The Enid Blyton Society

Although there is nothing about it my paper today, I heard on the BBC 10.00 News last night that the well-known children's author and illustrator, Babette Cole, had just died at the age of 67. They showed several clips from interviews and also clips of her at work and play (she had a passion for riding). I was particularly interested as I had an email from her last month asking if the Society could help in any way as she was trying to sell the illustrations that she did for Five on a Treasure Island. I was impressed that she was one of the few people who actually took the trouble to thank me for my reply email.

I actually liked many of her illustrations in the book which were delicate watercolours.

How sad that Babette Cole has died at a relatively young age. My condolences to her family and friends.

Thanks for posting the illustration, Tony. The house does look quirkily attractive and I like the delicate colours.

RIP Babette Cole.
Her pictures do have a nice dreamy pale quality to them, they're not harsh or over the top.
She sounds like she was a very nice polite lady, which seems rare these days because it often seems very commonplace in the modern age for people to not reply to things and to let good manners slide a bit, its refreshing to see that that's not always the case!

How sad. I loved Doctor Dog and the Trouble With series.

...mind you, she DID illustrate the Famous Five cover that most people like to make fun of the most...

Sad news, RIP. Thanks Tony for the news.

Those are very sad news, RIP Babette!
I really love the house illustration, it's looks so magical and cosy. Thank you for posting it Tony.

Ah, that is sad news — RIP Babette Cole.

I like that illustration from Five on a Treasure Island as well — I just think it looks like it's aimed at a younger audience than the book was written for, that's all. I realise I've been known to ridicule "that" cover for Five Fall Into Adventure, but my only real problem with it is that Timmy looks so odd! I've always liked her illustrations in general and loved "The Trouble With..." series when I was little.

I've just found a report of her death and her obituary in The Guardian — worth reading, as I wasn't aware of some of her other work.

I have a hankering to read some old favourites from Babette Cole now. My library has a few so I will be sneaking down when I can get a minute to hunt them out.

I'm glad that you put a link to the article in the Guardian, Courtenay, I read it myself this afternoon and almost posted the link, but I wasn't sure if anyone would be interested. That Five on a Treasure Island was actually issued in two editions, a small hardback in a dustwrapper and a very large paperback.

I generally like her illustrations too - but not so sure about the Famous Five cover. Mainly because, as Courtenay said, they make the stories appear to be aimed at much younger children.

I do remember cracking up at Mummy Laid an Egg!, Babette's hilarious take on explaining to kids where babies come from... I already knew all that by the time I read it (I was an adult!), but thought it was very cleverly done. For some reason I've never read Princess Smartypants, which is a pity — it sounds like just the sort of book I would have enjoyed when I was little.

Why did the publishers have Quentin Blake do the cover illustrations and Babette Cole the rest? Do her internal pictures resemble the cover well enough I wonder, or do they look like a completely different set of children?

Dunno, Daisy, but it's not uncommon for books to have the cover done by one illustrator and the internal illustrations done by another — a lot of Enid Blyton books have been like that, at least in the reprints (including, I think, just about all the Dean editions).

Perhaps, since the Quentin Blake cover was already in print for the then-current edition, they decided to just carry on using it as the currently familiar version — although if they commissioned Babette Cole to do all the internal illustrations, you'd think they might have asked her to do the cover as well! Maybe Tony knows more...