of the same type of characters and situations. This may make them more difficult to binge read for some readers, while others won't mind and will perhaps enjoy the sense of familiarity.

Good fun, in any case. show less

Sixth and last in Enid Blyton's original 1940s series about a girls' boarding school in the UK. The twins and their friends are now in the fifth form, presumably aged about 17. They have to prepare for an important exam before moving up to the sixth.

There's a new girl who thinks she's a poet, someone moving up from the fourth who is a musical prodigy, and someone moved down from the sixth who's a decidedly unpleasant character, though very caricatured.

The pace is good and I found myself quite caught up in the storylines, even chuckling a couple of times during a wonderful scene involving Mam'zelle who thinks she hears burglars. Not the greatest writing, of course, but apparently these books still appeal to some children, from the age show more of about 7 upwards. However the main readership is probably people like me who recall them nostalgically from our childhood.

Longer review: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2025/03/fifth-formers-at-st-clares-by-enid.... show less

I think it's one of her best books. It's got all the elements of a good St Clare's novel - funny jokes, friendship and camaraderie, yummy food and a great ending which sadly is also a bit of a cliffhanger. It's a shame she never wrote the missing terms, I'll definitely try and read the Pamela Cox's fill-ins.

This last book in the series, which has been digitized to date (2014), has been done better than any of the others. Yes, there are strange typesetting ("yoN" for "you", etc.) moments, but so few in comparison that the book is pretty readable. There are still extraneous characters (space "I" space) where perhaps an exclamation point would make sense, plus ¢∞§¶ sprinkled around. Two or so instances of sentence fragments appearing in clearly a random location.

The plot of the book follows the same general path of the previous books: The new term begins, old friends greet each other, new students are absorbed into the mix. One or two girls have conflicts, one or two teachers create problems. In this book, the girls we have been show more following are moving into leadership positions, some with more ease than others. This book has a scene that most girls will find humorous. A nice addition to the series.

The last book in the series does not seem to have been kindlelized just yet. show less

now I understand some of the comments in Dragonfly Pool. Talking about midnight feasts and girls schools in England.

Novels/novelettes

Las muchachas ya han llegado a quinto y poseen un estudio propio que comparten de dos en dos. Llega Ana María, una poetisa con ansias de fama, y Felicidad una niña de cuarto encantada por la música y que no piensa en otra cosa. Además hay una profesora de literatura nueva, la señorita Willcox, a la que Ana María y Alison apreciarán mucho. Mirabel y Gladys son las encargadas de deportes, cosa que les traerá algún problema. Ángela explota demasiado a las pequeñas, cosa que arreglará la pequeña Antoniete, hermana de Claudina. y Jane Teal, la pequeña de primero, también tendrá mucho juego con los deportes y Mirabel. Al final de curso hay una sorpresa sobre quien será la próxima encargada de todo el colegio en sexto grado