Why Enid Blyton?!

[pete9012S]

It was heartfelt and sincere and it had me thinking about all the questions posed on Friday at work!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I didn't answer these questions back in 2006, but better late than never!

1) When ave you 'fallen in love' with anything Blytons' ?

A relative bought me a copy of Mr. Pink-Whistle's Party (Dean & Son edition) when I was four. It had a cheerful cover and introduced me to a magical person with a kind heart who stepped in during times of trouble and made sure that everyone was treated fairly. I loved that idea and was young enough to wonder whether Mr. Pink-Whistle might actually exist! Other titles from early childhood which made a huge impression on me included the Purnell Sunshine Library books (especially the cautionary tales), The Enid Blyton Book of Brownies, the Faraway Tree series, The Adventures of Binkle and Flip and The Naughtiest Girl in the School. They enthralled me, made me laugh, widened my horizons, enhanced my love of language, enriched my imagination and made me think about moral issues. A few years later, the adventure and mystery books became my absolute favourites as I loved the thrill of exploring and discovering - and uncovering secrets.

2) When ave you decided to be a Blyton's fan or maniac?

I never stopped being an Enid Blyton fan. Although I packed my Enid Blyton collection away in boxes when I was about fourteen, I secretly took out the Adventure books and read them as a bit of light relief when revising for my O Levels and I knew I would keep my Blytons and continue reading them from time to time, however old I got.

3) Why ave you chosen Enid Blyton as your favourite author? I know we ave been destined to but please elaborate your experience with Blyton.

Enid Blyton has always been a big part of my life. Her books inspired many of the things my sister and I did as children - games we played, activities we did, things we made, plays we acted, stories we wrote and conversations we had. I can't imagine what my childhood would have been like without Enid's influence and it's possible that I'd have been a different person if I hadn't read her books!

[pete9012S]

1) When ave you 'fallen in love' with anything Blytons' ?

I was given the above book to read by my Nan or Mum?? when I was ill around 1974/75.
It had the Betty Maxey cover and Eileen Soper internals which explains why I love both illustrators.
The story quite literally blew my mind.
I didn't know there were more stories with the same characters so I was really sad when I finished the book.
I can remember my little heart racing when I found out there were more Famous Five books available.
And so began my life long love affair with Enid Blyton.

2) When ave you decided to be a Blyton's fan or maniac?

The minute I finished the above book!



Interestingly, the above book was read to me in school by our teacher around 1972/3. I couldn't quite read, but I asked my mum to get me a copy and used to study the pictures inside avidly.
I was too young to make the connection that this was the same author of The Famous Five books until a few years later!

3) Why ave you chosen Enid Blyton as your favourite author? I know we ave been destined to but please elaborate your experience with Blyton.

Enid Blyton was chosen for me - the book of Brownies was read to me and The Famous Five book was handed to me when I was ill in bed.

I guess Five On A Treasure Island was the first book I was able to read all by myself. I enjoyed it so much I have never been able to forget that tingling feeling of excitement and pleasure it gave to me.

Luckily, Enid Blyton had a massive back catalogue for me to try and catch up with at an early age.
In the early 1970's paperbacks were cheap and older hardbacks were passed on by friends and relatives.

I did not grow out of Enid Blyton's like some who may have been young in the 1940's and grew up before the series concluded, I had the whole twenty one books to seek out, devour and enjoy!

As a teenager around thirteen I briefly thought I was too old for my Blyton's and discarded them.
My Mum said 'You'll regret that Pete!' and she was right. Within a year or so I was avidly collecting all by books back again.



I have just managed to get a pristine copy of Fix which my Mum bought for me and I really enjoyed.
I took it into her yesterday to show her my purchase and thank her again for buying it for me originally and she said she didn't even remember buying it!!





My Mum did buy me lots of other books, like the ones above and I pillaged our local library and the school library to read all the adventure books by other authors but nothing topped or has ever topped Enid Blyton for me!



