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Girls’ books: ballet and horses and boarding schools, oh my!A good friend of mine here in the U.K. has taken on an insanely demanding job working as a manager for the National Health Service. She isn’t the type to complain — and I think she does actually enjoy the work — but the stress and long hours have had a notable effect on her leisure habits. When she watches TV, she wants short, upbeat programs like Scrubs. When it comes to online videos, she wants to watch hilariously cranky turtles chasing cats. And when it comes to reading, she wants to slip back into the literary equivalent of comfort food: girls’ books, and most particularly the girls’ books she read when she was growing up. All this Anne-of-Green-Gablesing has got me thinking about the girls’ books I used to read as a kid. Here are some of my favorite examples of the most popular genres. 1. The Ballet and Stage School Books At the risk of having my queer card taken away, I have to admit that I loved these books. I went on dreaming that I was going to be a ballerina long after I’d given up actual ballet lessons. And I still love watching ballet, musicals and contemporary dance, even if I’ve reluctantly come to realize that, truthfully, I find standing by the barre for hours and doing exercises a little boring. The British writer Noel Streatfeild, author of Ballet Shoes, is, obviously, one of the queens of this genre. As an early teen, though, the ballet books that I loved (and that my father relentlessly teased me for loving) were Jean Estoril’s Drina books.
If you’ve read this series — which is eleven books long, and follows Drina Adams from her first ballet lessons at age nine, to her triumphant debut as lead ballerina with a major company, plus wedding at age 18 (which seems awfully young, in retrospect, for such a major commitment) — you’ll know that she dances everywhere: in Exile, in Paris, in Italy, in Madeira, in New York, in Switzerland. Yes, these books are schlocky. But in their defense, the author was obviously a well-traveled woman who loved the places she was writing about — and she did give me a long-standing taste for travel, even if not for ballet classes. If all this talk of ballet gives you a rash, though, there are always what might be called the anti-ballet-book ballet books: Jahnna N. Malcolm’s Bad News Ballet series, about five girls who loathe the ballet classes they are forced into, and who refer to their snobby, skinny, ballet-mad classmates as “the Bunheads.” 2. The Horse Books No doubt Freud would have something to say about the popularity of “pony books” for girls, but whatever he had to say, I doubt it would apply to me. I was never actually that interested in horses in and of themselves — which is just as well, since my parents couldn’t have afforded a pony if I’d wanted one. But there were a few horse-themed books that I enjoyed. One was National Velvet, which — besides being made into a film starring Elizabeth Taylor — is actually a really good, genuinely literary novel, about a strange, spacey girl called Velvet and her strong, silent mother who once swam the English Channel.
The others were a series of nine “Jill” books by Ruby Ferguson, about a girl called Jill and her two ponies. I don’t know if these books have ever been published in America, but if they have, they probably seem hilariously bizarre to American readers. Mostly written in the 1950s, they are very old-fashioned and English: full of vicars, village fetes, horsey upper class people, and “oh, I say, Mildred” heartiness and emotional repression. But they are intentionally funny as well as unintentionally so, and I loved them. 3. The Boarding School Books If you want really old-fashioned English emotional repression, look no further than Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers and St. Clare’s books, all about the frightfully decent, sports-mad, strangely sexless girls at a couple of English boarding schools in the 1940s.
According to Wikipedia, these books have never really caught on in America — and I can’t honestly say I’m surprised — but they are hugely famous in England. Since Wikipedia also informs me that Malory Towers has become notorious for its lesbian subtext — to the point of earning a mention on Sugar Rush — it’s possible that I should go back and read them again. Personally, though, I preferred the endless number of Chalet School books by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer, about the endless number of pupils at an international boarding school in Austria in the first half of the 20th century. My memory of these books has grown hazy with time, but I still remember something about the pupils having to speak English on Monday, French on Tuesday, and German on Wednesday. I also remember them doing lots of skiing, and having a regularly scheduled break for for coffee and cakes, which they Germanically referred to as “Kaffee und Kuchen.” All of which still seems to me indescribably awesome.
The girls’ boarding school story seems to be more of an English than an American genre. But there is one American book I love: Susan Coolidge’s ridiculously brilliant What Katy Did at School, first published in 1873 and in print ever since. Besides the fact that I am still in love with Rose Red, there are all the chapters on secret societies, not to mention the one where Katy and Clover receive a Christmas box from home filled with parcels of lovingly described food: jumbles and ginger snaps and crullers and frosted plum cake. Speaking of which, I am now hungry. 4. The Orphan/Family Books By "orphan/family," I mean either books about (often large) families that are already established, or books about an orphan girl finding a family. Canada’s L. M. Montgomery is, of course, pretty much queen of the latter category, with her Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon books, all of which I read avidly.
