Could Enid have been a better writer?

[pete9012S]

I had no complaints with Enid's writing when I was the 'correct' age to read her books.

Although my teachers teased me and asked/encouraged me to read other authors as well (which I did a bit) they couldn't really complain as my 'reading age when 9 or 10 was 14 and my English exam scores were quite acceptable so they just let me get on with my Blytons.

I did try lots and lots of other authors and I really liked a lot of them - especially Willard Price,Ian Serraillier,Franklin W. Dixon (Leslie McFarlane) and H. E. Todd etc etc but to me,no one wrote like Enid Blyton.

[Rob Houghton]

I don't really think the argument that Enid 'could have been a better writer' is a valid one, when we consider how popular she was. Being a better writer wouldn't have helped her popularity one jot.

When we read Enid Blyton as adults, maybe some of us think she's not a great writer, and doesn't use a great array of 'difficult words' (I disagree!) or repeats her plots, or writes 'escapist' literature - but she also sold more books than most other authors of the 20th century and still continues to sell well today.

Just lately I've been doing some writing of a Famous Five novel - a process that always reminds me just how difficult (if not impossible) it is to write in a style that echoes Enid's. She was a genius at what she did - it is very, very difficult to write convincingly in her 'voice' because she did it so naturally, and with such verve and skill.

[pete9012S]

A good post Rob.
I forgot to add that my reading age is still 14!

[Moonraker]

I'd say mine was 11.

[Rob Houghton]

A good post Rob.
I forgot to add that my reading age is still 14!

Its interesting that aged 10 and 11 my reading age was also that of a 14 year old, and yet I read nothing but Enid Blyton. I think I'd read about three E Nesbit books, and attempted (but abandoned!) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...but Enid Blyton was my staple diet - so much for Enid Blyton not being challenging enough and stunting a child's reading ability!

My reading age is now about 10!

[John Pickup]

I remember when I was at school my reading age was above my actual age and I read a diet of Enid Blyton and not much else. As for Enid being a better writer, so what? Her work has been good enough for millions of children for many years now. Let's remember that Enid's books inspired many of us to continue reading as we grew older which has only been a good thing. Her writing style had us hooked from the start. You can't get much better than that.

[lizarfau]

I also think that Enid may well have written less, or indeed, may have written nothing, if she had revised as much as many modern-day novelists do, because I think she would have become bored with her creations. Imagine revising a Famous Five book over and over until it was perfect? she would have seen the similarities, seen the holes in the plot, worried that her characters werent well-developed enough: may even have given up halfway through if that's the kind of writer she had been!

This is a really interesting comment, Robert. I'd assumed that Enid, if writing today, would thrive in this internet era where the writers who are most commercially successful are the ones who are churning out several books per year. But I think you're actually right - the demands for revision might well have bored her. I used to write, but over the past couple of years or so have found it increasingly joyless to the point where I wonder whether I want to continue. These days the emphasis is on all the hard work - getting critiques, rewriting and redrafting, making sure your manuscript ticks various boxes. The initial burst of creativity is what's fun, but after that the 'real' (aka dull) work begins. Maybe Enid would have self-published a book a fortnight on Amazon and done well that way rather than going down the traditional publishing path?

[IceMaiden]

I have loved Enid's stories from the second my dad started reading me the wishing chair at around four years old and I would beg him to keep reading more and more of them. I learnt to read with her books because I liked them so much I wanted to be able to get through them without having to always wait for my dad to be around, so I learnt pretty quickly in my determination to read them. As a result I had a high reading age, not surprising considering I was working my way through the famous five at six or seven when the rest of my class were still on the basics! By about eight I could finish one in days. I don't believe I'd have learnt to read so quickly or so efficiently were it not for Enid Blyton, my desire to do so came purely from wanting to read her books and nobody else's. Her stories captured and inspired me completely, my love of animals and nature, artistry and poetry all stem from the stories and poems I admired so much, I know for certain I would not be the person I am without her influence and I can't imagine a world without EB books in it . Could she have been a better writer? Technically speaking, I suppose yes, as we can all be better at what we do, no matter how good we are at it, but for me could she have been a better writer? No, I don't believe she could, and even if she could have been, I wouldn't have wanted her to be, to me she was perfect as she was, and just like her work, no improvements or alterations necessary.

[Moonraker]

I learnt to read with her books because I liked them so much I wanted to be able to get through them ... so I learnt pretty quickly... to read them. As a result I had a high reading age, not surprising considering I was working my way through the famous five at six or seven when the rest of my class were still on the basics!

