Pat e Isabel O´sullivan cambian de colegio y llegan a Santa Clara muy resentidas. Tras muchas disputas y problemas acaban aceptando al colegio y sus compañeras y profesoras.

Die "Hanni und Nanni"-Bücher habe ich als Kind geliebt, und als ich jetzt die englische Ausgabe für wenig Geld als ebook sah, hatte ich Lust, die alte Geschichte in der Originalsprache neu zu entdecken. Im ersten Band kommen die Zwillinge auf ihre neue Internatsschule. Der deutsche Titel, "Hanni und Nanni sind immer dagegen", macht schon deutlich, dass die Zwillinge mit der Schulwahl ihrer Eltern nicht einverstanden sind, können da doch schließlich Schülerinnen aus allen Schichten aufgenommen werden und es wird erwartet, dass die Schülerinnen sich selbst um ihre Sachen kümmern.

Glücklicherweise können die Zwillinge ihre ablehnende Haltung nicht allzu lange aufrecht erhalten, und so kommt eine klassische Internatsgeschichte mit ihren aufs und abs in Gang.

Im englischen Original heißen die Zwillinge dann auch Patricia und Isabel - hier wurde in der deutschen Ausgabe doch einiges angepasst.

Überrascht war ich, dass die erste Anfahrt zur neuen Schule fast eine 1:1 Vorlage für die erste Anfahrt an Hogwarts im ersten Harry Potter Band ist - man reist mit dem Zug an, steigt in Kutschen um und sieht die Schule auf einer Anhöhe.

War mal wieder ein Spaß. ( )

Twin sisters Isabel and Patricia O'Sullivan find themselves sent unwillingly to St. Clare's, rather than the more exclusive Ringmere School where their friends from primary school will be attending, after their parents notice that they are getting a bit conceited. Determined to make their mark, Isabel and Pat don't get off to a very good start, finding that of the girls in their dorm room, only Kathleen Gregory is willing to befriend them, as the others believe them to be snobs. They also run into trouble when Pat refuses to take orders from the older girls, and do the tasks assigned to her. Eventually they do integrate into the school more fully, and find themselves caught up in any number of experiences - participating in midnight feasts; campaigning against a particular mistress, and then relenting; helping to find and reform the girl-thief amongst the pupils; playing on the school lacrosse team - that make their first term so memorable...

Originally published in 1941, The Twins at St. Clare's is the first of six novels that the prolific Enid Blyton wrote about the O'Sullivan twins and their time away at St. Clare's school. Although well aware of the series, and the author, I had not picked this book up before it was assigned as a text in the class on the history of children's literature that I took, while getting my masters. I found it lots of fun, despite being well aware of its somewhat formulaic narrative, and copious use of common school story incidents and themes. Prior to reading it, the only other Blyton school story I had read was First Term at Malory Towers, which I did not find nearly so engaging. I thought the sisters were sympathetic characters, I enjoyed the twin-specific pranks they got up to, and I like that, although mischievous, they were not malicious. This last is important, especially in the incidents involving history mistress Miss Kennedy, whom the girls initially torment, until they discover that she is tempted to quit her job, despite needing it to help her seriously ill mother. As the twins say: "a joke's not a real joke when it means real unhappiness to somebody else."

Recommended to anyone who enjoys girls' school stories, or lighthearted children's literature in general. ( )

Mayores de 8 años

‘The Twins at St Clare’s’ is the first in this series about a boarding school. However the twins in the title - Pat and Isabel - have no wish to go there....and are determined to make nuisances of themselves. There are caricatured classmates; the teachers, too, are rather larger than life. But it doesn’t matter. Each chapter has anecdotes in the life of the school, as the twins slowly discover the benefits of the school.

These books come with subtle (and not-so-subtle) moral lessons about loyalty and sportsmanship and the importance of hard work. They also demonstrate real forgiveness for those who go wrong but turn around. The writing isn’t brilliant, but it’s nowhere near as bad as some might suggest. It comes across as dated and unrealistic, yet for the duration of the book, I could almost feel myself at St Clare’s.

Overall, I was impressed - more so than I had expected, having not read the book for decades. I would recommend it to any fluent reader of about eight or nine (or older) who likes stories set in boarding schools. ( )