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Alice Lunt

Autor/a de Little Gray Donkey

7 obres 49 Membres 2 Ressenyes

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Inclou el nom: Alice Lunt

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Obres de Alice Lunt

Little Gray Donkey (1954) 29 exemplars
Eileen of Redstone Farm (1964) 5 exemplars
Jeanette's First Term (1960) 5 exemplars
Jeanette In the Summer Term (1962) 4 exemplars
Secret Stepmother (1959) 3 exemplars
Tomorrow the Harvest (1955) 2 exemplars
Mystery at Redstone Farm (1970) 1 exemplars

Etiquetat

Coneixement comú

Gènere
female

Membres

Ressenyes

Best friends and schoolgirls Jeanette Ward and Agnes Tolley, whose story began in Alice Lunt's Jeanette's First Term, return in this second novel devoted to their adventures at Castle Street Secondary Modern. Now in their Summer Term, the girls find themselves confronting a different kind of challenge, one arising from their friendship with Hania Malinowska, a new girl from Poland who speaks very little English, and who needs looking after. Aggie's tendency toward disaster, which manifests itself in an incidents involving baby Susan, as well as in one with Auntie Edie, also produces tension between herself and Jeanette's family, leading to much unhappiness. But when her better qualities reveal themselves, in a dramatic incident toward the close of the book - Aggie saves Jeanette's little brother, Michael, from drowning in a marl hole - all ends happily...

I really enjoyed this second story about Jeanette and Agnes, finding it engaging and ultimately heartwarming. I thought that Lunt really captured both Jeanette and Agnes' perspectives, at different points in the story. Jeanette's worry about the right way to approach friendship with Hania, her instinctive sense that making too much of a fuss would be as harmful, in its way, as unkindness, was well observed, while Agnes' sense of frustration and hurt at the calamities that kept befalling her, also came across well. It struck me, while reading Jeanette in the Summer Term, that I have read very few British girls' school stories where the characters are working class - usually they are upper or middle class - and that too was interesting. There is mention made of housing estates, the factories that surround the school, of the girls' fathers going off to work, and of the nearby marl hole - a pit formed when red clay was dug out from the ground, presumably for use in pottery-making, and which collected water, making it a dangerous area for children. It was good to read a story depicting working families who were happy (for the most part), intact, and leading full and interesting lives, as this just isn't something I've seen a lot of, in this genre. Perhaps this reveals the limitations of my reading...?

In any case, I found this enjoyable, and finished it wishing that Lunt had written more about these characters. As she has not - she appears to have written only five novels, in total - I might have to track down something else by her. Recommended to anyone who read and enjoyed Jeanette's First Term.
… (més)
 
Marcat
AbigailAdams26 | Feb 13, 2020 |
When Jeanette Ward and her best friend Agnes Tolley start their first term at Castle Street Secondary Modern school, the two young girls are sure that they will be put in the same form. Sure enough, they both end up in 1A2, where Jeanette is made Form Captain. Then a most unexpected error is discovered - it turns out that it is another girl with the similar name of Jean Ward who is supposed to be in 1A2, and Jeanette is meant to be in 1A - and the girls are separated. Despite this unfortunate state of affairs, they manage to have many adventures together, and to get into many scrapes, most notably, their escapades on the school roof! There are also a number of humorous incidents involving Roddy, a friendly Airedale who likes to follow Jeanette to school...

I enjoyed Jeanette's First Term quite a bit, and thank my friend Emily for loaning me her copy! It's a British school story - albeit one about a day school, rather than a boarding school - and was never published here in the states, so I might not otherwise have had a chance to read it. I found both Jeanette and Agnes to be appealing characters, and sympathized with their desire to be together, and their distress when separated. Their adventures were amusing - especially the roof incident, and the various Roddy episodes - and their eventual reunion most satisfying. I don't know that this made a great impression on me, or that it will rank amongst my favorite school stories, but it was solidly engaging, and certainly enough to convince me to read the sequel, Jeanette in the Summer Term, and possibly seek out more of Lunt's work. Recommended to fans of the girls' school story, and to anyone who enjoys vintage British girls' fare.
… (més)
 
Marcat
AbigailAdams26 | Jan 28, 2020 |

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Estadístiques

Obres
7
Membres
49
Popularitat
#320,875
Valoració
½ 4.3
Ressenyes
2
ISBN
7
Llengües
2