The Enid Blyton Society

pete9012S wrote:I don't know how Enid found the time to accomplish all she did.

Maybe she had some ghostwriters at hand .

Thanks all! Yes Anita - I agree about the Twiddles. At one time I didn't see the charm of these stories, but as I've got older I think I appreciate them more - love the old-time feel to them - the village atmosphere - a simpler way of life.

I love how Enid captures the excitement of viewing things through field glasses in the story 'Wake Up Granpa!' - she uses this device quite often (I think there's a Secret Seven and Famous Five short story that both employ field glasses as a way of viewing a far-off occurrence?) - as well as many others of course. I think most children love the idea of looking through field-glasses at people and objects far away and viewing another world, so to speak.

Yes, my sister and I were given binoculars one Christmas (we'd asked for them) and we loved taking them out and about and using them in the countryside and on the beach. They also came in handy for looking more closely at birds on the bird table. I've still got them and my own children have used them on walks.

It's a treat to have an uncollected Mr Twiddle story. I've always loved these gentle stories and have a lot of sympathy for the long suffering Mrs Twiddle and her cat.

In the list of names in Thank You Corner I am always struck by the amount of readers from abroad, Australia, New Zealand, India and Swaziland in this issue. Enid had a readership throughout the British Empire.

I enjoyed having a go at the picture crossword too. Thanks to Rob and Tony.

Another fortnight has passed! the latest EB Magazine has arrived!



Its another interesting and entertaining issue. The cover shows an illustration from the first short story (uncollected - follow the link to The Cave to read it - thanks, Tony! ) called Does Anyone Want A Kitten? - an entertaining story, but there are some elements I didn't like - mostly the fact that, if homes aren't found for the six little kittens, then Daddy says he will drown them! I guess that was the usual attitude in those days, especially in a farm, where presumably this story is set, but I dislike the idea a lot. However, of course, there's a happy ending - I'm sure I'm not giving anything away in saying that!

The illustrations are by Anne Fine - one of my favourite Blyton illustrators.

Next we have Enid's Editorial Letter - and we find Enid still on her holidays in Dorset. I found it interesting that she mentions children going on the sea in pedal boats, and tells of how two children went too far out in theirs and had to be rescued...sound familiar? This was the story-line to a short story in EB's Magazine about a month ago! i wonder if what Enid tells us was true, or if she was just telling an anecdotal story to remind children to be careful?!

She also talks of the Love-Apple League, which has often been mentioned before. It has now become a member of UNICEF - spreading the ideas of the two children who started the idea all around the world!

Following on from the cover-story (and a picture crossword - which has been done in Tony's scan, but remains blank in my magazine!) we have the third chapter of Five Get Into A Fix - with the children finally arriving at their destination. I'm interested in the illustrations for this, which appear to be all a bit different from the book version. I'm not sure which I like best, but I did enjoy the main illustration for this chapter - Mrs Jones pouring the tea. In the book, she is greeting Timmy. here's the magazine illustration -



In Our Letter Page there are some interesting letters. Christopher Black, from South Africa, tells us about the fete he held -.

Dear ENid Blyton, I am sending you a postal order for sixteen shillings. I collected it by having a fete with my sister and my cousin. I'm nine and my cousin is also nine and my sister is six. We sold soap, toys, cakes and coconut-ice. The soap sold very well. The Africans love washing! There wasn't one piece of cocnut-ice or one cake left. We had soap in the shape of dogs, babies, and pigs and Father Christmas. We also had Toyland cakes.
I hope you will enjoy spending the money as much as we enjoyed collecting it. Yours sincerely, Christopher Black.

Rumble and Chuff continues with our 'heroes' rescuing a duck who has hurt its leg. Off they set to take the duck back to the farmhouse, with the duck having a ride in the train's trucks. He isn't badly hurt.

Don't Do That Bumpy-Dog is the next uncollected short story - a Noddy story, of course. It's not a bad one - at least its not the usual 'Noddy being stupid' story -- except that he IS pretty stupid! Its a simple story - which can be read in The Cave. Follow the link here - http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/maga ... ?magid=917

In the Puzzle Page we have the usual puzzles, all of which win prizes of books for those lucky enough to be chosen -

Sunbeams Puzzle

Can you find the name of a fish hidden in each of the following sentences?

a) That route leads nowhere
b) Please shake the bottle

Famous Five Puzzle -

Blow me and I make a noise
I can hold ice creams
You might have me amongst your toys
I'm two different things, it seems.

Busy Bees Puzzle -

Can you find the bird hidden in the following sentence?

Why do you both rush about so much?

Next - the continuation of The Birthday Kitten - with chapter 8. This issue of Enid Blyton's Magazine is a real animal-fest! A story about kittens, a story about Bumpy Dog, and now The Birthday Kitten!

Happy reading!

Great stuff, as always. Thanks, Rob and Tony.

Thanks as always, Rob and Tony, for the "latest" EB Magazine. I enjoyed the kittens story. Yes, it was horribly cruel that the parents wanted to have the kittens drowned or put to sleep if homes couldn't be found for them, but I'm afraid that WAS precisely the attitude a lot of people had in those days, as you say, Rob. Even when I was little (not that long ago!) I remember an elderly lady in our town saying she'd had to drown six kittens that no-one wanted. I was shocked, but there was a time when that was the accepted and practical thing to do. Enid, in any case, uses it here to build suspense. Of course there's a happy ending, but it again shows she didn't shy away from horrible realism in her stories, even if she almost never has the worst actually happen.

The Noddy story was a bit annoying, but not the worst ever!

'Does anyone want a kitten?' is not the best story of its type that Enid wrote, it's a bit too close to real life perhaps. I prefered the Noddy story which is saying something as I'm not one of his fans. Still it's good to be able to read them. Thanks Rob and Tony.

Rob Houghton wrote:Following on from the cover-story (and a picture crossword - which has been done in Tony's scan, but remains blank in my magazine!) we have the third chapter of Five Get Into A Fix - with the children finally arriving at their destination. I'm interested in the illustrations for this, which appear to be all a bit different from the book version. I'm not sure which I like best, but I did enjoy the main illustration for this chapter - Mrs Jones pouring the tea. In the book, she is greeting Timmy. here's the magazine illustration -

I am sure that you probably know, Rob, but I believe I am right in saying that all Eileen Soper Famous Five illustrations in Magazines were different to the ones that she later did for the books, although she frequently depicted the same scene. I have only got the magazine serialisations of two of them in the Cave as yet, Five Go Off to Camp (from Sunny Stories) and Five Go Down to the Sea.

As always a great review of the magazine, I hope one or two more people will read it!

Yes - I believe the Famous Five illustrations in the magazines are usually different, as you say - but the difference seems more noticeable in this story than in the previous one, 'Billycock Hill'. The illustrations are often bigger, and there are sometimes two per instalment. Maybe this was because 'Fix' is actually a shorter story and so space was filled in with illustrations!

Thank you, Tony, for the kind words of my review...and for those others who have read it!

Sadly,I don't think the book contains an exact comparable image of Mrs Jones pouring tea Rob?
I really enjoyed this review and of course Tony's scans. Thank you both.

Fortunately Betty Maxey did include the scene in her version:

pete9012S wrote:Sadly,I don't think the book contains an exact comparable image of Mrs Jones pouring tea Rob?
I really enjoyed this review and of course Tony's scans. Thank you both.

Thanks Pete. No - in the book the scene is represented by a slightly earlier 'frame' of Mrs Jones greeting Timmy-



but the magazine also includes another illustration showing Mrs Jones greeting all the children when she opens the door to let them in.

Nice one Rob.Thanks.
I think Betty Maxey depicts a similar scene rather well too?

I didn't care for the Does Anyone Want A Kitten story. I do like the cover for this issue of the magazine though. It's great to be able to see the Eileen Soper illustrations used in the magazine which differ from those in the book. Thanks to Rob and Tony once again.
Pete, how is your Aunt Betty keeping?

That's one of Aunt Betty's better illustrations!