It’s back to school this week for students in New Zealand and Australia, and it’s the first year since 2004 that I don’t have the back-to-school rush of buying stationery and checking the school uniforms still fit. Yes, my children are now out of full-time education!

But I can still remember school and learning through the books I read.

Have you read any books featuring teachers or educational locations?

I loved boarding school stories as a child and teen, and read as many as I could: The Naughtiest Girl and Mallory Towers books by Enid Blyton, and the Trebizon series by Anne Digby. As an adult, I read the Harry Potter series, which is set in a slightly different educational institution.

Reading these stories left me wanting to go to boarding school and experience these adventures for myself. In hindsight, I wonder if these novels were a subliminal trick to get children and teens to want to go to school, and to socialise them to the idea of boarding school and leaving home. (As an aside, I did spend one year at boarding school, and it was a great experience).

As an adult …

I’ve read Elaine Fraser’s series of Young Adult books, set in Australia. They are modern stories dealing with many of the problems facing teens today and presented from an understated christian world view.

I’ve also read a lot of books which feature teachers as main characters. However, the school of the job of teacher tends to be more background than main plot. For example, Molly by Sarah Monzon features a teacher who is fired right at the beginning of the novel, and immediately hired as a nanny by a desperate single father.

I’ve also read a few historical novels where the main character is a governess – one of the few respectable occupations for unmarried ladies. The Governess of Highland Hall by Carrie Turansky is a favourite.

What about you? What books have you read featuring teachers or educational institutions?