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 (the twins' cousin), Hilary Wentworth, Carlotta Brown (an ex-circus girl), Janet Robins, Doris Elward, Kitty Flaherty (who brought her pet goat, McGinty), "The Honourable" Angela Favorleigh, Alma Pudden, "Catty" Elsie Fanshawe, Gladys, Mirabel, Anne-Marie, Claudine, Antoinette and Roberta "Bobby" Ellis, Winifred James (the head girl when Pat and Isabel were in the first form), Tessie (the head girl of the second form), Margery Fenworthy (who got expelled from six schools but made a friend in the end), Lucy Oriell (who became Margery's friend), Erica (the troublemaker), Priscilla Parsons (the sixth former who was expelled), Joan Terry (who got bullied by Priscilla).
The teachers are: Miss Roberts (the first-form teacher), Miss Jenks (the second-form teacher), Miss Adams (the third-form teacher), Miss Kennedy (the history teacher who took over as teacher for a term), Miss Lewis (the history teacher who was sick for a term), Miss Theobald (the head mistress who used to coach students in maths), Mam'zelle (the French mistress), Miss Harry (the sixth-form teacher).Twin sisters Patricia and Isabel O'Sullivan are sent to St. Clare's by their parents due to their fear that the twins might become negatively influenced.Meet the O'Sullivan twins: Pat and Isabel. Cheeky, obstinate and determined to make pests of themselves at St. Clare's. Blyton has used the 'rebels against new school' formula time and again, and it works each time. It's probably more fun to read about anti-establishment children than about earnest ones keen on making a good impression.
So we start with the twins' arrival at school and their resistance to all St. Clare's customs, especially 'fagging' (and I don't blame them). However, instead of being developed into the main story, this rebellion is pretty short-lived, and by the sixth chapter or so their attitude has undergone a complete transformation.
An incident of petty theft follows, which shows potential for further development. Unfortunately, it is resolved quickly and the story moves on. Blyton has a similar plot line in Second Form at Malory Towers, but that was developed in far greater depth and detail. This (along with St. Clare's haphazard format) leads me to believe she treated St. Clare's as sort of an experimental series and polished quite a few of the same ideas for Malory Towers. Sadly, along the way, I feel the carefree tone and spontaneity that characterised the St. Clare's series was lost.
While The Twins at St. Clare's is a good introduction to the characters, it lacks the flow and cohesive plot of the later books. The story moves from one episode to the next, and Blyton resolves each plot thread in turn rather than weaving the strands together.
Though Twins may not be a great book, it has its moments. Blyton does try to address a few issues, such as the fact that teachers too can be vulnerable and suffer at the hands of thoughtless students. This we see when the girls' organized ragging brings the history teacher to the brink of losing her job. Through the Sheila Naylor incident, she tries to underscore that 'money and servants and cars didn't matter at all. It was the person underneath that mattered'. Unfortunately, this message gets a bit garbled in its delivery and the St. Clare's girls often come across as snobs rather than the sort who espouse such sentiments.
But despite its weaknesses, The Twins at St. Clare's is a lot of fun and a good start to a fabulous series.itsanam,zing book wow..........
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 (the twins' cousin), Hilary Wentworth, Carlotta Brown (an ex-circus girl), Janet Robins, Doris Elward, Kitty Flaherty (who brought her pet goat, McGinty), "The Honourable" Angela Favorleigh, Alma Pudden, "Catty" Elsie Fanshawe, Gladys, Mirabel, Anne-Marie, Claudine, Antoinette and Roberta "Bobby" Ellis, Winifred James (the head girl when Pat and Isabel were in the first form), Tessie (the head girl of the second form), Margery Fenworthy (who got expelled from six schools but made a friend in the end), Lucy Oriell (who became Margery's friend), Erica (the troublemaker), Priscilla Parsons (the sixth former who was expelled), Joan Terry (who got bullied by Priscilla). The teachers are: Miss Roberts (the first-form teacher), Miss Jenks (the second-form teacher), Miss Adams (the third-form teacher), Miss Kennedy (the history teacher who took over as teacher for a term), Miss Lewis (the history teacher who was sick for a term), Miss Theobald (the head mistress who used to coach students in maths), Mam'zelle (the French mistress), Miss Harry (the sixth-form teacher).Twin sisters Patricia and Isabel O'Sullivan are sent to St. Clare's by their parents due to their fear that the twins might become negatively influenced.Meet the O'Sullivan twins: Pat and Isabel. Cheeky, obstinate and determined to make pests of themselves at St. Clare's. Blyton has used the 'rebels against new school' formula time and again, and it works each time. It's probably more fun to read about anti-establishment children than about earnest ones keen on making a good impression. So we start with the twins' arrival at school and their resistance to all St. Clare's customs, especially 'fagging' (and I don't blame them). However, instead of being developed into the main story, this rebellion is pretty short-lived, and by the sixth chapter or so their attitude has undergone a complete transformation. An incident of petty theft follows, which shows potential for further development. Unfortunately, it is resolved quickly and the story moves on. Blyton has a similar plot line in Second Form at Malory Towers, but that was developed in far greater depth and detail. This (along with St. Clare's haphazard format) leads me to believe she treated St. Clare's as sort of an experimental series and polished quite a few of the same ideas for Malory Towers. Sadly, along the way, I feel the carefree tone and spontaneity that characterised the St. Clare's series was lost. While The Twins at St. Clare's is a good introduction to the characters, it lacks the flow and cohesive plot of the later books. The story moves from one episode to the next, and Blyton resolves each plot thread in turn rather than weaving the strands together. Though Twins may not be a great book, it has its moments. Blyton does try to address a few issues, such as the fact that teachers too can be vulnerable and suffer at the hands of thoughtless students. This we see when the girls' organized ragging brings the history teacher to the brink of losing her job. Through the Sheila Naylor incident, she tries to underscore that 'money and servants and cars didn't matter at all. It was the person underneath that mattered'. Unfortunately, this message gets a bit garbled in its delivery and the St. Clare's girls often come across as snobs rather than the sort who espouse such sentiments. But despite its weaknesses, The Twins at St. Clare's is a lot of fun and a good start to a fabulous series.itsanam,zing book wow..........