12 h 51 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 12 h 51 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What makes a hero when loyalty costs more than taking the easy way out?
Garside School is a small world with rules, rivalries and unwritten laws. In The Hero of Garside School, J. Harwood Panting draws on the boarding school tradition, where friendship and honor matter deeply. The central struggle is between loyalty and easy advantage, courage and the fear of standing apart.
Panting writes boys’ adventure and school stories for young readers in Britain during the late Victorian and Edwardian years. The Hero of Garside School belongs to that tradition, bringing honor and betrayal into the school world. Loyalty, fair play and self-control provide its moral compass: values that make the idea of a school hero more than a matter of physical daring.
What you’ll discover
- The world of Garside Enter a boarding school society shaped by friendship, rivalry, rules and the pull of belonging.
- Honor under pressure Explore the struggle between keeping faith with others and choosing an easier advantage.
- The meaning of courage Consider heroism beyond physical daring, through the school story tradition of quieter moral tests.
- Friendship and fair play Discover the values at the heart of Panting’s tales for young readers.
- Old-fashioned adventure Enjoy a school story rooted in the ideals of loyalty, courage and self-control.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy school stories full of rivalries and pranks, spy adventures with secret tunnels, and warm tales about friendship, courage and keeping your word.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A father's sacrifice guides Paul
- A promise carries Paul through danger
- Loyalty leaves Paul open to suspicion
- Gratitude looks like cowardice
- Pride turns friends into strangers
- Rescue reveals courage and fresh mysteries
- Honor matters more than public approval
- Forgiveness interrupts the growth of hatred
- Small kindnesses sustain loyalty under pressure
Who’s who
- Paul PercivalA fifteen-year-old sailor's son who keeps his promises and his silence, even when it costs him his friends and his good name.
- Stanley MoncriefPaul's closest friend at Garside, quick-tempered and proud, who is pulled between loyalty to Paul and the pressure of the crowd.
- Gilbert WyndhamA senior boy from rival St. Bede's who helps Paul in the dark and becomes his unlikely friend despite the feud.
- NewallAn arrogant senior who bullies new boys and holds a grudge against Stanley, working to turn the Fifth Form against Paul.
- Mr. WeevilThe stern science master left in charge of Garside, whose half-closed eyes hide a deeper warmth and a puzzling private life.
- Harry MoncriefStanley's young cousin and a new boy, easily fooled by pranks but loyal and curious, eager to earn a place at Garside.
- Freddy PlungerA cheeky Third Form schemer with wild eyebrows who loves jokes, adventures and getting the better of the senior boys.
- Tim HibbertA frail, lonely new boy who clings to Paul's kindness and carries a worry he is afraid to say aloud.
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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The Hero of Garside School
A boy rides an injured man's horse through the dark with a secret letter, and enemies close behind.
Medium level5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
What would you do if a wounded stranger asked you to carry a sealed packet seven miles through the dusk, with enemies waiting in the hedges? Paul Percival, a fifteen-year-old with a sailor's blood and a mother who fears the sea, says yes.
The Hero of Garside School at a glance
- Reading time
- About 7 h 10 min5 h 40 min fast, 8 h 30 min slow
- Length
- 101,900 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A father's sacrifice shapes the son's duty
The book opens with a mother's prayer that England is never invaded. Mrs. Percival has lost her husband and a brother at sea. She asks her son Paul, for her sake, not to think too much about the sea.
Paul never knew his father, a Navy captain who drowned when Paul was one. Old Job Brice tells him the tale. A prisoner was caught going through private dispatches in the captain's cabin. On a dark, blustery night the man jumped overboard, and Captain Percival leapt in after him. The captain was swept away, and the prisoner went free at Gibraltar. Job recalls his name only as something like Zuker.
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
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- Level
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Cite this edition
Panting, J. Harwood. The Hero of Garside School. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hero-of-garside-school.
Panting, J. H. (2026). The hero of Garside School. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hero-of-garside-school
Panting, J. Harwood. The Hero of Garside School. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hero-of-garside-school.
@book{panting2026hero,
author = {Panting, J. Harwood},
title = {The Hero of Garside School},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hero-of-garside-school}
}
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What is The Hero of Garside School about?
It follows Paul Percival, a fifteen-year-old who carries a secret message for a family friend and then faces suspicion, a fight he cannot take and a broken friendship at Garside School, while a spy plot unfolds in the background.
Who are the Beetles and the Gargoyles?
Beetles is the Garside boys' nickname for pupils of the rival school, St. Bede's. Gargoyles is what the Bede's boys call Garside pupils. The names fuel the feud, with pranks, challenges and a fight at the sand pit.
Who is Zuker in the story?
Zuker is a cunning foreign spy who appears in the opening chapters. His name links Paul's dead father to the present danger, and his schemes against the defenses of the Thames and the Medway drive the secret plot.
The author
J. Harwood Panting
British children's author
J. Harwood Panting wrote adventure stories for young readers, and this one shows the world of an English boys' boarding school with its forms, dormitories, rivalries and religious habits. The book blends school life with a spy plot and plain moral teaching. Little else about the author's life is certain.
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