To be fair the writer has her right to an opinion. You are quite happy to openly criticise Nicola's article and Roald Dahl's books as disgusting so let the writer think Blyton is awful.Loony the Dog wrote:Disgusting. If everybody wants some review about Blyton get a child to do it! I don't really like Roald Dahl that much. His stories are pretty disgusting. If his figures measure up more than Enid Blyton it's only because some people are discouraged from even reading Blyton - like Nicola ! I would like to see how his books will be doing 45 years after his death.
On the whole the argument is weak because it is only the writers own experience of reading Blyton's books as a child, as a teacher and with her own children. I do find it strange how someone can like a book so much during their childhood to the extent that they will reconstruct scenes and then be so critical of it. As well as this, the comments about children from the local library defacing a Blyton book, sounds like the work of a couple of mindless yobs, hardly something that anyone hoping to be taken seriously would use to form an opinion that Blyton's books must therefore be bland and simple in terms of the language and plots. Another criticism I have is the writers failure to appreciate that the Blyton books were set in a different time period in society when attitudes were different. Surely part of learning the English language and reading and writing is looking at as wider range of texts as possible from both the modern age and past? That would be one criticism I have of English literature in schools these days. Shakespeare texts aren't read in full, nor are Dickens, nor is the Blood Brothers, and so the list goes on.
Having said that, I do appreciate the writers comments on Blyton's portrayal of girls. There are a number examples of gender stereotyping at the very least. In the FF books, Anne is always the one who does the cooking, and she is the one in Five Run Away Together that revels in making the cave cosy like the front room of a house. There is a similar example in Five Go Off In A Caravan. The two boys and George (masculine like, wants to be a boy) are also constantly making reference to how they can row and swim better than Anne. You can see something similar with Janet in Secret Seven when the children use the cave near the quarry as a hideout in Secret Seven Win Through. Secondly, I can understand the writers comments about some of the plots being a little slow-moving before anything happens, and Blyton definitely does play on social class within her characters. Anyhow, these are only a few examples, and not all Blyton's books are like that, and her characterisation is a lot more complex than simply being based on gender or class. The same criticisms can be applied to many other authors as already discussed in this thread.
As for the writers last comments about having a modern author like Blyton, that is a great idea, but I don't see why people should stop reading Enid Blyton's books. Generations of people have adored Blyton and the books she has wrote, and they should be able to continue doing so, and passing it down to their children as well. Anyone who advocates for her books to be banned clearly doesn't understand the meaning of a free democratic society. The PC left-wing liberal bridgade of the Guardian and Independent are certainly not wrong with all their arguments but their goodwill and intention to protect modern children can at times appear misguided and naive, and actually more damaging to a child's reading experience than anything that Blyton ever wrote. They are shown to be in the minority when you consider how popular Blyton's books remain. And this is coming from someone who likes reading these two newspapers more than any other.