For the School Colours

Angela BrazilProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 372K words
Chapters: 38

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.For the School Colours by Angela BrazilAuthor: Brazil, Angela, 1869-1947,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Apr 26, 2011

Editor's review

Angela Brazil was one of the leading writers of British school stories in the early twentieth century, and For the School Colours continues her practice of setting her novels in girls' boarding schools. The book centres on school life, friendship and a sense of honour, and the "school colours" of the title point directly to the core themes of belonging and collective identity. The strength of such novels lies in their detail: lessons, dormitories, matches and everyday frictions together weave a social slice of girls' coming of age, offering light-hearted school fun while also touching on responsibility, prejudice and reconciliation. For today's readers it is both an accessible young adult read and a window onto early twentieth-century ideas about girls' education and school culture in Britain. While reading, it is worth noting how relationships shift and where the marks of the era show, enjoying the story while keeping a little historical perspective.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Young readers who enjoy classic school stories and coming-of-age themes about girls
Readers studying children's literature or the tradition of girls' school fiction
English learners who want to learn about British school life in the early twentieth century
Casual readers who prefer gentle narratives and character relationships

Not a good fit for

Readers looking for strong suspense or fast-paced plots
Those sensitive to the period attitudes in early school stories and unable to tolerate them
Beginners whose English is not yet fluent and who need extensive notes

Reading tips

Read the first few chapters to sort out the characters and the dormitory relationships before getting into the events; the rest will go much more smoothly.
Keep notes as you read on the main characters' personalities and standpoints to understand how the conflicts arise and develop.
Treat it as extensive reading practice in English: guess unfamiliar words first and look them up later, keeping up your reading rhythm.
After finishing, compare it with background material on girls' education of the same period to understand the era's attitudes in the story.

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

Do I need to read this in series order?

No. Brazil's school stories are mostly set in different schools with different characters, and the plots are relatively independent, so this book can be read on its own. If you like her style, you can go on to her other school stories.

What English level is it suitable for?

It is a narrative written for young readers, with generally plain vocabulary and sentence patterns, though it contains some early twentieth-century school slang and British expressions. Intermediate readers can get through it fairly easily; beginners may want a dictionary or an annotated edition.

Are the school attitudes in the book outdated by today's standards?

Some attitudes do bear clear marks of their time, such as ideas about collective honour, discipline and gender roles. It helps to read them as historical material, understanding the context while keeping your own judgment; that is in fact part of the book's value.

Is it suitable as English learning material?

It works well for extensive reading. The plot is clear and the relationships are easy to follow, which makes it easier to finish. Focus on the general meaning rather than looking up every new word, and afterwards pick a few passages for close reading to build up narrative expressions.

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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.