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Malory Towers #9
Winter Term at Malory Towers
Susan is excited to be in charge of the winter concert, but Miss Tallant, a new teacher, has very strong ideas about it. And when she interferes in a midnight feast, they realise there's a spy in their midst. But who could it be?
208 pages, Paperback
Published May 4, 2009
69 people are currently reading
1238 people want to read
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Enid Blyton
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This author profile has been created as Enid^^Blyton to form a collective profile for all commissioned works, by various authors, published under the author name of "Enid Blyton" but nor actually written by herself.
This author profile has been created as Enid^^Blyton to form a collective profile for all commissioned works, by various authors, published under the author name of "Enid Blyton" but nor actually written by herself.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
February 7, 2021
Well, to be honest, I do have to say I am surprised at how much I in fact ended up liking and appreciating my reading time with Pamela Cox’ third continuation of Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers series, as yes indeed, I really did not AT ALL enjoy the first few chapters of Winter Term at Malory Towers, finding the focus on rather problematic new girls Sylvia Chalmers and Olive Witherspoon rather dragging and annoying (with way too much presented negativity) and the new and obviously totally and utterly horrid English and drama teacher Miss Tallant much too typecast and tyrannically villainous.
But indeed, as Pamela Cox’ narrative progresses, the more her textual contents and thematics have certainly rather grown on me, the more I have found Winter Term at Malory Towers increasingly readable and much more to my liking. And yes, as such, Winter Term at Malory Towers is also and once again a more than worthy continuation of Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers series and sometimes even feeling slightly superior (since with her Malory Towers novels, in my opinion, Enid Blyton does far too often not really explain in nearly enough detail why in particular her more negative characters are acting the way they do, and which is fortunately never all that much of an issue with Pamela Cox, at least not with regard to problematic or potentially problematic Malory Towers students).
Because while I still do think that both Sylvia and Olive have definitely been a bit too much exaggerated by Pamela Cox with regard to their unacceptable boarding school behaviour in Winter Term at Malory Towers (and this especially so with regard to Olive), for both girls, their often groan-worthy ways and means do in fact rather make quite a lot of common sense as well. For yes, it does feel as though much of Sylvia Chalmer’s boasting and bragging is in fact generally due to a deep down lack of self esteem and confidence, and that she naturally is also aghast that her despised aunt is a mistress at Malory Towers and that she, that Sylvia, is also seemingly not allowed to talk about this. And yes indeed, if I were personally experiencing Olive Witherspoon’s home life, with a nasty beast of a stepsister intent on always wanting to make me look bad and ill mannered, always making me into the family scapegoat, I would likely also consider acting out and being endlessly surly (even though I do think that Pamela Cox might indeed be mildly faulted for rendering Olive a bit too one-sidedly negative in Winter Term at Malory Towers, but I guess she kind of needs to have Olive Witherspoon in this way for the mystery of the sneaking fourth former being the forced minion of horrible teacher Miss Tallant to work, and for us readers to be as surprised as the fourth form students are as to who has been tattle-tale and sneak, and indeed, the mystery works really well as I most definitely was and remain quite surprised).
And finally, even though Miss Tallant as the main adult villain of Winter Term at Malory Towers is definitely also a bit overly exaggerated (and that this really did bother me for a while as I was reading), considering that I have also known teachers who like Miss Tallant were totally nasty and both enabled and encouraged bullying and sneaking, well, perhaps Miss Tallant is not really as much of a typecast negative stereotype as I was originally thinking (that she is being depicted realistically with regard to her horridness) and she obviously and certainly is also a character type, is the kind of “teacher” we as readers (and as students and former students) absolutely do love to really and truly hate.
But indeed, as Pamela Cox’ narrative progresses, the more her textual contents and thematics have certainly rather grown on me, the more I have found Winter Term at Malory Towers increasingly readable and much more to my liking. And yes, as such, Winter Term at Malory Towers is also and once again a more than worthy continuation of Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers series and sometimes even feeling slightly superior (since with her Malory Towers novels, in my opinion, Enid Blyton does far too often not really explain in nearly enough detail why in particular her more negative characters are acting the way they do, and which is fortunately never all that much of an issue with Pamela Cox, at least not with regard to problematic or potentially problematic Malory Towers students).
