The summer holidays are coming to an end for our public schools this week, and unless you were lucky enough to get your Hogwarts letter by owl post, you probably aren’t anticipating a lot of magic at your school. But good teachers everywhere will be sure to take their children on many fun adventures during the year.
Boarding schools provide the perfect setting for great magical or mystery adventures; parents are out of the way, strong friendships are formed and there’s always a villain somewhere in the mix. Most of us who have never been to boarding school, and attend ordinary, everyday schools, can only visit these schools through books. Whilst my sister and I devoured Angela Brazil’s boarding school stories and Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers as kids, they would be rather old fashioned for today’s young readers, and anyway there is much more exciting stuff to read. Here are some of our favourites:
The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling first published in 1997, have since become an essential part of any childhood, with over 500 million copies of the books sold. I think every child should be encouraged to read the books, or to listen to the audio books read by Steven Fry, which are excellent.
I absolutely loved Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson. Two interwoven mysteries set in the private Ellingham Academy “where learning is a game”. The main character, true-crime lover Stevie Bell is starting at the academy with an ambitious plan – to solve the cold case involving the kidnapping of Ellingham’s wife and daughter 75 years before. The great thing about this book is that it’s part of a trilogy. The story follows directly on in The Vanishing Stair and concludes in The Hand on the Wall. And just when you think the adventure’s finished, Johnson comes out with another Stevie Bell stand-alone mystery The Box in the Woods.
The young adult novel, Looking for Alaska by John Green follows the main character and narrator Miles ‘Pudge’ Halter to boarding school where he goes looking for a “Great Perhaps”. I liked the characters and enjoyed the pranks they pulled off together. In the course of the book Pudge grows very close to his friends and becomes fascinated by Alaska. The description on the book jacket is accurate I think. “Poignant, funny, heartbreaking and compelling, this novel will stay with you forever”.
The Spud series of books by John van de Ruit are a hilarious (slow -)coming- of -age story about John ‘Spud’ Milton and his antics with his friends at the elite boys’ boarding school in South Africa in the 1990s. These books had a big following when they were published in the mid 2000s, and I think a new generation of children would still enjoy reading the adventures of Spud, his friends and eccentric family.
So remember, the first day back isn’t that bad! Here’s hoping for a fun and exciting school year with lots of magic and adventures for everybody.
Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash
