Books like Claudine at St Clare's

This is the best book of the entire St Clare's series, in my opinion. Mam'zelle's niece, Claudine, enters St Clare's because she was unhappy with her previous strict convent school - much as the school was unhappy with her. You can see where this is headed! Claudine comes, an irrepressible teenager, full of fun and complete lack of inhibition, which is a refreshing change from the hard-boiled and snotty British kids. Claudine immediately makes friends and becomes one of the gang. Blyton's xenophobia shows through with everyone talking about the 'English sense of honour', of which Claudine apparently has no idea. Also, in typical Enid fashion, the French girl has no interest in sports at all. But in the end, this high-spirited French girl shows that her sense of honour and adventure is worth much more than the staid girls of St Clare's could even imagine.Also introduced in this book is the Honourable Angela Favorleigh. A snooty, snobbish, aristocrat, Angela is also beautiful and dumb. Ah, what would we do without these stereotypes? Constantly at war with the other new girl, Pauline, who also boasts of wealth, the two keep the class amused with their extravagant tales. Both also look down upon the fourth newcomer, Eileen. And this is where this book really gets interesting, beyond the usual Enid school porn.Eileen is the new Matron's daughter. The old one is sick and Eileen and her mother have made their home at St Clare's. Unfortunately, Eileen has problems. As do the girls. The new matron is unpleasant and targets girls who don't get along with her daughter. Eileen is both a sympathetic and antagonistic character. Her sneaking to her mother about the rest of the class annoys them intensely, but at the same time, we also see that Eileen is a scared teenager, trying to figure things out with the help of her brother.I like everything about this book, but the Claudine scenes were par excellence!