Malory Towers v St. Clare's

[un PC]

So if you were given the choice of the school to attend, which one would it have been?

Malory Towers or St Clare's.

Tough, but I think I'd chose St Clare's.

[Kitty]

Malory Towers. If only because some girls seem to waste away their lives at St Clare's while waiting to be arbitrarily moved up a form. But also MT for the nicer grounds and more interesting pupils.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Malory Towers purely because it resembles a castle and is by the sea in Cornwall!

[Ming]

Malory Towers purely because it resembles a castle and is by the sea in Cornwall!

And because its people end up in St. Andrews!

[Laura]

Malory Towers for me, too - partly because of the location, and the fact that I'd love to go to school in a castle, partly because I just prefer the MT books to the SC ones, and the characters seem more interesting.

Anita Bensoussane wrote:
Malory Towers purely because it resembles a castle and is by the sea in Cornwall!

And because its people end up in St. Andrews!

That's where all the best people go to university!

[Pippa-Stef]

That's where all the best people go to university!

Ahem Laura!

Malory Wins hands down for me!

[Anna Moss]

Malory Towers, I think the atmosphere is much better than St. Clares, the building, I agree, and if the characters count too, definitely Malory for me!

[Jen-Jen]

Malory Towers - for all of Anita's reasons, and because I think it has a much nicer atmosphere. And all those roses in the courtyard would be lovely - I can imagine myself spending pleasant afternoons reading Blyton books amongst the roses.

[chloe1]

Malory Towers without a doubt. I used to dream about going to school in that building. The towers, the gardens, the swimming pool, the horse riding - all surrounded by the Cornish coast. I prefer the teachers and the girls there too although I would have probably got on the wrong side of Alicia.

Malory Towers made me long to go to boarding school and my parents made the mistake of sending me when I was 11. It was nothing like it We did have midnight feasts but thats about it!

[Yak]

Heh I went to a boarding school though I was a day pupil. At first I longed to board too but I rather quickly realised that all of my fond memories of Blyton's school stories were nothing like ther reality.

Am I the only one who'd choose SC? It has some of my favourite of all Blyton's characters.

[Luthien]

I chose St Clare too! I think it would have been a more pleasent school to go, with the town so close by, and the cozy studios for the older girls. It also has a lot of interesting characters like Bobby and Janet, Carlotta, Claudine, Margery, and you always had a bad girl in your term to spice things up. I don't remember the 2 series too well, but I think that in St Clare they had more midnight feasts.

On the other side, even though Malory Towers is a castle and everything, I wouldn't have liked to be in the same form as quick tempered Darrell and sharped tongued Alicia. One moment of weakness, homesickness or anything, and you were doomed for the rest of your stay.

[dsr]

St. Clare's. I'd have been worse than Gwen in the pool, as I couldn't swim then, and would NOT have welcomed being regularly pushed in with teachers' tacit approval.

But as a mere male, I might have had to make do with Whyteleafe.

[70s-child]

St. Clare's any day! The faculty and the students all seem much more relaxed in this school. Malory Towers would stress me out.
On the games front though, I would fail in both schools. I have never played lacrosse, and I am terrified of water, having nearly drowned once.

[Yak]

Yay another St Clare's fan Being a non sporty type seems to be marginally more acceptable at SC, anyway

[Spitfire]

If you'd asked me as a child reader, I would have said Malory Towers without hesitation! I love the description of it in the first book. The setting is so inspirational - 'it looked like an old-time castle' - the natural, sea-filled swimming pool, court and rose garden. Although my own hair is a nondescript shade of mousy brown, I can totally sympathise with Gwendoline when she says "I shall feel like a fairy princess going up those steps!"

I re-read St. Clares recently for the first time in many years and I was struck for the first time (can't think how I never noticed it before) with how well Enid Blyton develops some of her characters (Alison, for example) and how much attention she pays to the mind and circumstances of each one who is the centre of a storyline. She really was a discerning observer of human nature. She writes sympathetically about Gladys' or Eileen's plight -but without excusing Gladys' cowardice or Eileen's sneaking and thieving. Even Prudence's thorough unpleasantness is given some explanation so that the reader can understand it instead of simply reacting to her horrible ways.

I have to cast my final vote for Malory Towers though! Imagine being able to get up early on a summer's day and go for a sea-bathe before breakfast! Lovely!