Lessons in life: 5 books about schooldays everyone should read

School stories endure because the experience is universal. Most people did not attend boarding school like the characters in Mallory Towers or receive a Hogwarts invitation. However, the cycle of lessons, homework and sports days is the same everywhere.

Children’s literature is dominated by this setting, from Enid Blyton’s The Twins at St Clare’s to Gillian Cross’s The Demon Headmaster. The adult version often shifts to university life in the form of the campus novel. These five examples of educational stories are worth losing sleep over.

1. The Secret History, Donna Tartt

This modern classic is set in a small university in Vermont. It follows a group of classmates who commit a murder. The characters are eccentric and snooty classics students. The narrator, Richard, is so determined to impress them that he becomes deeply involved in their schemes. It is melodramatic and captivating. You will view Ancient Greek differently after reading it.

2. Back Home, Michelle Magorian

A young girl is evacuated to the US during WWII. When the war ends, she is sent back to a boarding school in England. The environment is harsh, the food is rationed and the other students are unkind. She eventually meets a boy, but the story remains a bleak look at alienation and bullying. It is a complex and heartbreaking narrative that ends on an uplifting note.

3. Cat Among the Pigeons, Agatha Christie

This is a murder mystery set in a boarding school. The plot involves jewel theft, spies, kidnappings and revolutionaries. Hercule Poirot makes a brief appearance. It contains high drama and the typical Christie humour. Your own school days will seem uneventful by comparison.

4. Moo, Jane Smiley

This campus novel is set in an agricultural college in the American Midwest. Moo features a cast of academic misfits, including a professor conducting experiments on a boar named Earl. The book satirises the genre with chapters on social scandals and professional back-stabbing. Dr. Gift, a professor who views students as customers, reflects the modern educational climate despite the book being published in 1995. It is a dry satire for anyone familiar with the university sector.

5. Madeline, Ludwig Bemelmans

This picture book features Madeline, a girl at a Parisian boarding school. She lives in an old house with eleven other girls and their teacher, Miss Clavel. The illustrations are primarily black, white and yellow. The original 1939 book remains the best in the series. It is a story that manages to make even appendicitis seem interesting.