Boarding schools are popular features of children’s literature. Most of us who have read these books never actually attended a boarding school in our entire lives, but it may be just as well because I doubt that any real boarding school could ever be as exciting as these!
I’ve included boarding schools for witches and wizards in the fantasy section, but see Witch Books and Wizard Books for more about witches and wizards at school. I’ve also mentioned some of these books on my Dark and Light Academia Nostalgic Children’s Books page.
General Fiction
Daddy-Long-Legs (1912)
A wealthy benefactor provides money to a young orphan girl, Jerusha “Judy” Abbott, so that she can go to college. He asks that she write to him about her college experiences and progress in class but insists upon remaining anonymous. Judy nicknames him “Daddy-Long-Legs” in her letters because she has only had one brief glimpse of him and only knows that he is very tall with long legs. During her time at college, Judy gains a new sense of her personal identity and ambitions, starting to forge a career as a writer. Through the course of the book and her letters to Daddy-Long-Legs, she eventually discovers his true identity. The story is set contemporary to the time when it was written, in the 1910s. By Jean Webster.
A Little Princess (1905)
Young Sara is a bright, imaginative girl attending a boarding school in England. However, when word arrives that her father is dead and that Sara is destitute, Sara’s situation abruptly changes from that of one of the school’s favorite students to that of a mere charity case. Sara is now forced to work as a servant for the school, but Sara is a spirited girl and manages to make a new life for herself. This book is public domain and is available on Project Gutenberg. By Frances Hodgson Burnett.
Lottery Rose (1976)
Georgie, an abused boy, wins a rose bush in a lottery, and it comforts him when he is taken away from his abusive mother to start a new life at a boarding school.
The Secret Language (1960)
Shy Victoria North is very nervous and homesick when she is first sent away to boarding school, but her friendship with the outgoing Martha Sherman and the fun and secrets that they share help her to feel more at home. By Ursula Nordstrom.
A Separate Peace (1959)
A young man reflects on his time at boarding school and how he caused an accident that led to the death of his best friend. He didn’t meant to hurt him or kill him; it was just a momentary impulse that had catastrophic consequences. As an adult, he has spent time as a soldier, and his experiences in war have given him a greater understanding of human behavior and his own past. By John Knowles.
Series
Madge Bettany, in need of money and with a younger sister to help raise, decides to leave England and go to Austria to start a new boarding school for girls. The series covers the adventures of the girls who attend the boarding school. By Elinor M. Brent-Dyer. 1925-1970.
This young adult book series focuses on a group of girls at a boarding school and their friendships, adventures, crushes, and difficulties in life and school. 1984-1989.
Malory Towers Series
Twelve-year-old Darrell Rivers attends boarding school for the first time, making friends and enemies and having adventures with her fellow students. By Enid Blyton. 1946-1951.
The Naughtiest Girl Series
Elizabeth Allen is the spoiled only child of a wealthy family, and her behavior is so bad that she has driven away six governesses who have tried and failed to teach her some manners and decent behavior. Finally, when Elizabeth is eleven years old, her parents decide to send her to boarding school. Elizabeth, who is accustomed to getting her way in everything, is determined to make the school send her home again by being on her absolute worst behavior, The Naughtiest Girl in the School. Being badly-behaved has gotten Elizabeth her way before. However, this time, Elizabeth has failed to reckon with the other students. This school has an efficient student government that manages student problems, and Elizabeth is stunned when she finds out what her peers think of the way she acts. She also gradually realizes that she really wants the friendship of the other students and that she’s been lonely as an only child. But, getting the friendship she needs means learning to care about other people’s feelings and how she treats them. By Enid Blyton, later continued by Anne Digby. 1940-1952, 1999-2001.
Adventure
Jonathan’s father is a spy, and Jonathan gets mixed up in his business while studying in Scotland.
Humor
Series
Also called the Bruno and Boots series. Bruno and Boots are a pair of pranksters at a boarding school in Canada. By Gordon Korman. 1978-1995.
Scary
Among the Ghosts (2010)
A girl named Noh is spending the summer with her aunt at the boarding school where she teaches. She discovers that an old, burned dormitory is haunted and that the ghosts there need her help. By Amber Benson.
The Artifact Hunters (2020)
Sequel to The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle. Twelve-year-old Isaac is sent from Prague to Scotland for safety during WWII. He finds himself at Rookskill Castle with other children learning to use magic powers to fight the Nazis, but he must also learn the secret of the mysterious pendant that his parents gave him. By Janet Fox.
The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle (2016)
An old Scottish castle is turned into a boarding school for children evacuated from London during WWII. However, strange things are happening there, and soon, children start disappearing. By Janet Fox.
Down a Dark Hall (1974)
A young adult gothic horror novel about girls at a haunted boarding school who channel the spirits of famous people to complete their unfinished works. By Lois Duncan.
There is also a movie version of this book from 2018.
Ghost Knight (2011)
A boy at boarding school confronts ghosts and solves a murder that occurred centuries earlier. By Cornelia Funke.
The Girl Who Wasn’t There (2014)
Maisie’s father becomes the caretaker of a boarding school, but Maisie finds it difficult to make friends there. Then, she discovers that the one friend she has made is actually a ghost. By Karen McCombie.
