# Recommend some stories set in orphanages or boarding schools, please **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 2, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848 "2011-12-02T16:02:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/1 "2011-12-02T16:02:27Z")
Now that NaNoWriMo is over with for 2011, I finally have some time to read and watch movies. But both orphanages or boarding schools are still on my mind… What can you recommend for a book or movie set in either? Fiction or non-fiction are both fine. Non-fiction would actually be awesome since I have read very little on either of the subjects. As for fiction, I don’t care about genre, so anything between earnest realistic depiction and a school full of wizards & witches\* are welcome. Adult and YA novels are both fine too. However, either way it would be nice if such tales have taken place in the last 30 years. I don’t _mind_ recommendations like **The Cider House Rules** and **A Great And Terrible Beauty** if you consider something along those lines that a must read, but I’m more curious about what the experience would be like at either place now-ish. Any stand out as particular favorites? Or strike you as utterly unrealistic if fictional? Thanks 🙂 - I’ve read: all the Harry Potter books, the Books of Fell by M.E. Kerr, Holly Black’s new Curse Workers books, the Gemma Doyle trilogy, Jane Erye, Oliver Twist, A Little Princess & The Catcher in the Rye. And I’ve seen: The Trouble with Angels, Strange Days at Blake Holsey High, The Facts of Life, and The Dead Poets Society. I think that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/2 "2011-12-02T16:49:51Z")
**A Separate Peace** was set in a boarding school, but I wouldn’t recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/3 "2011-12-02T17:07:02Z")
_Among Others_ is a YA book that came out this year, it takes place about 35 years ago. Boarding school with a very slight fantasy twist. Another YA title, set in the present day - John Greene’s _Looking for Alaska_. Literary fiction: Kazuo Ishiguro’s _Never Let Me Go_ (set in the near future), Tobias Wolff’s _Old School_ (set in the 1960s) ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/4 "2011-12-02T17:52:56Z")
YA British Alternate History - Knightly Academy series by Violet Haberdasher (and yes that’s a psudonym, why do you ask? 2 so far - Knightly Academy and The Secret Prince, very strongly (and purposefully) based on the ‘feeling’ of the HP series. Not earthshattering, but fun to read. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/5 "2011-12-02T17:58:04Z")
Missed the edit window: ETA - You might also watch Annie - the version with Carol Burnett as Mrs Hannigan makes me happy every time I watch it. All those little girls and all those raggedy clothes. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/6 "2011-12-02T18:02:15Z")
Tom Brown’s Schooldays. I’m not certain it’s the first, but it’s THE classic boarding school story. Malory Towers. This is a cute British series of books set in a boarding school somewhere along the coast (?). At least one of the stories had an OUTRAGEOUS American exchange student. I got mine from the UK and it seems that it may be difficult to get if you are in the US. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card. This is a rather good science fiction story with a big chunk of it set at a future “space academy” type of boarding school. Oh, did I mention it has laser tag tactics? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/7 "2011-12-02T18:06:02Z")
**The Devil’s Backbone** is set in a haunted orphanage, although the year is 1939, outside the range you asked about. **The Magdalene Sisters** is set in an Catholic-run “asylum for young women” in Ireland in 1964. Edit: almost forgot **The Hole** , set in England around 2000. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/8 "2011-12-02T18:18:24Z")
Did anyone recommend [The Orphanage](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464141/)? ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/9 "2011-12-02T18:18:40Z")
[Prep](http://www.amazon.com/Prep-Novel-Curtis-Sittenfeld/dp/081297235X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322849697&sr=8-1) is a pretty good read. It’s fiction, though if I recall correctly it’s somewhat autobiographical. Modern-day setting, boarding school, pretty good (though not great) read. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/10 "2011-12-02T18:19:45Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/11 "2011-12-02T19:04:04Z")
“Dear Enemy” is the little-known sequel to Jean Webster’s “Daddy-Long Legs”. It’s an epistolary novel told from the point of view of a society girl who has been put in charge of reforming an orphan asylum. It’s really sweet, but it’s also an interesting take on child-rearing and educational philosophies around the turn of the century. And you can read it in a couple hours–it’s very light. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/12 "2011-12-02T19:06:35Z")
