Adele Doring at Boarding-School

Adele Doring #3

by Grace May North, Florence Liley Young (Illustrator)

Fourteen-year-old Adele Doring and her friends in the "Sunnyside Club” all find themselves attending the same boarding school.

251 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1921

About the author

Grace May North-Monfort was born in Utica, New York, and between 1919 and 1931 wrote a number of books under her own name as well as her personal pseudonym, "Carol Norton." In addition to writing three volumes in the X Bar X Boys series for the Stratemeyer Syndicate, she also wrote a short series of western stories for young children, called the "Southwest Stories for Children," unpublished at the time of her death in San Luis Obispo, California.

Reviews

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out okay but then just got weird. One coincidence after another leads all seven of the friends to the same school. Term has already started but wey hey, there's no problem! They even have an entire section to themselves. Even Trudie who has no money is taken on as first grade teacher, even though she hasn't done more than junior high herself. The coincidences pile up as one poor orphan after another is discovered to be an heiress in disguise. Again, many events that could have made interesting reading are glossed over in a few sentences. It's all about money in the end. After all, Adele's "Giant Daddy" owns most of the land in her small town and her friends describe themselves as "daughters of the gentry." Their idea of showing kindness is still condescending to those beneath them. I don't know why I bothered to read another in the series, but I'm sure it'll be my last.

Very much a transitional instalment, between the ranch adventure and the following one which will apparently be boating adventures. I notice all these early 20th century emulation series imitate each other.