Source
r/booksuggestions•
AdultMouse

Looking for Girls' Boarding School books.

Hello all. I'm looking for something fairly specific and I'm not sure what, if anything, is available. Requirements:

  1. Aimed at middle grade or early YA, say 10 - 15 age range.
  2. Takes place at either a girls' boarding school or at a coed boarding school with female-identifying protagonist or focus.
  3. No supernatural or super unrealistic. This includes spy training, secret royalty, and hidden schools. These are normal girls at a normal school. Over the top is fine, given the age range.
  4. Crushes and beginner dating okay, but no sex, love triangles, or similar drama common in later-age YA.
  5. I prefer newer books or series, but classical is okay.

Before anyone suggests it, yes, we have Malory Towers, both the Enid Blyton original and the Pamela Cox spin off. I'm looking for more of the same. If anyone's familiar with Gordon Korman's MacDonald Hall series, a female version of that would be perfect.

Books not specifically aimed at young people, but with no inappropriate content, are fine. I'm thinking some cozy mystery series world work if the protagonists were several decades younger.

Posted Jan 3, 2023, 12:24 AM UTC

319
Psychology_Careful•

Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

Bloomability by Sharon screech - it’s been a long time since I read this one but I LOVED it when I was in the 10-15 age range and read it for the first time. I can’t quite remember the age I read it at but I’d guess closer to 10 than 15

2
FraughtOverwrought•

The chalet school series

2
Caleb_Trask19•

The only book by the 20th century’s most prolific children’s book editor Ursula Nordstrom, The Secret Language, based on her own experiences as a child of divorce sent to a boarding school.

2
disagreeabledinosaur•

Chalet school girls There are dozens of them.

Enid Blyton had the twins at St Clares series too.

For cozy mystery: Nancy Drew is probably worth a look.

2
unsharded•

Yes, I was surprised OP had Mallory Towers without St Clare's

1
ModernNancyDrew•

Nancy Drew is always worth a look! :)

The Truly Devious series is exactly this.

1
bookishnatasha89•

The Naughtiest Girl series by Enid Blyton?

1
econoquist•

The Mehitable Webster series by Katharine Adams is about an American girl attending a British Boarding School first book is Mehitable and the second is The Silver Tarn

1
turn_it_down•

Jane Eyre kind of?

1
boxer_dogs_dance•

You can also ask r/yalit

Michelle Magorian Back Home

1
venice7771•

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James. Although there is a little supernatural aspect to the story as well, so if you aren't into that, take a pass.

The Sun Down Motel by her is good as well.

1
ModernNancyDrew•

Good books, but they are aimed more at adults.

1
venice7771•

Agreed for the most part, but a lot of 13+ kids read adult books. Mine do. And there isn't anything too heavy or sexual in either of these. Anyways, just a suggestion

2
ModernNancyDrew•

That's fair.

1
aidoll•

I don’t think there are too many non-magical boarding school novels for middle graders nowadays. If you’re into historical fiction, there are more of those.

I did recently {{The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane}}. Obviously, it’s a mystery, but the boarding school itself is mostly normal. It’s a middle grade book and there’s nothing too inappropriate in it.

1
Pombear1123•

Jummy at the river school.

1
kissme-kate•

The Trebizon series by Anne Digby?

Maybe Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer? It's not overtly supernatural, but it does involve a sort of time slip.

1
LadyOfHouseBacon•

It's a one off, but Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie is set in a girl's school and is good fun. Written and set in the 1940s.

A Little Princess might also fit?

1
[deleted]•

This isn't a new book, but it fits everything you're asking to a T.

And Both Were Young by Madeline L'Engle.

Takes place at a Swiss Boarding school to boot, but it is definitely classical.

https://www.madeleinelengle.com/books/middle-grade-young-adult/and-both-were-young/

1