[QUOTE=elfkin477;] **The Cider House Rules** and **A Great And Terrible Beauty** if you consider something along those lines that a must read, but I’m more curious about what the experience would be like at either place now-ish.Thanks 🙂 [/QUOTE] What about **The World According to Garp**? ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/13 "2011-12-02T19:24:29Z")
I remember reading Madeleine LEngle’s [And Both Were Young](http://www.amazon.com/Both-Were-Young-Madeleine-LEngle/dp/0312602774/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322853773&sr=1-15) when I was a kid. I think I liked it. StG ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/14 "2011-12-02T20:04:14Z")
I think _Gossip Girl_ is a love it or hate it kind of thing, but should you happen to be one of those who loves it (I think it’s brilliant – the books, I’ve never seen the TV show), there is a companion series that starts with _The It Girl_, and is set at a modern day, posh boarding school. It’s ghostwritten by someone who is not von Ziegesar, so they are not quite as good as the _Gossip Girl_ titles. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/15 "2011-12-02T20:24:20Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > Did anyone recommend [The Orphanage](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464141/)? While I liked it a lot, almost none of it involves kids living in an orphanage. Like [The Abandoned](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475937/combined) and [Crazy Eights](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0470993/combined), it’s more of a go back to your (frightening) roots as adult sort of story. ---
**Author:** ![FeAudrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@FeAudrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FeAudrey)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/16 "2011-12-02T21:22:36Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > … orphanages … set in … in the last 30 years … There isn’t going to be much, at least set in developed countries. After WWII, social services moved to foster care and to public aid for single parents, and the orphanage was relegated to history. Even institutional care for troubled and special needs kids is mostly group homes. Would you be open to expanding your topics to include valiant, capable children whose parents are off-stage? (often FAR off-stage) THAT’s an area that has always had an extensive literature. ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/17 "2011-12-02T21:25:03Z")
A Little Princess is a classic of this genre (imo). ---
**Author:** ![Surok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@Surok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surok)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/18 "2011-12-02T21:39:24Z")
Not contemporary, as the author was growing up in the early years of the twentieth century, but [The King of the Barbareens](http://www.amazon.com/King-Barbareens-Janet-Hitchman/dp/0140313656) is a very well-written book which examines what it was like to move between foster parents, boarding school, and [Barnardo’s](http://www.barnardos.org.uk/) homes. The ability of the author to write, and also her insight and retrospective acceptance of the fact that she was a less-than-lovable child, shows up contemporary misery memoirs for what they are. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/19 "2011-12-02T22:34:17Z")
> [@FeAudrey](#): > > There isn’t going to be much, at least set in developed countries. > > After WWII, social services moved to foster care and to public aid for single parents, and the orphanage was relegated to history. Even institutional care for troubled and special needs kids is mostly group homes. We _do_ still some of them in the US, though. There’s a Catholic orphanage just a couple of towns away from where I live; on nice days you can see the nuns taking the boys to the park. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/20 "2011-12-02T22:43:41Z")
A great indie bit about orphanages in the US (not a novel, but a documentary): [http://homecomingmovie.org/](http://homecomingmovie.org/) Richard Mckenzie produced it, his feel on orphanages: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/99F4oS-dfOs/hqdefault.jpg "Economist Richard McKenzie counters negative myths about orphanage life") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99F4oS-dfOs) > **[Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century (Women): McKenzie, Richard B.:...](https://www.amazon.com/Rethinking-Orphanages-21st-Century-Women/dp/0761914447)** > > Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century (Women) \[McKenzie, Richard B.\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century (Women) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848.md?page=2)