The Chalet School books

Polomint I read some of the Lone Pine books when young. My favourite Malcolm Saville book was the Gay Dolphin Adventure.

I loved the Chalet School books too ! - and Malory Towers . I think , though , my favourite books were the "Wells" stories by Lorna Hill. My daughter loved them too. I have a collection of them in paperback that my daughter and daughter in law bought for me ( they were re published ) for a birthday about ten years ago. I sooo wanted to be a ballet dancer ! My mother's comment when I used to moan about wanting to go to ballet school ? "You have to live in London!" I lived near Glasgow !

Loved them, still have them all. Bobbsey Twins were an earlier favourite, but my mum gave them all away.

Does anyone remember the Shoes series of books by Noel Streatfield? My favourite was Ballet Shoes.

Dancing Shoes
Theatre Shoes
Ballet Shoes
Circus Shoes
Movie Shoes
Skating Shoes
Tennis Shoes

Yes I remember reading Ballet Shoes in English lessons at school. I haven’t read any Chalet School books, but when I read the title of this thread I thought I had ,but then realised I was thinking of Mallory Towers books which I loved.

Yes I used to read them too

Oh I loved the Chalet School books, but like Mollygo, my mum gave them all away.
Also loved the Ballet Shoes books, and didn't realise there were so many if them.

Hi, Rainwashed, have you seen the CBBC adaptation of Mallory Towers?
I watched it last summer with my DGD , we both loved it!
I think it's still on iPlayer.

No I hadn’t heard of that Granmarie , I will look out for it.

Like AuntieFlo I loved Ballet Shoes but didn't realise there were so many in the series.

Seems like many of us moved from children's books to Georgette Heyer, I certainly did. Her books are enjoying a bit of a renaissance in the library where I work.

I still have all mine up in my attic

Can I borrow from your attic library when I'm in the UK next BlueBelle hopefully I will get to the UK at some point.

There is a large and lively online community of Chaletians! All of mine bar one are second hand, but Girls Gone By Publishing have done a sterling job of making reprinted editions available. They get harder and harder to find as you get further on in the series.

charmingly old-fashioned approaches to manners and speech, management of illness and healthy living, and fashions. The messages of attitudes for young girls were good, I think.
Where have the good manners gone? It seems today's society is sadly lacking in them. So many children nowadays are massively indulged, with activities every evening and excursions every weekend. They have parents who complain if their little angel ever gets into trouble at school.
It wasn't like this in my day!

Sar53

I loved these stories as well as Malory Towers and St Clares. Boarding school sounded so exciting, especially when you lived with three younger brothers in a house with very little money. It was total escapism for me in the late 50's, early 60's.

Loved these books from the library and got my DDs and DGDs hooked on them However, unfortunately couldn’t find all of them in print a few years ago.

I have all the Chalet School books, plus some fill-in books written in the same style as EM Brent-Dyer, which are really well written. I do still have my first three Chalet School books, which were given to me when I was about 10. The others are ones I bought for Christmas and birthdays. There is a Friends of the Chalet School (FOCS) club and quite a few fan pages on Facebook. You can pick up quite reasonable 2nd hand copies on eBay and other book sites. It’s lovely being in contact with other like-minded readers.
I read the Malory Towers books as well and moved onto Agatha Christie in my teens. I’ve still got all those as well (some might have been liberated to my son’s house but they are mine, all mine!)

GrandmaSue some of the chalet school books are selling at extortionate prices! I have a number of them but can't afford to buy the rest. You might be surprised at what yours are worth.

Grandmabatty, my bookcase is packed with chalet books, almost all in hardback and I was given loads of paperback copies by someone who knew I liked them. I’d love to know which ones would fetch extortionate prices.

Mollygo go to Amazon and have a look at some of the prices there. A Genius at the Chalet School was crazy money!

I was at boarding school and I used to read these books and think how exciting it must be to go to a boarding school like those that featured in all those boarding school series.

Unfortunately, in reality, boarding school in the 1950s-60s was desperately mundane.

I think some of those Noel Streatfeild books had their names changed when they were re-published. I remember reading "Wintle's Wonders" when I was about ten, but now it's called "Dancing Shoes". Guess the publishers were cashing in on the popularity of Ballet Shoes.

I adored the Chalet School books! I remember in the late sixties I was ill in bed for something or other and my mum got me a couple of books to read - An Angela Brazil and A Princess at the Chalet School by Elinor M Brent Dyer. I enjoyed both books but the Chalet School totally captivated me. The idea of a school in the Alps, having to speak French German and English on alternate days and getting together for Kaffee and Kuchen! I was absorbed in their world and devoured every book in the series. I would get them from the library and whenever I had any pocket money I would buy them in paperback form. When they started to get tatty with re-reading I bound them in brown card with a spine of cream masking tape. I would put their name and series no on the spine. A few years later I wrote to the publisher and asked to join the Eidelweiss club (I think - it was advertised on the library fly leafs) I was heartbroken to hear that Miss Brent-Dyer had died a few years previously and the club was no more. I never tried to join a fan club again.

Wrong side of the Alpes but just took this one today

Stunning, Mokryna!

Thank you. The weather is being good most of the time at the moment.