Reminds me of "If...." - Rated 
This is, like all Enid Blyton's books, very gripping, but... The adventure stories I can still understand - good clean living and fun, though somewhat spartan in emotional terms still - I mean repressed, what? But these school ones are a bit TOO no-nonsense. And the school! I mean these stories of same-sex obsessions, sado-masochistic relationships, all told with such matter-of-factness - this is NORMAL! Lower-grade pupils coming to fag for the seniors and becoming so obsessed and loyal that they get ill... A girl with a craving for food - rather like poor old Enid herself, judging from her books. There's plenty of material for a horror movie there. The French girls, who stay out of the relationships and have an affectionate aunt, are abnormal somehow - cold and foreign - surely this ought not to be! Or maybe I am just not English enough! But if this is Englishness...
Very good - but where are Pat and Isobel? - Rated 
The girls are now fifth-formers and so the little first- and second-formers have to wait on them. In the first books, this is presented as a good thing, but now Blyton shows us a girl abusing her new power and taking advantage of little girls who adore her because she is pretty and charming - of course, it's Angela. But Angela has to cope with Antoinette, Claudine's younger sister, who is as tricky as Claudine and too clever for Angela! I like the funny Antoinette as much as Claudine.
Mirabel becomes a nuisance because she is so obsessed with games - another girl who is abusing her new power.
As always in Enid Blyton's books, blindly worshipping someone has got bad results - and vanity does not pay: The musical genius Felicity makes herself ill with overwork and has to be saved from a nervous breakdown.
Mam'zelle hunting "burglars" - who are only girls wandering at night - is very comical. I like Blyton's French mistresses in spite of the national stereoype!
But I found myself hating Alma! Being fat and having problems with your glands is no excuse for playing nasty tricks as Alma does - she steals Alison's needlework and so on. Even worse, she accepts another girl being blamed for it. She is disgusting and doesn't deserve Miss Theobald's sympathy - she should have been expelled.
And where are Pat and Isobel? They are only fillers!
The most nerve-wracking, but so wacky you've got to love it! - Rated 
This is one of my favourite St Clares books except it hasn't got many new girls to find out about. The old girls talk about the girls moving into the form so the only girl you last have to learn about is Anne-Marie. I wish there was more about the relationship between Pauline and Alma. You don't get to know much about Alma except she is greedy, fat, bad-tempered, and has a problem with her glands. The Mirabel in this book has exaggerated bossiness. Still, this is one of the most tempting books in the series. Don't miss it!
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