Because while I still do think that both Sylvia and Olive have definitely been a bit too much exaggerated by Pamela Cox with regard to their unacceptable boarding school behaviour in Winter Term at Malory Towers (and this especially so with regard to Olive), for both girls, their often groan-worthy ways and means do in fact rather make quite a lot of common sense as well. For yes, it does feel as though much of Sylvia Chalmer’s boasting and bragging is in fact generally due to a deep down lack of self esteem and confidence, and that she naturally is also aghast that her despised aunt is a mistress at Malory Towers and that she, that Sylvia, is also seemingly not allowed to talk about this. And yes indeed, if I were personally experiencing Olive Witherspoon’s home life, with a nasty beast of a stepsister intent on always wanting to make me look bad and ill mannered, always making me into the family scapegoat, I would likely also consider acting out and being endlessly surly (even though I do think that Pamela Cox might indeed be mildly faulted for rendering Olive a bit too one-sidedly negative in Winter Term at Malory Towers, but I guess she kind of needs to have Olive Witherspoon in this way for the mystery of the sneaking fourth former being the forced minion of horrible teacher Miss Tallant to work, and for us readers to be as surprised as the fourth form students are as to who has been tattle-tale and sneak, and indeed, the mystery works really well as I most definitely was and remain quite surprised).
And finally, even though Miss Tallant as the main adult villain of Winter Term at Malory Towers is definitely also a bit overly exaggerated (and that this really did bother me for a while as I was reading), considering that I have also known teachers who like Miss Tallant were totally nasty and both enabled and encouraged bullying and sneaking, well, perhaps Miss Tallant is not really as much of a typecast negative stereotype as I was originally thinking (that she is being depicted realistically with regard to her horridness) and she obviously and certainly is also a character type, is the kind of “teacher” we as readers (and as students and former students) absolutely do love to really and truly hate.
December 19, 2020
The gang is now in the fourth form, and Susan is made the head girl. It is interesting to see that she finally develops a character. I had always found her pretty dull before this, so it was rather nice to see her blossom. The fourth form is also put in charge of the Christmas entertainment, in which they decide to put up a play.
There are two new girls: Sylvia and Olive. Sylvia is hearty, outspoken, and bossy and immediately gets on the wrong side of everyone. Olive is snappy and immediately makes enemies. Olive's story spreads over outside Malory Towers but she is involved in many school plots, so it works out quite well in this book. Sylvia blends into the form quite well too.
There is also a new mistress, Miss Tallant, whom everyone ends up hating. Sly and domineering, Miss Tallant misuses her authority to hand out unfair punishments and indulge her own petty hates. But the real problem is that someone is feeding her information! Who can it possibly be? The story mostly revolves around this.
I quite liked this installment of the series. A rogue mistress is always interesting, especially if June is around to take her in hand. I am enjoying how well June is developing under Cox's writing!
There are two new girls: Sylvia and Olive. Sylvia is hearty, outspoken, and bossy and immediately gets on the wrong side of everyone. Olive is snappy and immediately makes enemies. Olive's story spreads over outside Malory Towers but she is involved in many school plots, so it works out quite well in this book. Sylvia blends into the form quite well too.
There is also a new mistress, Miss Tallant, whom everyone ends up hating. Sly and domineering, Miss Tallant misuses her authority to hand out unfair punishments and indulge her own petty hates. But the real problem is that someone is feeding her information! Who can it possibly be? The story mostly revolves around this.
I quite liked this installment of the series. A rogue mistress is always interesting, especially if June is around to take her in hand. I am enjoying how well June is developing under Cox's writing!
October 22, 2011
Winter Term at Malory Towers was a quick and easy read that took me right back to the days of reading the Malory Towers original books by Enid Blyton.
Pamela Cox captures the essence of the series and seems to try her very best at following on from where Blyton left the series, but this time following in the footsteps of Felicity Rivers, the younger sister of Darrell Rivers, from the original books.
A lovely book; one that can be read easily and quickly for quite an enjoyable read!
Pamela Cox captures the essence of the series and seems to try her very best at following on from where Blyton left the series, but this time following in the footsteps of Felicity Rivers, the younger sister of Darrell Rivers, from the original books.
A lovely book; one that can be read easily and quickly for quite an enjoyable read!
