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The Chalet School #31
Tom Tackles the Chalet School
This is the earlier GGB paperback, without the Katherine Bruce extra story.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1955
119 people want to read
About the author
Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
171 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
February 10, 2022
Had to skip a couple of titles as they’re not part of my collection and jump back in with ‘The Mystery at the Chalet School’ novella (review to follow) before starting on ‘Tom.’
Good, confident writing and characterisation, although nothing remarkable in the plot line. Tom is a likeable addition to this generation of Chaletians, although I still miss Madge and Jo, who only make regular but fleeting appearances between babies, domesticity and (in the case of the latter) all those books!
Good, confident writing and characterisation, although nothing remarkable in the plot line. Tom is a likeable addition to this generation of Chaletians, although I still miss Madge and Jo, who only make regular but fleeting appearances between babies, domesticity and (in the case of the latter) all those books!
March 10, 2022
Slight yet solid, pretty fleeting in terms of plot and yet still oddly appealing, Tom Tackles The Chalet School kind of gains in cachet the more you read the series. Everything starts here, be that the recurrent "oh what price getting locked into a cupboard" gag that absolutely mystified me for years before I got a copy of this one, Tom's legendary dolls houses, and indeed, the legend herself: Tom. Or Lucinda Muriel. Or Muriel Lucinda, depending on which way round Brent-Dyer remembered to put it. Either way, legend. And rather unusual in the world of girl's school stories: Tom has been bought up as a young gentlemen and so has an interesting time in the female world of the Chalet School itself.
I like this book. Tom's fun, Bride Bettany's in it and she's fun, the doll's house business always leaves me with a weird urge to make one (and I never did dolls, remotely), and even though it's episodic and a little over-dramatic (SNOW ON THE MOUNTAINS when it's actually just kind of a gentle hillock at best...), it's oddly charming.
I like this book. Tom's fun, Bride Bettany's in it and she's fun, the doll's house business always leaves me with a weird urge to make one (and I never did dolls, remotely), and even though it's episodic and a little over-dramatic (SNOW ON THE MOUNTAINS when it's actually just kind of a gentle hillock at best...), it's oddly charming.
April 23, 2017
Decent, but feels like filler. I thought the first post-War book would at least mention the war somewhat, and this definitely doesn't.
This is really the end of the first era of the Chalet School, though: Three Go is the introduction of Mary-Lou, and soon after, in Peggy, numerous children of Old Girls are name-dropped - not just Peggy, who was a child in Tirol, but Natalie Mensch, etc.
I've been making a list of slang, too - used half a tissue box tracking their more inspired turns of phrase - and this new era is also marked by a shift from "topping" to "wizard" as slang word of choice. I should probably make my list officially, and then reuse those tissues in the second half of the series: I'm sure there will be lots more of note.
(I really enjoy this series, but somehow I end up bookmarking the craziest parts.)
This is really the end of the first era of the Chalet School, though: Three Go is the introduction of Mary-Lou, and soon after, in Peggy, numerous children of Old Girls are name-dropped - not just Peggy, who was a child in Tirol, but Natalie Mensch, etc.
I've been making a list of slang, too - used half a tissue box tracking their more inspired turns of phrase - and this new era is also marked by a shift from "topping" to "wizard" as slang word of choice. I should probably make my list officially, and then reuse those tissues in the second half of the series: I'm sure there will be lots more of note.
(I really enjoy this series, but somehow I end up bookmarking the craziest parts.)
September 21, 2023
I read this book in bits and pieces but still enjoyed it. Just one hair raising (well, almost) adventure here - which is not enough compared to her other books. Maybe the location in UK - where you don't get the mountains and lakes and brooks of Austria and Switzerland - is the reason? Glad they moved to the island which held more adventures. Still, Chalet School never disappoints me.
July 6, 2015
The second in a set of three novellas - published as long-short stories or in annuals - Tom Tackles The Chalet School is an amiable, charming read, though it can feel a tad inconsequential when compared to the proper books in Elinor M. Brent-Dyer's longrunning series.
The undeniable highlight of this slim tome is Tom herself, who proves herself to be one of the most unique, appealing schoolgirls ever created by Brent-Dyer. That's primarily because Tom - a.k.a. Lucinda Muriel Gay - has been effectively raised as a boy. This tomboy (surely her preferred choice of nickname is deliberate) is flummoxed by her classmates when she joins the Chalet School - not because they're soppy, silly girls, as Tom expects. Instead, Tom finds herself having to reevaluate the notions she's always had about girls as she meets new friends well worthy of her time.
