| November 5, 2006 – David says: When Anne and George discover that Julian and Dick are to have lessons from Mr Roland during the Xmas holidays, due to having had flu, George complains that she will probably have to have lessons as well. Whilst this turns out to be the case, is it explained why? After all, Anne spends her time painting. Note, this comment is based on a CD of the book, not the actual text. |
| November 6, 2006 – Hari Menon says: George's performance at school wasn't as good as Anne's, largely because she had never been to school before. I think the book mentions that Anne was the only one with good grades. |
| November 7, 2006 – Ming says: And also, it looks rather mean to have someone else studying at your own house and yourself not studying! It was just the Five's second adventure - Julian, Dick and Anne didn't know George that well at the time. Of course she wants her cousins to like her, so she studied as well - and not only because of that, her results were not too good either. |
| November 18, 2006 – Dennis Cedric Stevens says: I thought Julian and Dick could do without extra coaching during the hols. As EB described, Julian and Dick are both very intelligent!
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| January 12, 2007 – Kieron says: It is very many years since I read the book. However, from what I recall, George's father (Uncle Quentin) agreed to pay a third of Mr Roland's fees, because he wanted George to do some studying as well as his brother's children. At one stage George promises her father that she will certainly work with Mr Roland, if he's nice. Her father, knowing her ways, tells her sternly that she will work with him whether she thinks he's nice or not. |
| January 19, 2007 – Jo Peas says: Julian and Dick need coaching because they were ill during the term. This does NOT mean they are not intelligent. George, however, has never been to school before. She says when she hands her report to Fannie that she has done so badly due to studying so many things she knows nothing about. |
| May 4, 2007 – Nitya says: I thought the whole point of having to stay with a tutor during the holidays was to ensure that the four cousins do well at school the next term. Anne has already done well during the previous term so there's no point in her studying as well. George is studying as well because her father wants her to and also, as Ming said, it's mean to have someone studying at your house and you go away to play with your dog or something! |
| December 26, 2009 – Smellisande says: Isn't George having lessons because Uncle/Father/Mr. Quentin forced her to. After all, she didn't get good grades. I don't think its her fault because she never go to school before! |
| January 8, 2010 – rogoz says: I think Blyton air-brushed away Georgina's education up to age 11 to put her on a more equal social footing with her richer cousins. In book 1, Quentin wants to send her to a ' good school ' except he hasn't the money. This implies she had no private tutors and went to the local free Government school to pick up the 3R's and not much else. In book 2, she goes to ' a proper school ' for the first time and gets behind, and Aunt Fanny says 'Well, you'd never been to school before!' I think this remark is an error and should read 'Well, you'd never been to a [ good / proper ] school before!' I can also imagine Blyton the school-teacher tip-toeing around the tricky issue of public/private schools. |
| July 28, 2012 – macmohan says: The whole point of a tutor was getting a villain in the book smoothly. |
| August 9, 2017 – MikeConley says: She took lessons just because she had to. (Her father told her to do so). |
Enid Blyton
The Official
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Keith Robinson