Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Althea Joins the Chalet School” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Althea Joins the Chalet School

(The Chalet School #57)

Elinor M. Brent-Dyer

3.50 · Rating details · 134 ratings · 10 reviews

A chain of family events force Althea to go to the Chalet School. She encounters jealousy on the part of one of her classmates, but there are many compensations for her in the friendship of Len and her family and the girls of Upper IVB.

Get A Copy

Hardcover, 176 pages

Published November 1st 1969 by Chambers

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Althea Joins the Chalet School, please sign up.

Be the first to ask a question about Althea Joins the Chalet School

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.50 ·

Rating details

· 134 ratings · 10 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Althea Joins the Chalet School

Nov 14, 2012 Daisy May Johnson rated it it was ok

Shelves: childrens-literature, classics, girlsown, school-stories, series

It's no secret that quality dips substantially towards the end of the Chalet School series, and Althea is emblematic of that shift. Following the now traditional format of 'new girl attending the school', we witness Althea's eventual and inevitable integration into a true Chalet Girl during the first half of the term. The Borg-like overtones of the Chalet School at this point in time are hard to escape, and resistance is truly futile.

There are moments in this book which are truly legendary, and ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Nov 07, 2012 Tria rated it liked it

Shelves: genre-school, owned-paper-unabridged, genre-family, genre-fictionalised-fact, genre-historical, genre-young-adult, nationality-british, owned-ebook, owned-multiformat, series-incomplete

First read November 2012, second March 2014.

Not bad, though certainly of its time and its author's generation - published in 1969, but the series began to be published in the 1920s, and it shows in plenty of ways.

For unexamined racism - which in the author's works is sadly quite prevalent, though much less so than in a few others of her time, and you can tell here and there that she actually was *trying* to go easy with it - it is not as bad as it could be, or as a couple of books earlier in th ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 06, 2014 Deborah rated it liked it · review of another edition

The cover presumably shows the sixth formers - not Althea - because they are the only ones who go into the woods to do some sketching in this story. Although it's more likely to be the sixth formers of some other school, because at the Chalet School, they all wear summer frocks in different colours (ie not just blue). And when the Chalet School sixth formers go sketching, the stream is a trickle, not a rather impressive waterfall. But apart from all that, it's a really good cover, faithful in ev The cover presumably shows the sixth formers - not Althea - because they are the only ones who go into the woods to do some sketching in this story. Although it's more likely to be the sixth formers of some other school, because at the Chalet School, they all wear summer frocks in different colours (ie not just blue). And when the Chalet School sixth formers go sketching, the stream is a trickle, not a rather impressive waterfall. But apart from all that, it's a really good cover, faithful in every detail.

I had to consult my FOCS master-list on this one because it reads for all the world as though there is a chapter missing, in which Val disrupts prep and is rude to Althea. But according to the list, 'Althea' was uncut in paperback, so presumably EBD was really losing it by this stage. There are other indicators of this - a junior sleepwalks, but we never find out why; there's an awful lot of talk about the preparations for the Sale, which doesn't take place in this book; and there's an incomprehensible incident with a speedboat (my best guess is that Miss Ferrars rolled into it from her rowing boat in much the same manner as Legolas swings himself backwards onto the horse in The Two Towers, but EBD was writing without the benefit of that visual image and presumably, given the 'write about what you know' rule, from her own experience).

Claire has reappeared in the Freudesheim nursery (although Joey doesn't always count her among her children), and for some reason the seventeen-year-old triplets are going straight to university in the autumn and missing out on the usual year at St Mildred's. There's a huge chunk of tourism at the end - topped off with an attempted burglary, possibly the maddest scene out of all the ones EBD wrote, which is saying a lot when it's in the same book as the speedboat incident - and really that's about it. Well, the painting incident hinted at on the cover is mildly amusing, although, given that Len gave up art more than a year ago, somewhat inexplicable - Len hated art, why does she have a brand new set of oil paints? And why should she think her first attempt at an oil painting would be good enough to sell at the Sale?

The thing is, though, I can't give up now. There's only one EBD chalet left. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 25, 2008 Sue rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, teenage, read-2000, read-2018

Althea's parents are going abroad, so she's sent to the Chalet School. This is the penultimate book in the series - number 57 in the original hardbacks - and, unusually, it covers just half a term.

On the whole, it's a run-of-the-mill school story about how Althea settles in. Pleasant enough light reading for fans of the series, but not one I'd recommend as a starting point, nor for casual readers dipping into Chalet School books.

