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The Chalet School #12
Jo Returns to the Chalet School
Having left school the term before, an unfortunate chain of events finds Joey, having returned to school for a visit, unable to return to her sister's home Die Rosen. Joey settles down to enjoy her extended visit, but finds her stay becoming longer as time goes on.
Somewhat unwillingly to begin with, Jo is pressed into service as a stand-in mistress when one of the staff falls ill. However, Joey comes to terms with the situation and the girls are delighted to have their beloved Jo returned to them for a while.
Joey manages to complete her first novel in her free time, after a false start when she is put straight by an unexpected critic, and nervously sends it to a publisher.
She is also instrumental in obtaining a new girl, Polly Herriot, for the Chalet School after a chance encounter in the Post. Having never been to school before, Polly's education has been with very old-fashioned methods, and she requires intensive tuition to bring her education up to date. She has also obtained some very unusual ideas about the life of a schoolgirl, from the school stories, which she was so fond of, before she arrived at the Chalet School. This leads to some unfortunate incidents, before she settles into the role of a true Chalet School girl.
The term has its low points when the girls' beloved headmistress is taken seriously ill, but finishes on a high note with the customary Christmas play.
Somewhat unwillingly to begin with, Jo is pressed into service as a stand-in mistress when one of the staff falls ill. However, Joey comes to terms with the situation and the girls are delighted to have their beloved Jo returned to them for a while.
Joey manages to complete her first novel in her free time, after a false start when she is put straight by an unexpected critic, and nervously sends it to a publisher.
She is also instrumental in obtaining a new girl, Polly Herriot, for the Chalet School after a chance encounter in the Post. Having never been to school before, Polly's education has been with very old-fashioned methods, and she requires intensive tuition to bring her education up to date. She has also obtained some very unusual ideas about the life of a schoolgirl, from the school stories, which she was so fond of, before she arrived at the Chalet School. This leads to some unfortunate incidents, before she settles into the role of a true Chalet School girl.
The term has its low points when the girls' beloved headmistress is taken seriously ill, but finishes on a high note with the customary Christmas play.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1936
3 people are currently reading
194 people want to read
About the author
Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
173 books113 followersElinor M. Brent-Dyer was born as Gladys Eleanor May Dyer on 6th April 1894, in South Shields in the industrial northeast of England, and grew up in a terraced house which had no garden or inside toilet. She was the only daughter of Eleanor Watson Rutherford and Charles Morris Brent Dyer. Her father, who had been married before, left home when she was three years old. In 1912, her brother Henzell died at age 17 of cerebro-spinal fever. After her father died, her mother remarried in 1913.
Elinor was educated at a small local private school in South Shields and returned there to teach when she was eighteen after spending two years at the City of Leeds Training College. Her teaching career spanned 36 years, during which she taught in a wide variety of state and private schools in the northeast, in Middlesex, Bedfordshire, Hampshire, and finally in Hereford.
In the early 1920s she adopted the name Elinor Mary Brent-Dyer. A holiday she spent in the Austrian Tyrol at Pertisau-am-Achensee gave her the inspiration for the first location in the Chalet School series. However, her first book, 'Gerry Goes to School', was published in 1922 and was written for the child actress Hazel Bainbridge. Her first 'Chalet' story, 'The School at the Chalet', was originally published in 1925.
In 1930, the same year that 'Jean of Storms' was serialised, she converted to Roman Catholicism.
In 1933 the Brent-Dyer household (she lived with her mother and stepfather until her mother's death in 1957) moved to Hereford. She travelled daily to Peterchurch as a governess.
When her stepfather died she started her own school in Hereford, The Margaret Roper School. It was non-denominational but with a strong religious tradition. Many Chalet School customs were followed, the girls even wore a similar uniform made in the Chalet School's colours of brown and flame. Elinor was rather untidy, erratic and flamboyant and not really suited to being a headmistress. After her school closed in 1948 she devoted most of her time to writing.
Elinor's mother died in 1957 and in 1964 she moved to Redhill, where she lived in a joint establishment with fellow school story author Phyllis Matthewman and her husband, until her death on 20th September 1969.
During her lifetime Elinor M. Brent-Dyer published 101 books but she is remembered mainly for her Chalet School series. The series numbers 58 books and is the longest-surviving series of girls' school-stories ever known, having been continuously in print for more than 70 years. One hundred thousand paperback copies are still being sold each year.