A good modern example about a girl searching for a home is Cynthia Voigt’s 1981 story Homecoming, which kicked off her Tillerman cycle, about tomboy Dicey trying to find a place for her and her younger siblings to stay after their mother abandons them. In terms of books about established families, I liked Sydney Taylor’s All of a Kind Family series, about five sisters growing up in a Lower East Side tenement in New York at the beginning of the 20th century.
Once again, food seems to play a disproportionately large part in my recollection of these books. Isn’t there a chapter in the first one full of smoked fish and frankfurters and pickles and chickpeas, as the five girls accompany their mother to market? Speaking of which, I am now hungrier. Finally, of course, there was Beverly Cleary’s Ramona Quimby — whom Radar magazine recently “outed” as a childhood icon they were sure grew up into a lesbian — although I have to say, young as I was, I don’t remember getting that from the books. Note to Radar magazine: Sometimes a bowl cut is just a bowl cut. My best female friend in school had a bowl cut, and she grew up to be a raving heterosexual. I had (and still have) long hair, and ... well ... look at me. 5. The Adventure/Pioneer Girl Books Americans rule this category. In England, we have the omnipresent Enid Blyton’s stories about the Famous Five — one of whose members is the proto-transgender George — but their adventures mostly consisted of highly improbable things like discovering smuggled treasure. When it comes to pioneering in the U.K., well, you can “pioneer” your way from one leafy village to another, I suppose, but it’s not exactly going to be highly exciting. Americans, on the other hand, have Laura Ingalls Wilder — whose youthful adventures, as I recollect them, involve cyclone cellars, wheels of fire, plagues of locusts, malaria and running with some wild ponies. Bring it on, Laura.
Are there genres or favorite books of yours that I’ve left out? Let me know in the comments. Submitted by on February 4, 2008 - 5:01pm. |
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The Chalet School etc.
These old timey 50s books are great but amazingly racist viewed through modern eyes. I remember one of the Chalet School books in which the girls are having a feud with someone and borrow techniques from the KKK. And when I say that I mean one girl said "there's this amazing group in America called the KKK and they keep folks they don't like in check by burning crosses in their gardens!" Or something like that.
I've found myself reading Agatha Christie novels lately which suffer from a similar issue.
The other part I remember from that series involved a bunch of the chalet girls being lost in a blizzard and having to build a snow hole. My pre-pubescent brain really liked the idea of a bunch of schoolgirls cuddling together for "warmth."
As for Enid - is there any Enid Blyton book which doesn't swim in lesbian subtext? Malory Towers had the most obvious dyke in the world (Bill.) She and her "best friend" opened a stable together after school ended. Famous Five had George (who was nearly as good as a boy!)
You know what? Famous Five books made me gay.
Malory Towers!
I always had an (innocent) affection for Alicia, who reminded me of my own best mate.
Ramona!
Of course she was outed...which makes me giggle actually. When I read the books about her, the most enduring and vivid scene for me was of Ramona sitting in class behind the girl with the blonde curly hair and then reaching out, pulling the curls down and then saying "BOING!". Now if THAT isn't evidence of a pre-adolescent/coming out crush, my little lesbian girl's heart was doing backflips for nothing.
I was a big fan of the "Little House" books (it was like camping right?). But of course, there was my own personal favorite Judy Blume...and all the girls and a couple of boys and increasing amounts of SEX...okay those were the "adult" books. Can I help it if one author writes for all age groups!?!
I did go off on an intellectual/rebel tangent in high school and got way into Kurt Vonnegut...which led me to John Irving in college...and Jonathan Kellerman in Grad School. But otherwise, I prefer the women authors...really I do...
PS. I forgot to mention the interupted Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys phase. My grandmother gave me a Nancy Drew book when I was about 10 or so. It scared the crap out of me (vivid imagination issues) and I waited until I was in 8th grade to read another one. In fact, I restarted the mysteries genre with the Hardy Boys, since I was still feeling burned by Nancy...
School days, school days ...
Horse Books were probably my favorite genre, particularly those written by Marguerite Henry, like:
The Misty of Chincoteague
Stormy: Misty's Foal
Sea Star, Orphan of Chincoteague
I was, in fact, so enamored of these books, that I named my first puppy "Skipper" after the family farm dog.
I would also like to say that I have the (perhaps) dubious distinction of having read ALL of the L.M. Montgomery Anne books. Oh yeah. All the way up to Rilla of Ingleside.
