In the Fifth at Malory Towers

Enid Blyton's In the Fifth at Malory Towers is a boarding school story for 9 year olds where the whole form is handed the Christmas show to put on by themselves.

What happens

Darrell and her friends are fifth-formers now, which feels very grand. Darrell is hoping for a quieter term after all the responsibility of the last one. (Does it ever work out like that? Not at Malory Towers.)

Miss James, their new form mistress, has other plans. Darrell is made head of games for the fifth, coaching the younger girls for the lower teams. And the fifth are to produce the Christmas entertainment completely on their own. Every girl decides on the spot she won't ask for one single piece of advice.

Ideas fly straight away. A play? A pantomime? Irene wants to write the music. Mavis, whose singing voice has come back, dreams of the big songs. Alicia is quietly certain she could run the whole thing.

There are new faces to deal with too. Moira has been kept down a year and is head-girl, and she does love to be in charge. Catherine beams at everyone and offers to help with everything (the others aren't convinced). And there's Maureen, who can't stop talking about her old school, Mazeley Manor, where everything was apparently better.

The girls' answer to Maureen is wicked and very funny. They decide she and Gwendoline are made for each other, and spend a sunny lunchtime telling Maureen how sympathetic and fascinating dear Gwendoline Mary is. Irene has to turn a snort into a sneeze.

Then there's Ruth. Her twin Connie is staying in the fourth, and Ruth finally tells her to clear out of the fifth-form dormy. Afterwards she sits on her bed looking miserable, because she's awfully fond of her. It's a lovely little moment.

One thing to know. The girls are nearly sixteen and the book is very much of its time. Maureen is laughed at for her rabbity teeth, Gwen is called fat, and freezing out a new girl is played for laughs. Alicia also jokes about her brother threatening June with a spanking. Some children won't blink. Others will feel for Maureen more than the book does, and that's a good conversation to have.

It sits well into the series, and the first chapter talks about how last term's exams went. If you're starting fresh, Darrell's very first day is in First Term at Malory Towers.

What to read next

If the girl who won't stop boasting about her old school is the bit they enjoy, The Twins at St Clare's turns it round. Pat and Isabel were head-girls at Redroofs and they arrive at their new school making sure everyone knows it.