Communicating with Michael Rouse in the 1990's and later all the long time stalwarts here at the Society was a dream come true for me - meeting many first encountered here on the forums has been a most enjoyable side benefit and kick back for me too.

Lots of good friends made - nice people who are passionate about all things Blyton - wizard!!!


And in conclusion I have come to believe that yes, food truly does taste better outdoors!!

[Boatbuilder]

I thought I was seeing double.

I am wondering why you posted that twice Pete, within three-quarters of an hour?

[Anita Bensoussane]

No worries - duplicate posts can always be removed.

Five on a Treasure Island was a great one to start with, Pete! It's so fresh and full of joy despite the tension. Like you, I collected the books (paperbacks and laminated hardbacks) in the 1970s when they were plentiful and reasonably cheap, so I read just about all Enid Blyton's major titles as a child.

I remember feeling very low, aged five, when reached the last page of The Enid Blyton Book of Brownies. I couldn't believe that anything else in life could ever be as wonderful as that book. Luckily, I soon realised that Enid Blyton had written hundreds more stories and that there were other authors awaiting me too!

[Boatbuilder]

It just seemed rather odd, Anita. I know you can duplicate posts by clicking submit twice fairly quickly in succession, but after that length of time you'd have to input the text again, or maybe even press the back button if you remained on the page you posted on for that length of time then re-submit the post.

[Chrissie777]

1) When ave you 'fallen in love' with anything Blytons' ?
2) When ave you decided to be a Blyton's fan or maniac?
3) Why ave you chosen Enid Blyton as your favourite author? I know we ave been destined to but please elaborate your experience with Blyton.
At one point in my life, i decided to collect Blytons' book in English. the reason why i wanted to have her books in english is because i assumed that the books in english will be in complete texts.later, i found that even in english-some of the ludicrous publishers of certain period of time(mostly current edition)published abridged edition due to their expertise in messing with Blytons' works. i dunno what's their motive is but i believe it must have to do with the profitable business-though i fail to prove my accusation-hence the originality of blytons' works are questionable and at stake. we, as buyers(not an expertise) are likely to buy *their* version of Blytons without knowing it.really really makes me hot and angry.
Because of Enid Blyton, i love to read.
Why enid blyton?! It still remain an enigma but I guess it's because I can find a comfort I need by reading them. I always relate blytons' with comfort and pleasant. When I am ill and lying on bed, I know where to find a comfort I need by reading hers.(not that I cant accept unpleasant thing.)In addition,her books instill good behaviour/manners and whatsnot.

Great topic, sixret!

1. Without knowing EB books, I fell in love with FOATI (1957) around 1962/1963 when I watched the CFF movie on German TV.
2 or 3 years later in the fall of 1965 my best friend Kati borrowed me the FF books of her brothers and that was it...up to that point I did not know how much fun reading can be!
My parents were not pleased at all, they wanted me to read serious stuff like a boring Mozart biography or "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott or "The Little Prince" by Antoine de St.Exupéry, but I could care less about those books and became a FF addict.

2. Probably in 2008 when my husband found EBS for me on the Internet and I realized that I'm not the only 50+ person who still loves to read EB. In 1995 I met Christine Alexander, the former owner of Bookends of Fowey in Fowey, Cornwall. She did do book search for me for 3 or 4 years and sent me dozens of old hardcover editions of FF books, B series, Secret Seven series and Mystery series books to Germany. I realized that they had so many more illustrations than the old German editions and was happy!

3. EB is my favorite children's books author (my favorite adult authors are Douglas Kennedy, Stieg Larsson, Camilla Laeckberg, Peter Watson (Landscape of Lies...very blytonesque), Nancy Thayer, Anne LaBastille, Charlotte Link, Mary Higgins Clark, P. D. James and Peter Robinson to name just a few). I always prefered crime novels as an adult, because I loved mysteries when I was a young reader.
Fortunately I discovered a few other children's books authors who wrote in a rather blytonesque way like Norman Dale and Astrid Lindgren (or "The Island Keeper" by Harry Mazer and "Good Night, Mr. Tom" by Michelle Magorian), but EB was and still is my favorite children's books author.

Same here: because of EB I love to read. When I am sick or feel down, I open "The Secret Island", "The Valley of Adventure" or "The Castle of Adventure" and it takes me to a different world and all pain is forgotten.

I never thought about the good manners in EB's books to be honest. My parents brought me up with having good manners, so I assumed everybody has been brought up the same way (my husband certainly has), but good manners no longer seem to count much these days.

[Chrissie777]

Hi Sixret,
I run a shop dedicated to Enid Blyton in Dorset, and from behind my till I look out at Corfe Castle which was the inspiration for Kirrin Castle in the Famous Five books.
I decided to write my book "The Dorset Days of Enid Blyton" in 2001
Viv

Great book, Viv!
I enjoyed reading it in 2008, before we went to Dorset.

[Chrissie777]

Incidentally, another brilliant author is Peter Robinson. His Inspector Banks mysteries are set in the Yorkshire Dales, and well worth a read. Although born in Yorkshire, he now resides in the USA.

Nigel, he resides in Canada and still writes about Yorkshire and Leeds.
He's one of my favorite crime authors.

[Chrissie777]

Her stories feed my imagination, they made me laugh, feel sad, be excited, be scared and most of all made my childhood special, and to quote you once again "it is because of Enid Blyton I love to read !!!Katie

Same here, I had very strict parents and missed the kind of relationship that the children in the Adventure series had with Allie and Bill. If I could have chosen different parents, they would have been certainly more like Allie and Bill.
EB books made my childhood special.

[Chrissie777]

I feel so ashamed when reading my ancient post! You're so good at digging, Pete!

Please don't feel ashamed at all, sixret. I haven't found such an interesting EBS thread in months!
Pete, could you dig up a few more, please!!!

[Chrissie777]

1) When ave you 'fallen in love' with anything Blytons' ?

I was given the above book to read by my Nan or Mum?? when I was ill around 1974/75.
It had the Betty Maxey cover and Eileen Soper internals which explains why I love both illustrators.
The story quite literally blew my mind.
I didn't know there were more stories with the same characters so I was really sad when I finished the book.
I can remember my little heart racing when I found out there were more Famous Five books available.
And so began my life long love affair with Enid Blyton.

What a lovely way to put it, Pete!

[Rob Houghton]

I never answered this when it was first posted! So here are my answers! They are similar to some others I've seen!

1) When ave you 'fallen in love' with anything Blytons' ?

I first 'fell in love' with Enid's books probably after listening to stories about Amelia Jane, which my mom read me. I loved them. She also read me stories of Binkle and Flip - the first book I actually remember owning (most of them before that actually were my sister's).

2) When ave you decided to be a Blyton's fan or maniac?

The book that I first read independently was the book that really did give me a love of Enid's books - this was the first chapter book I ever read and the second Enid Blyton book I ever owned -



I also became a maniac about Noddy - but surprisingly not until I was fairly old - around 7 or 8 - which was when I started collecting Noddy books, had some plastic Noddy figures, and made a model of Toytown on a big board!

After that I was maniacal about a few EB books - The Folk of the Faraway Tree being the main one. I made a model of the Faraway Tree, coloured illustrations in my books, and made a soft toy of Moonface!


3) Why ave you chosen Enid Blyton as your favourite author? I know we ave been destined to but please elaborate your experience with Blyton.


As a child it was because basically I didn't read much else but Enid Blyton! I tried other authors - the Blackberry Farm books, Little Grey Rabbit books, which I loved, and E Nesbit, CS Lewis etc - but always came back to Enid Blyton. I think the main reason was that the books really came alive for me and I could fully submerge myself into the stories, which was something I rarely did with other authors. E Nesbit came closest.

[pete9012S]

Anyone else like to chip in on this while we have a bit of time on our hands!