Poll 15: Malory Towers

[kirrin_castle]

Hi everyone, I hope we are not getting too bored, don't worry, it's the last 4 polls today, and then a two week wait for the final results and the final poll for the favourite book of all.

This poll is for the Malory Towers Series, I guess these are the most well known of the school series. Choose 2 books please.

I've copied the rules below, for any newcomers. Discuss and enjoy please

The Rules:

I thought it may be interesting to run a series of polls over the next few weeks, to find what order people rank Enid's books in each major series, and then finally to take the winner of each series and put them in a poll to find what the most popular book is of all.

There are 15 Popular series on the Cave Of Books, so I will run a series of 16 polls (will have to do 2 polls for Noddy as there are more than 21 books & each poll can only do 21 options). I will run 4 polls per night over the next 4 days, and leave each poll open for 2 weeks to give as many people as possible the chance to vote. Hopefully in that time there will be some interesting discussions about the various books & series.

Keep watching out for the 4 new polls every night (THESE WILL HAVE TO BE CREATED AS NEW TOPICS AS CAN'T CREATE MULTIPLE POLLS UNDER 1 THREAD), and then I will announce the ranking of each book in each series from favourite to least favourite in about 2 weeks time, then do a final poll to pitch each winning book from each series to find the ultimate favourite book.

In the event of a tie for the winner in a series and the final poll, I will do a play off poll between the winners until a winner is determined.

I will enable each user to choose 1 book only if there are 4 or less in a series, 2 books if there are 5 to 10 books in a series, and 3 books if there are more than 10 books in a series. As Noddy is in 2 parts, I will allow 3 choices from each part. I will also enable each user to change their vote if they wish until the voting time is finished.

Hopefully not too complicated and a bit of fun.

[Rob Houghton]

Again, this is a series I've only read once (although I have now read the first two books twice!) so I don't remember much about them. The school series always seem to just run into one another, and I can never remember which book featured which characters and which happenings. However, I've chosen the last two books. As someone who is quite theatrical and has been on stage, I enjoy the details of the pantomime in 'The Fifth' and I also enjoy the poignancy of the last book, with the feeling of Darrel's time at Malory Towers coming to an end, and moving on to become an adult.

[Darrell71]

I recently re-read the series except for the second book, as I find the whole Daphne debacle a tad exhausting. It's a very well-written book with no real bad eggs, and one very memorable, frightening scene which gives me chills the older I get.
My first vote goes to the first book, for the nostalgia and the fact that it actually has quite a few parallel and overlapping storylines that as managed quite well.
My second vote goes for the third book, since as a devout rain and adventure lover, I find Darrell and Bill's night with Thunder very thrilling, as scary as it must've been for them, especially poor Bill and Thunder. I especially like how Enid paints a vivid picture of Mavis lying on the side of the road - made me shudder with horror on my re-read, though perhaps when younger my thoughts went more along the lines of 'she deserved it'.
I also wondered whether to choose the fifth book instead of one of this since I love how the whole process of the pantomine from start to finish is shown, but I'm not a big fan of their treatment of Catharine, or Maureen for that matter.

I find the last book a little hard to read, since I went to a great six-year (day) school myself where I made very fond memories and was very sad to leave, excited as I was for the next chapter. The last few chapters of the last book just hit too close to home.

[Stephen]

The school series always seem to just run into one another, and I can never remember which book featured which characters and which happenings.

That's why I haven't voted in the St Clare's poll! I know there's some good moments in them, but I'm not sure which one's which.

But I'm more familiar with Malory Towers, and I always liked First. Even though I wasn't a girl and I didn't go to boarding school, I could really identify with Darrell. Apprehensive, wanting to do well, and going to this new place where she had to interact with a variety of people and personalities to get through. I also went for Upper Fourth which featured poor Darrell's temporary fall from grace. Of course, there are some similarities with 'The Naughtiest Girl is a Monitor' which I wasn't all that keen on. But Upper Fourth isn't as nasty or spiteful. It's Darrell making a few mistakes, letting her temper get the better of her, realising her own weaknesses, and learning from them.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Upper Fourth was my first choice because the girls are getting more grown-up and it's fascinating to see how Darrell in particular copes (or not!) with being given a position of responsibility.

My second vote went to Second Form because Daphne's story is intriguing and I thoroughly enjoy the dramatic episode involving Mary-Lou.

[Lucky Star]

I have read them all but never really became an afficionado of MT. Therefore I'm going to vote for just one, the only one that stands out in my mind clearly which is the first book. I remember enjoying it but feeling rather guilty as it was technically a girls book and i'd have died of shame if any of my friends had caught me reading it.

[IceMaiden]

Love them all but my favourite two are In the Fifth and Third Year. In the Fifth I especially love because of it's theatrical element with the panto, things I not only have a general liking for, but it brings back lovely memories of the school plays we used to put on each Christmas, one of the few things I genuinely loved about school. I also used to work in a sixth form college doing, well basically whatever was asked of me!, and one of my utmost favourite tasks was sorting out the microphones, lighting and stage for the drama class and various presentations, and again In the Fifth takes me back to some very happy days.

Third Year I've picked as I love the character of Zerelda the wannabe movie star who can't actually act! I think she's possibly the only character of Enid's who behaves like the girls in my class did over their hair, make up and clothes or obsessing over some famous actor/star . I also love Bill and her obstinacy over her beloved horse and daydreaming in class about horses due to being so mad on them, because if you swap the horse for a dog, that was me at that age - and it infuriated my teachers just as much as it did Bill's .

[mynameisdumbnuts]

Oh dear, this was hard. I went with In the Fifth for the lovely panto and the drama and storylines it produces, and Sixth Form because it's nice to see June reform a bit and there's a poignant close. But I do love Upper Fourth and watching Darrell mature.

[kirrin_castle]

Hi everyone, I have now put on a separate topic, a small competition to guess the top ten places in the final poll, with a prize & bragging rights to be won

Here is the link:

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/for ... f=4&t=8384" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Irene Malory Towers]

My favourite has always been the 5th at Malory Towers and I am pleased that it has come out joint first. It is such a good series and I regularly reread them, in order. Why the 5th - I love the way they team together to produce a play, and the various talents pooled together. Plus they learn to work together and cope with the different and difficult personalities. There is plenty of drama with June's near expulsion and Moira rescuing her. Also the horrible Gwendoline gets to meet her almost dopperganger in Maureen. And as usual there is plenty of humour with frequent references to Measley Towers and Mademoiselle Dupont's trick with the teeth. Altogether it is a superb blend of action, drama (literally), humour, morality and a great climax with the actual show.