Among her published books are other school stories; family, historical, adventure and animal stories; a cookery book, and four educational geography-readers. She also wrote plays and numerous unpublished poems and was a keen musician.
In 1994, the year of the centenary of her Elinor Brent-Dyer's birth, Friends of the Chalet School put up plaques in Pertisau, South Shields and Hereford, and a headstone was erected on her grave in Redstone Cemetery, since there was not one previously. They also put flowers on her grave on the anniversaries of her birth and death and on other special occasions.
Elinor was educated at a small local private school in South Shields and returned there to teach when she was eighteen after spending two years at the City of Leeds Training College. Her teaching career spanned 36 years, during which she taught in a wide variety of state and private schools in the northeast, in Middlesex, Bedfordshire, Hampshire, and finally in Hereford.
In the early 1920s she adopted the name Elinor Mary Brent-Dyer. A holiday she spent in the Austrian Tyrol at Pertisau-am-Achensee gave her the inspiration for the first location in the Chalet School series. However, her first book, 'Gerry Goes to School', was published in 1922 and was written for the child actress Hazel Bainbridge. Her first 'Chalet' story, 'The School at the Chalet', was originally published in 1925.
In 1930, the same year that 'Jean of Storms' was serialised, she converted to Roman Catholicism.
In 1933 the Brent-Dyer household (she lived with her mother and stepfather until her mother's death in 1957) moved to Hereford. She travelled daily to Peterchurch as a governess.
When her stepfather died she started her own school in Hereford, The Margaret Roper School. It was non-denominational but with a strong religious tradition. Many Chalet School customs were followed, the girls even wore a similar uniform made in the Chalet School's colours of brown and flame. Elinor was rather untidy, erratic and flamboyant and not really suited to being a headmistress. After her school closed in 1948 she devoted most of her time to writing.
Elinor's mother died in 1957 and in 1964 she moved to Redhill, where she lived in a joint establishment with fellow school story author Phyllis Matthewman and her husband, until her death on 20th September 1969.
During her lifetime Elinor M. Brent-Dyer published 101 books but she is remembered mainly for her Chalet School series. The series numbers 58 books and is the longest-surviving series of girls' school-stories ever known, having been continuously in print for more than 70 years. One hundred thousand paperback copies are still being sold each year.
Among her published books are other school stories; family, historical, adventure and animal stories; a cookery book, and four educational geography-readers. She also wrote plays and numerous unpublished poems and was a keen musician.
In 1994, the year of the centenary of her Elinor Brent-Dyer's birth, Friends of the Chalet School put up plaques in Pertisau, South Shields and Hereford, and a headstone was erected on her grave in Redstone Cemetery, since there was not one previously. They also put flowers on her grave on the anniversaries of her birth and death and on other special occasions.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 11, 2021
Snow, snow and more snow, falling so thickly that the adjacent lake to the original chalet where the seniors now reside is hardly visible. Yes, it’s winter term once again at the Chalet School albeit one in which Joey unevenly moves between the roles of tutor and writer. Her visual method of teaching European history is a delight (remember the Cluniac reformation, anyone? Obviously an event of importance to pupils of a century or so ago).
Even better - and, for me, the book’s real highlight - is the development of Jo’s skill and discipline as a writer. For here is nothing less than the author herself at work - laboriously writing her first stories by hand, mixing up characters and discarding first drafts after harsh, but valuable, criticism.
The late 1960s cover of the Armada edition is also a hoot.
Even better - and, for me, the book’s real highlight - is the development of Jo’s skill and discipline as a writer. For here is nothing less than the author herself at work - laboriously writing her first stories by hand, mixing up characters and discarding first drafts after harsh, but valuable, criticism.
The late 1960s cover of the Armada edition is also a hoot.
June 17, 2015
Presumably EBD dashed off New House in a single sitting, sent it off to her publisher, got the proofs back, read them, and thought: Hmm, well that sorts out Simone, Marie and Frieda, but that mean Matron spoiled Joey's last term and she needs a bit of a bigger finish. I know! She can go back, and have another goodbye!