Groosham Grange (1988)
A boy named David begins attending a haunted boarding school. By Anthony Horowitz.
Return to Groosham Grange (1990)
Sequel to Groosham Grange. At his haunted boarding school, David is competing for a special award, but the contest is being sabotaged. By Anthony Horowitz.
Say Her Name (2014)
A girl at a boarding school summons Bloody Mary on a Halloween dare, but to everyone’s surprise, Bloody Mary actually comes. They only have five days to figure out how to prevent her from coming after them. By Juno Dawson.
Shiverton Hall (2012)
A boy named Arthur Bannister begins attending a spooky boarding school that has many scary stories. By Emerald Fennell. Some parts are gruesome, and I wouldn’t recommend this book for younger readers.
Shiverton Hall: The Creeper (2014)
Sequel to Shiverton Hall. A boy at the school disappears, leaving behind an ancient book. By Emerald Fennell.
The Time of the Ghost (1981)
The ghost of a teenage girl struggles to remember who she is and how she died. At first, all she knows is that she is one of four sisters (she’s not completely sure which one) and that she was in a terrible accident of some kind. It turns out that her spirit has traveled back in time several years to her youth, when she did something that set up her accident later. Can she stop herself from making the same mistake and save her own life? By Diana Wynne Jones.
Series
Scarlet and Ivy
Scarlet and Ivy are a set of twins in the 1930s. In the first book, Ivy is shocked to be told that her sister, Scarlet, has died at boarding book school. She is invited to take Scarlet’s place at the school, but she is forced to pretend to be Scarlet. Fortunately, Scarlet has left Ivy messages and clues about what happened to her and the sinister things that are happening at the school. Fortunately, Ivy is able to save Scarlet, and the two of them continue to attend the boarding school, solving its mysteries and learning some secrets about their own family. 2015-2019.
Mysteries
The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane (2019)
A girl is sent to a boarding school in England, where she discovers that her father, who disappeared years before, was involved with a secret society. By Julia Nobel.
The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place (2014)
When someone poisons their headmistress, the girls at a Victorian boarding school try to cover up their headmistress’s death while they investigate the crime. By Julie Berry.
Series
A series of Japanese light novels that reference and parody classic scary stories and detective stories and themes. The title is a take-off on the “gothic” genre. Victorique is a mysterious girl who spends all her time at the top of the library in an exclusive boarding school in a small European country before WWII. Kujo, a Japanese student attending the boarding school, meets Victorique when he is given the task of taking her class assignments. He discovers that Victorique is a child genius with a mysterious past and joins her in solving mysteries with spooky themes, including murder, at this boarding school where everyone is obsessed with ghost stories. This is not a series for young children! The dark stuff gets pretty dark. It’s best for teens and young adults.
The Mysterious Benedict Society Series
The Mysterious Benedict Society is a group of children with special abilities, who are chosen by a man named Nicholas Benedict to undertake an undercover mission to stop his evil twin, Ledroptha Curtain, from broadcasting secret, subliminal messages and trying to take over the world. 2007-2019.
The first of the Stratemeyer Syndicate series. Three brothers, Tom, Sam, and Dick Rover, have adventures and solve mysteries while attending a military boarding school. (I don’t recommend this series because of racial language and situations.) 1899-1926.
An orphan girl in the early 20th century grows up to become the owner of her own film company in Hollywood. Along the way, she solves mysteries with her friends at school, on vacation, and later, on filming locations, and helps the war effort during World War I. A Stratemeyer Syndicate series. 1913-1934.
Historical Fiction
A group of French school children hide Jewish children from the Nazis during World War II. By Claire Bishop.
Series
A historical mystery series with Christian themes that takes place in turn-of-the-century South Carolina. Amanda Shaw is an orphan with a mysterious past but who finds a new life with relatives she had never met. By Lois Gladys Leppard. 1983-2004.
Fantasy
Charlotte Sometimes (1969)
A young girl, Charlotte, is sent away to boarding school, but as she tries to become used to her life there, she discovers that, every time she goes to sleep in her boarding school bed, she trades places with another girl, Clare, who attended that same boarding school in the past, in 1918, and slept in the same bed. Charlotte struggles through days in the past with the help of Clare’s sister, Emily, not knowing quite why this is happening and worried about losing her own identity as she crosses back and forth between time periods. By Penelope Farmer.
Wizard’s Hall (1991)
When Henry sets out to learn magic at Wizard’s Hall, he questions whether he has the necessary talent, but he believes in the importance of trying. It turns out that his talent is a particularly unusual one, and he uses it to save the school when it’s under threat. By Jane Yolen.
Series
Harry Potter Series
A best-selling series about an orphan boy who discovers that he is a wizard and attends a school for wizards in Britain. As he grows up and his education as a wizard progresses and he prepares to face down the evil wizard who killed his parents, Harry learns many secrets about life, death, magic, and his own mysterious past. By J.K. Rowling.
Mildred Hubble is the worst witch at witch school, but sometimes, being a little different from everyone else can be a good thing.
Picture Books
Series
The adventures of a little girl who lives in a boarding school in Paris. 1939-2013.
Jestress's Forgotten Books and Stories 