The Naughtiest Girl Helps a Friend

First edition
(publ. Hodder Children's Books)

The Naughtiest Girl Helps a Friend is the second of Anne Digby's continuation of the "The Naughtiest Girl" series (originally by Enid Blyton), and the sixth book about Elizabeth Allen, the "Naughtiest Girl" of the title.

Plot

Elizabeth Allen of the first form at Whyteleafe School is staying at school for a camp in the grounds with her best friend Joan Townsend, who is in the second form. Elizabeth's enemy, Arabella Buckley is also staying at the camp. On the first night, Arabella finds her sleeping bag has been filled with rubbish and she demands that the culprit empty all the rubbish out of it and leave it out flat in the sun to dry completely before she has to sleep in it. Joan suddenly remembers she needs new batteries for her torch (in case Teeny wakes up in the night) and has mistaken the "5-o-clock" for "6-o-clock" on the camp schedule and is castigated by Miss Ranger when she gets back. Later that night, Elizabeth finds that the torch has been left on and thinks "How careless, Joan" and about an hour later the tent door is wide open - brrrr! At the next meeting Arabella complains that the tent door was open and everyone nearly froze to bits and Joan is given a lighter sleeping bag. Teeny goes exploring by herself and falls out of a tree, damaging her glasses and Arabella goes straight to Miss Ranger and tells on Joan, and Miss Ranger begins to seriously consider whether Joan really should be camp monitor. That evening, Joan confesses to Elizabeth that she is afraid of the dark, and that was the real reason for the torch batteries and Elizabeth begins to put two and two together and realizes that the problems they've had were not entirely Teeny's fault; for instance Teeny was the one who had climbed the tree, but if Joan had been brighter-eyed and more bushy-tailed, she would probably have been able to prevent Teeny from climbing the tree. The next day, Arabella gets tired of Teeny and goes to get more dresses and Teeny sneaks off and ends up trapped in a drain. Joan rescues her and at the meeting William and Rita reveal Teeny's story, how she was being set dares by two unintentionally-cruel children named Kitty and Duncan, and they've got to stop because they're damaging Teeny's self-esteem and the club has to stop being a "Dare club" and start being a "Friendship club"

Main Characters in the story