And so we get Jo Returns. She only intends to return for a night, but ends up staying the entire term, writing a book, taking on first coaching and then teaching, and having a starring role in the Christmas play. How much more satisfying for her than spending the term 'helping Madge with the babies' - a job she's not allowed to do the minute they all get measles.
Jo is on good form in this book, and it's one that sticks in the memory because of Mademoiselle's illness, Joey's hair (which is somehow 'up' even though it doesn't yet reach her shoulders - EBD's obsession with this ritual is bizarre to say the least) and Polly. Polly is a brilliant new girl, and also one of the first to arrive and then fade away a bit in subsequent books. EBD wasn't quite writing to a formula at this stage - she was still fairly bursting with ideas, judging by this book - but Polly gives us a glimpse of what is to come.
The description of Joey writing Cecily (ie, writing a proper story in the way it should be written, rather than the rubbishy Malvina) gives us a fascinating insight into How Authors Work (or, more likely, how EBD worked). She starts by 'evolving' a set of characters, gives her heroine a name, and then apparently just jumps in without worrying too much about working out the plot beforehand.
To dedicated EBD readers, this sounds very familiar indeed; and the point where Joey finds she has 'mixed up two of the prefects' is highly amusing to those of her readers who have frequently found themselves flicking back 20 pages to find that EBD has herself done something very similar. What Joey does next at this point is very telling indeed: she makes a list of everybody in the school, and 'then she put ticks by the side of all those who had appeared in the story so far'.
EBD, dear EBD. Ticks are not enough. You have to go back and check what you actually wrote.
For the hawk-eyed Chalet reader, this book is quite useful in being one of the few in which Mary Shand (a nervy child from Louisiana) and Mary Shaw (a small American famed for the fertility of her wits) appear in the same scene. There are several other CS books where it's not clear whether EBD has just forgotten which surname she chose, or has invented two Americans roughly the same age with roughly the same name. So it's good to have it sorted out.
The last chapter is mopped up with the Christmas play - never a great way to end. But there is lots of good stuff before then, and (aside from Mademoiselle) it's a very enjoyable term at the Chalet School.
And so we get Jo Returns. She only intends to return for a night, but ends up staying the entire term, writing a book, taking on first coaching and then teaching, and having a starring role in the Christmas play. How much more satisfying for her than spending the term 'helping Madge with the babies' - a job she's not allowed to do the minute they all get measles.
Jo is on good form in this book, and it's one that sticks in the memory because of Mademoiselle's illness, Joey's hair (which is somehow 'up' even though it doesn't yet reach her shoulders - EBD's obsession with this ritual is bizarre to say the least) and Polly. Polly is a brilliant new girl, and also one of the first to arrive and then fade away a bit in subsequent books. EBD wasn't quite writing to a formula at this stage - she was still fairly bursting with ideas, judging by this book - but Polly gives us a glimpse of what is to come.
The description of Joey writing Cecily (ie, writing a proper story in the way it should be written, rather than the rubbishy Malvina) gives us a fascinating insight into How Authors Work (or, more likely, how EBD worked). She starts by 'evolving' a set of characters, gives her heroine a name, and then apparently just jumps in without worrying too much about working out the plot beforehand.
To dedicated EBD readers, this sounds very familiar indeed; and the point where Joey finds she has 'mixed up two of the prefects' is highly amusing to those of her readers who have frequently found themselves flicking back 20 pages to find that EBD has herself done something very similar. What Joey does next at this point is very telling indeed: she makes a list of everybody in the school, and 'then she put ticks by the side of all those who had appeared in the story so far'.
EBD, dear EBD. Ticks are not enough. You have to go back and check what you actually wrote.
For the hawk-eyed Chalet reader, this book is quite useful in being one of the few in which Mary Shand (a nervy child from Louisiana) and Mary Shaw (a small American famed for the fertility of her wits) appear in the same scene. There are several other CS books where it's not clear whether EBD has just forgotten which surname she chose, or has invented two Americans roughly the same age with roughly the same name. So it's good to have it sorted out.
The last chapter is mopped up with the Christmas play - never a great way to end. But there is lots of good stuff before then, and (aside from Mademoiselle) it's a very enjoyable term at the Chalet School.
November 30, 2012
Jo Returns To The Chalet School, or 'the one where EBD couldn't let go', is, as nearly all of the Tyrolean books are, of a distinctly high standard.
