Sindy Adventures.

[MJE]

     I was just wondering if anyone had read the "Sindy Adventures" series, from the late 1960s.
     Yes, they are related to the Sindy dolls, and the main characters the same as those featured in the dolls.
     Now I would normally have no reason whatever to seek out anything doll-related; but back in my school years, when I was madly collecting various Enid Blyton books, I did occasionally see some of these six adventure stories in the bookshops. They looked intriguing, but I never bought any - whether it was just because I didn't have enough money, and what I did have I wanted to spend on Enid Blyton, or whether I was too embarrassed to buy books whose covers showed they were mainly aimed at girls, I don't know. But I didn't buy any.
     A few years later, I lost my Blyton collection because my parents persuaded me that I had now grown out of them. I wasn't too sure about that, but was too embarrassed to disagree with them.
     Many years later I started reconstructing my collection from second-hand copies, trying as often as possible to buy the exact same editions (and for those books that had illustrated covers (most except for my dustjacketless Famous Fives) I always remembered what my original cover had looked like.
     And I began thinking about those Sindy books too; but since I never saw them in the second-hand stores I didn't pay a lot of attention to them - until I got onto the Internet in the late 1990s. I searched for all sorts of things I had often wondered about - and that included the Sindy books too, using the very few clues I had about them. But I couldn't find anything at all. I joined the Girls' Own group (the very first I ever joined) mainly to ask about this - but not even those experts on girls' literature seemed to know anything about them. (Well maybe some did but I just wasn't able to give enough clues about the books.) I stayed on there and posted about Enid Blyton and other children's literature for some years - but that's why I originally joined.
     Finally things fell into place. And I got to realize that the reason it was so unexpectedly hard to even identify the books' author is that none is given: the books were published anonymously.
     I found one of them in a second-hand shop and bought it. But later on, on eBay, I found the whole series of six being offered, and realized I would just have to get them. They were being offered by another Victorian - someone who lived a couple of hundred miles east of me.
     Someone else was bidding too, and I had to pay $80 or so to get the books. (I felt a bit bad about the other bidder, who probably wanted them just as much too - but I had to get them too, while they were there. I really wish some publisher could republish all sorts of old books, replicating them exactly. It may not have quite the status of an original edition; but an exact replica would be a great deal better than nothing, and possibly even better than an original in horrible, torn-up condition.)
     I read them all pretty quickly, probably not expecting them to be all that good. Sometimes books that seem exciting when you're a child seem more ho-hum when you are grown up. Now that I knew the books were connected to Sindy dolls, I expected the books to be pretty mild because of that. (When I had seen them decades earlier, I had not known about Sindy dolls, or that the books were connected to dolls.) But in fact the books were quite good, and they kept my attention, and I read through all six within a few days. The first one in particular had quite an evil plot relating to an ancient Italian crime family that had a tendency to poison people, and ended with one of the wildest car chases I think I've ever read. The others were quite interesting too, quite good examples of that type of adventure story.
     I was just wondering if anyone else had ever come across these, and what they thought of them.
     In case anyone's interested, the titles are as follows:

  The Curious Clock
  Haunted Island
  Desert Escapade
  Lighthouse Mystery
  Down Texas Way
  The Lone Swimmer

     There is a web page about them, here:

  http://sindy-our-pedigree-girl-of-the-6 ... sthree.htm

Spelling, grammar, and so on are a bit shaky (I think the author, whom I once e-mailed, is Portuguese, and so not a native English speaker). It's the only web page I know of about these books, and there are covers and plot summaries.

Regards, Michael.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Thanks for the link, Michael. I had a Sindy doll back in the early 60's, but I didn't know that there were any books on Sindy.

[MJE]

Thanks for the link, Michael. I had a Sindy doll back in the early 60's, but I didn't know that there were any books on Sindy. :)

     Oh, I think there are lots. Other than those six I described, there are various annuals and such. I don't know what's in them, because I gathered they weren't adventure stories, so I never really got interested in them.
     But the six adventures are worth reading if you enjoy Blyton-style adventures.

8)

     I've never quite known what all the different kind of smileys mean. What does one with a figure "8" mean?
     Also, Julie, I got some kind of Facebook message from you - I think it was probably automated. Did you actually send it yourself?
     A few people have "friended" me (I think that's the term), but I hardly use Facebook, except that I've used it to post comments on a radio talk program, which seems to use its Facebook page as a kind of guestbook/discussion forum. Other than that, I really don't know what I can do with Facebook that I can't do better with e-mail.

