The Strictest School in the World: Being the Tale of a Clever Girl, a Rubber Boy and a Collection of Flying Machines, Mostly Broken

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

Many middle-school students likely believe their school to be the
world’s strictest, but in 1894 England, St. Grimelda’s School for
Young Ladies, Est. 1552, proudly claims that title. One of its new
students is Emmaline Cayley, 14, whose India-based parents have sent her
“home” to attend boarding school. At the book’s outset, Emmaline
is temporarily residing in the English countryside with Lady Butterworth
(“Aunt Lucy”).

Emmaline’s goal is to invent a flying machine, but, afraid of
heights, she enlists a local lad, Robert Burns (“Rubberbones”), 12,
to be her manned gliders’ test pilot. The “flying” skills of the
seemingly indestructible Rubberbones become important when Emmaline must
be rescued after becoming a virtual prisoner in St. Grimelda’s. The
school is ruled over by Mrs. Wackett, whose reign of terror includes
threatening students with the ultimate punishment—feeding a pair of
pterodactyls.

Whitehouse’s comic adventure features a wonderful cast of zany
characters that includes a band of gypsies, Professor Bellbuckle (a
somewhat mad scientist whose inventions always seem to include explosive
devices), Lal Singh (Aunt Lucy’s butler and a former member of the
Queen’s Indian Army), plus Emmaline’s fellow students and
“teachers.” The action moves along quickly as Whitehouse cuts
between the rescuers’ activities and Emmaline’s plight within the
school. Slavin’s numerous pen-and-ink illustrations, often full-page,
reinforce both the book’s historical period and its humorous tone.
While the book does leave a few loose ends, readers need not worry: a
sequel is planned. Highly recommended.