Read
November 5, 2023Look, sometimes the only thing I can bring myself to read is an Enid Blyton book (that's not even written by Enid Blyton)
November 10, 2016
Pamela Cox has kept a couple of the "old girls" (Bill and Clarissa) as characters in her books. They had a rather large role in Summer Term at Malory Towers. I hope we find out what's happening with some of the others in one of the other books (3 more left in the series). After all Darrell is Felicity's sister and Alicia is June's cousin.
August 7, 2022
The book was very intriguing, was on my feet the whole time. The suspense was just the right amount, keeping us pondering on what could happen or have happened. Anytime I had to set the book down, I hesitated. The same goes for all the other books in the series.
February 26, 2017
Very exciting and mysterious, a brilliant end to the book. I think all the Malory towers books are excellent.
February 6, 2015
Ack, there's not a great deal to say about this, the ninth book in the Malory towers franchise, and the third by Pamela Cox. It's certainly very funny in parts, but it seemed to be treading water a bit in terms of plot. Sylvia is just a less annoying version of Maureen and although Olive's character develops nicely, she's planning on leaving Malory Towers by the end of the book anyway! The Christmas Play plot is more or less the one from In The Fifth, re-hashed and condensed, and Nora's characterisation is all over the shop. Since when was she such a good ballet dancer and as pretty as Bonnie? Some of us take our Malory Towers continuity cake seriously thank you. We keep it stored in the games closet until it's time for the midnight feast, no sneaking to Potty!
August 12, 2014
I have read kids books before but nothing this bad. rainbows were almost shooting out of the book. It is SO unrealistic. Kids don't speak like that "a l'ettiquette" , they aren't this nice to each other and they aren't that understanding. They are loving and all, but just not this much. And this book was just too transparent and the way the author ended it , well is she stupid or something ? It is like she is hosting a TV show or something ... "See you in our episode next week about chicken pox" .. oh go learn to write better. No wonder I found it in the books booth. No one wanted this.
May 17, 2019
Pamela Cox has really found her Enid Blyton voice and rhythmn.
Don't want to say too much for fear of spoilers but it is a jam packed storyline, and yes there is Jam but I don't feel admitting that will irreparably spoil any ones enjoyment.
Felt like I had stepped back into my childhood.
Only 3 to go - feeling a little sad.
Don't want to say too much for fear of spoilers but it is a jam packed storyline, and yes there is Jam but I don't feel admitting that will irreparably spoil any ones enjoyment.
Felt like I had stepped back into my childhood.
Only 3 to go - feeling a little sad.
February 25, 2014
Still enjoying the adventures of Felicity, Susan, June and company.
March 18, 2022
Now this is how you write a Malory Towers story!
I thoroughly enjoyed Winter Term the most out of all of Pamela Cox's other books. Those were good too but Winter Term takes the cake. We have a decent amount of drama, a really dastardly villain teacher, solid character development and redemption arcs.
Pamela Cox follows the standard formula of all the Malory Towers books: a constant cast of familiar characters meets 2 or 3 new girls whom they are unsure about. Adventure, betrayal and good old fashioned rivalry ensues!
In this book, the girls at Malory Towers meet 2 new interesting characters: Olive and Sylvia. The girls aren't popular in the form because Olive is extremely unpleasant and refuses to make any friends. Most of the Malory Towers girls wrote her off as mean, petty and jealous because she is the most beastly towards Nora, Amy and Bonnie, the three prettiest girls of their grade. Sylvia on the other hand is a big try-hard who is too straight and blunt for their liking. She makes it well-known that she used to be head of her form in her other school but she doesn't have much sense of humor and looks down on pranks. The real reason would be revealed at the end in a satisfying twist!
They also have much bigger problems going on because a terrible teacher named Ms. Tallant has moved in and she is making life extremely hard for them. There's also the problem of a sneak in their form who seems to be letting Ms. Tallant know about every single move the girls make. Could Olive or Sylvia actually be Ms. Tallant's niece? Signs point to yes and lots of red herrings were scattered about, causing the girls to suspect and isolate Olive even more.
