Episode 34 - Jolly Hockey Sticks, it’s the boarding school special!

This week we’re doing something a little different for our back to school episode, and digging in to a run down of the ins and outs of boarding schools in kidlit.

 

Nina and Matt have each brought a few books featuring boarding school set ups along to discuss. They are:

 

The Worst Witch series by Jill Murphy

The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Boy by Roald Dahl

Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones

Knock Three Times by Cressida Cowell

 

The audiobook Matt remembers listening to when they were little (on cassette!) is (most probably) this version, recorded in 1984 by Miriam Margolyes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH6WQxx4W9I

 

Here's a personal essay about Dartington Hall (the real inspiration behind Delderton Hall in the Dragonfly Pool) and its appearances in kidlit by someone who studied there 

https://didyoueverstoptothink.com/2012/01/19/a-most-unusual-place-dartington-hall-and-its-role-in-childrens-literature/

 

Here’s an interview with Jill Murphy about the creation of The Worst Witch and the chance circumstance that led to its eventual publication - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/11198259/An-oral-history-of-The-Worst-Witch.html

 

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