Summer term at St Clare's (by Enid Blyton)

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A few months ago I reread ‘The twins at St Clare’s’, the first in Enid Blyton’s St Clare’s school story series. In October I re-read the first sequel, ‘The O’Sullivan twins’. It was at least ten years since I had previously read either of these childhood favourites, and I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed them. 

It’s more than twenty-five years since I last read the third in the series, 'Summer term at St Clare’s', which I finished reading this morning. I hadn’t remembered anything about it, and liked it very much.

This book starts with the twins playing tennis in the Easter holidays, only to discover that a friend has mumps. So they have to go into quarantine, and miss the first week of school. Unlike in the first book, they are very eager to get back. I’m not sure why this is the opening to the book, since the twins haven’t really missed anything as a result of being late, other than some of the tuck box goodies brought in by others. 

There are five new girls in the first form, but the only one who seems to have settled in easily is Bobby. She’s a cheerful person who likes joking and playing tricks, but has no desire to do any work although she's very intelligent. She quickly befriends Janet, who also likes tricks. 

A second new girl is Carlotta who is part Spanish, usually untidy, and very erratic in her work and behaviour. The twins like her, but aren’t quite sure what to make of her. Pam is the third - she’s the youngest in the class, and very studious. She seems to be likeable, but spends most of her time reading books relevant to her studies, or working hard.

Then there’s Sadie from America, who is sophisticated in her appearance and behaviour, although she doesn’t do too well academically. She’s very good natured, and the twins’ cousin Alison, who’s inclined to be shallow, has befriended Sadie, hanging onto her every word. Finally there’s Prudence, the only daughter of a vicar. She tries to make out that she’s above mischief and jokes, but has an unpleasant, supercilious nature. So nobody really likes her. 

The story involves all of these new girls in different ways. There are classroom incidents, walks where one of the new students does something unexpected, and tennis matches against other schools. There are discussions between staff, too. It could have been a bit run-of-the-mill, but I found it fast paced and  interesting. 

As with most books of this era and genre, there are plenty of moral lessons learned by the girls, sometimes by example or experience, sometimes pointed out by adults. Miss Theobald, the Head, comes into this slightly more than in the earlier books. She displays a lot of wisdom in her handling of three of the new girls in very different ways. 

The importance of steady work is encouraged, and also of taking time for sports or other activities. Snobbery is shown to be something petty and wrong, while dishonesty, cheating and sneaking are strongly condemned. But these principles are all demonstrated in the context of actions and behaviour, with very little direct commentary from the author. I thought it well done. Thinking back, I probably gained a lot of my code of ethics from these books as a young teenager. Reading it now, over fifty years after I first read it, it seems mostly quite positive.

Enid Blyton has been criticised for her caricatures of people from other countries, and in a sense this book is no exception. The French ‘mam’zelle’ is kind-hearted but gullible and hot-tempered. Spanish Carlotta is entirely unpredictable. American Sadie is mature in appearance but fluffy and somewhat ignorant. However I don’t think this kind of thing affected me negatively as a teenager. The most unpleasant girl in this St Clare’s book is Prudence, after all, who is very English. And Alison is considered as feather-headed as Sadie. 

'Summer term at St Clare's' was first published in 1943, but does not feel to me as if it's more than eighty years old. While, of course, there are no computers or mobile phones, the people are lively, mostly realistic, and quite modern in outlook. 

The writing isn’t the greatest. But the stories are well presented, the pace is good, and there’s at least one scene that I found very poignant. So I would recommend this, along with others in the series, to anyone who likes to read, from the age of about eight or nine and upwards. They would be good to read aloud too, possibly to younger children, and there are some excellent audio book adaptations of these books too.

Review copyright 2024 Sue's Book Reviews