Jo Returns to the Chalet School Quiz

Answer: The Bettany twins have measles.

Joey comes to visit her old classmates and spends the weekend at the school. She plans to visit Die Rosen as her brother Dick is staying there, along with his wife and children, but Madge calls Mlle Lepattre and asks her to keep Joey at the school as Peggy and Rix, Dick's twin children, have measles. Madge is worried that their younger siblings, Jackie and Bride, might catch it and also doesn't want Joey getting infected. Joey begs Madge to let her come over, but Madge refuses and orders her to stay at the school.

Answer: Rosetta Fernandez

Joey writes a school story for Daisy Venables and the Robin, and calls it 'Malvina Wins Through'. Like her creator, she likes exotic names. Matron is worried about Joey as Joey did not eat her lunch, and notices a big pile of paper that Joey has been writing on.

She has a read through and is not impressed. She tells Joey that Malvina is too good to be true (the kind of character that readers these days would call a Mary Sue) and Rosetta has no redeeming features, but that Flavia and the head girl are realistic and well-written characters. Joey re-reads the story and realises how bad it is, and later throws it in the incinerator.

Answer: Hildegard

Or, to give her her full name, Hildegard Mariana Sophonisba Heriot. As she explains to Joey, she chose 'Polly' because it was easier to say, and because it was 'nice, and short, and not sentimental'. Hildegard was her mother's name, and Mariana and Sophonisba were her great-aunts. Joey meets Polly in the local post office and discovers that Polly has run away from her elderly guardian, Mr Wilmot, and his sister, because she is bored rigid with living with them. Joey insists that she contact them to let them know she is safe, and on hearing that Polly wants to go to school, suggests she cone to the Chalet School. Polly is upset when she realises how worried and exhausted her guardian is. Mlle Lepattre is concerned about the lack of space, but she and Madge agree to take Polly as a pupil, and Mr Wilmot tells them that Polly is a well-behaved girl and could do with being with girls her own age.

Answer: History

Maths and art are Joey's worst subjects, so no teaching those for her! Polly's French is excellent, thanks to her having a French maid, but her handwriting and art style are very Victorian, Miss Annersley says her compositions are unimaginative, and Miss Leslie criticises the out-of-date methods she uses. Miss Stewart notes that her history is 'biased' and Anglocentric.

As Joey is a history lover, she is asked to help give Polly extra tuition. She helps Polly visualise history by making a timeline with pictures and events during the medieval period, and teaches her about the Holy Roman Empire. To Polly's disgust, Joey also helps her with her German, as she will need it to get by in school.

Answer: She falls on it and crumples its pages.

Herr Laubach is heavily critical of Polly's art style. She borrows an art book without his permission and copies a floral design, which she paints on a mirror. Joey tells her to take the book back, as it is very valuable, and Polly trips and falls over in the corridor and lands on the book, crumpling several pages.

Herr Laubach finds out and is furious, and insists Polly show him her work as proof. She gets the mirror and he is genuinely surprised at the quality of the work and asks why she never paints like that in class.

He pays the Hobbies Club a visit, to the surprise of the girls, and asks Joey to make his wife some jigsaw puzzles, as she is ill and stuck in bed.

Answer: Ringing the school bell

Polly is a huge fan of Girls' Own school stories and comes up with the idea of playing a prank, thinking it will make her popular among the girls. She gets up at midnight and rings the school bell. Unfortunately, her prank goes horribly wrong when it not only wakes up the school, but it also wakes up the locals as - unbeknown to Polly - it's also a weather alarm. Several girls, including Eustacia Benson - who is having trouble with her back - are exhausted the next day due to lack of sleep, and Mlle Lepattre has some angry locals to deal with. Polly gets told off by Mlle Lepattre, Joey AND her classmates, and Joey removes all the pranks from the draft of her book, so her readers don't get ideas! (Eagle-eyed CS fans might note that the other answers refer to 'The School at the Chalet', 'Seven Scamps' and 'Trials for the Chalet School').

Answer: Mlle Lepattre and Miss Stewart

Both Miss Stewart and Mlle Lepattre are taken ill, the former with laryngitis and the latter with an unknown illness (speculated by fans to be either heart disease or cancer). Miss Annersley tells Joey that she'll have to take the Middles for history, while she takes the Seniors. Joey is rather self-conscious about having to teach her old schoolmates, but does it anyway, especially when Madge later tells her that she owes the school.

The teachers also think it will be useful research for her book, so she can get an idea of life on the other side of the desk. Frieda Mensch also briefly comes back to teach, but has to quit when her aunt is injured. Mlle Lepattre is rushed to hospital later in the book, and the entire school are worried for her, but she undergoes surgery and survives.

Answer: Alixe von Elsen

Joey is taking the Middles prep and notices that the girls are acting strangely. Something makes a horrible noise and the more highly-strung girls panic. Joey makes the girls put everything they have in their hands on their desks, and a group of girls return from music practice. Alixe von Elsen is among the girls who are still at practice, and Joey becomes suspicious as she knows Alixe has a bad reputation. Alixe eventually returns and Joey asks to see her shoes, as she has been taking longer than expected. Alixe's slippers are wet, and she confesses that she had been standing under a ventilator and making noises with an inflatable pig.

A few other other girls had been in on it and even tried to warn Alixe. Joey sends her to Matron, who puts her to bed.

Answer: An angel

Robin dresses up as an angel, and her halo - which is painted with quick-drying enamel - gets stuck to her hair and Matron has to cut it off! Cornelia Flower is the ghost - she makes wings out of badminton racquets - Polly is the skater, and Biddy O'Ryan is the snowball. Joey comes as an Indian woman.

The staff also get in on the fun, with Miss Annersley dressing as a Roman matron, Miss Edwards as a geisha, Mlle de Lachenais as a Normandy peasant, Matron Lloyd as a Welsh druid and Miss Norman as a Scottish fisherwoman.

The girls and staff also make snow statues, and Jockel, a dim young man who does odd jobs for the school, gets a fright when he sees the figures and mistakes them for devils!

Answer: The Spirit of the Bells

Madge has written this year's Christmas play, with a part available for Joey. As she, Cornelia, Evadne Lannis, Yvette Mercier and Eustacia are all excellent singers, they play the Spirits of the Bells, the Snow, the Christmas Rose, the Holly and Love respectively. Joey also receives a letter saying her book, 'Cecily Holds the Fort', will be published, along with a cheque for £35.

She buys some presents for herself and her family and gives the rest to Vater Stefan, a local priest, so that he can take the poor children of his parish on an outing. Vater Stefan is greatly touched and comes to see the play, and the girls decide to perform it for the villagers after Christmas.The girls also send the children toys and clothes, and Cornelia and Evadne's rich fathers provide money for heating and other comforts.