Regards, Michael.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Hello Michael, no I didn't send a facebook message, as you say, it must be automated. I'm still getting used to facebook myself. It comes with with almost everybody on my page, and I don't know who most are!

I joined so I could follow the Enid Blyton Society.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Interesting link to the Sindy books, Michael. My sister and I played with Sindy dolls in the mid-late 1970s but we weren't aware that any fiction had been written about Sindy. Some of the titles and covers put me in mind of the Nancy Drew series.

[Tony Summerfield]

I'm still getting used to facebook myself. It comes with with almost everybody on my page, and I don't know who most are!

I joined so I could follow the Enid Blyton Society.

I am also trying to understand Facebook too, Julie - I have just had a request from Roald Dahl who wants to be my friend - pretty good as he has been dead for a number of years! This was followed by a request for Dan Brown to be my friend - as in the De Vinci Code! I checked out his Facebook page and he only had one friend - Roald Dahl!!

[Julie2owlsdene]

I am also trying to understand Facebook too, Julie - I have just had a request from Roald Dahl who wants to be my friend - pretty good as he has been dead for a number of years! This was followed by a request for Dan Brown to be my friend - as in the De Vinci Code! I checked out his Facebook page and he only had one friend - Roald Dahl!!

I also had a request from Roald Dahl, Tony. But I ignored it as I've ignored lots of reaquests. I didn't fancy sitting around a ouija board!!!!

[Fiona1986]

Pippa-Stef also had a request from "Roald Dahl". I'm feeling rather left out



*kidding*

[MJE]

     Some supposed "celebrity" pages appear actually to be set up by fans as a kind of tribute site. It might have been one of those.

Regards, Michael.

[Moonraker]

     Some supposed "celebrity" pages appear actually to be set up by fans as a kind of tribute site. It might have been one of those.

Yes, both Twitter and Facebook have loads of 'pages' purporting to be famous people. Twitter uses a symbol to show an account has been verified. I started a Bill Smugs Facebook page once....

[MJE]

Yes, both Twitter and Facebook have loads of 'pages' purporting to be famous people. Twitter uses a symbol to show an account has been verified. I started a Bill Smugs Facebook page once.... :roll:

     I wasn't just meaning pages which dishonestly go to lengths to really look like the personal pages of those people. I was also including pages which are just fan pages, and look like that the moment you look at the detailed content in them, and there is nothing at all misleading - but they often still use the famous person's name as the "owner", so if you just looked at the title and nothing more, you might think it was the famous person.
     Anyway, not that I know much about the inner workings of Facebook or Twitter. I really still don't get the point of them, somehow, and don't find either site in the least transparent in structure or operation. It's a bit off-putting for me, because clarity, logic, and transparency are amongst the qualities I most value in almost anything.

Regards, Michael.

[Moonraker]

     Anyway, not that I know much about the inner workings of Facebook or Twitter. I really still don't get the point of them, somehow, and don't find either site in the least transparent in structure or operation. It's a bit off-putting for me, because clarity, logic, and transparency are amongst the qualities I most value in almost anything.

You will be happy to know that the Society Facebook page has all these qualities!

[MJE]

     Just in case anyone's interested, I found another web site which discusses the Sindy Adventure series (I previously said I know of only one site, which I linked to at the beginning).
     This newly-discovered site can be found here:

  http://www.sindy-collectables.com/index ... cleid=1658

Regards, Michael.


P.S.:
     Edited over a year later: I've discovered that the link just given above doesn't work now; the page still exists, but appears now to be at this address:

  http://www.sindy-collectables.com/index ... cleid=1658

[Anita Bensoussane]

I never had any Sindy books but it's great to see the dolls and accessories. I had the 1975 "Lovely Lively Sindy," though mine had chestnut-coloured hair. My sister and I also had Sindy horses and a cardboard Sindy house with some of the proper furniture and some home-made furniture. We used to dress our dolls in Faerie Glen clothes rather than the official Sindy clothes, as they were cheaper and came in a huge variety of styles.

[chloe1]

I love Pedigree Sindy dolls and have a few early 80s ones that I keep in my "when I have kids" box. I am hoping that when the Barbie thing kicks in I can persuade them with Sindys gentler realistic features.

Anita - Faerie Glen clothes were so much nicer. Really pretty and girlie. I think all my Sindys have ended up with FG outfits.