Books like First Term at Malory Towers

My mother was 3 years old when this book came out in 1946. Her copy was on my shelf as a child and after reading 20 or so Famous Five books I reluctantly picked it up, trusting Blyton to make even a girls' school interesting. I have vague memories of thinking it was OK.I got my daughter Celyn the books on CD and she adores them. She has listened to them dozens of times.The basic formula is posh girls being mean to each other at boarding school.This book combined with The Worst Witch will give you the foundation of Harry Potter.The girls take a train to Malory Towers at the start of term, making friends and enemies on the way. They're sorted into four houses then sent to sleep in one of four towers.High jinx include pranking French teachers (with unconvincing accents), spiders in desks, duckings/semi-drownings, malicious damage to property and all the other things that provide suitable fresh blood for the British upper classes.There's also a line in practical jokes on the teachers, involving implausible joke-shop purchases and Blyton's enduring failure to understand the limitations of magnets.Much of it seems rather heartless, but then I guess that's a fair representation of many interactions between school children.I can't deny that elements of my book Red Sister draw on the Malory Towers vibe. I have in the past described it as "Malory Towers with knives", though really of course the similarities are fleeting at best. Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter #prizes.....