My last and final series was not under a category, and not *specifically* for girls, but CS Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia I read backwards and forwards. The pre-Harry Potter fantasy books. They may be full of Christian-isms and imagery, but they really paved the way for children's fantasy books .... that and the books of OZ ....
Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates. [Mark Twain]
Dragons!
I was a fantasy/science fiction girl myself. There wasn't a whole lot to choose from as far as solo female protagonists, but I did love the Harper Hall books by Anne McCaffrey. Loved Dragonsong and Dragonsinger, remember being bewildered by the sudden shift in point of view to a young lad in Dragondrums. Also loved Hawksmistress and Thendara House by Marion Zimmer Bradley when I was a bit older.
I was all about adventure!
Hello Jo
Yes! Island of the Blue Dolphins was wonderful.
Hmm, let's see... I also loved the Little House books, as well as Little Women. I loved Jo, and still believe she plays for the All Girl's Team; despite how the story ends.
Enid (grrrr) Blyton
I hated her as a child. My mother force fed me Mallory Towers (a vain attempt at instilling some of that propriety you mentioned in me). my dad was all about the Famous Five (hoping that if I was going to insist on being a babydyke I could at least be an outdoorsy one who would go sailing with him, I wasn't) and my grandfather read me Noddy until I was eleven...
I myself was a historical fiction girl especially stuff by Marita Conlon McKenna (I actually liked these so much I nicked them from the school library when I was leaving) and then there were (and this is probably VERY 90s) the "issue" books of Jacqueline Wilson (Tracey Beaker!!!) and the skank-in-training Sweet Valley High series (I only bought these to make my father blush at the till carrying a book with two blonde teens pouting on its cover).
(Don't ask and Marlene won't tell)
It was all about mystery.
I was a boxcar kid
Does anyone remember wanting to run away from home and live in a boxcar with your friends. Okay I know this may only apply to kids under the age or 20 but I know some one out there can relate.
And in the defence of queer bunheads everywhere, hey! I love ballet! (not as much as jazz though :Pchildhood books
Nancy Drew
I think I managed to read about 75% of the series (no small feat when you consider that there are several hundred out there). In retrospect, the lesbian undertones of the the George-Bess relationship are really obvious. Think about George, the tall, athletic, judo-practising tomboy with the short dark hair and a distaste for dresses (who's 17 or 18, a little old to be going through a childhood phase). And then there's Bess, who's forever clinging to her and hiding in her shadow, always "oh George!" this and "oh George!" that.
My favorite girls' book genre was the summer-camp book, though. (This probably had something to do with the fact that I never went to summer-camp myself, so the concept always had the appeal-of-the-unknown for me.) Out of those, my favorite was a mystery called "Allegro born, Allegro dead" or something like that.
And what does Freud have to say about the girls-and-ponies phenomenon?
Ramona is totally queer.
The Susan's hair obsession! And the engagement ring made from a worm incident and her super (unnamed as such) crush on Miss Binney.
Ramona was happy to do anything Miss Binney wanted her to. She unwound the worm from her finger and placed it carefully in a puddle, where it lay limp and still.
----Maybe not the best example, but it's throughout the whole thing, Miss Binney is her super-teacher-crush and Susan is the everything-she's-not femme out of reach. All of her social angst is about their perception of her. as in--OMG what will Susan say about her ugly brown boots?
Wow I totally want to dig into these again. (And Anne of Green Gables!)
Good old books!
oh, I loved them all,
malory towers and the twins were my favourite books when I was young and I read them all several times.
Loved the Enid Blyton books by German author Rosemarie Eitzert as well.
Anne of greengables was great too. Still have all on my bookshelf. She is so adorable.
Malory towers and the twins
Malory towers and the twins at st clares are possibly two of my favourite childhood books! even my brothers loved them! hmm.. Enid Blyton was pretty big here in Australia back in the 80's
Trixie Belden
Does anyone remember the Trixie Belden series? I read them all, and remember preferring her to the prissier Nancy Drew. Trixie wore dungarees and sneakers!
I read all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books.
www.bettnorris.com
www.bywaterbooks.com
Loved Trixie!
Blyton in Spain
St. Clare and Malory Towers were huge in Spain too. Enid Blyton is still huge.
I have recently posted in my blog how much I disliked when the spanish translator of Enid Blyton's books used some horrible expressions. In Englisg saying "this dress is JUST beautiful" sounds more or less OK, but in Spanish the equivalent for "just" is just affecting and sickening. Anyway, bla, bla, bla.
Great post Browne! also last week's one was great: I got to expand my future library more and more, and for someone whose main goal in life is to try and open a small bookshop... thanks! By the way, I'm planning a trip soon to Hay-on-Wye, is it as lovely as I think it is?
