The Clover Club and the House of Mystery ¦ The Clover Club and the Mystery that Fell out of the Sky

These seductive mystery stories had all those who read them demanding more. The Clover Club raises all those questions of how we should respond to literature that we know is very persuasive because it is easy, absorbing and exciting reading but which asks very little of the child reader. Add to that the sexist implications in the reluctant admission of Sarah to an originally all male club and the battle lines are drawn.

'The whole atmosphere was, she thought, all in all and to put it mildly, masculine. "It could be marvellous", she said, and she meant it. She was thinking how nice it would be to clean it up and put curtains at the window and a carpet down.' Over to you. The paperbacks could well find a fast selling spot in the bookshop, but I won't be finding space in the school library for the hardbacks.