Exploits of the Chalet Girls
The CBB -> Book Discussions
#1: Exploits of the Chalet Girls Author: Josie, Location: London PostPosted: Mon Jul 11, 2005 11:34 am

There's a very thorough synopsis on The Chaletian for anyone who needs it:
http://www.chaletian.com/books/exploits.html

(yes, I know it says Althea at the top of the page, but it really is Exploits, honest! Laughing )


Too busy at work to think up questions today, sorry, but am sure most of you know the main points of the book to discuss: Thekla's arrival at the school, Corney falling down the hall, the clock boiling and subsequent sending to coventry (the cruellest schoolgirl punishment every invented, in my opinion), the Halloween party, (including candle jumping), Evvy blowing up the science lab, half-term at the Sonnaple, etc etc.

#2:  Author: Amanda M, Location: Wakefield PostPosted: Mon Jul 11, 2005 10:18 pm

This is one of my favourite books. I like the way that a lot of characters got book time that they wouldn't normally have had. The way the prefects were talking about their plans after leaving school always seemed very well written to me.

This book also introduces Thekla - who never redeems herself whilst she's at the Chalet School. I do think her attitude is fairly typical really of some people in that era - and not necessarily just German/Austrian girls, but also other nationalities. It also gave Marie a chance to lose her temper which I also enjoyed Very Happy

I think in the clock making episode Thekla made the same mistake that Eustacia had made - she didn't really mean to drop anybody in it, but she got ostracised just the same.

I did enjoy Evvy blowing up the Science lab, and the whole Sonnalpe chapter I thought was very vivd.

As you can probably tell this is one of my favourite reads Wink

Star Wars

#3:  Author: Ruth, Location: Physically: Lincolnshire, England. Inwardly: The Scottish Highlands PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 7:26 am

I enjoy reading this book. It is nice to see something of characters that normally only get a mention. Thekla is a typical example of a Prussian of that era. The Sonnalpe chapter is very good and I like to see the Prefect's planning ahead. One of my favourite pieces is when Evvy blows up the Science Lab - it is very good. I laughed a lot at the boiling of the clock. Coventry is a good idea - it works. They should have been punished since they vandalised school property. I was glad to see that Marie had a temper, although it was a surprise. Can't think of anything else - I haven't read the book for a while. Oh yes! The Halloween Party. Thelka is an idiot coming in her frilly petticoat - although it is nice to see her taking part in the activities. I can't remember much of the details but is this the one where somone jumps and falls down on the candles?

#4:  Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 9:53 am

I love this book. I only have it in PB but did read the HB many years ago when I borrowed it from the library.

I love the way we are shown the new girls arriving. Thekla is a character that we are made to feel as unsympathetic too as Eustacia. She is the first real bad girl who never makes good of the series. This is another book that even though the school is growin still retains a lot of the family atmosphere. The boiling of the clock and blowing up of the science lab are good for a laugh (and not repeated in later stories) especially the number of times the clock strikes when it has been put back. I feel sorry for Marie but this is the only time we see her temper. Corney falling down the hole was very lucky not to be seriously injured.

#5:  Author: Bess, Location: Cambridge UK PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 11:30 pm

Really enjoyed this book a few years ago, I've just ordered it to re-read but the library is making me wait!

Thekla always reminds me of a cross between Eustacia and the girl expelled from Scholastika's in 'Rivals of.' (Name deserting me right now - sorry - Elaine's sidekick?)

One day, I will probably privately experiment with boiling a clock just to see what happens, but an old one, lol!

At school, we were never given anything which we could possibly blow up a lab with. Sad I think Science must've been a lot more interesting back then... I love that 'exploit,' but it does seem a little unlikely/overdramatic.

#6:  Author: Róisín, Location: Galway, Eire PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 11:33 pm

Bess wrote:
Thekla always reminds me of a cross between Eustacia and the girl expelled from Scholastika's in 'Rivals of.' (Name deserting me right now - sorry - Elaine's sidekick?)


Vera Smithers, I think.

#7:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 11:54 pm

Bess wrote:
At school, we were never given anything which we could possibly blow up a lab with. Sad I think Science must've been a lot more interesting back then... I love that 'exploit,' but it does seem a little unlikely/overdramatic.