This book sees Joey, our darling, return to the school in a teaching capacity having left the school the previous term. The term also sees the arrival of Polly Heriot, a girl with possibly the best hair ever, Joey deciding to write her first book, and the beloved Mademoiselle Le/La/Lepattre/Lappatre being rushed up to San for a serious operation. This last event sees a landmark quote from Matey that comes to define the series' attitude towards illness, death, and self-identity.
There's a lot going on, but it's handled in such a deft manner that it doesn't feel rushed. It's also interesting in that we see behind the scenes in this story, and learn more about the staff and their foibles. This happens rarely in the series (other than the usual "Let's go and have some of Mddle's ambrosial coffee!" moments) and perhaps is only really paralleled by the experience of Kathy Ferrars many years later.
EBD could write a superb illness scene and I've talked more about that here. I sort of wonder if though with Jo Returns, there's another element of the story - one of growth, saying goodbye, and bringing these characters forward into a new post Joey generation. And I also wonder if there's a distinct element of self-identification between EBD and Joey at this point, the two of them writers, teachers, but that's a discussion for another time.
Essentially this is a good, good book, full of all of the hallmarks that make the Chalet School great. Plus the Robin didn't do my nut in in this one which is always worth a star in itself.
This book sees Joey, our darling, return to the school in a teaching capacity having left the school the previous term. The term also sees the arrival of Polly Heriot, a girl with possibly the best hair ever, Joey deciding to write her first book, and the beloved Mademoiselle Le/La/Lepattre/Lappatre being rushed up to San for a serious operation. This last event sees a landmark quote from Matey that comes to define the series' attitude towards illness, death, and self-identity.
There's a lot going on, but it's handled in such a deft manner that it doesn't feel rushed. It's also interesting in that we see behind the scenes in this story, and learn more about the staff and their foibles. This happens rarely in the series (other than the usual "Let's go and have some of Mddle's ambrosial coffee!" moments) and perhaps is only really paralleled by the experience of Kathy Ferrars many years later.
EBD could write a superb illness scene and I've talked more about that here. I sort of wonder if though with Jo Returns, there's another element of the story - one of growth, saying goodbye, and bringing these characters forward into a new post Joey generation. And I also wonder if there's a distinct element of self-identification between EBD and Joey at this point, the two of them writers, teachers, but that's a discussion for another time.
Essentially this is a good, good book, full of all of the hallmarks that make the Chalet School great. Plus the Robin didn't do my nut in in this one which is always worth a star in itself.
March 13, 2017
Brent-Dyer's attitude to "writing for the young" (compounded, as it's meant to be, by Polly's mistake) - along with what passes for modern medicine in the 1930s - means this book is quite something.
It's the mark of good writing, I think, to consistently reinforce themes. But when that theme is to be careful of setting bad examples for kids - sloppily tied to being realistic when writing for kids - well. I'm not sure if "dated" is the correct word to describe that. Let's leave it as sloppy.
(If I have to read one more description of tuberculosis as "the white man's plague", I will scream. The same words, in the same order, have appeared in almost every book I read this past weekend. In the later books, the new repeated phrase is "My one and only Aunt Jemima!" Who edited these?!)
It's the mark of good writing, I think, to consistently reinforce themes. But when that theme is to be careful of setting bad examples for kids - sloppily tied to being realistic when writing for kids - well. I'm not sure if "dated" is the correct word to describe that. Let's leave it as sloppy.
(If I have to read one more description of tuberculosis as "the white man's plague", I will scream. The same words, in the same order, have appeared in almost every book I read this past weekend. In the later books, the new repeated phrase is "My one and only Aunt Jemima!" Who edited these?!)
February 25, 2019
3.5/5
I was trying to read this one on and off last few months before and after having baby which may contribute to the low score as i couldn't keep my mind on it. It was also a little boring though the new girl Polly did spice things up a bit. Still glad to have finally read another chalet school book
I was trying to read this one on and off last few months before and after having baby which may contribute to the low score as i couldn't keep my mind on it. It was also a little boring though the new girl Polly did spice things up a bit. Still glad to have finally read another chalet school book
July 12, 2017
The revered author of the Chalet School series must have had something of a conundrum on her hands when she put pen to paper for the first book in her boarding school series which would not feature her favourite (and in fact, most favoured) character, Jo Bettany, as an official part of the student body. Fortunately for Ms Brent-Dyer, such concerns have never really stood in her way - an outbreak of measles (and subsequently of whooping cough) are enough to keep the newly-graduated, just-visiting Jo down at the School until half-term, and before long, Jo finds herself caught up not only in the beginnings of her future career as an author herself, but also pressed into service as the youngest and newest member of the Chalet School teaching staff.