The novella is roughly split into two halves - the first nine chapters were published in one Chalet Book For Girls, the last six in another - and the first half can come across as a tad plodding. The main incident, which causes Tom to form a woeful impression of prefect Daisy Venables, is as well-observed as ever, but doesn't really stand out amidst all the schoolgirl hijinks that Brent-Dyer has crafted. It's also tough to care because Brent-Dyer has created such an honourable young gentleman in Tom that the misunderstanding never feels properly dire - of course Tom will realise that all the girls around her, especially Daisy, are jolly good sports.
Far more amusing is the second half of the book, which brings to the fore the Staff and former pupils of the School in relation to Tom. The latter's attempt to catch some burglars yields a very funny chapter of misunderstandings, paired with the cheerful insults and banter that fly back and forth between arguable series heroine Joey Maynard and the current Head (Miss Wilson) and games mistress (Hilary Burn) of the school. The tradition of Tom's soon-to-be legendary dollhouses also begins here, nestled within a truly epic sale crafted around an Alice In Wonderland theme.
A quick, easy and quite lovely read, though a hardly weighty one, Tom Tackles is the best of the three novellas set in the Armishire era. 3.5 /5
The undeniable highlight of this slim tome is Tom herself, who proves herself to be one of the most unique, appealing schoolgirls ever created by Brent-Dyer. That's primarily because Tom - a.k.a. Lucinda Muriel Gay - has been effectively raised as a boy. This tomboy (surely her preferred choice of nickname is deliberate) is flummoxed by her classmates when she joins the Chalet School - not because they're soppy, silly girls, as Tom expects. Instead, Tom finds herself having to reevaluate the notions she's always had about girls as she meets new friends well worthy of her time.
The novella is roughly split into two halves - the first nine chapters were published in one Chalet Book For Girls, the last six in another - and the first half can come across as a tad plodding. The main incident, which causes Tom to form a woeful impression of prefect Daisy Venables, is as well-observed as ever, but doesn't really stand out amidst all the schoolgirl hijinks that Brent-Dyer has crafted. It's also tough to care because Brent-Dyer has created such an honourable young gentleman in Tom that the misunderstanding never feels properly dire - of course Tom will realise that all the girls around her, especially Daisy, are jolly good sports.
Far more amusing is the second half of the book, which brings to the fore the Staff and former pupils of the School in relation to Tom. The latter's attempt to catch some burglars yields a very funny chapter of misunderstandings, paired with the cheerful insults and banter that fly back and forth between arguable series heroine Joey Maynard and the current Head (Miss Wilson) and games mistress (Hilary Burn) of the school. The tradition of Tom's soon-to-be legendary dollhouses also begins here, nestled within a truly epic sale crafted around an Alice In Wonderland theme.
A quick, easy and quite lovely read, though a hardly weighty one, Tom Tackles is the best of the three novellas set in the Armishire era. 3.5 /5
October 14, 2017
Just received the brand new edition published by Girls Gone By Publishers. This includes a short story explaining how Tom comes to be sent to the Chalet School, and depicting her home life, especially her relationship with her parents. Lacking a son, her father, a country pastor, has raised her a boy, causing to despise most girls as "soppy". Since she has been taught mainly by her parents, her education is lacking in some areas, while advanced in others.
So Tom is sent to the Chalet School, and her real given names kept a strict secret from most of the other girls. There she learns not only the regular school lessons, but also that girls can be as honorable and "gentlemanly" as boys. Naturally there are a variety of adventures and excitements during the term, ending with the annual Sale in support of free beds at the nearby Sanatarium. Another extremely enjoyable book in this series. Recommended.
So Tom is sent to the Chalet School, and her real given names kept a strict secret from most of the other girls. There she learns not only the regular school lessons, but also that girls can be as honorable and "gentlemanly" as boys. Naturally there are a variety of adventures and excitements during the term, ending with the annual Sale in support of free beds at the nearby Sanatarium. Another extremely enjoyable book in this series. Recommended.
November 20, 2023
It started off so well! Tom (she hates her given name) has been, like so many Chalet School new girls, badly brought up. Her woman-hating father has convinced her that girls are foolish and untrustworthy, so she tries to be like a boy, and despises her classmates at first.
Ch. 9 ends with her realization that girls can be "gentlemen " (her standard of worth ). Then, ch. 10 begins by introducing Daisy , one of the main characters we've been reading about, as if we'd never heard of her, and shoots the plot off in a totally different direction.
