Good Company!
- Daisy
- Posts: 16632
- Joined: 28 Oct 2006, 22:49
- Favourite book/series: Find-Outers, Adventure series.
- Location: Stoke-On-Trent, England
Re: Good Company!
Yes, isn't it! I think as a child I was more keen to follow the Find-Outers than the Famous Five although I did enjoy them too!
'Tis loving and giving that makes life worth living.
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- Anita Bensoussane
- Forum Administrator
- Posts: 26890
- Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
- Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
- Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
- Location: UK
Re: Good Company!
Yes, that is good to see! The Find-Outers books influenced many of our games and activities when we were children.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.
"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.
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"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.
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- Eddie Muir
- Posts: 14566
- Joined: 13 Oct 2007, 22:28
- Favourite book/series: Five Find-Outers and Dog
- Favourite character: Fatty
- Location: Brighton
Re: Good Company!
It's great to see the Find-Outers books mentioned. They have always been my favourites of all Enid Blyton's wonderful books.
'Go down to the side-shows by the river this afternoon. I'll meet you somewhere in disguise. Bet you won't know me!' wrote Fatty.
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- Rob Houghton
- Posts: 16029
- Joined: 26 Feb 2005, 22:38
- Favourite book/series: Rubadub Mystery, Famous Five and The Find-Outers
- Favourite character: Snubby, Uncle Robert, George, Fatty
- Location: Kings Norton, Birmingham
Re: Good Company!
I definitely read more Find Outer books as a child - and avoided the Famous Five like the plague except for two Famous Five annuals given to me as birthday presents! The Find Outers are much underrated and deserve to be better known, but as it says in the article, the Famous Five are more 'flash' !
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)
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hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)
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- Julie2owlsdene
- Posts: 15244
- Joined: 24 Jul 2007, 20:15
- Favourite book/series: F.F. and Mystery Series - Five get into Trouble
- Favourite character: Dick
- Location: Cornwall
Re: Good Company!
Great news. The Find-Outers did more detecting than the Five.
Julian gave an exclamation and nudged George.
"See that? It's the black Bentley again. KMF 102!"
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"See that? It's the black Bentley again. KMF 102!"
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- John Pickup
- Posts: 4895
- Joined: 30 Oct 2013, 21:29
- Favourite book/series: Barney mysteries
- Favourite character: Snubby
- Location: Notts
Re: Good Company!
Isn't it strange that the Famous Five books are probably Enid's best known series but most of the regular posters on here tend to dismiss them in favour of the other series? So do I.
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- Rob Houghton
- Posts: 16029
- Joined: 26 Feb 2005, 22:38
- Favourite book/series: Rubadub Mystery, Famous Five and The Find-Outers
- Favourite character: Snubby, Uncle Robert, George, Fatty
- Location: Kings Norton, Birmingham
Re: Good Company!
It's strange with the Famous Five - I like them much more now than I did as a kid. There aren't any series I really dislike now, but I was much more picky when I was younger!
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)
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hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)
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- Machupicchu14
- Posts: 2031
- Joined: 06 Feb 2016, 15:57
- Favourite book/series: The Famous Five/The Naughtiest Girl
- Favourite character: George Kirrin/ Elizabeth Allen
- Location: Sweden
Re: Good Company!
I always think, that in the way they are written The Five Find Outers have something really special and gripping about them. After reading them again, I have come to discovered that they are in fact my favourite series along with Malory Towers !!
Of course, the Famous Five still are excellent, as they were the first to introduce me to Enid Blyton.
Glad to see FFO mentioned.
Of course, the Famous Five still are excellent, as they were the first to introduce me to Enid Blyton.
Glad to see FFO mentioned.
"All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love."
(все, что я понимаю, я понимаю только потому, что люблю)
Lev Tolstoy
You can call me Machupicchu14 or María Esther
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(все, что я понимаю, я понимаю только потому, что люблю)
Lev Tolstoy
You can call me Machupicchu14 or María Esther
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- Courtenay
- Posts: 19319
- Joined: 07 Feb 2014, 01:22
- Favourite book/series: The Adventure Series, Galliano's Circus
- Favourite character: Lotta
- Location: Both Aussie and British; living in Cheshire
Re: Good Company!
Hooray, I'm not the only Blyton fan in the world who thinks the Famous Five are over-rated and prefers the Find-Outers!! (I always enjoyed the Five as well, as did most of us, but they somehow seem to overshadow so many other books/series by Enid that are at least equally deserving.)
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It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
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- Posts: 765
- Joined: 12 Feb 2012, 15:15
- Favourite book/series: Adventure Series and the Famous Five
- Favourite character: Everyone of the Adventure Series, George, Timmy
- Location: Switzerland
Re: Good Company!
Well for me I have to admit, that I like the Famous Five more then the Find Outers. Though I like the Adventure-Series even better. I think some may also come when and how you read the first of the Series.
Bill: "I don't know what to say. You're only kids — but you're the finest company of friends anyone could have. You know the meaning of loyalty already, and even if you're scared you don't give up. I'm proud to have you for my friends."
Re: Good Company!
I have always loved the Famous Five, and have never really seen the appeal of the Find Outers. That may have something to do with the fact that my parents had some of the FF books from their own childhoods, so I read those first and started my own collection. I only owned one FFO book, which I was indifferent to, probably because it was towards the end of my interest in Enid Blyton (for a few years). I do wish I'd read the series as a child, because obviously many of you rate the books very highly, but they just don't do anything much for me, and I'm sure I'd feel differently if I'd read them as a child.
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- Courtenay
- Posts: 19319
- Joined: 07 Feb 2014, 01:22
- Favourite book/series: The Adventure Series, Galliano's Circus
- Favourite character: Lotta
- Location: Both Aussie and British; living in Cheshire
Re: Good Company!
Hmmm, not necessarily. I read both the Famous Five and Five Find-Outers as a child — about the same number of each during the same time period — and enjoyed them both, but it was the characters and tone of the Find-Outers that I tended to prefer and still do. It's really just a case of individual tastes; they're two quite different series and appeal to people in different ways. I always have liked the Famous Five as well — it's just that they weren't my favourites. But they have probably always been Enid's most popular series overall, or at least her best-known.
Mind you, as I've said before, I can't go along with the idea that books you read as an adult will never have the same charm and appeal as ones you grew up with... I didn't read the Adventure series until I was an adult and it almost instantly pipped the Famous Five AND the Find-Outers as my favourite series by Enid Blyton that I've ever read!!
Mind you, as I've said before, I can't go along with the idea that books you read as an adult will never have the same charm and appeal as ones you grew up with... I didn't read the Adventure series until I was an adult and it almost instantly pipped the Famous Five AND the Find-Outers as my favourite series by Enid Blyton that I've ever read!!
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It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
Re: Good Company!
I always find the Five don't come across as real characters. Stuck-up Mr "Perfect" Julian, Obnoxious (yet loyal!) Georgina, Dick - probably the most real, wimpy Anne whose favourite toy is a frying-pan and the slightly ridiculous Timothy.
Whereas, I would simply love to have been invited into Fatty's shed. It is down to Fatty (and to a degree, Peter and Janet - I do have SS at the apex) that I have had a lifelong love of sheds. I was only in mine the other day, picturing boxes to sit on, home made lemonade on the shelf and a plate of biscuits on a tea-chest.
Whereas, I would simply love to have been invited into Fatty's shed. It is down to Fatty (and to a degree, Peter and Janet - I do have SS at the apex) that I have had a lifelong love of sheds. I was only in mine the other day, picturing boxes to sit on, home made lemonade on the shelf and a plate of biscuits on a tea-chest.
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- Anita Bensoussane
- Forum Administrator
- Posts: 26890
- Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
- Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
- Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
- Location: UK
Re: Good Company!
The perfect sort of shed!
I'm not sure that the Five are less "real" - it's just that when I was a child I didn't feel a particularly strong bond with any of them as individuals. The Adventure and Find-Outers series featured characters who made a massive impression on me and made me long to know them or be like them - namely Jack and Lucy-Ann Trent (and Philip Mannering to a degree), and Fatty and Bets. The Five appealed to me as a group but I didn't really identify with any of them.
I'm not sure that the Five are less "real" - it's just that when I was a child I didn't feel a particularly strong bond with any of them as individuals. The Adventure and Find-Outers series featured characters who made a massive impression on me and made me long to know them or be like them - namely Jack and Lucy-Ann Trent (and Philip Mannering to a degree), and Fatty and Bets. The Five appealed to me as a group but I didn't really identify with any of them.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.
"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.
Society Member
"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.
Society Member