The Midnight Thief

When Freya, who has had a rather unconventional upbringing with her father, an archaeologist, starts at Throgmorton’s School for Girls, she does not fit in well, and soon gets into a lot of trouble, not always of her own making, but the many Rules of the school are complicated and difficult.  She is in the Headmistress’s office being told off for being in the attic and releasing a bat, when the wildlife conservation expert arrives, with his twin children, to rescue the bat, and Freya soon finds that these two equally unconventional children are kindred spirits. They encourage her to break even more rules by meeting them out of the school at midnight, and together they discover a plot to steal seven priceless statues of dragons that belong to the school, and when the dragons do disappear, of course they manage to retrieve them and sort it out. Bats become very important, too…

This is a rather old-fashioned school story: all the teachers are Miss Something, and each has a special characteristic, e.g. Miss Featherly is always quoting poetry, but it’s a very exciting adventure that will keep readers wanting to know what happens next. Sylvia Bishop also wrote Erica’s Elephant, and The Bookshop Girl, which were variously described as ‘charmingly old-fashioned’ and ‘charmingly retro’ and that’s a good description of this book, too. That said, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable book, recommended for younger secondary students.