That could be my story, too. I used to get two FF books from the library (the limit in 1956) and read them both in one sitting. I remember taking them back on the same day and being told I couldn't change them until tomorrow.

[IceMaiden]

We used to get to pick a book out to take home for the week to read, and because I was already reading FFs, the types of books the rest of my class were taking were too easy, so I'd pick the older ones. The teacher would say I couldn't have that one and I'd have to take one that was 'suitably aged'. Of course, I'd return it within two days having read it, and they didn't believe me, they thought I was only saying I'd read it so I could get the other one I'd picked out, and would make me keep it for the rest of the week to 'read through properly'. It was so frustrating, and carried on until my parents mentioned to them one parents evening that I was always reading FF's, which made them realise I was telling the truth, the books they were making me take were too easy, and I had got to a higher reading age far quicker at home that I ever would have at school!

[Rob Houghton]

My mom taught me to read before I even started school, and throughout my time in education I always had one of the highest reading ages in the class, typically about five years ahead of my age. However, I had the opposite problem while I was at school, as I was usually given books that were considered challenging - and I found them boring! I wanted to read EB books instead! I remember that the best book I read at school, aged about 10 was Valley of Adventure - but this had been my choice, not the teachers. The teacher suggested I read a science fiction book - which I hated.

I'm always amazed to hear that people read Famous Fives in one sitting - because I never read books like that and still don't. I have only ever read one book in one sitting, and that was 'More Adventures On Willow Farm' aged about 10. I prefer to read books over a week or so, slowly taking them in, savouring them. I enjoy them too much to rush through them in one sitting!

[Courtenay]

I had a similar experience, IceMaiden — I could read already when I started school and loved Enid Blyton books (I think I was just starting on the Famous Five, but still preferred the Faraway Tree etc.). But in my first year of primary school the rule was that we had to take home two books every evening — one for us to read to our parents (the one-or-two-words-per-page sort of thing) and one for our parents to read to us. The books of that sort were, of course, incredibly boring, so I kept on borrowing the books intended for older readers, much to the teacher's consternation. Mum and Dad soon had a word with the teacher, after which I was pretty much exempt from any specific reading requirements at school and was allowed to go on reading whichever books I liked — which I did!

As for reading Enid Blyton books in one sitting, I can do that and occasionally have, but mostly with ones I've read before and so already know a lot of the story. If it's one I haven't read before, I tend to take it more slowly. Of course, it depends on the length of the book as well. I usually take only one sitting to get through a Noddy book.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I learnt to read before starting school as well. I quickly became friends with another girl in my class (Michelle Morris) who could also read and we would bring in books from home and sit on the steps reading at playtime. We liked to bring in copies of the same book and read aloud together. I remember reading Chimney Corner Stories and Tales of Long Ago (both Dean & Son) that way, and some of the Purnell Sunshine Library volumes too. Because we owned them and read them over and over, they made more impression on us than anything we were given at school (though the teacher catered for different reading levels and was happy to provide us with collections of fairy-tales etc., rather than reading-scheme titles).

[IceMaiden]

Absolutely disgraceful, but our school didn't have any EB books . I've no idea why as it had other English books despite being a Welsh school, so it's not as if it was Welsh only. Besides which , I've got a Welsh Noddy book somewhere so I'm sure they could have been translated if that was the case. Clumping children into a one size suits all group is daft really, if you can read it you should be allowed any book you want not forced to take an unsuitable one because the teacher has clumped you all in the same category. I bet they've changed that rule nowadays though, they'll be so glad to get a child to actually read a book rather than playing computer games they'd let them take home every volume of the encyclopaedia britannianca .

As to reading an Enid Blyton in one sitting, I could do so if I wanted, but I never would. I want to savour every detail, get lost in the illustrations and be swept away in the story not rush through it. Short stories can obviously be read pretty quickly as their only a few pages, but I try to make the novels last at least a week.

[Rob Houghton]

I don't remember our primary school having many Blyton books at all. In fact the only time I came across one was 'The Valley of Adventure' when I was 10/11. The stronger readers in the class were allowed to choose books from the book corner, and I chose 'Valley' simply because it said 'Enid Blyton' on the front. It was the only Enid Blyton book in the book corner. I never saw any others, except the paperback Famous Fives (usually with the TV covers of the 1970's) that a group of girls would bring in and swap with each other. I always assumed The Famous Five were girl's stories because of this! That's why I only ever read two - both annuals - as a child.