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!