Books: Challenge for the Chalet School
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The CBB -> Formal Discussions

#1: Books: Challenge for the Chalet School Author: jenniferLocation: Taiwan PostPosted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 6:18 am
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Miss Annersley is on sabbatical and Miss Wilmot takes over, while the triplets do Upper 6, again. Phil Maynard appears to have contracted polio since the end of the previous book. Evelyn Ross joins the school at age 16 while her mother is at the San, and has trouble settling into the school structure, clashing particularly with the sports mad Margot.

In other news, Upper 4a is plagued by missing belongings, which turn out to be the result of a vendetta by Lower 4, ably led by new mischevious middle Jocelyn Marvell. Miss Ferrars has acute appendicitis and Stacie Benson steps in to substitute teach, fending off attempts at mischief by the middles. Jocelyn runs away, and Mary-Lou arrives just in time to solve everyone's problems. The term finishes with the Christmas pageant.

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Is this one of the better of the later Swiss books, or just another decline in the quality of the series? Is Evelyn a believable character, and does the senior storyline work, compared to all the stories involving middles in the surrounding books?

Is Margot a good choice for Games Prefect, given her conflicts with Evelyn in that position? What do you think of Stacie as a mistress? I the Phil storyline totally out of left field, or does it work well? Is the reason for the triplets staying an extra year believable, or contrived?

Any other comments, opinions, etc?

#2:  Author: JayBLocation: SE England PostPosted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 11:08 am
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This is one of my favourites of the later books. The substitute head storyline has been done before (Miss Bubb) but this is a completely different aproach.

I quite like Evelyn. Her reaction to her situation is believable, and I like that she just decides to make the best of it, rather than wholeheartedly becoming a Real Chalet School Girl. I like the crowd of Seniors she finds herself among, too. They are attratcive, well drawn characters. Its a pity we didn't get to see them as Prefects.

The Middles' prank and Kathie's appendicitis were good and quite new stories, and helped to give further insight into Nancy's character. It was good to see Stacie as a teacher, too, although I wish she hadn't rushed off to consult Joey at the first sign of trouble.

The reasons for keeping the triplets in the school proper for an extra year are a bit unconvincing, but I can understand that EBD would want to keep them in the story as long as possible - especially as she hadn't got any other strong seniors ready to take over as prefects. And they are now in the right form for their age.

Things I didn't like - Jocelyn's running away and Mary Lou popping up at just the right moment to sort it all out. Been done too many times before.

And Jo taking it upon herself to tell Evelyn how seriously ill her mother is, and doing it in such an offhand way. Firstly, Jo has no business knowing the details of Mrs Ross's condition, and secondly, it's not for her to decide what Evelyn should or shouldn't know. She's in no way in loco parentis as far as Evelyn is concerned.

The Phil story does seem to come out of nowhere. I was going to say I didn't really see the point of it, but it occurred to me that it might have been intended as a way to have Jo not quite so involved in school affairs this term, as Josette's accident kept Madge out of things in Gay.

And obviously I don't think Margot was a good choice for Games Prefect, since I demoted her!

#3:  Author: ClareLocation: Liverpool PostPosted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 11:24 am
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JayB wrote:
Mary Lou popping up at just the right moment to sort it all out.


That bit drove me round the bend when she came in and spoke to Evelyn! OK, Stacie discovered that she was uncomfortable in the situation and couldn't really offer much comfort to Evelyn. But then, swift steps down the corridor, a head peeps round the door, and Stacie pretty much falls on Mary-Lou's neck as she walks in. Grrr....

Other than that I did really enjoy the book and think it's one of the better late Swiss ones. Having been taken ill in class I thought Kathie's form were rather sweet in the way they reacted. One or two of mine thought it was highly amusing I was doubled up in pain and made the most of it, but most did look after me and get most of the class working. Rolling Eyes

#4:  Author: Alison HLocation: Manchester PostPosted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 3:48 pm
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I know the substitute Head bit'd been done before, but I quite liked seeing Nancy get her chance as temporary Head, and I liked seeing more of Stacie as well.

