The Naughtiest Girl Series

[Rob Houghton]

I always think Whyteleaf is run on very Communistic ideals - good in theory but some of them, like the money-sharing idea is maybe a bit unfair in its fairness! The rules, meetings and monitors etc were exactly the things that made it special though, and I always thought how great it would be to go there!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Unless the majority of pupils were utterly selfless and loved the school and everyone in it as if they were family, and that attitude was fully supported by their parents, I can't see the pocket money idea working. If pocket money was set at two shillings a week, parents could simply make sure that they sent their child to school with no more than twenty-four shillings for a twelve-week term. Perhaps some parents would add an extra couple of shillings as a contribution towards crocus corms, classical music records, etc., but other parents might try to get away with giving their child less than the necessary amount.

As for putting one's birthday money into the collection box, I expect most children would ask Granny or Uncle Rupert to send presents like books, games or pens instead - or to send money to their home address so it would be waiting for them when they came home for the holidays!

I love the "meetings", but they only work because the children are amazingly forgiving and understanding.

It is all rather idealistic, but it's a caring environment which encourages children to think deeply about issues, empathise with others, make decisions and take on responsibility. The extra-curricular activities are varied, giving pupils a chance to pursue interests or learn skills (gardening, nature rambles, horse-riding, sports like lacrosse, keeping pets, dancing, playing musical instruments, giving or attending concerts, doing woodwork, etc.) I found Whyteleafe very appealing as a child and I'd have loved to have friends like Elizabeth Allen and Julian Holland.

[Rob Houghton]

The Naughtiest Girl series, along with Faraway Tree must be two of Enid's most innovative series, full of interesting and unique ideas. They might be somewhat idealistic, but then a child's view of the world IS pretty idealistic - and so from a child's point of view these things work.

[walter raleigh]

I've never read the 'Naughtiest Girl' series, and know next to nothing about them, but from these comments they sound intriguing. Maybe I'll give them a go after I finish the 'Galliano' books.

[Rob Houghton]

I definitely recommend the Naughtiest Girl series. As Anita says, the school is run in a very idealistic way, but it's interesting to read Enid's ideas regards what she feels would be the perfect school system! Elizabeth Allen is a really likeable character, in my opinion, and grows through the books in quite a realistic way.

[Courtenay]

I think I might have to give the Naughtiest Girl series a go too. They sound a lot more exciting to me than the Malory Towers and St Clare's series - not that I've read those either, but even though we had all or most of them when I was little, I never felt inclined to read them. Whyteleafe sounds more interesting and inventive!

Didn't someone recently post an online article about the real-life school that Whyteleafe may have been based on, which is still running today, despite its quite unusual and sometimes controversial ways of doing things? I can't remember its name, or I'd look for the thread.

[Courtenay]

Aha, just found it!

Summerhill School, in Leiston, where children are allowed to have a passion for their subjects or just chase butterflies if the mood takes them

In the main building, we look in on an art lesson and end up in the famous Summerhill meeting room, where the community gathers to make or discard rules or perhaps ‘bring someone up’ for something. Everyone’s vote carries the same weight. Recently, the meeting voted to write to the BBC, asking why children’s democracy hadn’t been included in a day of programmes about government and Magna Carta. After all, says Zoe, Summerhill has been doing it for almost 100 years.

On the way we pass notice boards with information about buddies, mediators and fines supervisors, along with the odd child just doing their own thing. Learning to interact with others, expressing emotions and developing a sense of self and self-worth are as important here as spellings and times tables. What seems clear is that Summerhill is not actually the anything-goes cesspit of popular imagination, where children run wild without a thought for common decency....

The other thing that soon becomes clear about Summerhill is how happy and open everyone seems. Children and adults smile at you and say hello. It’s a bit like being in the pages of an Enid Blyton book where everything is jolly and children are free to have adventures and climb trees.

But there are things many would find controversial. For instance, swearing by both pupils and teachers is permitted in the school grounds, although not off-site.

Not keen on the notion of teachers swearing, but the rest sounds pretty good!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Like Robert, I'd definitely recommend the Naughtiest Girl series.

