Here's the Naughtiest Girl! - Enid Blyton

There are three books in the Naughtiest Girl series by Enid Blyton:

The Naughtiest Girl in the School (First Published 1940)
The Naughtiest Girl Again (1942)
The Naughtiest Girl is a Monitor (1945)

While being in many ways typical school stories such as the St Clare's and Malory Towers books, also by Enid Blyton these books are also significantly different. (Interestingly, The Naughtiest Girl in the School ...
...published.)

**So What Are The Differences?**
Well for a start, the school is a mixed school, educating both girls and boys, while in most school stories from this era deal with single sex boarding schools. The other major difference is that the school is run by the children themselves, who deal with matters of discipline at a weekly meeting. At this meeting the children are allowed to bring up any complaints that they have against ... more

There are three books in the Naughtiest Girl series by Enid Blyton:

The Naughtiest Girl in the School (First Published 1940)
The Naughtiest Girl Again (1942)
The Naughtiest Girl is a Monitor (1945)

While being in many ways typical school stories such as the St Clare's and Malory Towers books, also by Enid Blyton these books are also significantly different. (Interestingly, The Naughtiest Girl in the School was actually the first Enid Blyton school story to be published.)

**So What Are The Differences?**
Well for a start, the school is a mixed school, educating both girls and boys, while in most school stories from this era deal with single sex boarding schools. The other major difference is that the school is run by the children themselves, who deal with matters of discipline at a weekly meeting. At this meeting the children are allowed to bring up any complaints that they have against other children and the problems are considered and dealt with by the "Monitors" who are elected by the children and act as a jury, and the Head Boy and Head Girl who have the position of judges. The children also bring all their pocket money to the meetings, where it is redistributed (2 shillings each!) so as to be fair.

To me as a child reading these books, I was acutely aware that such a structure would never work in any of the schools I had attended. Nevertheless, I was interested in the system and managed to believe that in the world of the books this system would work. While now the books are far to untrue to life, as a 10 year old I found them extremely absorbing and even fascinating to read.

**What Else Is There?**
The books in many other ways are typical of the school story type genre. The books begin with Elizabeth Allen, who hates the idea of going to boarding school. She arrives trying to cause trouble and get sent home, but as would be expected by those familiar with boarding school books, the school works its magic and she comes to love her school.

In the other books in the series we read about Elizabeth's future progress through the school. She gets into trouble a lot due to her mischievous nature and her fiery temper. However, we see how she tries to overcome these faults and it is always absolutely clear that behind it all she tries to be kind.

**Would I Enjoy Reading It?**
If you generally enjoy children's school stories then I would certainly suggest that you try these books. I must admit that they seem to me slightly more unrealistic and childish to the extent that I enjoy them less than some books of the genre (the Chalet School books, for example have more depth in my opinion). Nevertheless, like most school stories from this time period they have the advantage that it is possible to lose yourself in a long ago (and I suppose never really existent but far more happy) age where ideals are realised. If you like this sort of thing then go for it!

Beware though! There are books on the market which claim to be part of the series but are written by a different author. These are, in my opinion, of a far lower standard. They were written far more recently and seem to attempt to bring the series up to date in some ways, which certainly to an adult reader make them far less believable. While the original books are unbelieveable, you can believe in them while reading you live in the world of the books. These are, to my mind at least, unbelievable in the context of the books themselves, and I find them painful to read. 

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