The Enid Blyton Society

Rob Houghton wrote:

Fiona1986 wrote:Quantity does not equal quality.

depends! I can't stand those 7 books!! I've tried to read a couple of them - but even just flicking through them leaves me with exactly the same feeling I get from the Adult Famous Fives - boringly written.

No one is a stronger supporter of Enid Blyton and what she has done for Children, books and reading but I feel much the same about JK Rowling. Harry Potter came along at a time when parents couldn't get children off their computer games etc to read any books. Children were generally reading less and less. And then suddenly children who hadn't read a book were wanting to read Harry Potter because of friends who had read him.

My introduction to Harry Potter was on a plane flight with one of my young staff who was reading the third book before giving it to her son who was eight. She said, whilst she was an avid reader and had surrounded her son with books, he just wasn't interested in reading, UNTIL his friends at school had read Harry Potter. She now couldn't stop him reading those books. As I talked with other young mums I found the same thing. Harry Potter was doing what Enid Blyton did many years ago, but at a time when all this technology was replacing books for childrens time.

I thought it was time for me to read Harry Potter and I could immediately see how Rawlings was capturing these children. It was exciting and a way to escape as children. Using the escapism and freedom for children that Enid Blyton relied on but in a totally different way. I loved them and was so glad there was somebody producing books that got children reading again.

That doesn't in anyway diminish what Enid Blyton achieved and is still achieving but was needed at a time when technology was taking over. My grandchildren who fit this period, read all my Blyton books and loved them, and read all Harry Potter books and loved them. I think they loved finding books that were as good as grandmas books but were written during their childhood not mine.

So I believe we should be cheering both JK Rawlings and Enid Blyton for what they have done for children.
And like Enid Blyton, Rawlings is a philanthropist and helps others too, both wonderful women that have added much to the world.

Aussie Sue

Well said, Sue

oh - I agree JK Rowling gets children reading - and if that is the case then that's brilliant - I'm not really knocking the books - they are a phenomenon - got children engaged, and have been popular with both children and adults. Anything that encourages children to read is brilliant - but I would also say this applies to many authors - and some children would never reach the stage where they could read Harry Potter, lets not forget.

Many children I was teaching to read in the early 2000's would probably never even read an Enid Blyton book, as it was too difficult (they were mainly aged 7) - so the Harry Potter books will only engage children of a certain reading standard.

I agree that any book which gets any child into reading has to be looked on as a good thing, but for me, personally, I could never get past the first few pages of a Harry Potter book. I've tried - and failed - several times.

I didn't like Harry Potter the first time I tried, actually, I think I read the first chapter of the second book and gave up. There isn't a book in the world that everyone who picks it up will like though!

I read all the Harry Potter books and really enjoyed them to begin with, but felt they started dragging a bit by the end of the series — for me it just got to the point where it was all a bit overdone and over-rated. I've never wanted to re-read the series (or see all the films — I only watched the first two), but I can understand why others love it. I totally agree, JK Rowling has done a fantastic job of getting kids interested in books again at a time when, as Aussie Sue said, there's far more competition from technology and other activities than there was in Enid's day.

Aussie Sue wrote: I thought it was time for me to read Harry Potter and I could immediately see how Rawlings was capturing these children. I believe we should be cheering both JK Rawlings and Enid Blyton for what they have done for children.
And like Enid Blyton, Rawlings is a philanthropist and helps others too, both wonderful women that have added much to the world.

Who's JK Rawlings?

Ooh red face. Not sure why I put Rawlings Moonraker, definitely know its Rowlings!!!

Except it isn't - it's Rowling

Dave

Domino wrote:Except it isn't - it's Rowling

Dave

Yes, a singular woman.

It's an interesting list but I do think Enid could have been a bit higher given that practically all of the people now shaping the country must have grown up reading at lest a couple of her books. I also question why "springtime" is at number 28! After all springtime is not uniquely British; it happens in every country, as does volunteering. Overall it's a good and thought provoking list.

Like Rob I have never read a Harry Potter book. Unlike Rob I have never even tried! I simply have not the slightest interest in them which is a little surprising as I quite like Fantasy books and have read Lord of the Rings many times and worked my way through Terry Brooks' Shannara series and Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. But Rowling holds nothing for me. Perhaps I just dislike all the hype and mass marketing that surrounds that series.

Domino wrote:Except it isn't - it's Rowling

Haha! I think our mischievous friend knew that!

Lucky Star wrote: After all springtime is not uniquely British; it happens in every country

I don't think it does in equatorial countries.....

Moonraker wrote:

Lucky Star wrote: After all springtime is not uniquely British; it happens in every country

I don't think it does in equatorial countries.....

Very true — even in southern Australia, although we speak of having four seasons (in one day, if you're in Melbourne ), there's nowhere near as much difference between them as there is in Britain and other places further from the equator. In northern Australia, there are really only two seasons — "the wet" and "the dry"!

I must say, when I moved to Britain, the coming of spring was one thing that really struck me as amazing and incredibly beautiful — the way the whole landscape was transformed, which we just don't see in parts of the world where all the native trees are evergreen and the climate is mild enough for there to be lots of flowers of various sorts almost the whole year round. Five years later and I still feel the same way at the start of every British spring — "Oh wow, so this is what all those poets were on about! And all this is going to happen again next year... every year??"