The school at the Chalet

Advantages: These books are very collectable but also very good reading time and time again
Disadvantages: Hard backs with dust wrappers are hard to find. PB just not the same

...A very sought after book which is timeless in reading entertainment. This book comes under chicken soup category. Take it to bed every time you have a cold or feel the need for cosseting. The book centres round a boarding school set innovatively in Austria. Initially the school is for a handful of pupils, the very first of these being Josephine Mary Bettany, thereafter known as Jo. Her sister Madge has started the school to augment the slender family income and to improve the health of Jo. Before too long the school is embroiled in 'middles' pranks and thrilling disobedience which leads to the heroine Jo almost being killed. He school grows rapidly and the characters in this book set the scene for a further 57 books. No other Chalet series book can compare with the joy of reading the first one. If you can only afford one good hard...

shirley49 21.10.2005 (07.11.2005) · Read review
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Review of The School at the Chalet - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer

The Chalet School Series

Advantages: Very collectable, interesting historical perspective, amusing and memorable characters, strong moral thread
Disadvantages: Occasionally repetitive and inconsistent in plots towards the end of the series

...Highly collectable and eminently readable, the Chalet School series is a fascinating and uplifting set of 62 books, centering on the School itself, and particularly the Bettany/Maynard families, as they experience the peacetime beauty of the Austrian tyrol, the terror of War, and the changes forced by its aftermath. Always exciting, and with a set of memorable, absorbing and often amusing characters, the set of books as a whole is not without its flaws. As devout fans of the series will tell you, Brent-Dyer could be inconsistent, and occasionally repetitive with her plots towards the end of the series. The first 10 books are universally acknowledged to be the best of Brent-Dyers tales, with the flight from the Nazi invasion of the Austrian Tyrol (The Chalet School in Exile) both moving and historically interesting. The detailed...

JoannaScott 21.10.2006 (10.04.2007) · Read review
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Review of The Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer

Chalet School - just for children?

Advantages: Addictive, exciting, wide-appeal
Disadvantages: Some of rarer titles are difficult to find

...and the location (Austria and Switzerland were especially interesting). My first Chalet School book was given to me by my Grandmother - I saw the list of 'other titles' on the last page and knew I'd have to read the next, and the next… But as a 24-year-old ddult I continue to read them. The books are beautifully written, with lots of period detail - they even deal with the Nazism and the effects it had on Austria and Europe, in an accessible, but effective way. The books have multi-layers to them, so that both adults and children can enjoy them - in a similar way to the Harry Potter books. They are not even just for females. I know a couple of males who have enjoyed the books tremendously. I have been collecting the Chalet School books since I was 9, and only have 3 titles left to find to complete my collection. Easy you might think...

e_l_parker 13.02.2001 (30.03.2005) · Read review
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Review of The Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer

Building up a collection of Chalet School books

Advantages: great morals, fun, exciting
Disadvantages: too addictive

...The Chalet School series by Elinor Brent-Dyer seems to be one of the most popular school series. There were 62 books altogether which is why it is so difficult to collect the whole set. There were also additional books and newsletters. Recently new authors have written 'fill-in' books where they feel there should be extra information not provided by the author herself. Some of the books are extremely rare and some paperbacks, even reprints can sell for £30+ making some of the hardback first editions extremely valuable indeed. If you have started a collection or would like to I have some tips for you. Firstly decide whether you wish to collect paperbacks, hardbacks or either and whether you want to get every title or just the actual series of books and not the newsletters, additional books and books by other authors. Once you have...

racheldarcy 01.03.2007 · Read review
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Review of The Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer

The Highland Twins at the Chalet school

Advantages: Warm and moving story for any age group
Disadvantages: hard to get in hard back.

...A much later book than School at the Chalet, Highland Twins is number 16 in the series. Now for the story: When it beings, Jo (of School at the Chalet fame) has left school, is a prolific author, married and has triplet daughters. The chalet school has been forced to remove itself from Austria, first for a brief stay in Guernsey then as the war in Europe gets closer, they move to the Golden Valley in Armishire. Naturally Jo and her family move too. It is hard for people who were not around to imagine what wartime in Britain was like. I do not mean the air raids as such but the everyday deprivations people endured. Women who had never worked since marriage were suddenly being called up to work in munitions factories and other occupations left vacant by the men. Single women had to become land girls, bus drivers or join one of the many...

shirley49 06.11.2005 · Read review
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Review of The Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer

The Chalet School Series & Real Life

Advantages: Gives an insight into school life in different countries.
Disadvantages: I think the language side was a bit unrealistic.

...For me the title chosen above sums up this series very aptly. From it's very small beginnings of a few pupils through to the final book in which reference is made to the Three branches of the Chalet School-The Main Swiss Branch, The English branch & St Mildred's Finishing branch it is a school which is immensly popular. Not difficult to see why either when you consider, the friendly but strict in school hours mistresses several of whom were old girls, the choice of uniform which both the staff & pupils get to help choose, the list of trips that every section of the school get take on to broaden their knowledge, the walks closer to the school in loverly English countryside or Swiss mountains & the extremly varied choice of food that has me wanting to try some, mentioned in most books. But the other side for me is the very vivid...

FriendlyLynn 03.10.2005 · Read review
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Review of The Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer

* Rock School *

Advantages: Plot is Different
Disadvantages: Couldn't Watch it a few times!

...I have decided to review 'The School of Rock' film having recently watched it. The School of Rock is an American film released in the United Kingdom on February 6th 2004. The film comes under the comedy and musical genres. This film was directed by Richard Linklater and stars Jack Black. This movie is a PG. Running time of this movie is one hundred and eight minutes (twelve minutes short of two hours), Wannabe rock star , Dewey , is 'sacked' from his band and because he has many bills to pay and is down in the dumps , he feels he needs to get out there and find a job. So , he becomes a substitute teacher at a private school. What will happen when Dewey takes his 'rock and roll' attitude to the private school ? Watch School Of Rock To Find Out! On first impression , this film didn't look my cup of tea at all. My friend had the DVD...

xdonzx 09.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of School Of Rock (DVD)

Schools Out

Advantages: different game modes
Disadvantages: can bore of it quite quickly

...I'm a big fan of the tycoon series of games - mall tycoon, zoo tycoon, casino tycoon etc so I thought that school tycoon would be another game to add to that list. I bought it for £5 at PC world and, at that price, you pretty much can't go wrong! There are a couple of different modes to this game. There is the story mode, where you have to build a school from scratch on a limited budget and operate at a profit but also meet the standards of education that you need to achieve eg sports/discipline/attendance etc. You can do this by employing the right (strict) teachers. This is where the challenge lies as obviously there is a trade-off between employing the best teachers and paying lower wages. You also get to design the layout of your school and choose what to build and where. There are facilities such as cafeterias, staff rooms...

katherineh123 05.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of School Tycoon (PC)

School memories

Advantages: n/a
Disadvantages: n/a

...It is my 200th review on here and I wanted to do something a little bit different. As I haven't written a Ciao Café review for some time I thought that it would be a nice change. This topic caught my eye seeing as I am now almost qualified as a teacher and wanted to reflect back on my own school experience! So, the following are a selection of my ten best school memories. The last one isn't so much a best memory rather than an embarrassingly funny one. The frog skeleton My year one teacher was a lovely lady named Mrs Keavney. She was very into wildlife and therefore many of our lessons would end up outside in the schools wildlife area or investigating nature in some way. She was keen on us to bring things in to show the rest of the class, so I was delighted when one day we discovered a perfect frog skeleton in my greenhouse...

ilusvm 10.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of 10 Best School Memories

SCHOOL ........... DAZE .

Advantages: ten school memories .
Disadvantages: there are only seven !

...Lord , I'm not sure if I have 10 . Well , not " best " in the usual sense of the word where everyone is doing something good , studious and productive , and at the end of it they are presented with a nice certificate and some house points If that's what your expecting of MY school days , then maybe you'd better stop reading now ? So these are the best from my point of view . The ones I remember most vividly , the ones I enjoyed the most regardless of anyone else's enjoyment or lack of it , and the ones that just stand out from every other routine day for whatever reason .. They wont necessarily be in chronological order , I'll just write them down as they occur to me . I leave it to you to keep up ?. So .. shirts tucked in , ties straight , stand to attention and lead off from the right...

Janej47 24.05.2006 · Read review
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Review of 10 Best School Memories