I really enjoyed seeing how certain initially unpleasant characters like June and Bonnie have matured and shone in the 9th book of the series. June is known for being headstrong, malicious, cunning and hard. But it was her who reaches out to Olive at the end in a rare moment of kindness and finds out the shocking reason for her meanness. I didn't like Bonnie at first because she seemed too smarmy and too much of a cunning suck-up, using her dainty looks to get what she wants. But I was pleased to see her standing up for herself and making some very responsible, self-sacrificing decisions even for a certain person she hated because she has a good sense of honor now. How these girls have grown! I actually felt a little touched because I felt like I grew up with these rebellious children and now they're all grown up.
But I like how the author doesn't make these girls too saintly and perfect. The Malory Towers girls still have a midnight feast, play tricks and are fiercely loyal to each other. No one is allowed to sneak on another girl, rifle through her belongings or humiliate another girl publicly in front of the lower form. They still have some quarrels and some girls like Amy still remain quite vain even though she has shown some character growth in terms of her loyalty to Bonnie.
Despite the interesting new additions to the form, I do feel it gets a bit repetitive because at the end, the new girls never end up staying for long. None of them ever stay and next term, there will be the same cast and new faces again to stir up conflict.
I'm eager to continue this series and can't wait to see what lies ahead for them.
I thoroughly enjoyed Winter Term the most out of all of Pamela Cox's other books. Those were good too but Winter Term takes the cake. We have a decent amount of drama, a really dastardly villain teacher, solid character development and redemption arcs.
Pamela Cox follows the standard formula of all the Malory Towers books: a constant cast of familiar characters meets 2 or 3 new girls whom they are unsure about. Adventure, betrayal and good old fashioned rivalry ensues!
In this book, the girls at Malory Towers meet 2 new interesting characters: Olive and Sylvia. The girls aren't popular in the form because Olive is extremely unpleasant and refuses to make any friends. Most of the Malory Towers girls wrote her off as mean, petty and jealous because she is the most beastly towards Nora, Amy and Bonnie, the three prettiest girls of their grade. Sylvia on the other hand is a big try-hard who is too straight and blunt for their liking. She makes it well-known that she used to be head of her form in her other school but she doesn't have much sense of humor and looks down on pranks. The real reason would be revealed at the end in a satisfying twist!
They also have much bigger problems going on because a terrible teacher named Ms. Tallant has moved in and she is making life extremely hard for them. There's also the problem of a sneak in their form who seems to be letting Ms. Tallant know about every single move the girls make. Could Olive or Sylvia actually be Ms. Tallant's niece? Signs point to yes and lots of red herrings were scattered about, causing the girls to suspect and isolate Olive even more.
I really enjoyed seeing how certain initially unpleasant characters like June and Bonnie have matured and shone in the 9th book of the series. June is known for being headstrong, malicious, cunning and hard. But it was her who reaches out to Olive at the end in a rare moment of kindness and finds out the shocking reason for her meanness. I didn't like Bonnie at first because she seemed too smarmy and too much of a cunning suck-up, using her dainty looks to get what she wants. But I was pleased to see her standing up for herself and making some very responsible, self-sacrificing decisions even for a certain person she hated because she has a good sense of honor now. How these girls have grown! I actually felt a little touched because I felt like I grew up with these rebellious children and now they're all grown up.
But I like how the author doesn't make these girls too saintly and perfect. The Malory Towers girls still have a midnight feast, play tricks and are fiercely loyal to each other. No one is allowed to sneak on another girl, rifle through her belongings or humiliate another girl publicly in front of the lower form. They still have some quarrels and some girls like Amy still remain quite vain even though she has shown some character growth in terms of her loyalty to Bonnie.
Despite the interesting new additions to the form, I do feel it gets a bit repetitive because at the end, the new girls never end up staying for long. None of them ever stay and next term, there will be the same cast and new faces again to stir up conflict.
I'm eager to continue this series and can't wait to see what lies ahead for them.
October 31, 2021
Another Malory Towers book filled with mystery, intrigue and tricks!
It is always enjoyable to read a redemption story of a girl at Malory Towers and it was incredibly satisfying to see Olive's step-sister get the comeuppance she deserved, allowing Olive to regain the life she deserved.
It was also nice to see Felicity's form put on the Christmas entertainment, just as Darrell's form did (without the help of Miss Tallant, thank goodness).
An enjoyable read, even if I did want to scream every time the girl's called each other 'old girl', which was probably every other page.
