Boatbuilder wrote: ↑23 Jan 2022, 01:14
Gosh, Jomo, that's s bit of a cheek, isn't it?
A real imposition, especially for families like ours was, low income, lots of kids. I don’t know if we were to be barred from the Library if we didn’t cough up and pay. Our school librarian was the headmaster’s wife, and she ruled! The headmaster and his wife had organised things so that she had a well paid full-time job, as she taught the girls sewing and craft as well. I doubt that she had any qualifications at all - but it was the peak of the baby boom and teachers were in short supply. A nice little earner for them.
Actually it’s still not unusual for public schools in NSW to charge a small ‘service’ fee at the beginning of the school year in February - it’s supposed to be optional, but the schools chase it, reminder notes sent home etc., and that can be quite humiliating for the children.
“To grow up in intimate association with nature – animal and vegetable – is an irreplaceable form of wealth and culture.”
~Miles Franklin, Childhood At Brindabella: My First Ten Years
Thanks to all Enid's early books with children's plays, from about the age of 9 I regularly wrote plays and produced them at school. My friends & I also made the costumes. Then a teacher introduced me to Pamela Brown books, about a group of children who ran a repertory theatre in their town in the UK. I then became hooked on Pamela Brown, still love them and read them and they are on the shelf with my Enid Blyton play books.
We had library fines at school too, although I think it was fairly small and only if not returned quickly after the reminder. The librarian was a bit of a dragon in some ways but think she was quite sympathetic if you clearly were reading the books.
But my children are at state schools and over the years we've had requests for money for all sorts like art supplies (and standardly "school fund") and the secondary definitely has a pay up if you've lost the book as I unfortunately have cause to know, so I don't think library fund for buying new books sounds totally unreasonable.
Aussie Sue wrote: ↑23 Jan 2022, 11:30
Thanks to all Enid's early books with children's plays, from about the age of 9 I regularly wrote plays and produced them at school. My friends & I also made the costumes. Then a teacher introduced me to Pamela Brown books, about a group of children who ran a repertory theatre in their town in the UK. I then became hooked on Pamela Brown, still love them and read them and they are on the shelf with my Enid Blyton play books.
Loved the Pamela Brown books, as did all my children.
The one exception was Maddie Alone which gives a wonderful example on how to behave like a brat with no comeuppance. I suspect strongly she was a "Mary Sue" wish fulfilment. When the children were reading the series I "lost" that particular one.
Kate Mary wrote: ↑21 Jan 2022, 10:33
Just reread one of your earlier posts Judith about a writer dismissive of Enid Blyton - surely not Alison Uttley? A fellow resident of Beaconsfield, I thought she and Enid were at daggers drawn.
I remember reading this article (or one like it) https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009 ... bit-uttley, about Alison Uttley’s dislike of Enid Blyton - I was devastated! I didn’t discover A Country Child until my mid teens, but I loved it and recommended it to so many people. Then to find out what a mean-spirited creature she really was…
“To grow up in intimate association with nature – animal and vegetable – is an irreplaceable form of wealth and culture.”
~Miles Franklin, Childhood At Brindabella: My First Ten Years
Aussie Sue wrote: ↑23 Jan 2022, 11:30
Thanks to all Enid's early books with children's plays, from about the age of 9 I regularly wrote plays and produced them at school. My friends & I also made the costumes. Then a teacher introduced me to Pamela Brown books, about a group of children who ran a repertory theatre in their town in the UK. I then became hooked on Pamela Brown, still love them and read them and they are on the shelf with my Enid Blyton play books.
Sounds great, Sue! My sister and I and two friends of ours used to act out plays for friends and family. We usually wrote them ourselves or adapted fairytales or classics, but on one occasion we performed Enid Blyton's 'The Currant Bun' as part of a show which involved various sketches etc. We were inspired greatly by Enid Blyton's Book of the Year and Pamela Brown's The Swish of the Curtain!
"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.
Thanks Aussie Sue. Of course, Pamela Brown's series was a great favourite of mine too, and immediately sprang to mind Mollie Chappell -Cat with no Fiddle, Kit and the Mystery Man and the South African series especially, and then there was Elizabeth Kyle - House of the Pelican, Seven Sapphires, and my dawning realization that a writer could turn real life into a novel eg Girl with a Pen (Charlotte Bronte) etc. Later I liked her adult travel/history books too. And Mary Fitt's Annabella series and her Pomeroy's Post-script where a plot resolution hinges on a signature on a letter which alerts Pomeroy's friends that he must have written the letter under duress (cf the George/Georgina signature) and The Island Castle. (I think Mary Fitt also wrote adult crime fiction.) None of the above (except Pamela Brown) have I read as an adult but I thought them really exciting as a ten-year-old.
