The Doings of Hilda
Blackie, 1932, illus Radcliffe Wilson
Reprinted 1941, 1947
Hilda makes a series of resolutions on her thirteenth, birthday, but they prove rather
harder to keep than she
had imagined, particularly when her year at school start a
feud with the older children in the Secondary year.
Phillis Garrard (also known as Phillis Garrard Rowley) was a New Zealander. Finding her books is slightly complicated by Country Life, who when they published her Plum Duff and Prunella, anglicised “Phillis” to “Phyllis”
Hilda series is set in New Zealand. She wrote the earliest school story set in New
Zealand: Hilda at School, and followed this up with three further Hilda books. They
have maintained their popularity: all four books were printed as paperbacks in the
1980s. Andrea Watson, writing in the Otago Daily Times, said: “each [book] emphasising
the rural setting of Hilda’s life and the democratic nature of the New Zealand state
schooling system of the time. Hilda’s determination to attend the local school instead
of a girls’ boarding school reflects the mood of a country recovering from the Depression
and about to elect a socialist government. Indeed, Hilda’s reason for objecting to
the private school is that she is a "Labourite".” Hilda at School made it into a
list of the Top 100 New Zealand Children’s Books of the 20th Century. "The books
… are infused with the vitality of Hilda, a high-
The Hilda books are fun: there’s no tradition of “The School”, to which one must play up: Hilda and her friends take fairly frequent days off, get corporal punishment, but have a deep respect for Mac, their teacher, who is the embodiment of “tough but fair.” The books have a strong moral code: you tell the truth, are kind to your friends and animals and generally behave decently, but within that, the characters are allowed a lot more leeway than they would have been in a British school story of the same era.
Finding the books: Finding Nebby is hard to find in the UK as it had no UK publication, but it is very easy to find in the USA. Plum Duff and Prunella does turn up, but rarely with its dustjacket. Hilda at School is very easy to find; The Doing of Hilda, Hilda’s Adventures and Hilda, Fifteen a bit less so but not impossible,
Sources and Links:
Collecting Books and Magazines: an article on Clare Mallory, with a snippet on Phillis Garrard
A review of Hilda Fifteen
Mentioned in A Celebration of Women Writers.
Hilda at School -
Blackie,1929, 1940, 1950, illus Radcliffe Wilson
Hodder & Stoughton, Auckland, 1984
Republished as Hilda’s Adventures: adapted from Hilda at School
Blackie Graded Reader series, 1936
Nb: this is a completely different book from Hilda’s Adventures, 1938.
Don’t get too excited by the picture on the front: the pony content is minimal, but
this is an excellent story.
Hilda lives on a New Zealand sheep farm with her father
and Lukey, who keeps house for them. Most of
the pupils at her school can only get
there by riding but this is more of a school than a horse story. The
school is not
at all conventional though: bunking off for the day is quite common, and both girls
and boys
get the strap on their hand every now and then but they take it as part of
life’s rich tapestry, and carry on.
Hilda Fifteen
Blackie,1944, illus D L Mays
Blackie, 1957
Hilda is now fifteen and in the Secondary School. No longer taught by Mac, they
have the easy going Mr
Hudson, but when Mac, the headmaster, is taken ill, Miss Bolton
comes to help out, and she is a holy
terror.
Running Away with Nebby
David McKay, Philadelphia, 1944, illus Willy Pogány
Dapple grey Nebby is Noel and Marigold’s pet, but his depradations in the carrot
patch mean they
all run away, and have a series of adventures, including appearing
in a film.
Hilda’s Adventures
Blackie & Son Ltd, London, 1938, illus Radcliffe Wilson
Blackie, 1945, 1953
Hodder & Stoughton, Auckland, 1984
Hilda is in a furious temper: no one has caught Red for her, he is at the end of
the paddock covered in mud,
and she has to ride to school in her oilskins despite
the blazing day. And Hilda has done nothing about the
maths test that morning. Then
she gets mixed up with Lizzie Meakin, whose father has threatened to sell her
horse,
Peirrot. Hilda and her friends manage to rescue Pierrot, and then Lizzie has to
try and prove his
worth at the local show.
Right -
The Hilda Series
The Doings of Hilda
Hilda at School
Hilda, Fifteen
Hilda’s Adventures
New Zealand Schoolgirl: an Ominibus of Hilda Stories
(contains Hilda at School, the Doings of Hilda, Hilda’s Adventures)
Blackie & Son Ltd, London, 1938, illus Radcliffe Wilson
Blackie, 1958
Plum Duff and Prunella
Country Life, 1938, Illus M E Rivers-
Right -
Bibliography -