It is always enjoyable to read a redemption story of a girl at Malory Towers and it was incredibly satisfying to see Olive's step-sister get the comeuppance she deserved, allowing Olive to regain the life she deserved.
It was also nice to see Felicity's form put on the Christmas entertainment, just as Darrell's form did (without the help of Miss Tallant, thank goodness).
An enjoyable read, even if I did want to scream every time the girl's called each other 'old girl', which was probably every other page.
March 25, 2019
Felicity Rivers and her friends are now in the fourth form. Having to deal with some new students, a new teacher who isn't friendly towards their class in particular, as well as some new pranks created, this was a fun return to the Malory Towers world. I like Pamela's writing style and enjoyed the setting immensely. There were moments where I personally wanted to yell at some of the characters, calling them out for their behaviour. It's stories like that I remember the most!
September 12, 2022
Las chicas van a hacer una obra de teatro para la que no querían ayuda. Cuando van a empezar los ensayos de la obra llega una nueva profesora sustituta de teatro. La sustituta quiere quedarse con el puesto de profesora titular y para conseguirlo se entromete en la obra de las niñas y en otras actividades de las niñas. Le dan un susto a la señorita Tallant y hablan con el resto de profes de lo que está haciendo. Finalmente la despiden y hacen la obra que les sale genial
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 9, 2022
Another worthy continuation novel in the series. The beginning is not the best, as the new girls and the new teacher are rather annoying, but as the story develops we see there's more to them than initially seemed. These novels are rather derivative of Blyton's Malory Towers stories, but that is what readers want from it, and Pamela Cox adds a certain nuance to her villains that Enid often did not have.
December 24, 2022
(3.5/5) 1 hour 24 minutes - I have less memory of reading this book, so it was almost as if reading it for the first time. While I still think that the ways some of the characters are treated, this is just the way Enid Blyton books tend to work, and therefore Cox has done a great job in cohesively continuing the series. I really did enjoy the plot of this one, and while the twists were predictable, I am, admittedly, 19 instead of 9, and this was to be expected.
December 4, 2023
Felicity and Susan are very happy and are hoping that the year with go smoothly, but when two new girls called Sylvia and Olive show up everything goes wrong. There is also a new teacher called Miss Talent who is very strict and everyone hates her. Anyway, one of the new girls are telling Miss Talent there form secrets. So they find out Olive is the sneak but it’s because she is very sad, since her stepsister is blaming her for everything, and they found out that Sylvia is Miss Talents niece.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 8, 2020
Entertaining little story with a pleasing (though as we've come to expect from Pamela Cox, a somewhat predictable mystery), and some good morals. Also nice to see some good character development of June.
March 17, 2021
Susan is excited to be in charge of the winter concert, but Miss Tallant, a new teacher, has very strong ideas about it. And when she interferes in a midnight feast, they realise there's a spy in their midst. But who could it be? I recommend you to read this book.
July 28, 2021
Simply marvelous! The character development in this novel is so well done! I just loved re-reading this, it's so quick and fun, and Pamela Cox's take on Malory Towers is wonderfully authentic.
I'm looking forward to reading the next few books that follow this one!
I'm looking forward to reading the next few books that follow this one!
March 12, 2017
I have done a lot of Malory Towers this year.
November 18, 2017
uh ya i'm a bit obsessed
March 19, 2019
Continuing my rereads of the series and the newer books. :)
October 26, 2019
Er was weer dikke drama wowowow en ik ga hier TE GOED OP
March 26, 2020
ahhh kinda wanna reread all of these. anyway god all the characters are such dicks to the new girls it's funny
March 30, 2020
Nice
Very interesting and perfect for ages 8 and onwards. My daughter said it was the best book ever. Definitely recommend it.
Very interesting and perfect for ages 8 and onwards. My daughter said it was the best book ever. Definitely recommend it.
April 28, 2020
I was less impressed with this one. The plot was far-fetched in places and the mimicking of Blyton’s style seemed forced. The use of ‘for’ as a conjunction was jarringly frequent.
October 25, 2020
Good fun wholesome boarding school story. Very nostalgic.
March 24, 2021
Something akin to the The Naughtiest Girl, yet a beautiful series on its own, Malory Towers series was another amazing set of books that got us through many a summer vacations.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews