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The Sidney Books #6
Sidney: Her Senior Year
"This delightful story, in which Sidney's Senior Year and Day's Commencement are the chief themes, completes the author's charming and popular scries of Sidney Books." -New York Observer
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1910
3 people want to read
About the author
Anna Chapin Ray
157 books2 followersAnna Chapin Ray was an American author. In 1881 she was one of the first three women to take the Yale University entrance exam. She studied at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts where she received a B.A. in 1885 and an M.A. in modern European history in 1888.
Beginning in 1889, Anna became a prolific author; her works included many children's books, but she also published adult novels. She wrote during the summer in New Haven, Connecticut, then spent the winter in Quebec. Most of her works were written using the pseudonym Sidney Howard.
Photo courtesy of Smith College Special Collections.
Beginning in 1889, Anna became a prolific author; her works included many children's books, but she also published adult novels. She wrote during the summer in New Haven, Connecticut, then spent the winter in Quebec. Most of her works were written using the pseudonym Sidney Howard.
Photo courtesy of Smith College Special Collections.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 30, 2023
This was my favorite of the Sidney series, which, as close readers of my reviews will know doesn't mean a lot.
At the start of her senior year at Smith, Sidney is on the verge of being elected Senior Class president, which would be a crowning glory to outshine all her other glories. Her younger sister Phyllis has just entered college, and Sidney's friends wonder if this unattractive peevish and downright rude freshman (Phyllis' reforms in Book 3 didn't last, because if they had, what else could this book possibly be about??), will spoil Sidney's chances, but they worry needlessly. Meanwhile Janet is still peevish -- great! Not one but two cranky self-sabotaging girls in the same book, previously we've just had them one at a time.
Soon enough, the campus is swarming with the girls' male friends and relations, just as was the case in the earlier volume set at college. And Lord Axmuthy, previously known as Sir George Porteus, also crosses the Atlantic again, just to loiter in Northampton and get in everybody's way (and conveniently bringing his abnormally handsome secretary with him, Ronald, Janet's brother). Of course good old Jack Blanchard is among the crowd. Need I remind my readers that this worthy chap, private secretary to a railroad tycoon, was once (get ready for a shock) a railroad conductor? Aren't the girls splendid for treating him as an equal? Anna Chapin Ray feels this fact can never be milked enough, and we have a scene in which we see Jack through the eyes of Amy Pope's mother (Amy is another senior), and the mother can't quite decide if he's fit to know. Jack also confides to Sidney that his sense of self-worth was really shaken by Janet's snobbishness the previous summer. This is shortly before he crashes a car on a Mountain Day outing (a venerable Smith tradition -- the outing part, that is), and thus is hospitalized for months, which is convenient because it keeps him on the scene. Shortly after Christmas, the girls tell all the boys to leave and let them enjoy their last precious Spring semester without having to entertain them. This lasts until Spring break, when the Kens all turn up again like bad pennies, but no one complains too much.
Meanwhile, Phyllis is predictably unpopular, but is allowed the redemption of turning out to be a writer of genius, and thus a credit to the college, despite her severely pulled back hair and freakish style of dress. Somehow she also gets saddled with Lord Axmuthy as an almost-fiance, which came out of nowhere -- I guess our Anna Chapin Ray thought we'd be mightily tickled by this bizarre pairing (in the unlikely event that anyone remembers that the English Lord was engaged to prim cousin Judith in Book 3, don't worry, the two broke that off earlier in this book). Also, Amy Pope is directing the senior play, and Janet gets the role of Puck and turns out to be brilliant (she turns lots of handsprings). I was pleasantly surprised that the two problem girls get to make good.
Then graduation comes, and like a switch has been flicked, six of the characters all of a sudden realize that their feelings for each other needn't be so platonic after all, and we have three engagements in quick succession, like the finale of a fireworks show.
You're all on the edge of your seats, just waiting to find out how they all shake out, right?
