 First edition | |
| Author | Enid Blyton |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | W. Lindsay Cable |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | St. Clare's |
| Subject | Boarding, Classic |
| Publisher | Methuen |
Publication date | 1943 |
| Preceded by | The O'Sullivan Twins |
| Followed by | The Second Form at St. Clare's |
Summer Term at St. Clare's is the third novel in the St. Clare's series of girls' school stories by British author Enid Blyton. The series is about the boarding school adventures of twin girls Patricia and Isabel O'Sullivan.
The children's story starts with the twins Pat and Isabel O'Sullivan looking forward to enjoying their first summer term at St. Clare's. Their mother is happy to see them looking forward to school. One day, they go to play tennis with a friend, and meet a girl who has mumps. The twins, to their dismay, are put in quarantine, and are not allowed to go back to school at the beginning of the term.
When they arrive back the following week, they are heartily welcomed by their friends. Five new girls have joined their form. There is an American girl called Sadie, who is obviously quite rich and elegant. The twins discover that their cousin Alison has already made friends with her. There is a wild-looking girl called Carlotta, who is half Spanish. There is a naughty but very likeable girl Bobby (Roberta), who quickly becomes friends with Janet. There is another girl called Prudence, who is quite pretty but has no sense of humour. The last new girl is Pam, who is very hard working but also very shy.
The girls soon discover that Miss Roberts is on the war path. She is the first form head and is determined that her girls should do well and be promoted in next form. The twins also get to know the new girls. Prudence turns out to be nasty, spiteful, and dishonest. She takes a strong dislike to Carlotta, and discovers that Carlotta once belonged to a circus. She reveals Carlotta's secret to the other girls, hoping it will make them despise her, but it only serves to make Carlotta even more popular. Prudence also manipulates the shy Pam under the false disguise of a friendship. As a result, Pam is initially disliked by all of the girls except Carlotta and Isabel, who take pity on her when they realise that she is afraid to tackle Prudence as she does not want to be on her own. Encouraged by the two older girls, Pam eventually stands up to Prudence and ends their forced friendship, becoming friends with Carlotta instead. Bobby initially doesn't seem to care for anything or anyone until Miss Theobald tells her that she is cheating her parents badly. After learning this, Bobby starts working hard, too, though she occasionally plays tricks.
The American girl, Sadie, is like Alison, always caring about her looks. She also hates sports and all outdoor activities (although, unlike Alison, she actually enjoys swimming). However, she is good tempered and laughs at being teased. The girls soon find out that Sadie is an heiress. Sadie's father died and left a will giving away all his money to his sisters, but Sadie's mother won it back through lawsuits. During the term, while Prudence is spying on Carlotta, Sadie is kidnapped, and Carlotta - who finds her tied up, gagged and blindfolded in the back seat of a motor car - goes after her, and stages a fake road accident, during which she manages to rescue her with the help of her circus' friends. The term ends happily for most, with Prudence leaving because everyone hates her for her part in Sadie's kidnap (she could have alerted Sadie to the fact that she was in danger when she and Pam met a strange man lurking around the school entrance but was too busy trying to get Carlotta into trouble to realise this, and ignored Pam's warning to report the man to Miss Theobald), Sadie herself bouncing back strongly from her kidnapping ordeal and preparing to go back to America, and the other girls looking forward to going into second year except Prudence, who is leaving and Pam, who is too young to move into the second form. [1] [2]
Enid Mary Blyton was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have been translated into ninety languages. As of June 2019, Blyton held 4th place for the most translated author. She wrote on a wide range of topics, including education, natural history, fantasy, mystery, and biblical narratives. She is best remembered today for her Noddy, Famous Five, Secret Seven, the Five Find-Outers, and Malory Towers books, although she also wrote many others, including; St. Clare's, The Naughtiest Girl, and The Faraway Tree series.
The Famous Five is a series of children's adventure novels and short stories written by English author Enid Blyton. The first book, Five on a Treasure Island, was published in 1942. The novels feature the adventures of a group of young children – Julian, Dick, Anne, George and their dog Timmy.
The Secret Seven or Secret Seven Society is a fictional group of child detectives created by Enid Blyton and based on the publisher’s children. They appear in one of several adolescent detective series which Blyton wrote.
Malory Towers is a series of six novels by English children's author Enid Blyton. The series is based on a girls' boarding school that Blyton's daughter attended, Benenden School, which relocated during World War II to the Hotel Bristol in Newquay, Cornwall. The series follows the protagonist, Darrell Rivers, on her adventures and experiences in boarding school. Darrell Rivers' name was inspired by that of Blyton's second husband, Kenneth Darrell Waters.
The Faraway Tree is a series of popular novels for children by British author Enid Blyton. The titles in the series are The Enchanted Wood (1939), The Magic Faraway Tree (1943), The Folk of the Faraway Tree (1946) and Up the Faraway Tree (1951).
St. Clare's is a series of nine books written by English children's authors Enid Blyton and Pamela Cox about a boarding school of that name. The series follows the heroines Patricia "Pat" and Isabel O'Sullivan from their first year at St. Clare's on. Other characters include Alison O'Sullivan, Hilary Wentworth, Sadie Green, Kathleen Gregory, Janet Robins, Doris Elward, Vera Johns, Sheila Naylor, Roberta "Bobby" Ellis, Pamela Boardman, "Sour Milk" Prudence Arnold, Carlotta Brown, "Catty" Elsie Fanshawe, Gladys Hillman, Mirabel Unwin, Kitty Flaherty, Pauline Bingham-Jones, sisters Claudine and Antoinette, "the Honourable" Angela Favorleigh, Alma Pudden, Anne-Marie Longden, Felicity Ray, Winifred James, Belinda Towers, Tessie, Margery Fenworthy, Lucy Oriell, Erica, Priscilla Parsons and Joan Terry.
The Worst Witch is a series of children's books written and illustrated by Jill Murphy. The series are primarily about a girl named Mildred Hubble who attends a witch school and fantasy stories, with eight books published. The first, The Worst Witch, was published in 1974 by Allison & Busby, and the most recent, First Prize for the Worst Witch, was published in 2018 by Puffin Books, the current publisher of the series. The books have become some of the most successful titles on the Young Puffin paperback list and have sold more than 5 million copies.
The Twins at St Clare's is a children's novel by Enid Blyton set in an English girls' boarding school. It is the first of the original six novels in the St. Clare's series of school stories. First published in 1941, it tells the story of twin sisters Pat and Isabel O'Sullivan in their first term at a new school. They meet many new friends.
The O'Sullivan Twins is the second in the St. Clare's series of children's novels by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1942 by Methuen.
The Second Form at St. Clares is the fourth novel in the St. Clare's series of children's school stories by Enid Blyton. The series is about the boarding school adventures of twin girls Patricia and Isabel O'Sullivan. Their form mistress is now Miss Jenks and they no longer have to bear the severeness of the first form mistress, Miss Roberts – who is extremely sarcastic and firm but can be kind when she feels like to, a bit like Mam'zelle, the French teacher that used to teach and is still teaching the girls.
The Naughtiest Girl is a series of children's novels written by Enid Blyton in the 1940s–1950s. Unusually, they are set at a progressive boarding school rather than a traditional one. The school, Whyteleafe, bears a striking resemblance to the independent Suffolk boarding school, Summerhill. Anne Digby, author of the Trebizon series, has written some additional books in the series.
Five Run Away Together is the third book in the Famous Five series by the British author Enid Blyton.
This is a list of 762 books by Enid Blyton (1897–1968), an English children's writer who also wrote under the pseudonym of Mary Pollock. She was one of the most successful children's storytellers of the 20th century.
Claudine at St. Clare's is the seventh novel in the St. Clare's series by Enid Blyton. The narrative follows the O'Sullivan twins, Patricia and Isabel, and their adventures at exclusive boarding school St Clare's. The book introduces four new characters: Claudine, the French mistress' niece; Eileen, whose mother joins the school as matron; Pauline, a wannabe rich girl; and Angela, a rich and spoiled society girl.
Fifth formers of St. Clare's is the sixth novel of the St. Clare's series written by Enid Blyton. It was published in 1945 by Methuen.
The Naughtiest Girl in the School is the first novel in The Naughtiest Girl series by Enid Blyton, published in 1940. The title character is Elizabeth Allen, a spoiled girl who is sent to a boarding school called Whyteleafe School.
The Young Adventurers is a collection of books written by Enid Blyton, also known as The Riddle Series.
Prudence is a feminine given name. The name is a Medieval form of the Latin Prudentia, meaning prudence, i.e. good judgment.
Mischievous Twins: The Tales of St. Clare's is a 1991 Japanese anime created by Tokyo Movie Shinsha and originally broadcast on Nippon TV from January to November 1991. The anime is based on the St. Clare's books by English children's author Enid Blyton.