In the early
twentieth century a lot of serialized fiction for children came under
publishing. Some of the famous writers then were Nesbit, Enid Blyton, Kipling,
Frank Richards, and many more. Their books were instant success, probably for
two reasons: it was a new kind of literature aimed at young readers, and most
of the children’s books were based on or had boys as a central character. Male
chauvinism worked everywhere. Well, but if you talk about children’s fiction
with girls as a main character, then probably you would rely only on Enid
Blyton’s Saint Clare and Malory Tower series.
Well, today
many might not know that for girls there was a very famous serialized fiction
series that ran almost for twenty five years i.e. from 1925 to 1950s. It was
written by Elinor M. Brent Dyer. She was born in England, and herself was a
teacher when she began writing story books based on school life, characters
like Joey, their family, homes, holidays, etc. She wrote Chalet Series. The School at
Chalet was her first book published in 1925.
This story is
of 24 year-old Madge from Britain. She starts a school in the Alps, at chalet,
and her younger sister Joey is her first student and she is very naughty. The
book was a huge success and went on over fifty sequels with Joey as a main
character along with other girls. Since the book’s background is of the Alps,
so here we see another kind of world of students. You would find games like
skiing, skating, and snowball fights over regular games like hockey, soccer or
cricket. The backdrop itself is a refreshing aspect for readers.
Since this
series has seen two world wars, details of it are evident in the work.
Especially the writer has mentioned that during the rule of ‘Hitty’ schools
were forced to shut down in Austria and the pupil and their parents and
teachers moved to other counties like Welsh or England. At one instance it has
been also mentioned that there were difference between Nazis and Germans. Both
were not the same. Thus, while reading this book that also covers the war
events, you would find this book as an act of happy moments to balance out the
grim and sad reality of the world, especially in Europe.
Another chief
aspect about this series is that the stories were never limited to school terms.
Often in other books, stories start as the term starts and ends when the term
ends. These stories go quite far with the characters in their families, holidays,
homes, career aspiration of girls, etc. The main character has been shown
growing with the stories, at the start Joey was twelve but by the last book she
was around thirty.
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