Evelyn's OK but it's a shame that, like a lot of characters in the Swiss books, she hardly ever appears again after being a major character in one book.

It's quite confusing that Phil is diagnosed with polio in between two books, but I thought that it was potentially an interesting long-term storyline. I always thought it was a shame that Cherry Christy, who had had the same condition and at one point looked set to become one of OOAO's Gang (in the days before they got annoying!) vanished off the face of the earth - presumably left at Carnbach. Felicity Maynard never seemed to have much personality but Phil (although more in Two Sams than in Challenge) looked set to become an interesting character.

#5:  Author: jenniferLocation: Taiwan PostPosted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 4:53 am
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I also find this book one of the better of the later Swiss books, story wise.

Evelyn's reactions are believable - she's gone from being a big fish in a small school, expecting to be head girl, to being one of a pack of younger seniors, and is struggling with language and different expectations, including Margot's assumption that everyone should love sports.

I think Stacie does really well, given how different university students and pre-teens are when it comes to teaching.

This is one where I do feel a sneaking sympathy for Margot. She's known to be sharp tongued, impatient and quick tempered, not very good at seeing the other person's point of view, and not a good judge of when to stop nagging, which makes her a poor choice for Games Prefect. Okay, she's good at sports, but her position involves a lot of coaching and dealing with younger girls, and to do that well, she would have to fight against her personality constantly. I also feel sorry for the girl's she's coaching, because they can't talk back to her or leave without getting in trouble, so they they have to display more self control than Margot does.

I do wonder about the *adults* in this book, though. First we have Miss Annersley casually discussing the fitness of various mistresses for substitute head in a meeting with three prefects. Then we have Joey spilling medical confidentiality to a girl she barely knows. Then we have Matron dressing down Nancy Wilmot for not intervening directly in the feud between Evelyn and her classmates - when school policy has previously been very firmly to let the girls sort it out themselves, or maybe have Joey or the Prefects step in. They've had girls upset enough to run away before the staff have done anything about it. Finally, when Jocelyn runs away in a snow storm, Stacie and ML decide not to tell anyone about it, but deal with it themselves. This when a girl has run away from school in bad weather, and Stacie at least should understand the dangers and the responsibility of the school.

The Phil storyline springs up rather abruptly, and poor Marie-Claire vanishes completely from the nursery, but it is nice to see Joey genuinely struggling with something, and to see her more vulnerable side. It's also nice to see her concerned more with her family than the school.

#6:  Author: jenniferLocation: Taiwan PostPosted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 4:54 am
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Oh yeah, and this is the only book that Evelyn appears in - she doesn't even rate a mention later.

#7:  Author: Fiona McLocation: Bendigo, Australia PostPosted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 6:48 am
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I could never believe Margot was made Games Prefect. Seemed too much like she only got the job for being a Marnard. I did feel sorry for her because EBD refuse to let her reform. She always had to stay the bad triplet with a horrible temper and I cannot and no one seems to be able to answer this is what good points is she ever described as having that makes her so popular? Anyway I digress. Phil's polio seems to be a side issue and not gone into much depth and I thought Joey interfered too much first with lecturing Nancy and then talking to Evelyn about her Mother. That is completely out of line. I really wished for a term when Joey was on the piano side and I do quite like her but wish others would get a chance. I really enjoyed Stacie being back and teaching the girls can completely believe her asking Joey about punishing them cos she hadn't had much to do with little girls. Overall though I thought it was one of the better books

#8:  Author: PollyanaLocation: Brisbane PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:02 pm
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The appearance of Mary-Lou really annoys me - it seems out-of-time somehow, just too convenient. Apart from that it's one of my favourites among the later books - seems to have more depth in it than a lot of the others, and some of the incidents, like Kathie being taken ill, ring more "true" than a lot of events in the other late books of the series. Although there are so many glimpses in the series of the mistresses "off-duty" it is very revealing to read Nancy's reactions when Kathie is ill.

I'd love to have had more of the story of Phil's illness - good fill-in material for someone maybe? It just seems to appear out of the blue. I've always wondered of EBD had put something in the previous books which had been cut, or whether she meant to do a holiday fill-in perhaps?

Margot seemed more "real" and less like the Bold Bad Girl than usual, and Stacie shows some lovely aspects of her character, proving that she really was very different from the Eustacia of early days.

As for Evelyn, she reminds me a little of Joyce Linton at the start - not realising how ill her mother is, and how long it is going to take for her to start to recover, but her character is not as fluffy and spoilt as Joyce's, and its good to see her attitude changing as she realises the truth.

#9:  Author: CarolineLocation: Manchester PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 1:35 pm
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This is easily my favourite of the last two years worth of books, and it's lovely to see a really new and believable plot for once, after quite a few books of recycled / adapted plotlines or bonkers randomness (drugs / crime / space travel / long lost relatives). EBD still had it, evidently. Makes me wonder if she was failing, health-wise, for a while before she died, and perhaps wrote this book when she was feeling particularly well.

On the specifics:

I love the fact that Evelyn ends up just making do, rather than embracing the CS - she must be about the only CS girl who does that in the whole series.

I like Lesley Anderson and friends - it's a shame we don't really meet them anywhere else, but it shows that EBD could still create a decent bunch of characters when she put her mind to it.

I can accept the Triplets staying for another year before Uni, although it does kind of make the point that St Mildred's is "only" a finishing school now, whereas it started out being for the academically gifted as well as those who were artistic / musical / heading for Society.

I wonder if EBD had them stay because (a) she didn't feel she'd given them a suitable send off the previous year, (b) she had more of their story to tell, (c) she couldn't bear to let them go, (d) she realised she didn't have a suitable bunch of girls to take over as Prefects so couldn't let them go (hence creation of Lesley et al) or (e) she had a feeling the series was coming to an end (with her failing health) and wanted to tie things up with the Trips leaving. Maybe all of the above!

I do feel rather sorry for Margot, made to be Games Pree when she is temprementally unsuited to the post. She reminds me of Grizel as Games Pree - very hearty and keen, and completely unable to understand why others aren't as keen / able as she is. Actually, putting it like that, she reminds me of every games mistress I ever had. So maybe EBD wasn't as wide of the mark as I thought Very Happy

I'm not keen on Jocelyn Marvell, although her storyline hangs together OK here (it's in later books things go daft, with the whole speedboat thing). She comes across as another Jack Lambert in many ways. I can see EBD needed a younger character, though, as it's otherwise a rather senior-focussed book.

I liked Nancy as Head, although I think in a real school, Mlle would automatically step up, as senior mistress. Hilda tells the triplets that Mlle would have hated the role and was glad not to have to do it, but I'd be interested to know if she really felt like that, or whether she was bitter and twisted at being overlooked...

It's good to see Stacie again, and a well-adjusted, fun Stacie too. Shame she didn't feature more in other books.

So much to say! This post is long enough, I think, so I will stop here.

#10:  Author: Loryat PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 5:40 pm
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I liked almost everything about this book except the random foreshadowing about Evelyn's possessiveness that is later dropped. You'd think when they were hacking the books inot paperbacks they could have got rid of that at the same time! Also I hated Jocelyn's runaway act and Mary-Lou's intervention. There really was no need for ML to be there. Evil or Very Mad

One thing I particularly liked:
The scenes with Stacie and Jo where they discuss the best way to punish someone.

#11:  Author: LizzieCLocation: Canterbury, UK PostPosted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 3:40 pm
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Alison H wrote:
It's quite confusing that Phil is diagnosed with polio in between two books


I'm glad that it wasn't just me. I spent most of Challenge trying to remember if it had been mentioned before or worrying that I had missed some vital part of an earlier book. This was doubly frustrating because the girls talking to the triplets at the start of the book sound like it was something they knew about before they broke up and went home for the summer. At least, that's how I read it.



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