First Term at Malory Towers
By: Blyton, Enid
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Material type: 
BookISBN: 9781405270038; 9781405228589; 9781444929874.DDC classification:
| Item type | Current location | Collection | Shelving location | Call number | URL | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Books | Kakkanad | Children's Area | KKD-YR-R3-S3 (Browse shelf) | Checked out | 17.05.2025 | B5103398 | |||
| Books | Panampilly Nagar | Young Read | Book Cart | PPN-YR-R8-S2 (Browse shelf) | 962749 | Available | B5108818 | ||
| Books | Panampilly Nagar | Young Read | Book Cart | PPN-YR-R8-S2 (Browse shelf) | Available | b0962749 |
Jo Chambers' Review
In this first of the Malory Towers series we are introduced to Darrell Rivers, the heroine, and several of the girls who are to be key players throughout the series. We first see Darrell as a 'new girl', arriving at school two terms behind most of her classmates and feeling strange and bewildered. She is quickly taken under the wing of the quick witted and sharp tongued Alicia Johns and settles down to work and fun.
Darrell's first term contains some ups and downs, however. She has a difficult relationship with prim new girl Sally Hope, who appears to resent Darrell's happy family life. And an incident of bullying in the school swimming pool results in Darrell losing her temper and slapping another of the form's new girls, the spoiled Gwendoline Mary Lacey. The other girls are taken aback by this show of temper on the behalf of the previously popular Darrell but she earns their respect and admiration by swiftly apologising for her mistake.
Events take a more serious turn at half term when, after Sally has been especially provoking, Darrell accidentally pushes her and sends her flying. Sally later does not appear at supper and the girls learn that she has been taken to the san with a terrible pain in her stomach. Darrell believes herself to be responsible for this and is amazed to discover that she is too cowardly to own up to her mistake. This realisation causes her to be more friendly towards the timid Mary-Lou, whose advances she has hitherto consistently rejected.
Darrell's father restores Sally to health and Darrell is relieved to learn that she was not the responsible party after all. The two girls become friends and Darrell learns that Sally's main problem was jealousy of her younger sister. This is resolved when Sally's mother comes to see her, leaving the new baby behind.
The term culminates with a nasty tricks campaign by Gwendoline on the hapless Mary-Lou. Events turn black for Darrell when she is suspected of having been the culprit, but thanks to Mary-Lou's bravery the real culprit is discovered and the girls apologise to Darrell for having falsely suspected her. The term ends with her having done well in her exams and having made two close friends in Sally and Mary-Lou.