St Grizzle's School for Girls, Ghosts and Runaway Grannies

St Grizzle's School for Girls #2

by Karen McCombie, Becka Moor (Illustrator)

When local schools are asked to make a film showcasing the surrounding area, Dani and the rest of St Grizzle’s set to work. But Spencer and his mates at the village school are determined to sabotage the work of the smelly Grizzlers.
To Dani’s surprise, help comes in the form of Granny Viv who has secretly taken up residence in the school’s tree house with Downboy the dog. Together they come up with the perfect ghostly video ... but will Granny Viv be able to stay once the competition’s over?

Genres: Middle Grade, Childrens

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

Karen McCombie is a bestselling author of children's and young adult novels, and has had more than 90 books published. She is the author of the much-loved series 'Ally's World' (early 2000s) and her most recent books include the Carnegie-nominated historical adventure 'Little Bird Flies' (2019) and it's newly published partner novel 'Little Bird Lands' (2020, Nosy Crow Books), plus the 'St Grizzle's School' series for younger readers (Stripes). She has several books publishing in 2021.
Originally from Scotland, Karen lives in London with her husband, her teenage daughter and beautiful but bitey cat Dizzy.

Reviews

[Liz]

This witty tale of life at St. Grizelda’s School for Girls keeps the giggles flowing for young readers. St. Grizelda’s is not the formal uniforms-and-lessons boarding school it sounds like it would be—instead, it includes pajama assemblies, a head teacher in a unicorn onesie, classes in a tree house, and a goat mascot who runs around eating everything in sight!

Dani is thrilled when the local village council announces a school competition to create short films called Why We Love Where We Live. Creating films is one of her hobbies, and she’s sure that with her experience, St. Grizzle’s movie will be the best! But she needs to learn to work with a team, not just rely on her own skills, to successfully complete the project.

Dani is surrounded by a host of unique characters. There’s the unicorn-clad headmistress Lulu; her twins Swan and Zed (the only boy in the all-girls school); the scary, starey triplets; and the trouble-making youngest class, the Newts. And don’t forget Dani’s zany Granny Viv! Each of them adds another layer of hilarity and color to the story.

What a fun read for both parent and young reader/listener! I received an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review and enjoyed every minute!

[Mehsi]

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

I was absolutely delighted when I stumbled upon this book during a scroll through my favourite genres. I was fangirling and squeeing for quite some time.

And today I finally had a chance to read the book, and I loved it just as much as I did the previous book!

So before I hit the good stuff, I really only had two things I didn’t quite like, and those things are the same problems I had in the first book. The fact that the school seemed to not care about the children’s education. Yes, there were some lessons, but I do wonder how these kids will fare when they have to go to higher education and thus go back to a normal school. Will they be all right? Will they be able to keep up? Add to that the hygiene. Really, quite a few kids were just disgusting.
I know, this is a fiction book, and the school is meant to be silly, but I just can’t stop wondering about these things.

There, phew, that is out of the way! Now on to the fun stuff!

Dani! Our MC, and definitely my favourite character in the series. She learns a really valuable lesson in this one and I hope she won’t forget it. It was really fun to see her open up more and include the others in the project.
Plus I loved how happy she was. Yes, she still missed her mom (of course), she missed her friends, but she seemed to be having a lot of fun and she seemed to have found a place she loves.
She is still making stop-motion videos, and I had a laugh at her making little cows from potatoes and put them in a grassy field, all so her mom would have something else than white to look at. Aww, she is so sweet!

There is a big project, and our characters just have a few days to make a movie about their school and the surrounding area. You can imagine the chaos, and the problems that will arise. Not only that, but we also have the annoying other school also in the village (I see they are still thinking there is some sort of rivalry going on, oh dear), and that causes some problems (though kudos to Granny for what she did in retaliation, I snorted my water all over (was able to dodge my tablet, thankfully) when those parts came up. Oh good grief, Granny, thousand points and a goat to you.

I loved the project, it was just so much fun to see them work hard at getting something, at showing their love for St. Grizzle’s.
Plus when the movie was shown, it was just brilliance (especially with the tiny kids in the backgrounds), and I wouldn’t have minded seeing it for myself.

The title already says it all, we are getting a surprise visit from Granny, and she came in at the right time. Not only could Dani use some family time, but the school is also in need for someone like Granny. At times I found her a bit annoying, but I could see that she meant it all well, so I could forgive her easily. I had a laugh at how Granny came to be at the school though.

I also adore the cover, it is just fabulous. Just like the illustrations (which once again are all over the place in this book) are fantastic.

And then there are a ton of other fun/good/wonderful things about this book, and I will just name a few in quick succession as I don’t want the review to get too long; Lulu, Toshio (I see he still hasn’t mastered English at all), the Newts, the school, the goat (still eating everything I see), the socks of doom room, the chaos!

I am so excited to see that there will be a new book coming for this series! Squee! I can’t wait!

I would highly recommend this book to everyone!

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[Amy (Golden Books Girl)]

In the 2nd book in her new series for younger readers, Karen McCombie continues the story of Dani, who has been sent to a madcap boarding school as she tries to direct a tourist video for the town and deal with her lovely but overbearing gran`s arrival at the school. This was a perfect light, quick read for me, so I think it would be great for children starting to read independently. I also enjoyed the fact that we got to know some of Dani`s new schoolmates better as I love the secondary characters in this and the setting of the school in general (although I`m not sure I`d like it as much if I went there!). I think my favourite part of the books has to be Becka Moor`s illustrations as they add a lot of humour to the already hilarious text, and even though I`m quite a lot older than the target audience I found myself giggling more than once. I`m already looking forward to the next in the series, which if the sneak peek is anything to go by, will be amazing. 4.5/5

[Book Him Danno]

I sat down with my daughters age 8 and 6. Now My 8 year old reads at a 6th grade level so she wanted to read this to herself. Instead I made it our nightly reading setting aside Nancy Drew while she was dealing with a murder.

This book had my girls and I laughing so hard at night that we all wanted to finish it the same day. This book is chaotic, fun, so many laughs and my daughter wants to read it again and again.
Thank you Netgalley for the advance Copy. My girls loved it and we plan to read more by this author.

[Heather Lawson]

Full review to follow.

[Gail Wylde]

I received this book from NetGalley. I shared this book with my young granddaughters and we all enjoyed it. Will look out for more books by this author. Thanks

[oliwiiiaaa]

really fun and cool, I enjoyed it

[Alix Long]

Although my review of the first book in the series was also a 5* review, I think that this one definitely tops the first one! It was so nice getting re-introduced to the characters, and I think that the characterisation of everyone was so well built-upon in this book. I loved Dani, Lulu and Granny Viv even more in this book - if that was even possible! I think all the characters in this book are so well-crafted and are individually all hilarious, heartwarming and wonderful.

I think the story is also fantastically paced and the storyline brilliant and carefully plotted. There was something happening on every single page; McCombie hooks her readers in from the very first page and doesn't let them go until the very last. I loved the combination of worlds in this book (the inclusion of Downboy and Granny Viv) and I think this added such a great element into the story.

Overall, I can't see anything to dislike in this book - everything is wonderful and when I was reading it I felt such a happy warm glow in my stomach - the St Grizzle's series is charmingly hilarious and deliciously smart.

I think this book suits kids of all ages to be honest - it can be read aloud for a bedtime story, or older children can read it for themselves!

[Julia🤍]

Bardzo dobra. Opowiada o Dani Dexter, która przyjeżdża do szkoły dla dziewcząt. Dani zostaje wysłana przez swoją mamę, gdyż ona musi jechać na Antarktydę. Dziewczyna na początku nienawidzi szkoły z internatem ale później bardzo jej się podoba i kocha ją. Polecam

[Andréa]

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Sharon Tyler]

St Grizzle's School for Girls, Ghosts and Runaway Grannies by Karen McCombie is a fun children's book, and the second in this series. I did not read the first book, but I think I was able to get up to speed quickly. When local schools are asked to make a film showcasing the surrounding area, Dani and the rest of St Grizzle’s set to work. But Spencer and his mates at the village school are determined to sabotage the work of the smelly Grizzlers. To Dani’s surprise, help comes in the form of Granny Viv who has secretly taken up residence in the school’s tree house with Downboy the dog. Together they come up with the perfect ghostly video but will Granny Viv be able to stay once the competition’s over?

St Grizzle's School for Girls, Ghosts and Runaway Grannies is a fun read that will keep middle grade and younger readers entertained and engaged. I think that most readers will be able to empathize with Dani, her desire to be respected and liked and the mistakes she makes a long the way. I found the setting, characters, and story set up to be interesting and charming, with just enough wackiness to make me smile through good portions of the read. However, there were also enough serious moments of Dani thinking and dealing with the stresses of growing up that I was kept on my toes. I liked the inclusion of the video making, and think that it is something many kids in the target audience are interested in or involved in, but worry that in the long run it might date the series, since technology and tools change so fast. The illustrations that pepper the book add an extra layer of fun, and make the read even more entertaining. Since this is te second book in a series, and I missed the first, there were moments in which I felt like I was missing important background, but I still greatly enjoyed the read, and rather want to go back and read what I missed so that I can see how the school (and the characters) ended up in the current state.

St Grizzle's School for Girls, Ghosts and Runaway Grannies is a fun and touching read, but one that those following the series will get more out of than those that not. A coming of age story with wild and wacky characters and some good fun right along childhood angst.