This is the fifth book in the series, the seventh if we count, as I do, the Pamela Cox continuation novels as worthy parts of the series. But this one was written by Enid Blyton herself.

The girls are now in the Fourth Form, but they still do not have the dignified behavior one would expect of senior girls. They still delight in playing jokes on Mam'zelle, midnight picnics and all the fun that St. Clare's can offer. They also have their internal dramas, mostly featuring the new girls. It's a pity that the regular cast doesn't get to shine more, but since they are at this point reliable and sensible girls, they are not as interesting as the new girls, always full of problems of all kinds.

Among the new girls, we get the title character, Claudine, who is Mam'zelle's niece. She is a carefree and spontaneous creature, who does and says the most outrageous things, but without any real malice in her. As sometimes happens in these books, she is a foreign girl who is rather stereotyped, but quite likable. Contrary to some commentators, I do not consider Blyton at all xenophobic. If anything, she is a bit provincial. If she had had the opportunity to know more people from all parts of the world, she would have seen they are not so different and exotic. Nevertheless, the unconventional Claudine is a delight, and always entertaining.

We also get a new girl who is ashamed of her family, another one who steals and tells tales, a pretty and spoiled rich girl, an unpleasant new matron... Miss Theobald really has a lot of work on her plate this season.

These books obviously are not Shakespeare, and they do not try to be, but I found the characterization in this one quite nuanced, with girls who do bad things out of quite understandable pressures and thoughts. And not just the new girls, but characters like Allison, who can be foolish and easily captivated by glamorous people, but also is sensitive and kind.

Always cheerful and eventful, these books are entertaining and quite good fun. ( )

A Santa Clara llegan Ángela, una niña rica y mimada muy presumida que se hace muy amiga de Alison; y Paulina, una muchacha que también presume de tener muchas cosas como Ángela, aunque después se descubren que no son verdad. Además llega Claudina, la sobrina de Mademoiselle, una niña francesa con costumbre muy distintas a las inglesas. Tendrán problemas con la nueva ama de llaves y con su hija, que es una chivata, Eileen, que robará a su madre para ayudar a su hermano Edie.

One of my childhood favourites, fifth in the 'St Clare's' series about a boarding school for girls. Old-fashioned, of course. The dialogue seems stilted, full of ‘I say!’ and ‘Look here!’ Situations are typecast (a stinkbomb ‘trick’, a midnight feast, a bit of tale-bearing…) and most of the characters are caricatured.

But I enjoyed re-reading it, realising that many moral issues are covered without preaching. Many of my values were formed in part thanks to Enid Blyton; I have a deep-rooted dislike of snobbery and cliquishness, and a horror of cheating. The shallow but good-natured Alison learns something valuable in this book, and it’s a lesson which I hope would still translate to 21st century readers.

This book was originally intended for girls of about 11-15; the main characters in the series are around eleven or twelve in the first book, ‘The Twins of St Clare’s’ (which I also re-read recently) and they are about fifteen in this one. They seem a lot younger than today’s fifteen-year-olds, and naive in many ways. I don’t think that’s a bad thing in itself, but it means the book is more likely to appeal to younger children, perhaps about 8-11. ( )

Claudine is a " new" character, so was Eileen, Pauline, and Matron. Angela was a "variation on a theme."

Digitalization was probably the best it has been, but that isn't saying much. What a shame. ( )

Another great story with a lot of things going on which I really enjoyed. Blyton's strength is in the tiny minutiae of everyday school life and there's plenty of lovely details in this one - scenes of sewing, feasts, half-term parents' day, etc. A bit sad there's only one left! ( )