About the O'Sullivan's books... is it just me or has anyone else also noticed how Pat is always speaking while Isabel (was her name also translated?) never talked. I think it was in the third or fourth book that I counted how many times Isabel spoke and they were less than fifteen.
Janet and Bobby were obviously lesbians.
Famous Five
I was named after the lead character (Georgina/George) from Enid Blyton's 'Famous Five'. My mother adored the books and loved the name and so it is mine. I'm not so sure she was overly please that I grew up to adopt the same attitudes of the character, refusing to answer to anything but George (even at school) and pretty much being a tomboy in ever way possible. I was never allowed to have a dog though or you can guarantee I'd have named him Timmy (even if it was a girl), I named my teddy Timmy instead. I'm just thankful she didn't name me after George's wussy cousin Anne, my life could have been so different!
I was addicted to Malory Towers and the St Clares books. I wanted to be Darrell or Bill. Then I read the Hobbit when I was 10 and my interest in so called girls books went out of the window. Soon after I was introduced to the 200AD comics and never looked back.
When I first came out a friend gave me all the Ann Bannon books. Dated they may be but they had me hooked.
I'm off on a trip down memory lane now....
Oh, Enid...
...how I loved thee. Not literally, although I seem to remember reading an article once speculating about her inclinations. My Aunt had a bookshelf full of her old Blyton books, and I loved the school ones especially, swimming in subtext as they were. There was always the girly airhead who all the _real_ girls (read, tomboys/lesbians) made fun of. And I remember the pair who went off to start a stable together, as someone already mentioned. But my favourite still has to be George from the Famous Five. The one famous five book I've kept has a hilarious plot involving George and another big dyke called Henry, which amused me so much I once wrote a couple of parody stories about it. Link below if anyone fancies it, apologies for the popups.
(http://www.raynes-fanfic.fcpages.com/journey.html)
Thanks for all the comments...
... you're really bringing back memories for me! I had totally forgotten about Bill and Clarissa in Malory Towers... but you know, it's weird, even though I completely had no idea I was queer when I was reading those books, I seem to remember kind of liking that relationship, even at the time :P And Ramona and the hair-boinging... I'd forgotten all about that!
Did anyone read the Trebizon books by Anne Digby? I forgot about those when I was writing this post... but the main character, Rebecca, TOTALLY had a crush on Pippa Fellowes-Walker...
spanish list... to my great shame, I've never actually been to the Hay-on-Wye literary festival, but I'm sure it's good... I shoud go.
Boarding school books
Half Magic and Lois Lowry
Thanks to everyone for brightening up a grey afternoon-- I read many of these books so long ago, that I nearly forgot about some of them. I'd like to add Half Magic and other books by Edward Eager to the list. Also A Summer To Die (the saddest book ever) and all of the Anastasia Krupnik and other great books by Lois Lowry, one of my favorite childhood authors. She pings my 'dar a bit, too.
For a trip down memory lane (for Anastasia fans): check out http://www.loislowry.com/index.html
Lois Lowry
Loved Ramona!!!
Thanks for this blog..I totally remember reading about Ramona wearing her pajama's underneath her clothes to school one day because she was too comfy to take them off...and trying it later...in real life!!!
I also remember Sweet Valley High...I loved the twins..and couldn't get enough of this series..I thought it was so grown up to be reading about high school at 10. LOL!
What Katy Did
A present: http://www.yuletidetreasure.org/archive/40/snowwhite.html
It's a fanfic I found one day about what would have happened if Clover and Rose Red had got together and it is so perfectly in keeping with the tone of the series I can't even. It's wonderful.
I loved the Chalet School books! They're why I did German at school. And Mallory Towers was so dykishly awesome. Especially Bill and Clarissa, who would go off and play "horsey games" together. Oh right?
Malory Towers
Sally didn’t like Alicia and wanted Darrell’s entire friendship. Alicia didn’t see why she should give up Darrell’s companionship completely just because Sally had come back. Why not a threesome till Betty returned?
Grins. Malory Tower's just awesome and choke full of subtext poor innocent me never got (even while re-reading the books in my teens). Thank universe for the huge amount of hilarious MT slash on livejournal.
I think mine break
I think mine break down into two categories:
1. Jolly Japes
Mallory Towers, the Naughtiest Girl in the School (god I was jealous of Julian), Famous Five (Timmy, you're so licky!), What Katy Did, Jennings, Swallows and Amazons
2. I'm not crying. Really. Stop looking at me....
Little Women, Black Beauty, A Christmas Carol, Seven Little Australians.
Oh, and Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (which don't really fit into either of the above categories.)
Not Only But Also
boys boarding schools