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The Chalet School #45
A Leader in the Chalet School
Jacynth Lambert, niece of Gay Lambert, arrives at the Chalet School with her older sister Anne.
Jacynth, who prefers to be known as Jack, is generally popular, although one member of her form takes an instant dislike to her.
Jack enjoys the outdoor activities of the Chalet school, although she is frustrated by the winter blizzards. This leads to several practical jokes, and Jack soon finds herself in trouble with the staff and prefects.
Len Maynard is Jack's dormitory prefect. She feels responsible for her behaviour, and tries to help Jack stay out of trouble, but is not always successful.
Jack is blamed when a trick goes wrong, and many of her form turns against her. With Len's intervention, the misunderstanding is sorted out, and Jack learns a serious lesson about the difficulty of shaking off a bad reputation.
Throughout this book, Len's leadership qualities are beginning to emerge. She help Jack out of trouble several times, and is also able to help Margot when things seem bleak.
Jacynth, who prefers to be known as Jack, is generally popular, although one member of her form takes an instant dislike to her.
Jack enjoys the outdoor activities of the Chalet school, although she is frustrated by the winter blizzards. This leads to several practical jokes, and Jack soon finds herself in trouble with the staff and prefects.
Len Maynard is Jack's dormitory prefect. She feels responsible for her behaviour, and tries to help Jack stay out of trouble, but is not always successful.
Jack is blamed when a trick goes wrong, and many of her form turns against her. With Len's intervention, the misunderstanding is sorted out, and Jack learns a serious lesson about the difficulty of shaking off a bad reputation.
Throughout this book, Len's leadership qualities are beginning to emerge. She help Jack out of trouble several times, and is also able to help Margot when things seem bleak.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1956
1 person is currently reading
105 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 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 18, 2024
This is where you start to see the possibility of Len as head girl in later years. Elinor M Brent-dyer has written a fine character in Len .
July 16, 2016
Another cute story with some amusing incidents.
September 26, 2021
New girl Jack has an insatiable love of asking questions, and a bad habit of playing tricks which land her in trouble. And for some reason she’s latched on to Len Maynard to solve all her problems. But Len also has to deal with everything from the family’s obstreperous dog to helping sister Margot deal with a slack form. Can she step up to the plate and become a leader in the Chalet School?
This is the book which introduces Jack Lambert, a girl who has attracted very few readers as a favourite - sulky when things go wrong and a pest when she’s in a good mood. Maybe it’s because her problems are all of her own making and she lacks the backstory which makes us root for Lavender Leigh as she struggles to settle down to school, or the desire to do the right thing that makes Mary-Lou such a bright figure when she first arrives, to compare Jack to other new Junior Middles of Chalet history.
It’s also where EBD commits the cardinal crime of telling rather than showing in her efforts to set Len up as the new leader after Jo and Mary-Lou. Yet if someone had encouraged EBD to take those references out, what we have here is a book where Len for the first time is seen as a leader, rather than a younger girl in a form of older girls (and doing that by showing her through Jack’s eyes is clever). Len lacks the charisma and chutzpah of Joey and Mary-Lou, but through Margot and Jack’s eyes her comforting care becomes evident, while we also see her struggle to solve problems and help other people without falling into her own besetting sin of over-anxious mother-henning. The book makes a satisfactory ending to the problems the triplets had been having, with Margot asking for help and Len supporting her in a constructive manner.
We also get quite a lot of insight into the Maynard family here, with Mary-Lou dropping by and talking about how Jo and Jack are her go-to sources of support and Jo confessing that Len’s sensitivity makes her a hard child to shelter from anything. In this context Lisa Townsend’s short story, ending with a picture of Margot and Jo enjoying being the family mischief-makers together, provides a very satisfactory additional read.
This is the book which introduces Jack Lambert, a girl who has attracted very few readers as a favourite - sulky when things go wrong and a pest when she’s in a good mood. Maybe it’s because her problems are all of her own making and she lacks the backstory which makes us root for Lavender Leigh as she struggles to settle down to school, or the desire to do the right thing that makes Mary-Lou such a bright figure when she first arrives, to compare Jack to other new Junior Middles of Chalet history.