Ch. 9 ends with her realization that girls can be "gentlemen " (her standard of worth ). Then, ch. 10 begins by introducing Daisy , one of the main characters we've been reading about, as if we'd never heard of her, and shoots the plot off in a totally different direction.
May 26, 2018
Not as clunky as some of the older books, but quite slight and nothing much to write home about! Tom’s endearing, but seems much younger (and a little flatter) than the Middles of the Tyrol era; and I’m still mourning what Madge seems to have become.
August 31, 2025
3.5
Enjoyable story, charming illustrations, and some accidental queer-coding.
I really enjoyed reading more about the Bride Bettany generation, as they can be more difficult to get hold of
I read the 2004 GGB edition
Enjoyable story, charming illustrations, and some accidental queer-coding.
I really enjoyed reading more about the Bride Bettany generation, as they can be more difficult to get hold of
I read the 2004 GGB edition
January 24, 2026
Another average read.
Slightly more interesting because of Tom being a tomboy and how the school tried to make her more feminine, and the return of Dick and Mollie Bethany from India after 8 years there. Obviously no home leave in that period!
Slightly more interesting because of Tom being a tomboy and how the school tried to make her more feminine, and the return of Dick and Mollie Bethany from India after 8 years there. Obviously no home leave in that period!
February 6, 2021
Felt like 2 novellas put together in one book. Great fun though, FINALLY learned the truth of the burglar story as referenced in later books! And the Bettanys in India come home at last
January 3, 2024
Enjoyable
January 31, 2023
Tom, a tomboyish girl raised by her father on maths and classics, arrives at the Chalet School believing that most girls are sneaky and dishonourable.
As she settles down, she quickly makes friends and has to revise some of her ideas.
Not a bad book though rather obviously dated, nothing very exciting or out of the ordinary, other than a rather moving reunion with the Bettany family, after the parents and youngest children have been away for eight years in India.
Latest full review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/...
As she settles down, she quickly makes friends and has to revise some of her ideas.
Not a bad book though rather obviously dated, nothing very exciting or out of the ordinary, other than a rather moving reunion with the Bettany family, after the parents and youngest children have been away for eight years in India.
Latest full review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/...
January 24, 2025
Tom Tackles The Chalet School at is book 21 of a reread (I started at Exile don’t @ at me, then went back to School at the Chalet and continued forward from there), and is variously book 31 and 19b in the series. First reread of the Chalet School books since I went to Pertisau. Last time I reread this I gave it 3 stars and I’m not sure why, as Tom is lovely and well worth the read. The burglar event in particular is hilarious ❤️
September 8, 2023
I read the GGB edition from 2017 with the extra introductory story
Ok but obviously 2 extended short stories rather than true Chalet School novel - if I did not know better I would have thought whole book was by fill- in author rather than EBD
Initially surprised that no mention of wartime in the book but then I remembered that stories were ( presumably) written for the Chalet annuals published a few years after WW2 , which would explain why there are no references to the war
Ok but obviously 2 extended short stories rather than true Chalet School novel - if I did not know better I would have thought whole book was by fill- in author rather than EBD
Initially surprised that no mention of wartime in the book but then I remembered that stories were ( presumably) written for the Chalet annuals published a few years after WW2 , which would explain why there are no references to the war
November 12, 2023
Love this book. First read it when I was 9. Still have my original copy though I like the GGB edition too, as its unabridged and has the all original illustrations.
I have read this book more times than I can count, but its still one of my favourite Chalet books. Tom is a 'true gentleman' and an interesting character to read about.
I have read this book more times than I can count, but its still one of my favourite Chalet books. Tom is a 'true gentleman' and an interesting character to read about.
March 2, 2010
Tom Gay is unlike any other girl who has joined the Chalet School. Educated by her father, who hoped that he would have a boy, she is tomboyish to the extreme! She has a few problems settling down in the all-girls school, but manages to fit in nicely at the end.
September 4, 2013
What can I say. Tom Tackles the Chalet School has got to be one of my favourite in the series. It's right up there with my favourite Three-goes to the Chalet School.
July 30, 2016
'helps rescue an injured pupil from the mountain'??? What version of Tom did this happen in?! That has to be the worst summary of the walk back from the Round House *ever*.
January 16, 2015
Great new character. Loved Tom's manner, and the incident locking the 'burglars' in the cupboard!
January 26, 2008
I'm re-reading a chunk of the Chalet School series as bathroom reading ;).
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews