Apples Every Day

by Grace Richardson

At first, thirteen-year-old Sheila hates life at Kenner, a progressive co-educational boarding school. She finds she can take whatever classes she likes—and can cut them if she wants. But eventually Sheila is caught up in the school activities, and everything changes when she discovers her own special talents.

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, School Stories, Childrens, Boarding School, Canada

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

Reviews

[Kathy Moberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book when I was about 11 or 12 years old and borrowed it two or three times from the public library. I recently got my hands on an old copy and read it out of curiosity. I have to say, it isn't especially well-written and the progressive boarding school (circa 1965) sounds dreadful to me now, but I can see why it appealed to me as a child. I don't know that it would have the same appeal to a 21st century tween, as it is very much a 1960's era book. Another reviewer called it a time capsule, and that is exactly right! But it's a fun little read. There is something romantic about boarding schools to those of us who never attended one!

[CLM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting to reread this boarding school story after many years - Kenner is a quirky progressive school in Canada, so the story of three new students provides an interesting contrast to all the Malory Towers and St. Clare's books I grew up with. However, I am still looking for a novel about Kiss Me Kate!

http://perfectretort.blogspot.com/201...

[Liralen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gosh. I've been looking for this one for years and finally found it through archive.org (which is my new favourite website). In Apples Every Day, a young girl is sent against her will to boarding school, but she soon finds that the school is nothing like what she expected: she can choose her own classes; students have a say in what material is taught in a given class; she's free to cut class and pursue her own interests and do or not do schoolwork as she chooses. It takes Sheila a while to figure out just what to do with this school, but eventually she starts to see it as a gift rather than a curse.

Make no mistake: it is incredibly, amazingly dated. These twelve- and thirteen-year-olds all talk like miniature adults (though they don't act it). They have hootenannies, and it is shocking when they go to bed past ten p.m., and the girls are praised when they are 'feminine', and a fancy theatre critic thinks it appropriate to walk out on a children's Shakespeare performance because it isn't professional enough(!), and it's all very ridiculous but also very entertaining. The cover reminds me a tiny bit of And Both Were Young, which I adored as a kid, but the schools are very, very different.

"Oh, I'm sure the food will be good at Kenner," Mother exclaimed. "After all, it is a progressive school—they'll probably fatten you up on wheat germ and tiger's milk." (1)

"Sally! You're wearing a bra!"
"Just a thirty-two triple A," Sally said modestly. (20–21)

Mike's banjo lay on the floor, where he had left it after last night's noisy hootenanny. A large group of boys had gathered in the room, singing through mouthfuls of apple while Mike played. ... The singing had continued boisterously till after ten, when Willy, reappearing for the third time, said if they didn't get to bed and shut up soon he'd...he'd...well, do something decisive. (23)

"You haven't met Liz, have you? She's a rather overpowering female." (26)

Now that the moment of her debut as a playwright was at hand, she was terrified they might not like it. The reactions of Kenner students were unpredictable and apt to be extreme. They could be wildly enthusiastic or withering in their scorn. They were seldom merely polite. (43)

"I've got another idea," Mimi exclaimed suddenly. "Let's have a fashion show. Everybody who's tall and slim and has lots of nice new clothes can be in it."
"Which means you," said Sally. "But why not?" (123)

Gee, she thought, isn't it funny? I decided I'd be in love with him, and now I am. Somehow she couldn't bring herself to describe her feelings as a "crush." It sounded so unromantic and juvenile. All right for Mimi, perhaps; not good enough for herself. (133)

The girls at Kenner were extremely fashion-minded. Nobody could say just how a particular fashion started; yet somehow, by the second or third week of each term, a distinct Look could be seen. last term it had been a Striped Look; this term, the Dirty Look. This involved lank, unwashed hair, dirty navy sweatshirts, dirty jeans over dirty black tights with holes in the heels, and rundown ballet slippers. Mimi tried the hardest, deliberately rolling in the dust under her bed (she had to take a pill afterward because of her allergy to dust). But Sheila, with her naturally greasy hair and rather sallow skin—oily without being pimply—was the most successful. She had just the right "subtly dirty, ingrained quality," as Janet enviously described it, which constituted the current Look. (134)

The last play was over. There had been only one flop: an embarrassingly amateurish As You Like It, which the Toronto critic had walked out on. Macbeth and both productions of The Merchant of Venice were good—even the all-girls one, scheduled first, to give it a fair chance of an audience. (201)

She wasn't happy, but by now she was almost enjoying her gloom. It was all part of Life. (202)

But suddenly she laughed. "What a year, Mimi...three roommates all in love with the same guy. What a comedy!"
"A black comedy," said Mimi grimly. She relapsed into a frowning silence. Then her face cleared. "You know, I've decided that in spite of everything, this has been a valuable year for me. Last year was more fun, but this year has been more of an experience. Because I've suffered. You can't be mature until you've really suffered." (210–211)

[TheBookGroupie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must have read "Apples Every Day" four times when I was in elementary school and,every time, I felt like I was on a great escape away from home with good friends.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This made its way to my to-read list because it's a boarding school book. I had to ILL it and am pleased some library still held on to this. It's from 1965, Canadian, and set in a progressive school. And wow was it ever weird. All the things you want in a story about a progressive boarding school-33 students in a dilapidated house with just a few teachers, and everyone does whatever they want-even if that's nothing at all. Now, I love a weird dated book, but I think that those things aside, this really wasn't a great book in terms of the writing and how the story was told. Still, I was fascinated by the details

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember being really enthralled by this story about a boarding school in Canada, lots of apple eating and friends and crushes and the stuff of middle school drama - so of course I loved it. I remembered the title a year ago and thought it might be fun to reread some of the books I loved - and see if they were actually any good or whether I just read dreck in my youth ... this book on AbeBooks was a bloody fortune - so now it is on my extensive list to hopefully locate someday at a used book sale...

[Marthe · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was one of my favourite books as a young teenager, even after I spent a year in a similar boarding school (in England rather than Canada), and knew first-hand how living so closely together with other students AND teachers can bruise and illuminate. It never occured to me until this minute, when I saw that someone else had read the book,that the author might have written something else. Now on a treasure hunt...

[Laurie]

I recommend this if you particularly like books about: boarding schools, Canada, or kids putting on a play. Otherwise this story about a small, progressive '60s boarding school is nice but forgettable. (The title sounds like it would be one of those charming pioneer/farm books by someone like Miriam Mason, but it's not at all like that.)

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An odd time capsule of a book, worth more for the period details than any literary qualities. My favorite part was the betrayal of the much-loved teacher, and I really wanted to read more of her expose, although I was very disappointed at the ultimate reason for that betrayal.

[Elizabeth Lund]

A fairly straightforward and realistic story about a girl at a progressive Canadian boarding school similar to Summerhill. Was glad to see a school like this portrayed in a sympathetic (though not totally utopian) manner.

[Hsgray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book when I was young and it stuck with me for some reason. Gaby, Phil, the Play. I found it in a used bookstore and grabbed it. Now I work for a progressive school similar to Kenner.

If you are looking for other books about progressive schools I also recommend Totto-chan.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

read growing up

[Maia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely old fashioned story with poignant intimate details. Recently found my old copy and re read it with zest.

[Ann Witherspoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite book during middle school. I think the appeal was the idea of being at a boarding school.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read this book so many times. I always like it was written by the sister of a friend of my parents, and she used her sister’s name several times in the book.
I learned a few new things on this re-read. First, I never realized before that Jerry Dressler was Jewish. Second, and bigger, I did a little look into progressive schools in the 60s in Canada and learned that Kenner School was based on a real place that still exists, Summerhill School in the UK, and in fact it was closely based on a National Film Board of Canada documentary about that school which is available on line. Check it out and you’ll see. Some reviewers complained that young teens don’t talk the way they do in this novel but if you see the documentary, you’ll find that Richardson based her characters on the way the real students behaved and spoke.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been quite a while since I last read it, so I don't know that I can give it a proper review. However, I read it repeatedly as a pre-teen and teen, and it is what got me started reading Shakespeare at a young age. I still have that bit of 'The Taming of the Shrew' memorized.

[Angie Kaelberer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book as a pre-teen in the mid 1970s. Wish I could find it again.

[Allison Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book as a child! Wish I could find a copy so I could read it again.

[Thomasin Propson · Rating 4 out of 5]

CAN you be unschooled at a boarding school? Turns out: yes! And you'll eat a lot of apples while you're at it (because thrifty!).

These four stars are genre-based--and this is a boarding school, turning teenager (not quite 'coming of age'), unschooled story with a Shakespeare play and other variety shows detailed and it's great in that way.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you ever wanted a novel of what life at a progressive (not modern progressive, but a school like 1960s Summerhill) was like, this gives a detailed interesting view of a normal girl who gets sent to it, and her reaction to the strangeness of it. Both dysfunctional in some ways, and oddly enhancing in others, the school is probably not terribly functional as an educational institution in curriculum, but is helpful to the protagonist in establishing her character in adolescence. I periodically reread this story, in the decades since it was publlished. It's a shame it's not an ebook. I have a copy, but used copies of this story go for a ridiculous price, and it could, I think, gain a new audience if the author would just put it up as an ebook.

[Mary Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a bit dated but not badly written. However, it is hard to believe anyone could be allergic to oregano.