Oh, I don't know. We set a sink on fire ( Exclamation ) and also had flames belching out of a gas tap. We burned major holes in a bench, too.

#8:  Author: Cath V-P, Location: Newcastle NSW PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:39 am

I like the half-term account; it's so vivid, what with the description of Sunday, visiting the Annexe, the tableaux, and the unexpected snowstorm. Despite the problem of Thekla, Exploits has always seemed to me to be a happy book.

#9:  Author: jennifer, Location: Taiwan PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:46 am

KB wrote:

Oh, I don't know. We set a sink on fire ( Exclamation ) and also had flames belching out of a gas tap. We burned major holes in a bench, too.


I've done the sink one myself, in a chem lab in about grade eleven - we did manage to put it out ourselves before the teacher noticed. Thinking back, I don't think anything in a given experiement was particularly dangerous, but if you started randomly adding chemicals from a different class, particularly over a bunsen burner, and it could get pretty explosive.

Of course, I've seen flying glass as a result of a demonstration on magnetic fields, and blood as the result of an angular momentem experiment....



[/url]

#10:  Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 5:03 am

I managed to make a test tube explode during a chemistry lesson - nearly gave Chemistry Master a heart attack - not good he really did have heart disease! Surprisingly he was very disappointed when I was unable to do Chemistry at A level.

#11:  Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 6:11 am

Every couple semesters, despite dire warnings, one of my students seems to drip burning alcohol somewhere it shouldn't go, such as the bunsen burner tubing. However, the worst explosion I've seen came in grad school, when one of my fellow students, with a little help from a defective fume hood, managed an ether flash that took his mustache and a good bit of his hair. Thankfully, he suffered no permanent harm.

#12:  Author: trish, Location: Australia PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 6:25 am

During my time in science we had the following occur:

- One student was using a pipette and his mouth - not enough bulbs to go around and we were told to do this (it was about 1987). He lifted the pipette out of the liquid before removing his mouth which caused him to get a mouthful of whatever it was (some alkaline) which burnt his lips, throat and tongue.

- While watching this occur, a friend of mine did exactly the same thing but wasn't nearly as badly burnt.

- Two boys (naturally) decided to sword fight with pipettes and one ended up with it straight through his hand.

- Burning magnesium (I think) dropped onto the floor leaving a lovely mark.

- My best friend was sent to get a carton of beakers from the lab next door and managed to drop it in the corridor outside the door, smashing every single one.

- One stool completely destroyed after being set alight (purposely) and goodness knows how many benches and sinks.

The only thing I ever did was the sink thing!

#13:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 6:56 am

Our sink was full of organic chemicals at the time, which I can happily report are incredibly flammable, so we basically had our own fireworks party for about ten minutes until the teacher got the fire extinguisher to work. I dread to think what state the pipes were in...

#14:  Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:01 am

Our teacher was doing the acid/alkali experiment when you mix the two together, but she her hand slipped with the acid and the mixture exploded. Luckily everyone was OK, but I wish I'd been there when she had to explain to the headmistress why there was a huge mark on the chemistry lab ceiling! & another time we were told to burn peanuts over bunsen burners (something to do with giving off gases??) and someone dropped their burning peanut and set fire to the bench. We had to wear science overalls with our names embroidered on the back so that the teacher could see the name clearly to yell at you if you got your hair in the bunsen or anything!

School science labs are pretty dangerous places really!

#15:  Author: Caroline, Location: Manchester PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:55 am

Alison H wrote:
School science labs are pretty dangerous places really!


Not dangerous - fun!

Melting biro pens in a bunsen flame and then sculpting into decorative shapes (*nice* toxic fumes); throwing sodium / lithium into a wet sink, then squirting with ethanol (*pretty* flames); passing your hand through the yellow bunsen flame (but *not* the blue flame); splashing little drops of acid onto your jeans or lab coat and watching the little holes appear (distressed denim was 'in' that year - and a ruined lab coat was a badge of honour)...

These were the kind of things that got me through my chemistry degree and PhD with sanity intact.

'Tis a well known fact that all chemistry students are secret pyromaniacs.

#16:  Author: Kate, Location: Ireland PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 5:38 pm

I read your post, Caroline, without looking to see who it was, and I would have bet that was Rosie speaking. Smile

I don´t have anything interesting to add, except that this is one of my most favourite books, although I have no idea why.

#17:  Author: Katarzyna, Location: North West England PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 5:58 pm

As a former Chemistry student I can fully agree with Carolines sentiments - some lectures and pracs are just so boring, a quick experiment with added flames helps the situation along. Oh, and I am a self confessed pyromaniac, no secret about it whatsoever.


Anyway, back to the book. Exploits is not one of my favourites. I main problem with it is that Thelka is so sterotypical and for once shows no character traits that would lead you to believe that shes redemable. It seems to me that she is a character bought in with the knowledge that she would sum up the prussian german girl of the time and that her expulsion was set in stone from the begining.

If you compare her with Stacie, who also arrives with similar chips on her shoulders and poor attitude, you can see that EBD made Thelka ready hardened.

The only other character to get expelled, Betty, started off as a firebrand but you never really knew whether or not she would reform. I wonder if it hadn't been for the excitment of a spy story in the war setting whether Betty would have eventually made good.

sorry rambling now!

#18:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:29 pm

Katarzyna wrote:
The only other character to get expelled, Betty, started off as a firebrand but you never really knew whether or not she would reform. I wonder if it hadn't been for the excitment of a spy story in the war setting whether Betty would have eventually made good.


Yes, that, to me at least, wsa EBD at her most fascinating. It made a wonderful change to know that here was a girl whom EBD wouldn't, or perhaps couldn't, reform in one book (or at all). I was going to say that it was a pity EBD didn't do it again later in the series, but I think Jocelyn Marvell was an attempt at this (although Jocelyn wasn't 'evil' like Thekla or a born leader like Betty). If the series had continued beyond Prefects, it would have been interesting to know how EBD would resolve Jocelyn's situation and if she would have had to resort to expulsion.

#19:  Author: Bess, Location: Cambridge UK PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:31 am

Ok, I take it all back... maybe the Science Lab exploit wasn't so over-drawn after all. Maybe just a leeeetle bit.

The most exciting thing we ever got to do was boil leaves. Neutral The teachers did all the exciting stuff behind screens.

Thanks Roisin. Thekla is definitely reminiscent of Vera Smithers/Eustacia.

#20:  Author: Changnoi, Location: New Mexico, USA PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 7:04 pm

I do like half-term in this book, but I'm not fond of most of the rest of it. Thekla to me is really interesting--I keep wanting to see what she'll say or do next, so the pranks/pitfalls of clock boiling and science lab exploding for me get in the way of finding out what Thekla wants to do or say. I have never studied inter-war Germany, so I had never heard of Junker class or Prussians really--though I know they're supposed to be good at being soldiers, right?--and I was thrilled with Thekla. Is it an exaggeration of how Prussian people behaved? Thekla intrigues me because I know nothing of her background.

And I like the name Thekla.

As far as chemistry misdeeds, I set three bunsen burners on fire in a row, culminating with the lab bench. I have a knack for picking the ones that don't work/have leaky gas!

Chang

#21:  Author: Róisín, Location: Galway, Eire PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 8:52 am

I've just done a reread of Exploits and I loved it because it's such a nice one to reread. Nothing huge happens in it really; it's just a sequence of ordinary Chalet-esque events and problems. It's such a lovely fat hardback book too!

I love Thekla, because like Elizabeth, I didn't know much about Prussians or Junkers etc, and she intrigued me. It's good to see a character who isn't reformable too, I think. I particularly love the way Thekla has a thing for frilly knickers! It humanises her to me and just seems so at odds with her rigid persona.

This book portrays the growing up of the first batch of naughty middles very well; ie Margia, Corney, Evvy etc. (I know that Jo and Simone etc were the first middles, but they don't count in my head!) We start to see them become more serious in one way, and struggling with that in another. I love the way that EBD draws this - I find it very believable.

Think that's all! Very Happy

 

The CBB -> Book Discussions


output generated using printer-friendly topic mod, All times are GMT

Page 1 of 1

Powered by phpBB 2.0.6 © 2001,2002 phpBB Group