The Honourable Upper Fourth

My Copy Scanned

The Honourable Upper Fourth – Eveline M. Williams

First Published: 1929

 The Honourable Upper Fourth is set in a school called St. Catherine’s.  It is located in Great Britain and this particular story follows the lives of the spoilt and conceited upper fourth girls who are given a shock when new girl Mary Blunt arrives at St. Catherine’s and is placed in their form.  They are downright rude to the poor girl who is nothing but warm and friendly to the hostile girls.  The other girls look down on Mary as she doesn’t have pretty clothes and is rather free as she and her father have just returned from years of living in the Australian bush. 

 A must read for people who enjoy reading school stories.  It’s a perfectly lovely book. To put the book into modern context, think about the first book in the Private series by Kate Brian #1 Private. It’s a bit like that book to some extent. A much older version of that book, after all it was written in 1929.  It is one of those books that I hope won’t be forgotten but in reality it has just about been forgotten as nobody I know has even heard of the book let alone read it. 

The Downfall of Augustus Hare

The Downfall of Augustus Hare – Margaret Ross

Firstly I must apologise for the very poor quality photograph I have included.  I had to take it in my bedroom where I only have one shonky light globe.  I had difficulty finding a picture of this book online so this is better than nothing.

 The Downfall of Augustus Hare was published in 1945 and it is about a deceitful hare called Augustus and when he decides to scam kind Caroline and Harriette Twitchett who have let a room in their home out to him.  A Grand Baby Show is organised to raise money for the Comfort Fund but of course Augustus Hare has other ideas about where this money should go. 

 The illustrations are amazing and were done by Margaret Ross.  I just love this gem of a book. I’d never heard of it before. I found it at a wonderful second hand book market.  It is definitely worth reading.

School Friends

Image from Goodreads.com

School Friends - Ann Bryant

 #1 First Term at Silver Spires

#2 Drama at Silver Spires
#3 Rivalry at Silver Spires
#4 Princess at Silver Spires
#5 Secrets at Silver Spires
#6 Star of Silver Spires
#7 Part at Silver Spires
#8 Dancer at Silver Spires
 #9 Dreams at Silver Spires
#10 Magic at Silver Spires
 #11 Success at Silver Spires
 #12 Mystery at Silver Spires

A much more recent set of books of a boarding school, I found these enjoyable but not one of my favourites.  It’s a twelve book series set over two years in a school called Silver Spires. The first six books follow a group of friends in year seven, books seven to twelve are set one year later and follow another group of girls in year seven.  They’re the most modern boarding school books I have read. They tackle some minor problems that the girls face at school, focus on family and friendship a lot and are a light hearted series for children. 

Ballet School

Image From Google Images.

Ballet School – Emily Costello

The Ballet School series consists of six books in total.  They begin when Becky Hill is promoted to intermediate one class in Ballet and end at her promotion into intermediate two. We follow Becky and her friends, Becky doesn’t always tell the story; Jillian, Katie and Megan have their own story lines in the books.  At the end of each book there’s a diagram of the positions of ballet.   Jillian was my least favourite character, she whined, was a brat and was very irksome throughout Moms in Tutus. Becky Hill is my favourite character with Katie Russo as a close second.  I also love how this is set in a small town (even though so many children/young adult books are set in small towns) because it helped give their ballet school some character.  

 I began reading this series ten years ago when I came across the first book, that was all we had.  The library had books two and three but it wasn’t until 2011 when I came across copies to finish my collection.    It’s a sweet series.  I love books from the 1980’s and 1990’s.  I just love the USA covers, the UK covers underwhelm me.   I don’t know how widely known this series is, nobody I know has ever read it so I gather it wasn’t very common where I live.  This is a series that I don’t want to see forgotten. 

#1 Becky at the Barre

#2 Jillian on her Toes
#3 Katie’s Last Class
#4 Megan’s Nutcracker Prince
#5 Becky, Boys and Tutus
#6 Moms in Tutus