Well, Amy Pope, despite having spent most of the book in love with Jack (which is interesting because usually in books of this type girls aren't allowed to enamored of men until they're engaged to them, but maybe it's okay in her case because she's not a main character), finds that Janet's brother Ronald is actually much better looking. Sidney ends up with Day's brother Rob. Jack it turns out, became stiff and formal with Amy once he realized he'd accidentally been encouraging her because he was in love all along with Day. This is actually surprising, because for several books we've been told how much they are like brother and sister to each other, and early on in this book, she's snuggled up to him in a "sisterly" way. Mostly the pairings feel a bit random, as if that's just how they were when the music stopped.
Janet draws the old maid card, and doesn't seem bothered by it. Hopefully she'll at least be left in peace to write her book.
Goodbye Sidney and friends!
At the start of her senior year at Smith, Sidney is on the verge of being elected Senior Class president, which would be a crowning glory to outshine all her other glories. Her younger sister Phyllis has just entered college, and Sidney's friends wonder if this unattractive peevish and downright rude freshman (Phyllis' reforms in Book 3 didn't last, because if they had, what else could this book possibly be about??), will spoil Sidney's chances, but they worry needlessly. Meanwhile Janet is still peevish -- great! Not one but two cranky self-sabotaging girls in the same book, previously we've just had them one at a time.
Soon enough, the campus is swarming with the girls' male friends and relations, just as was the case in the earlier volume set at college. And Lord Axmuthy, previously known as Sir George Porteus, also crosses the Atlantic again, just to loiter in Northampton and get in everybody's way (and conveniently bringing his abnormally handsome secretary with him, Ronald, Janet's brother). Of course good old Jack Blanchard is among the crowd. Need I remind my readers that this worthy chap, private secretary to a railroad tycoon, was once (get ready for a shock) a railroad conductor? Aren't the girls splendid for treating him as an equal? Anna Chapin Ray feels this fact can never be milked enough, and we have a scene in which we see Jack through the eyes of Amy Pope's mother (Amy is another senior), and the mother can't quite decide if he's fit to know. Jack also confides to Sidney that his sense of self-worth was really shaken by Janet's snobbishness the previous summer. This is shortly before he crashes a car on a Mountain Day outing (a venerable Smith tradition -- the outing part, that is), and thus is hospitalized for months, which is convenient because it keeps him on the scene. Shortly after Christmas, the girls tell all the boys to leave and let them enjoy their last precious Spring semester without having to entertain them. This lasts until Spring break, when the Kens all turn up again like bad pennies, but no one complains too much.
Meanwhile, Phyllis is predictably unpopular, but is allowed the redemption of turning out to be a writer of genius, and thus a credit to the college, despite her severely pulled back hair and freakish style of dress. Somehow she also gets saddled with Lord Axmuthy as an almost-fiance, which came out of nowhere -- I guess our Anna Chapin Ray thought we'd be mightily tickled by this bizarre pairing (in the unlikely event that anyone remembers that the English Lord was engaged to prim cousin Judith in Book 3, don't worry, the two broke that off earlier in this book). Also, Amy Pope is directing the senior play, and Janet gets the role of Puck and turns out to be brilliant (she turns lots of handsprings). I was pleasantly surprised that the two problem girls get to make good.
Then graduation comes, and like a switch has been flicked, six of the characters all of a sudden realize that their feelings for each other needn't be so platonic after all, and we have three engagements in quick succession, like the finale of a fireworks show.
You're all on the edge of your seats, just waiting to find out how they all shake out, right?
Well, Amy Pope, despite having spent most of the book in love with Jack (which is interesting because usually in books of this type girls aren't allowed to enamored of men until they're engaged to them, but maybe it's okay in her case because she's not a main character), finds that Janet's brother Ronald is actually much better looking. Sidney ends up with Day's brother Rob. Jack it turns out, became stiff and formal with Amy once he realized he'd accidentally been encouraging her because he was in love all along with Day. This is actually surprising, because for several books we've been told how much they are like brother and sister to each other, and early on in this book, she's snuggled up to him in a "sisterly" way. Mostly the pairings feel a bit random, as if that's just how they were when the music stopped.
Janet draws the old maid card, and doesn't seem bothered by it. Hopefully she'll at least be left in peace to write her book.
Goodbye Sidney and friends!
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December 27, 2015More about college in the first years of the 20th century.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews