Overall Favourite Series

[Boatbuilder]

S-Dog2001, another member - 'kirrin_castle' (Jonathan) started to run a series of different polls about EB books and characters in 2019 but the limitations of the polls on here prevented him running certain types of poll, so he and I teamed up and we set up a separate 'poll-only forum' with the agreement of the EBS, in which we agreed it would not be a 'posting forum'. However, only about 20 members from here eventually registered to take part.

After a few months interest seemed to wane and 'kirrin castle' then had other commitments and was unable to continue offering his support - he was supplying most of the poll details and I was running the website.

The 'poll-only forum' is still 'active' but when the domain name comes up for renewal later in the summer, it is likely I won't be renewing it.

You are quite welcome view it and the link to it can be found in the first post in this topic on here, which gave the details:

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/for ... f=4&t=8412

[S-Dog2001]

Thanks very much. I'll take a look!

[Nair Snehalatha]

Very difficult to choose as all are as good -- Still I voted for Find Outers-

[Irene Malory Towers]

interesting - I would have voted for the Adventure series. I am surprised that the Barney series got so few votes. It is a close run thing between that the Find Outers as they are so full of humour and really good little reads. And Fatty is such a great character. If I want a quick read to cheer me up then I choose the Five Findouters but I if I want a more substantial read then it is the adventure series. I will stick with adventure series being my favourite though.

[Courtenay]

Interesting to see the Find-Outers pulling ahead! I always assumed the Famous Five would be more popular. I prefer the Find-Outers to the Famous Five, but I voted for the Adventure series as my overall favourite. Actually, it's a tie between that and Galliano's Circus, but I could only enter one here, so I picked the Adventure series as having some of Enid's most exciting and thrilling and deeply emotional writing.

I have read the first four Barney books, but still don't rate them as highly as many people here do... that's just me, I guess.

[Irene Malory Towers]

Books are very personal. I love the Barney series myself but they are not for everyone. As a child I read the Galiano circus stories and did not rate them that highly. However, as an adult I appreciate them more. Not sure why, maybe it is the interplay between the adults that I did not appreciate as a youngster and I wanted more action.

[Boodi 2]

Another interesting idea would be: which series has the highest percentage of 'good' books?
Obviously what classifies a book as 'good' is highly subjective, but as an example, I believe most people agree that The Mystery of Banshee Towers isn't a particularly 'good' book.

That is an interesting question S-Dog2001 and I don't think it has been explored before, although perhaps someone will correct me if I am wrong!

[Splodj]

There is a thread called 'Ratings' where poster Philip Mannering has rated (out of 10) all the books in various series. His ratings seem pretty much spot on for the books I have read. Anyway you can see at a glance his view of the fluctuations of scores for each series.

[Boodi 2]

Thanks Splodj!

I will search for the Ratings thread straight away.

[Deejay]

I went for Famous Five. I have to say I’m surprised it ranks below Find Outers and Adventure!

[S-Dog2001]

There is a thread called 'Ratings' where poster Philip Mannering has rated (out of 10) all the books in various series. His ratings seem pretty much spot on for the books I have read. Anyway you can see at a glance his view of the fluctuations of scores for each series.

Oh, that is very interesting, thanks! I really can't decide myself which books of the Find-Outer series are best, the only part I'm decided on is that Banshee Towers is the worst!

[StephenC]

I would rate the Find Outers ahead of the Famous Five as well, on the basis that there was a greater percentage of good books in the Find Outers series, compared to the Famous Five, which peaked in quality with Mystery Moor, and then suffered a gradual but noticeable decline. The only really poor Find Outers book, was Banshee Towers. That's a pretty good success rate. And I would rate the Barney Mystery series above the Famous Five as well, as four out of the six books, were really good. And in all this discussion about our favourite series, we shouldn't forget about some of Enid's great one off books, like The Boy Next Door, which has always been one of my favourite EB books.

[Deejay]

Stephen, a fair point about there being a greater percentage of good books in the Find Outers series. I certainly can’t think of a book like Together Again in that series.

However what wins it for me with FF is the better characters. With the exception of Fatty, I wouldn’t have any Find Outers character above the FF ones. As well as this, I think the better books in FF are you well, just better than the ones in the Find Outers series. Treasure Island and Hike and Trouble and Fix are just as magical as a Blyton book gets.

[S-Dog2001]

Is there an argument for suggesting that the only reason later FF books exist is because they were so popular, so E.B. felt pressured to write more, even though she had run out of ideas? If so, it might be unfair to look on the series as a whole as containing a lot of below average books?
I still prefer FFO but FF is by no means a bad series.

[Anita Bensoussane]

The Six Cousins series (if a duology counts as a series!) consists of two absolutely cracking books showing Blyton at her best.