Enid Blyton would undoubtedly have heard of Summerhill and she might well have been inspired by the "meetings" which are a feature of that school, and by the idea of pupils having a say in rules and punishments. However, Whyteleafe is not as "free and easy" as Summerhill. Lessons are compulsory and I can't imagine Miss Belle or Miss Best swearing!

Enid Blyton ran her own little school at Southernhay for four years, and I expect her experiences there also fed into Whyteleafe.

It was at the suggestion of Methuen that Enid Blyton began writing more conventional school stories, i.e. the Malory Towers and St. Clare's series. In Enid Blyton - the Biography, Barbara Stoney says that the success of the first Naughtiest Girl book "decided her [Enid Blyton] to take up the suggestion of Alan White of Methuen that she should write other girls' school stories with a more conventional background."

[Poppy]

Unless the majority of pupils were utterly selfless and loved the school and everyone in it

Yes, that is exactly it. Many of the children sent there, such as Elizabeth Allen were sent to the school to learn many lessons and overall decency, so some of the ethics and responsibilities would have been unheard of to them, before. So I think it is quite hard on students like Elizabeth, to be suddenly expected to adjust to all these rules.

Whenever I read these books, I always think of the twins: Delia and David from House-at-the-Corner and remember their desperation to get away to a decent boarding school like Whyteleafe. Although every turned out all right in the end for them, I think it is a shame that never featured in the Naughtiest Girl books. I think that the originlity and thoughtfulness of their personalities would have made their journey through school a very interesting and entertaining one.

I would definitely recommend that you read the Naughtiest Girl books, Walter and Courtenay. As you say Courtenay, they are very inventive and enjoyable stories. I wouldn't necessarily say that they were better than the other Boarding School stories that Enid wrote such as the Malory Towers and St Clares books. Just because I think they are so different. With the Malory Towers books, there isn't all these roles of monitors and stuff, which is heavily explored throughout the course of this series. Whereas the children in these books are sort of expected to sort out their own problems and in some ways, run the school themselves, in the MT and St.C books, teachers have a more prominent role. All are brilliant books.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Unless the majority of pupils were utterly selfless and loved the school and everyone in it

Yes, that is exactly it. Many of the children sent there, such as Elizabeth Allen were sent to the school to learn many lessons and overall decency, so some of the ethics and responsibilities would have been unheard of to them, before. So I think it is quite hard on students like Elizabeth, to be suddenly expected to adjust to all these rules.

A good point, Poppy. There's a strong feeling of "community" at Whyteleafe, and children like Elizabeth and Arabella have to get used to taking the needs and feelings of scores of others into account, after having led rather self-centred lives before joining the school. Their fellow pupils do try to help them though - but Elizabeth in particular doesn't make things easy for herself!

[Courtenay]

I see we've been moved - thanks, Anita.

These DO sound like good stories and are definitely now on my Blyton must-read list. I'll avoid reading the earlier parts of this thread, though, so as not to pick up too many spoilers.

[Wolfgang]

The Naughtiest Girl series is another one that lost much of its appeal in German editions. Instead of being naughty Elisabeth (Lissy) plays the silly fool who can't add one and one in the first book. I wasn't too impressed.

[Rob Houghton]

All this talk is encouraging me to reread the books too. After I finish The Famous Five read through I think I'll pay a visit to Whyteleafe! They are by far my favourite school stories. Although I've enjoyed the Malory Towers and St Clare's books, I think The Naughtiest Girl just has the edge for me, mainly, probably, because I read them as a child (unlike the others) and also, as the school is coeducational, it was more interesting (from a boy's point of view!) to read about boys and girls rather than only girls.

[Daisy]

I have just read the three Naughtiest Girl Stories after a long break and was struck by the number of "lessons of life" Enid managed to include in her usual imaginative way. I think it is here that I first got the idea that it is a sign of strength rather than weakness to change one's mind if circumstances indicate that one should. I know many of her books contain lessons like this but these three books struck me as having more than usual!
As many have said before, what a good influence she has been for so many of the children we once were - and continues to be so as her books are still read by so many youngsters today.

[Rob Houghton]

Considering what I wrote above, I still haven't reread the Naughtiest Girl books. I haven't read them for about 10 years, so it's time I did!