It’s also where EBD commits the cardinal crime of telling rather than showing in her efforts to set Len up as the new leader after Jo and Mary-Lou. Yet if someone had encouraged EBD to take those references out, what we have here is a book where Len for the first time is seen as a leader, rather than a younger girl in a form of older girls (and doing that by showing her through Jack’s eyes is clever). Len lacks the charisma and chutzpah of Joey and Mary-Lou, but through Margot and Jack’s eyes her comforting care becomes evident, while we also see her struggle to solve problems and help other people without falling into her own besetting sin of over-anxious mother-henning. The book makes a satisfactory ending to the problems the triplets had been having, with Margot asking for help and Len supporting her in a constructive manner.
We also get quite a lot of insight into the Maynard family here, with Mary-Lou dropping by and talking about how Jo and Jack are her go-to sources of support and Jo confessing that Len’s sensitivity makes her a hard child to shelter from anything. In this context Lisa Townsend’s short story, ending with a picture of Margot and Jo enjoying being the family mischief-makers together, provides a very satisfactory additional read.
June 4, 2022
This is a good example of a typical Chalet school book, a new girl joins the school and struggles to settle in, one of the older girls takes her under their wing and mentors them until they feel like they belong at the school. In this book the new girl is Jack who is a tomboy, and plays practical jokes without thinking of the consequences, and the older girl is Len (who is the oldest of Joey's triplets). Also, it has the secondary issue of the new girl struggling to learn to speak in French and German, as the school has fixed days when each language (including English) must be spoken, unless you want to risk getting a fine.
Joey who lives nearby is an old girl (previous pupil) of the school, and normally helps with any tensions or upsets which the new girls are having. In this book, she helps resolve a different issue.
This book is also set in the Alps, which is my favourite setting for the school. (Some of the earlier books have different settings as they were based in WWII so the school had to relocate for its safety).
The book also includes Mary-Lou, who is another of my favourite characters.
I'd recommend this book as a good way to try out the Chalet school books as it has a good mix of all the standard plot lines, and best characters. It's a good example of a 'later' book (as Joey was a pupil in the earlier ones).
Joey who lives nearby is an old girl (previous pupil) of the school, and normally helps with any tensions or upsets which the new girls are having. In this book, she helps resolve a different issue.
This book is also set in the Alps, which is my favourite setting for the school. (Some of the earlier books have different settings as they were based in WWII so the school had to relocate for its safety).
The book also includes Mary-Lou, who is another of my favourite characters.
I'd recommend this book as a good way to try out the Chalet school books as it has a good mix of all the standard plot lines, and best characters. It's a good example of a 'later' book (as Joey was a pupil in the earlier ones).
June 15, 2025
An ‘OK’ book
A slight variation on girl(s) who do not like / want to attend the Chalet School , although in this case the group of 5 girls have not yet started at the Chalet School but are on the Gornetz Plaz as relatives are being treated for TB at the Sanatorium .
Some overlap with the group of children who terrorise the Chalet School in Th New Chalet School.
Very little of the story takes place in the School other than a discussion in the Staff room and a Prefect’s meeting; there is a tennis competition and the annual Sale of Work in the garden.
Mary-Lou is dragged into this story somewhat unnecessarily as she is still at the Finishing School part of the Chalet School.
As I said this book is ok but lacks some of the excitement and rich characters of earlier books.
A slight variation on girl(s) who do not like / want to attend the Chalet School , although in this case the group of 5 girls have not yet started at the Chalet School but are on the Gornetz Plaz as relatives are being treated for TB at the Sanatorium .
Some overlap with the group of children who terrorise the Chalet School in Th New Chalet School.
Very little of the story takes place in the School other than a discussion in the Staff room and a Prefect’s meeting; there is a tennis competition and the annual Sale of Work in the garden.
Mary-Lou is dragged into this story somewhat unnecessarily as she is still at the Finishing School part of the Chalet School.
As I said this book is ok but lacks some of the excitement and rich characters of earlier books.
September 10, 2020
After hearing about it from her aunts all her life, Jack Lambert is finally at the Chalet School. Full of questions, the eleven-year-old turns to Len Maynard, her dormitory prefect, for answers. But it isn't always easy to find a time when the two can talk, since Jack is a Middle and Len a Senior. Jack's pranks land her in trouble — but she owns up immediately. While Jack is settling in, Margot, the youngest triplet, faces challenges of her own: although she is finally working hard, many others in her form are not, and the mistresses are becoming fed up. What can Margot do to help solve the problem? Very enjoyable, and at times moving, story. Recommended.
July 31, 2016
Two Chalet School reviews in a row! I imagine you can guess that I am in a mood for comfort reads at the moment; I want fat, luscious, clean reads that I can just sink into and enjoy. Perhaps it is a reaction to finishing a draft of my thesis. I rather suspect it is.
