A Terrible Tomboy

Angela BrazilProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 459K words
Chapters: 46

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A Terrible Tomboy by Angela BrazilAuthor: Brazil, Angela, 1869-1947,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Jan 20, 2012

Editor's review

A Terrible Tomboy is a work by British author Angela Brazil, belonging to the category of juvenile literature, and has been prepared as a public-domain eBook by Project Gutenberg. Brazil is known for school stories and tales of girlhood growth, and this book continues that light tone: it revolves around the daily life and coming-of-age of a lively, restless girl who does not quite meet the "lady" expectations of the time, with conflict arising mainly from the clash between personality and convention rather than from intense external events. Its value for readers lies in presenting the typical tone and domestic detail of early twentieth-century British girls' fiction; the characters are vivid and the chapters stand fairly independently, making it suitable for light reading. For readers interested in the history of children's literature or school stories, it can serve as an entry point to the style of this type of writing. The language carries a period flavor, and some expressions and attitudes need to be understood in their historical context.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Young readers who enjoy school stories and tales of girlhood growth
Readers and researchers interested in the history of British children's literature
Intermediate English learners who want to practise reading narrative prose
Readers who prefer light, everyday, chapter-based structures

Not a good fit for

Readers looking for strong plots and suspenseful conflict
Readers sensitive to the gender attitudes of earlier works
Young readers who need the immediacy of modern school settings

Reading tips

Proceed chapter by chapter, and after each chapter summarize the main events in one sentence.
Note the conflicts between the protagonist's behavior and the behavioral norms of the time.
Skip strongly period-flavored expressions at first, and return to them after finishing the book.
Read alongside other school stories by the same author to observe stylistic similarities.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book part of a series or a standalone story?

The available information indicates that it is a standalone juvenile novel about a lively girl. Whether it shares characters or settings with other works is not stated, so it is best read as a standalone story.

How should tomboy in the title be understood?

Tomboy usually refers to a girl who is lively, prefers outdoor activities, and does not quite conform to traditional expectations of how girls should behave. The title is teasing rather than pejorative, pointing to the contrast between the protagonist's personality and the behavioral norms of the time.

Is it suitable as English-learning material?

It is suitable for intermediate learners with some foundation. The narrative is mostly everyday scenes with plenty of dialogue, which helps build everyday vocabulary; however, some expressions reflect early twentieth-century language habits, so it is best to focus on overall meaning rather than parsing every word.

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About the author

Angela Brazil Author · British · 1869–1947

Angela Brazil (1869–1947) was a British children's author and is regarded as one of the pioneers of the modern girls' boarding-school story. She published her first work in 1904 and went on to publish nearly fifty schoolgirl novels over her lifetime; twenty-seven of her works are held in this collection, including A Fourth Form Friendship, The Fortunes of Philippa, Bosom Friends, A Pair of Schoolgirls, For the Sake of the School, A Fortunate Term, The Nicest Girl in the School and A Patriotic Schoolgirl. Her stories are mostly set in girls' boarding schools and centre on friendship, rivalry, communal life and growing up among classmates. Her brisk, lively style and attention to her heroines' personalities and everyday school life made her popular with young readers until the mid-twentieth century. Public information on her early education and private life is limited, and her literary contribution lies chiefly in opening up the school-story genre and in her sustained output. She died in Coventry in 1947.