When Leith Rossiter and her family move to Woodbury, after her father gets a new position at the medical school there, the New Zealand schoolgirl finds herself entering a large high school for the first time. Previously, she had been educated at a small country school, with less than thirty pupils of all ages, and she was unused to dealing with so many other girls her own age. Taking her father's advice about trying to fit in to heart, Leith enters into form Five Lower A's pranks, getting herself into trouble in the process. Her schoolgirl crush on sixth form prefect Persis Randolph provides her with the inspiration to break away from this behavior, with good results for the entire form, but Leith's eventual friendship with Persis produces a new problem, in the form of her jealousy. Can Leith learn to balance close personal friendship with the demands of a broader social circle? Can she learn to share, and to be both an individual and a member of the group...?

Getting to the answers to these questions provides quite a bit of enjoyment in Leith and Friends, which is the fifth school story I have read from New Zealand author Clare Mallory (real name: Winifred Constance McQuilkan Hall). Like the other books from this author that I have read, I found this one delightful. It was immediately engaging, and kept my attention throughout, offering a sensitive depiction of schoolgirl social dynamics, and of the troubles of its eponymous heroine, as she struggles to figure out how to navigate school and personal friendships. Unlike the four other Mallory titles I have read thus far, Leith and Friends occurs at a day school, rather than a boarding school, and the family dynamics, and after-school and weekend activities included in the story provide another layer of interest. One of the things I have particularly appreciated about Mallory's stories, and it was evident here too as well, is that there doesn't seem to be any schoolgirl antagonist or villain. Sometimes girls quarrel, and frequently younger forms misbehave, but it never seems to be from malice, and any resultant trouble seems to work itself out eventually. Schoolgirl feuds can be fun, of course, but it is pleasant to find an author who does not seem interested in including them, but who nevertheless produces immensely engaging stories. I look forward to reading more from Mallory, and highly recommend this one to readers who enjoy girls' school stories. ( )