When the new games mistress at St. Margaret's reorganizes the girls by size during their weekly walk to church, doing the same in her sports classes, it causes quite a bit of unintentional chaos and consternation in the school. Head Girl Vivian Cunliffe, horrified at the idea of prefects walking with girls so decidedly their juniors, manages to sort out the issue of the church walk, but neither she nor Miss Brenneman realize that the question of size has been seized upon by some of the girls in the Upper Third, precipitating a rift in the form that has long-reaching consequences. Hurt and outraged when they are booted from the form's hockey team because of their small size, despite being some of the best players, Angel (Angela) Daventry and Dee Middleton, together with their friend Noel Godfrey and Second former 'Mouse' (Charlotte) Madison, form the League of the Smallest. Intended to assert the worth of girls of short stature, the secret society is organized around the idea of excellence, and each girl works to become the best version of herself, and to achieve greatness. The results prove most interesting, and involve the girls in all kinds of unexpected adventures...

Originally published in 1951, and reprinted in this Girls Gone By edition in 2009, The League of the Smallest was the last of New Zealand author Clare Mallory's books to be published in her lifetime. Two books - Candy Neville (2012) and Anna-Charlotte (2016) - were published posthumously, bringing her total number of titles to twelve. Of that number, this is the eighth I have read, and like the seven before it, I found it immensely enjoyable. Although I wasn't a small child myself, I entered fully into the feelings of Angel, Dee, Noel and Mouse, and was rooting for their success. I enjoyed the storyline involving the Rodneys next door, and the pride both Angel and Dee took in fagging for their chosen prefect. The inclusion of cooking and other domestic skills as a theme here reminded me of similar scenes from Mallory's Juliet Overseas, another book I greatly enjoyed. The introduction to this 2009 edition, written by one Barbara Robertson, mentioned a number of other school stories - Josephine Elder's The Redheads, Winifred Darch's Margaret Play the Game, Evelyn Smith's Marie Macleod, Schoolgirl - with which Mallory was familiar, that might have influenced her, in the writing of The League of the Smallest. I was fascinated to discover, from this introduction, that Mallory had been working on a book about girls' school stories, and deeply disappointed to learn that the manuscript was never completed. Even in a partial state, I would imagine that many fans of the genre, as well as of Mallory, would find it fascinating. I know I would!

Leaving all that aside, this was just another entertaining school story from Mallory, who has become one of my favorite authors in the genre. Recommended to any reader who enjoys girls' school stories, or who is interested in vintage New Zealand children's books. ( )