Boarded up for the winter
by carbonear
Why does snow always make me want to read about boarding schools? Something about the idea of a cozy wood-paneled room, a roaring fire, and the promise of institutional food at the end of the day ...
If you feel the same way, here are a handful of stories set at boarding school to help you get your fix:
Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld, in which Lee Fiora copes with being both invisible and an outsider at the East Coast prep school to which she has won a scholarship.
Boy by Roald Dahl, in which the author explains how to mask burned toast and keep from being thrashed. (more below the cut)
Fell by M. E. Kerr, in which John Fell gives up his name in exchange for a prep school education.
Old School by Tobias Wolff, in which the narrator attempts to win the chance to meet with Robert Frost, Ayn Rand and Ernest Hemingway.
Dead Poets Society in which John Keating's students heed his challenge to make their lives extraordinary.
Or, if you like your boarding schools with magic, thank you very much, try these:
J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series in which detention is the last thing students need to worry about.
A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer, in which Faris Nallaneen's uncle sends her to become a witch of Greenlaw school primarily to keep her from pressing her claim to the throne. (Readers familiar with Bryn Mawr College may recognize some characteristics of Stevermer's alma mater in Greenlaw.)
Blog Post