...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Apr 28, 2008 Carolynne rated it liked it

Shelves: british-school-stories

Another new girl at the Chalet School. The relationship between Althea and Val Pertwee, who is envious of Althea's friendship with Samaris, is the most interesting part of the book. The cover incident involving to boys and a runaway speedboat--unnecessary and boring! ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 06, 2012 wychwood rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: school-story, fiction, ya

Classic late-series Chalet School; I thought I might have read it before, but I can't tell! Entertaining, anyway. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Mar 05, 2014 Sarah Adamson rated it really liked it

Shelves: children-s, ya, owned

The penultimate chalet school book. Contains delightful parts and irritating parts as with several of the later chalet books. Enjoyed for its essential added elements to the chalet school series.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Sep 20, 2019 Helen rated it liked it

The penultimate book and the last term of EBD’s Chalet series begin with a familiar situation: Althea needs a boarding school while her parents are abroad. What to do? Don’t worry, by the end of the first chapter the Chalet School beckons. Althea is a nice girl rather than a problem child, but one who has a distinct personality - somewhat shy but also assertive when she needs to be. Besides the incidents no Chalet book is ever without, her problems arise when she inadvertently causes trouble for ...more

flag Like · see review

Nov 25, 2019 Katharine rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: chalet-school

Definitely not the best - and a bit confusing in the Armada version

flag Like · see review

Lessa54 rated it really liked it
Aug 23, 2012

Talltree rated it really liked it
Aug 23, 2015

Heather rated it really liked it
Aug 16, 2016

Tracey rated it really liked it
Feb 12, 2011

KatForsyth rated it liked it
Aug 19, 2013

Mohini rated it it was amazing
Jan 07, 2013

Apr 06, 2017 Donna Boultwood rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Classic chalet school!

flag Like · see review

Harriet rated it really liked it
Jul 20, 2011

Jennim rated it liked it
Jul 04, 2020

Nance rated it really liked it
Jul 31, 2007

Meira (readingbooksinisrael) rated it it was amazing
Nov 25, 2014

Priya rated it really liked it
Oct 29, 2011

Joanna Mitchell rated it really liked it
Jul 28, 2016

Yvonne rated it it was ok
Jul 01, 2018

Chris Upton rated it did not like it
Jan 01, 2015

Elizabeth rated it liked it
May 18, 2008

Sonali rated it it was amazing
Sep 18, 2014

Vicki Randell rated it it was amazing
Jun 07, 2013

Holly rated it it was amazing
Feb 04, 2015

Superpopielica rated it it was ok
Sep 21, 2008

Fi MacLeod rated it really liked it
May 22, 2018

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend It | Stats | Recent Status Updates

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

About Elinor M. Brent-Dyer

Elinor M. Brent-Dyer

81 followers

Elinor M. Brent-Dyer was born as Gladys Eleanor May Dyer on 6th April 1894, in South Shields in the industrial northeast of England, and grew up in a terraced house which had no garden or inside toilet. She was the only daughter of Eleanor Watson Rutherford and Charles Morris Brent Dyer. Her father, who had been married before, left home when she was three years old. In 1912, her brother Henzell d Elinor M. Brent-Dyer was born as Gladys Eleanor May Dyer on 6th April 1894, in South Shields in the industrial northeast of England, and grew up in a terraced house which had no garden or inside toilet. She was the only daughter of Eleanor Watson Rutherford and Charles Morris Brent Dyer. Her father, who had been married before, left home when she was three years old. In 1912, her brother Henzell died at age 17 of cerebro-spinal fever. After her father died, her mother remarried in 1913.

Elinor was educated at a small local private school in South Shields and returned there to teach when she was eighteen after spending two years at the City of Leeds Training College. Her teaching career spanned 36 years, during which she taught in a wide variety of state and private schools in the northeast, in Middlesex, Bedfordshire, Hampshire, and finally in Hereford.

In the early 1920s she adopted the name Elinor Mary Brent-Dyer. A holiday she spent in the Austrian Tyrol at Pertisau-am-Achensee gave her the inspiration for the first location in the Chalet School series. However, her first book, 'Gerry Goes to School', was published in 1922 and was written for the child actress Hazel Bainbridge. Her first 'Chalet' story, 'The School at the Chalet', was originally published in 1925.

In 1930, the same year that 'Jean of Storms' was serialised, she converted to Roman Catholicism.

In 1933 the Brent-Dyer household (she lived with her mother and stepfather until her mother's death in 1957) moved to Hereford. She travelled daily to Peterchurch as a governess.

When her stepfather died she started her own school in Hereford, The Margaret Roper School. It was non-denominational but with a strong religious tradition. Many Chalet School customs were followed, the girls even wore a similar uniform made in the Chalet School's colours of brown and flame. Elinor was rather untidy, erratic and flamboyant and not really suited to being a headmistress. After her school closed in 1948 she devoted most of her time to writing.

Elinor's mother died in 1957 and in 1964 she moved to Redhill, where she lived in a joint establishment with fellow school story author Phyllis Matthewman and her husband, until her death on 20th September 1969.

During her lifetime Elinor M. Brent-Dyer published 101 books but she is remembered mainly for her Chalet School series. The series numbers 58 books and is the longest-surviving series of girls' school-stories ever known, having been continuously in print for more than 70 years. One hundred thousand paperback copies are still being sold each year.

Among her published books are other school stories; family, historical, adventure and animal stories; a cookery book, and four educational geography-readers. She also wrote plays and numerous unpublished poems and was a keen musician.

In 1994, the year of the centenary of her Elinor Brent-Dyer's birth, Friends of the Chalet School put up plaques in Pertisau, South Shields and Hereford, and a headstone was erected on her grave in Redstone Cemetery, since there was not one previously. They also put flowers on her grave on the anniversaries of her birth and death and on other special occasions.
...more