REVIEW: The Little Betty Wilkinson
The Little Betty Wilkinson: Evelyn Smith. Blackie
There is an explanation for the title, which seems an odd one for a school story and more suitable for a late nineteenth century/turn of the twentieth girls’ story by a Mrs A.B.C. Double-Barrel. I’ll get to it in a moment.
At the start of the book, Betty Wilkinson’s life is taken up by her baby sister, Dorcas Valentine (!), who she thinks is wonderful. She takes care of her to a rather extreme degree as we discover when we realise Betty is but eleven years old. The reason for this is that her father is away, working as a sailor, and her mother has been something of an invalid since the birth of Dorcas Valentine. Fortunately, Betty’s Aunt Agnes is on the case, although Betty isn’t sure about it being a good thing when she first hears Aunt Agnes’s plan for her and her family.
For it is this, her aunt has arranged for Betty to go to Weldham, a nearby girls’ school, to broaden her horizons and give her a more thorough education. There, Betty gets her nickname ‘Little Betty Wilkinson’ because there’s another schoolgirl known as Betty Wilkinson, with the same initials (and they can’t go by Howard and Honoria respectively). Not only are they in the same school, but they are in the same dorm and form, as, despite only just turning 12, Betty is put into the Fourth. Our Betty is small for her age, while the other Betty is tall , hence the appellation.
The best part of this book, where Smith shows off her strengths, is how Little Betty, with some naiveté and a tendency to take things oh so seriously gets on with her dorm-mates. Some of them are are raggers and more concerned with their own point of view than others’. Betty undergoes a series of small and large trials because of this, made worse/better by her sensitive nature and strong sense of what’s right. She tries to study at all hours until her dorm-mates and form mistress find out and cure her of it. There’s no brain fever as in other books, but rather an amusing incident.
Betty’s interaction with Rosamond Powys, a younger girl whom Betty helps on their first day, leads to bigger trouble and something of a mystery. I felt that Smith went a little too far with the influenza epidemic, where Betty’s nursing ability and sterling qualities come to the fore. It all leads to her righting a wrong and solving a mystery that should rightly belong to a more overblown story. Smith’s generally amused tone makes it seem all the more exaggerated.
Betty gets to play goal, representing the school in a hockey match by the end of her first term and the book. She’s there as a sub and fully aware of the honour. She does well because of practice and her tenacity, although the emphasis on her small stature makes it seem a bit incredible, even if it’s tradition for the extraordinary new girl.
Smith is, as I’ve said before one of the better girls own writers. Betty feels real and rounded, sensible in some ways and very foolish in others, but then so are her fellow schoolgirls. In her better books, Smith trusts in the characters she’s created more and lets events be more realistic, but compared with school stories in general, there are far more positives than negatives about this story.
This entry was originally posted at http://feather-ghyll.dreamwidth.org/112586.html. Please comment wherever you prefer to.
There is an explanation for the title, which seems an odd one for a school story and more suitable for a late nineteenth century/turn of the twentieth girls’ story by a Mrs A.B.C. Double-Barrel. I’ll get to it in a moment.
At the start of the book, Betty Wilkinson’s life is taken up by her baby sister, Dorcas Valentine (!), who she thinks is wonderful. She takes care of her to a rather extreme degree as we discover when we realise Betty is but eleven years old. The reason for this is that her father is away, working as a sailor, and her mother has been something of an invalid since the birth of Dorcas Valentine. Fortunately, Betty’s Aunt Agnes is on the case, although Betty isn’t sure about it being a good thing when she first hears Aunt Agnes’s plan for her and her family.
For it is this, her aunt has arranged for Betty to go to Weldham, a nearby girls’ school, to broaden her horizons and give her a more thorough education. There, Betty gets her nickname ‘Little Betty Wilkinson’ because there’s another schoolgirl known as Betty Wilkinson, with the same initials (and they can’t go by Howard and Honoria respectively). Not only are they in the same school, but they are in the same dorm and form, as, despite only just turning 12, Betty is put into the Fourth. Our Betty is small for her age, while the other Betty is tall , hence the appellation.
The best part of this book, where Smith shows off her strengths, is how Little Betty, with some naiveté and a tendency to take things oh so seriously gets on with her dorm-mates. Some of them are are raggers and more concerned with their own point of view than others’. Betty undergoes a series of small and large trials because of this, made worse/better by her sensitive nature and strong sense of what’s right. She tries to study at all hours until her dorm-mates and form mistress find out and cure her of it. There’s no brain fever as in other books, but rather an amusing incident.
Betty’s interaction with Rosamond Powys, a younger girl whom Betty helps on their first day, leads to bigger trouble and something of a mystery. I felt that Smith went a little too far with the influenza epidemic, where Betty’s nursing ability and sterling qualities come to the fore. It all leads to her righting a wrong and solving a mystery that should rightly belong to a more overblown story. Smith’s generally amused tone makes it seem all the more exaggerated.
Betty gets to play goal, representing the school in a hockey match by the end of her first term and the book. She’s there as a sub and fully aware of the honour. She does well because of practice and her tenacity, although the emphasis on her small stature makes it seem a bit incredible, even if it’s tradition for the extraordinary new girl.
Smith is, as I’ve said before one of the better girls own writers. Betty feels real and rounded, sensible in some ways and very foolish in others, but then so are her fellow schoolgirls. In her better books, Smith trusts in the characters she’s created more and lets events be more realistic, but compared with school stories in general, there are far more positives than negatives about this story.
This entry was originally posted at http://feather-ghyll.dreamwidth.org/112586.html. Please comment wherever you prefer to.