I have enjoyed revisiting these later Chalet School books more than I thought I would. A Leader In The Chalet School is one that is more workmanlike than most of the ones around this point in the series, but somehow it is strangely appealing. There are moments of EBD at her best - "and her French was weird and wonderful" - and there are moments of EBD at her worst - writing a tear-filled confession with copious 'wa-ahh-ahh' is never a good idea. Consider that my first and best writing tip. Never write 'wa-ahh-ahh'. Or else I will glare at you.
So; Jack Lambert's first term. She's destined to be Head Girl isn't she? But fanfics aside, this is the traditional 'new girl encounters hijinks and ultimately gets all sorted out by the end of it' formula. It is, as I mentioned, workmanlike, but it works. it really does. It's briskly told and well told, if a little basically at times (there's a delicious moment where somebody says something to somebody else off the page as it were, and the text just goes 'well, whatever she said, clearly worked'. Lol. A thousand times lol.).
What makes A Leader distinct is that I think it's the first time Len really becomes centred in her own right as an Important Person. She's left the rampant character assassination of Theodora and the Chalet School (Len's treatment in this book utterly fascinates and confuses me), and she's now Somebody. And she's not hideous. She's really rather lovely and real. The dynamic between her and Jack is delightful and it's understandable. And that's what drives this book; it's about relationships and identity and selfhood and in a way, it's not really about a school at all.
I have enjoyed revisiting these later Chalet School books more than I thought I would. A Leader In The Chalet School is one that is more workmanlike than most of the ones around this point in the series, but somehow it is strangely appealing. There are moments of EBD at her best - "and her French was weird and wonderful" - and there are moments of EBD at her worst - writing a tear-filled confession with copious 'wa-ahh-ahh' is never a good idea. Consider that my first and best writing tip. Never write 'wa-ahh-ahh'. Or else I will glare at you.
So; Jack Lambert's first term. She's destined to be Head Girl isn't she? But fanfics aside, this is the traditional 'new girl encounters hijinks and ultimately gets all sorted out by the end of it' formula. It is, as I mentioned, workmanlike, but it works. it really does. It's briskly told and well told, if a little basically at times (there's a delicious moment where somebody says something to somebody else off the page as it were, and the text just goes 'well, whatever she said, clearly worked'. Lol. A thousand times lol.).
What makes A Leader distinct is that I think it's the first time Len really becomes centred in her own right as an Important Person. She's left the rampant character assassination of Theodora and the Chalet School (Len's treatment in this book utterly fascinates and confuses me), and she's now Somebody. And she's not hideous. She's really rather lovely and real. The dynamic between her and Jack is delightful and it's understandable. And that's what drives this book; it's about relationships and identity and selfhood and in a way, it's not really about a school at all.
December 24, 2019
My copy is the original paperback edition (of course) - same cover illustration but no orange box for the title. I can't actually work out if the girl who has just tumbled down is Jack or Ted.
EBD is good at depicting the characterful junior, and her often more colourless chums, but the book isn't only about Jack - the 'leader' of the title is of course Len, and there's a fair amount of action in the senior forms too. The story is workmanlike rather than ground-breaking, but although we have had the girl-who-is-more-than-half-boy before, Jack is not simply a copy of Tom - Jack is a more complicated character altogether. Her older sister, Anne, remains the background character she was when we last met her, on a station platform when her brother Bobby was instructed to hold her hand while Ruth Lambert saw Gay safely off to school in wartime England.
We get just a little discussion of the St Mildred's pantomime, rather than a line by line description of the performance (and the audience's inexplicable mirth) - for that mercy alone, the book is worth five stars. And no tourism! Apart from half term at Freudesheim, it's a particularly school-centric book, and all the better for it.
I remain mind-boggled, however, about the teaching for public exams at the Chalet School - Va are due to do their GCEs (O levels) in the summer, and Vb aren't, except for those that are ... so, not sure how the syllabus is covered. Perhaps Margot prepares telepathically.
EBD is good at depicting the characterful junior, and her often more colourless chums, but the book isn't only about Jack - the 'leader' of the title is of course Len, and there's a fair amount of action in the senior forms too. The story is workmanlike rather than ground-breaking, but although we have had the girl-who-is-more-than-half-boy before, Jack is not simply a copy of Tom - Jack is a more complicated character altogether. Her older sister, Anne, remains the background character she was when we last met her, on a station platform when her brother Bobby was instructed to hold her hand while Ruth Lambert saw Gay safely off to school in wartime England.