Fortunately for the reader, Jo Returns To The Chalet School is a superlative example of its kind - on occasion, as the series develops, Jo's involvement with the school will seem more forced than on others. In this one, however, Brent-Dyer gives to the reader a sense of closure that was lacking at the end of The New House At The Chalet School (ostensibly the book in which Jo and her chums officially graduate from the school). Where Jo's maturity was left somewhat in doubt by the conclusion of that book, there is no doubt by the end of Jo Returns that Jo has taken her first steps towards growing up in the way you always expected she would: bravely, with a touch of grace and humour.
We are treated to very real, very relate-able tales of Jo's enforced quarantine in the School: from her first disastrous attempt at writing the first of her school stories, through to her apprehension at being asked to become a temporary, albeit necessary, part of the Chalet School Staff. The growth in Jo as a character comes from all angles: when she realises how she went wrong in her first effort at writing a school story, or when she steps up to the plate and willingly makes a sacrifice for the School she has come to love when she is called upon to do so. Add to that one of the loveliest Christmas plays ever put on at the Chalet School while it was still in residence at the lovely Tiernsee, and Jo Returns undoubtedly marks one of the series' high points.
It will become increasingly less obvious as the series goes on, as new blood, new girls and new storylines develop and Brent-Dyer's insistence on tying Jo to the proceedings occasionally proves tiresome rather than organic. But with Jo Returns, she makes very clear that her dear Chalet School, quite simply put, wouldn't be what it is without one Jo Bettany.
Fortunately for the reader, Jo Returns To The Chalet School is a superlative example of its kind - on occasion, as the series develops, Jo's involvement with the school will seem more forced than on others. In this one, however, Brent-Dyer gives to the reader a sense of closure that was lacking at the end of The New House At The Chalet School (ostensibly the book in which Jo and her chums officially graduate from the school). Where Jo's maturity was left somewhat in doubt by the conclusion of that book, there is no doubt by the end of Jo Returns that Jo has taken her first steps towards growing up in the way you always expected she would: bravely, with a touch of grace and humour.
We are treated to very real, very relate-able tales of Jo's enforced quarantine in the School: from her first disastrous attempt at writing the first of her school stories, through to her apprehension at being asked to become a temporary, albeit necessary, part of the Chalet School Staff. The growth in Jo as a character comes from all angles: when she realises how she went wrong in her first effort at writing a school story, or when she steps up to the plate and willingly makes a sacrifice for the School she has come to love when she is called upon to do so. Add to that one of the loveliest Christmas plays ever put on at the Chalet School while it was still in residence at the lovely Tiernsee, and Jo Returns undoubtedly marks one of the series' high points.
It will become increasingly less obvious as the series goes on, as new blood, new girls and new storylines develop and Brent-Dyer's insistence on tying Jo to the proceedings occasionally proves tiresome rather than organic. But with Jo Returns, she makes very clear that her dear Chalet School, quite simply put, wouldn't be what it is without one Jo Bettany.
March 25, 2019
It does what it says on the tin, really. Not five minutes after leaving the Chalet School, Jo is back - supposedly for a brief overnight stay, which turns (thanks to her plague ridden nieces and nephews) into a fortnight of hanging out and writing her first school story, and ultimately into a term of writing, coaching, and then teaching, thanks to staff illness. She slips seamlessly into the staff room, but is also "one of the girls" when the fancy strikes her (or if they're having more fun).
As is nearly always the case in a CS book, someone approaches the brink of death and is saved by the immediate availability of magic-using surgeons* at The Sonnalpe. For once it wasn't a pupil, but Mlle Lepattre, which bodes for her future, particularly since her weak heart was a concern during the operation (which the surgeons reported as a success as soon as it was over. Honestly, the medical stuff in these books breaks me every time. And don't get me started about the "killing climate of North Queensland". I mean, it would probably go a long way towards killing me because I can't function in anything warmer than about 24C, but I think the constant repetition of the lethality of the climate there is overegging the pudding somewhat).
Anyway. I loved this book. It didn't have as much school stuff, I know, but I think it gives us an interesting look into how EBD wrote (or thought she wrote), I enjoyed the staff room chitchat and their support of Jo, and her attempt to find a balance between recently-a-pupil and sort-of-a-staff-member, as well as her willingness to muck in and help out (no imposter syndrome for our Jo, oh no).
And (most importantly), this is the occasion of the first sheets and pillowcases party!! I've been waiting for this. It was the thing I remembered most clearly about reading these books when I was young - that and the alternating languages.
* Not actually magic-using. Don't get excited - EBD didn't suddenly go all urban fantasy in this book.
As is nearly always the case in a CS book, someone approaches the brink of death and is saved by the immediate availability of magic-using surgeons* at The Sonnalpe. For once it wasn't a pupil, but Mlle Lepattre, which bodes for her future, particularly since her weak heart was a concern during the operation (which the surgeons reported as a success as soon as it was over. Honestly, the medical stuff in these books breaks me every time. And don't get me started about the "killing climate of North Queensland". I mean, it would probably go a long way towards killing me because I can't function in anything warmer than about 24C, but I think the constant repetition of the lethality of the climate there is overegging the pudding somewhat).
Anyway. I loved this book. It didn't have as much school stuff, I know, but I think it gives us an interesting look into how EBD wrote (or thought she wrote), I enjoyed the staff room chitchat and their support of Jo, and her attempt to find a balance between recently-a-pupil and sort-of-a-staff-member, as well as her willingness to muck in and help out (no imposter syndrome for our Jo, oh no).
And (most importantly), this is the occasion of the first sheets and pillowcases party!! I've been waiting for this. It was the thing I remembered most clearly about reading these books when I was young - that and the alternating languages.
* Not actually magic-using. Don't get excited - EBD didn't suddenly go all urban fantasy in this book.
March 20, 2008
Jo is just a wee bit insufferable now that she's left school. She gets stuck at the school due to the babies up at Die Rosen (encompassing Madge's children, Dick's children, and Jem's sister's children - argh!) getting measles and then whooping couch and then syphilis... well, not syphilis, but everything else under the sun. And because of Jo's delicate nature, she's not allowed up there until everyone's fully recovered.
So, she putters around the school, feeling useless, trying to write her first book (she writes one crappy book in a week or so, then seems to dash off a publishable one in a similar amount of time), and doing some fill in teaching, because all the mistresses seem to be getting sick as well.
Not the most fascinating of Chalet School books - we spent most of our time with Jo as she is either teaching, tutoring or writing her book. Oh, and there's a Christmas play, in which Jo still plays a starring role - do you think the other girls are getting annoyed that they never get a chance to shine?
So, she putters around the school, feeling useless, trying to write her first book (she writes one crappy book in a week or so, then seems to dash off a publishable one in a similar amount of time), and doing some fill in teaching, because all the mistresses seem to be getting sick as well.
Not the most fascinating of Chalet School books - we spent most of our time with Jo as she is either teaching, tutoring or writing her book. Oh, and there's a Christmas play, in which Jo still plays a starring role - do you think the other girls are getting annoyed that they never get a chance to shine?
May 20, 2021
Jo Bettany has left the Chalet School but comes back to visit at the start of term.. only to find that sickness prevents her from returning home. So she begins writing a school story novel which she has been considering, and then gets co-opted into doing some teaching.
Meanwhile Polly Herriot is the significant new girl of the term brought up in Victorian ways, with a governess who was at least 50 years out of date, and ideas about schools based on the worst of school stories.
Very enjoyable as part of the Chalet School series - recommended to anyone who likes light teenage fiction of this kind. It's many years since I'd read this book and I'd forgotten just about all of it.
Four and a half stars would be fairer.
Latest full review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/...
Meanwhile Polly Herriot is the significant new girl of the term brought up in Victorian ways, with a governess who was at least 50 years out of date, and ideas about schools based on the worst of school stories.
Very enjoyable as part of the Chalet School series - recommended to anyone who likes light teenage fiction of this kind. It's many years since I'd read this book and I'd forgotten just about all of it.
Four and a half stars would be fairer.
Latest full review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/...
February 15, 2010
Jo steps in to teach history when the sudden illness of some teachers creates an unexpected vacancy. Despite the challenges of a new job, she is able to complete and publish her first book in her spare time. In this volume, Jo is transformed from a lively, mischievous (though goodhearted) schoolgirl to an accomplished writer, wise and beloved beyond her tender years. Possibly the least convincing of all the Chalet School books, it still contains enough fun and missteps to remain somewhat entertaining.
February 17, 2010
I loved this book! As the title says, Joey Bettany returns to the Chalet School, at first, just for a visit to say hi. However, her nephews and nieces develop measles soon after, so she's forced to stay on at the Chalet School so that she doesn't fall sick as well. She begins to teach some classes to help out, and she also begins her plans to start writing her first novel.
December 4, 2014
It's a new term at the chalet school but Jo has returned and just in time to learn about the other side of school life - as a teacher.
I enjoyed this as a child and as an adult as it helps the readers (hopefully including young adults still) to understand the teachers point of view. A fun and different more nature chalet book.
I enjoyed this as a child and as an adult as it helps the readers (hopefully including young adults still) to understand the teachers point of view. A fun and different more nature chalet book.
September 19, 2014
Another lovely story! Joey returns to school as teacher and author. Another new character, pupil Polly, who soon gets into mischief. So much illness throughout the book though, strange how so much emphasis is put on illness at this time.
April 2, 2024
OK for an evening read. I thought we'd seen the last of the everlasting Joey-Baba (ugh!) but it was not to be. Illness rages round the school, from the teachers to Madame's extended family, and yet somehow by dint of careful quarantines and of course letting school out weeks early even though it's a short term (apparently no legal requirements for girls' schools in those days) the students are not affected, even though now dozens of them are apparently "delicate". Brent-Dyer just loved imposing strict regimes on her girls, from the Robin to Jo and all between--never mind that in the previous chapter she was singing the praises of Dr Jem and how "healthy and strong" those same girls are now!
Once again the book ends with a Christmas programme which must have been wonderful if they really had enough students to pull it off, and space to do it in. I'm still wondering how the girls were inside the bells that hung from the ceiling; I suppose what she meant was they were standing behind them. Or something. But that's the thing about fiction, it doesn't have to make sense.
The most interesting part is Jo settling down in true Jo March fashion to write her book. She goes through all the struggles Jo March did but in many fewer pages, though she avoided "sensational fiction."
Once again the book ends with a Christmas programme which must have been wonderful if they really had enough students to pull it off, and space to do it in. I'm still wondering how the girls were inside the bells that hung from the ceiling; I suppose what she meant was they were standing behind them. Or something. But that's the thing about fiction, it doesn't have to make sense.
The most interesting part is Jo settling down in true Jo March fashion to write her book. She goes through all the struggles Jo March did but in many fewer pages, though she avoided "sensational fiction."
March 4, 2021
In this old favorite, Jo Bettany decides to visit The Chalet School on the first day of term — the first term in which she is not a student there. And then circumstances conspire against her, forcing her to remain much longer than she had expected. During this time she finally begins writing a novel that just might possibly be published some day. Of course there are the usual pranks amongst the girls, especially the middles. Oddly though, the Prefects are nearly invisible. This new edition also includes a short story entitled Dark Nights.
March 20, 2021
Read in HB for first time and GGB version newly arrived too. Not the best, but certainly right up there.
Read
January 22, 2025Nostalgia trip
January 17, 2025
Jo Returns is book 13 of a reread (I started at Exile don’t @ at me, then went back to School at the Chalet and continued forward from there), so book 12 in the series. First reread of the Tyrol book since I went to Pertisau. Jo returns is both sad in places and delightful. Joey really has become a wonderful person and it’s marvellous to see her growth. It’s obvious EBD wasn’t ready to let her go quite yet! The way EBD wasn’t afraid to write if the bad times is also a breath of fresh air. It is sensitivity done and adds rather than takes away. This is one of my favourite of the series and has not disappointed.
March 19, 2020
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MD - SF
MD - SF
October 5, 2023
Loved reading the unabridged version
April 1, 2021
Joey comes back to teach (due to family illness she can't go home) though she's only just left. She tries to write a book. Sheets and pillowcase party.
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