We get just a little discussion of the St Mildred's pantomime, rather than a line by line description of the performance (and the audience's inexplicable mirth) - for that mercy alone, the book is worth five stars. And no tourism! Apart from half term at Freudesheim, it's a particularly school-centric book, and all the better for it.
I remain mind-boggled, however, about the teaching for public exams at the Chalet School - Va are due to do their GCEs (O levels) in the summer, and Vb aren't, except for those that are ... so, not sure how the syllabus is covered. Perhaps Margot prepares telepathically.
July 13, 2016
Jack Lambert is the new girl in this book; niece of Gay Lambert, of ‘Gay from China…’, and a tomboy. She’s likeable and honest, but also full of curiosity and mischief. Len Maynard takes Jack under her wing. We’re told rather too often that Len is taking on the mantle of both her mother and Mary-Lou, but I thought her character emerges quite nicely.
The book follows the usual classroom anecdotes and entertainments, enlivened by Jack’s determination to play tricks, and by one of her classmates taking a dislike to her. It’s a quick read, more so because of being the paperback; my edition is the Armada one, but apparently the abridgements are fairly minor.
It must be at least twenty years since I last read it, and I had entirely forgotten the storylines. Overall I liked it rather more than some of the recent ones I’ve read. In a couple of places I almost laughed aloud at some of the things that happened, or the way somebody spoke.
Definitely worth reading in sequence by fans of the series, and I would think not bad as an introduction for someone who isn't familiar with the Chalet School.
The book follows the usual classroom anecdotes and entertainments, enlivened by Jack’s determination to play tricks, and by one of her classmates taking a dislike to her. It’s a quick read, more so because of being the paperback; my edition is the Armada one, but apparently the abridgements are fairly minor.
It must be at least twenty years since I last read it, and I had entirely forgotten the storylines. Overall I liked it rather more than some of the recent ones I’ve read. In a couple of places I almost laughed aloud at some of the things that happened, or the way somebody spoke.
Definitely worth reading in sequence by fans of the series, and I would think not bad as an introduction for someone who isn't familiar with the Chalet School.
February 26, 2014
Tomboy Jack finds that her tricks and jokes (Surprise!) get her into trouble. She doesn't have the patience to think things through and has difficulty foreseeing the consequences of her actions. Luckily Len Maynard, oldest and most mature of Jo's triplets, takes a liking to her, though she gets exasperated with all Jack's inquisitiveness, and helps her to see how to improve her behavior without losing face. Jack develops a real interest in the Chalet School and grows to feel she has a place in Len's dorm--something that gets her into trouble in Jane of the Chalet School. Although Jack is the protagonist, the importance of this book is to establish Len's strength and reliability. Unfortunately, Jack emerges as the more interesting character.
January 4, 2026
One of my favourite Chalet School books - probably more because it was one of the first ones I read than because it's a particularly good book! It's the last book before Len becomes just too good to be true, it introduces Jack Lambert, who is a definite highlight of the later Swiss books, and Miss Annersley does some awesome headmistressing. Add in a few practical jokes (of which there are actually surprisingly few in the series as a whole) and a Saturday Evening entertainment that would be right up my street, and you have a five-star CS book.
April 30, 2010
Jack Lambert has been itching to go to the Chalet School ever since she was a young girl. Now that she's eleven, her wish has finally been granted, and she's being sent there. She quickly gains a reputation for playing tricks on people, and when a serious prank has been pulled, everyone thinks she has done it. It's a tough time for her, but her true friends stand by her, and the truth comes out in the end.
September 11, 2020
I thought I'd read this - but turns out no! This is Jack Lambert's first term at school - and it doesn't go smoothly. There's a reoccurrance of Ruey's father's antics, which always strike me as even more bonkers and far fetched than Elisaveta's kidnapping, and there's a continuation of Len's Path To Head Girl as we're signposted even more to Trip 1's excellent qualities (she's still my favourite of Joey's children for all that!).
October 31, 2012
Another delightful Chalet school story, full of the usual mischief and games. I liked Jack, and her persistence with Len. I'm already noticing the tendency for girls to have boy's nicknames, and a host of odd names. Still have one more in this series that I own to read, will try and get that done before the weekend. I do love boarding school stories! ;)
May 20, 2009
Introducing Jack Lambert! And I always was quite fond of the Jack/Len pairing as well.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews