The Six Bad Boys

[Lucky Star]

Resurrecting an old thread here as I've just read The Six Bad Boys for the first time ever. As a child I dont think I ever even heard of it. It is truly a very emotional read, quite unlike any Blyton I've ever read before.

Anita's excellent review really sums it up. I felt really sorry for Bob right from the outset, what an awful, cold and uncaring mother he had. I would'nt have minded if she had needed the money to support herself and Bob but to go out to work just because she was bored was dreadful. And she cared so little about her child's efforts to please her. It was obviously his father that Bob took after.

The Mackenzies were one of Blytons typical happy families. The only exception is Pat who starts off being lonely because the twins dont have time for her, I thought the twins a bit callous for that but as always with Blyton there is a reason for this as Bob then becomes the little girl's brother.

The scenes where the gang try to build themselves a "home from home" as a contrast to their own miserable homes are very heartrending. I felt such fury at the likes of the stupid Berkely familey for allowing what could have been a stable unit to break up for such selfish, petty reasons.

Thankfully the book turns out ok, or mostly ok. I just had to write something about it. I wish I had read it as a child, I wonder what impact it would have had on me then if it was so powerful to me now as a grown man.

[Lenoir]

I have just finished reading Six Bad Boys for the first time. I enjoyed the book much more than the others I have read for the first time as an adult. I found it quite absorbing with well-drawn characters. It tackles a topic that was close to Enid’s heart, and maybe she felt she had to write a book like this because of her own experiences. The forward by the magistrate of the court kind of gives the book more authority.

As far as the characters go, Mrs Kent really comes across as a cold-hearted person. She gradually gets worse at a certain rate that is mirrored in Bob’s equally steady decline.
It seems that Enid tends to equate being Scottish (the MacKenzies) with being sensible and trustworthy if one also thinks of Jean (Malory Towers) and Andy (Adventurous Four).

I remembered that there was a review in one of the journals, so I went to the “Fireside Journal” index and quickly recognised the cover of journal 27 as being an illustration from the book. That saved a lot of time that I would have spent looking for it in my collection of journals.
It was good to re-read the article with the book now fresh in my mind. I also tend to think that the punishment seemed harsh, but then Enid did her homework on this so that is probably the kind of sentence that would be handed out. Actually the boys weren’t all that bad at heart, especially if you compare them to some of the juvenile delinquents who attended St Clare’s.

[Anita Bensoussane]

The forward by the magistrate of the court kind of gives the book more authority.

In her book A Childhood at Green Hedges, Imogen Smallwood writes about The Six Bad Boys:

The book was written in collaboration with Basil Henriques, a well-known Juvenile Court Chairman, from whom she [Enid Blyton] learned a great deal and learned with pleasure. It was one of her most carefully worked books and yet the imaginative flow remained, although I doubt if it was as attractive to children as her run-of-the-mill adventure and mystery books. I am not sure who made the first introduction between my mother and Basil Henriques, but he seems to have been one of the relatively few people who were able to stimulate her mind in the way her father had done, so that when she spoke of him it was not only with the warm affection that she showed for many of the publishers with whom she worked, but also with a respect and interest that was most refreshing. I remember feeling that I too would like to meet this man, that there was something special about him that made it unnecessary for her to embellish his character in order to make him an interesting person as well as a likeable one.

Have to say that as a child I was spellbound by The Six Bad Boys and very moved by it, rating it far more highly than many of Enid Blyton's mystery and adventure books. Re-reading the book as an adult, and reading Imogen's words quoted above, I was eager to learn more about Basil Henriques and was delighted when Terry Gustafson wrote about him in a Journal article two or three years ago. Shortly after that, Journal contributor David Chambers recommended Basil Henriques' book The Indiscretions of a Magistrate (1950), so I obtained a copy and read it with interest. It gave a fascinating insight into the way the juvenile courts of the time worked. Some methods of dealing with young offenders seemed harsh while others struck me as quite progressive, but overall I was still left with the feeling that some of the punishments meted out in The Six Bad Boys were rather extreme even for the 1950s.

Interesting that The Six Bad Boys was published by Lutterworth Press. I believe that Lutterworth requested material with a strong moral tone and some religious element. In the case of The Children at Green Meadows, they specifically asked for a story involving Scouts, animals and ethics!

Anita

[Petermax]

My introduction to The Six Bad Boys was at my primary school back in the 1970's. Unusually, I cannot pinpoint the exact year, possibly around 1976/77, perhaps I'm getting old. I used to sneak off to the school library to read this book plus many others as and when the opportunity arose, even during lesson time, but that's another story.

The Six Bad Boys contained a forward in which Enid Blyton made specific reference to Basil Henriques, his position as a Magistrate and subsequent assistance with the book. This impressed me no end and made me all the more eager to get started with the story. Straight away though, I felt the difference between this and the other Blyton books that I had read. It was as if Enid could see the shape of things to come, and indeed she hit the nail right on the head with some of the events in the book. Despite the fact that she wrote predominantly about stable middle class families, Enid very astutely tuned into the massive social changes of post WW2 Britain.

The depiction of broken families, indifferent parenting and even parental violence in The Six Bad Boys is sadly very familiar today. Some years ago my father blamed the post war rise in juvenile crime on two things. One was the obvious fact that thousands of families no longer had a father at the helm, and secondly, many servicemen who did survive the war did not always pay sufficient attention to their families upon their return from the hostilities. Having had to put up with years of rigid service discipline, they were no longer prepared to continue with the strict society that existed prior to the outbreak of war. Having been demobbed in 1947, my father saw first hand the experiences of the family men among his older fellow soldiers.

I will have to push The Six Bad Boys to the top of my re-read list, although this time I will try and find a 40's/50's hardback edition as opposed to the paperback that I read, hidden away in that school library when I should have been in class! How I ever managed to get away with that I will never know.

[Enikyoga]

Agreed. The Six Bad boys highlights contemporary juvenile problems. Most of the problems have even been highlighted by Bill Cosby (formerly of the The Cosby TV show) and Alvin Pouissant in their book, Come On, People.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I used to sneak off to the school library to read this book plus many others as and when the opportunity arose, even during lesson time, but that's another story.

It probably didn't do you much harm. After all, reading widely teaches people a great deal and The Six Bad Boys could usefully be read and discussed in classrooms as a lesson in history and sociology!

Anita

[Lenoir]

Interesting replies. It's always interesting to read what Imogen has to say.
I realise now that the journal article/review is also in The Cave

I will have to push The Six Bad Boys to the top of my re-read list, although this time I will try and find a 40's/50's hardback edition

It was first published in '51 so don’t try too hard to find a 40s edition!

My copy is a third impression from 1960 that I was very pleased to find.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Good idea to try to track down a Lutterworth hardback edition as the interesting foreword by Basil Henriques has been removed from at least some (perhaps all) paperback editions and other modern versions.

Anita

[Ming]

The foreword is not included in my 1974 Armada paperback, so I'm assuming that all subsequent editions don't have them either.

[Petermax]

The paperback edition that I read certainly had the forward, although I am sure that the forward was by Enid and not Basil Henriques. I could be wrong, the memory sometimes does some very strange things after 30 years or so.

[Anita Bensoussane]

The "Note for the Reader" from Enid Blyton is present in my 1971 Armada paperback. However, the Lutterworth hardback also has a "Foreword" by Basil Henriques, about a page and a third in length, which appears a couple of pages before Enid's "Note."

Anita

[Petermax]

Thanks Anita, nice to know that my memory is not so bad after all!

[Poppy]

I have just finished reading this wonderful, emotional novel for about the third time in the last few years. It really gripped me and I enjoyed the interesting, original storyline. The characters were all brilliant; very well described and their homes are also excellently described.

The Mackenzie's sound a lovely family; the children get along so well and Mr and Mrs Mackenzie sound so nice and friendly. Both are wise and have wonderful parenting skills. Pat was a lovely girl; she kind, innocent and timid and so eager to please Bob. Donald and Jeanie were nice too, though they did not pay very much attention to poor old Pat. I was glad that the family were kind enough to foster old Bob in the end; I really thought it was the end the morning he awoke, ready to go off to his other foster family.

The Berkley's house sounded a perfectly horrible one. I should have hated it, if I had been a member of that household; walking around on egg shells, taking sides. I noticed (this has probably been mentioned before, elsewhere) when Mr Berkley left, Enid described it just as it happened in her own household as a child, when her father walked out. (ie:) The children were all sat on the stairs, listening, fearfully. I felt sorry for the children and Mr Berkley. Mrs Berkley sounded very sorry for herself and stuck-up. She reminded me of the likes of Rose Longfield (Mistletoe Farm) and Mrs Lacey (Malory Towers). Not caring for her family and just feeling sorry for herself. She didn't face up to her troubles as any mother should, she expected everyone to do everything for her.

The Kent's; poor old Bob! I really did feel sorry for him throughout the story. All his kindness, gentleness and care and he didn't have a very nice life with his mother. I was trying to work out mid way through the story which I thought was the most unpleasant; Mrs Berkley or Mrs Kent. I can't decide, however, because part of me does feel sympathy for Mrs Kent who lost her husband, though I think her treatment of her child was most appalling. Fancy locking her child out of the house and not offering him any form of tea! She didn't even care what happened to him in the end! One of the most shocking aspects of her unkindness, I thought was her unloving attitude towards Bob. He brought her flowers, prepared the house for her return and she still wasn't satisfied! He was only a boy of ten, and he was living his own life as well as doing all the jobs she should! I wonder what money they had before Mrs Kent got a job, though, as nobody else in the house was working, of course. Anyway, I felt most sorry for Bob after he was so thoughtful with the Christmas presents and decorations and he was taken away by the police.

The Six Terrors. We heard about the four other Terrors issues at home, as well as Tom's and Bob's. I was surprised Patrick's father didn't take more than a £1 note after seeing five, or at least ask any questions about them and then perhaps take them away. Anyway, his was the home that stuck out most for me. I was also shocked about the fact that his father 'beat him every day'.
I was amused at Jack's pretending he was on the telephone to his men. Wasn't he the oldest of the six being about fifteen? I would have thought one of the younger ones would have had this role, actually!

I actually had tears in my eyes at the mid point of the book and on the last chapter. I was so pleased that Bob got a home with the Mackenzies, but I was sad for the others; afterall, it wasn't their fault they were driven to do such bad deeds (even if they don't seem that bad today!)
On the subject of the Six Terrors Bad deeds, finding the wallet and keeping it was of course much worse in them days, not only because the money's value was obviously a lot more than it would be today (I wonder if the amount has been edited in the new Egmont editions?; if so does anyone know?) but they would also have handed any lost items in at once. Also; the cinema affair. I'm surprised that children were allowed in with adults if the description Enid wrote was correct:

It was an exciting picture, the boys thought. There was plenty of shooting and chasing and hiding. There also a lot of kissing, which bored the two boys very much.

Anyway, a really, a really enjoyable family tale. I thought it was effective and quite unusual of Enid to skip one year later at the end. It was also quite unexpected in my point of view for Bob and Pat to go back to the little cellar room which would have once been the gang's meeting place.

[mynameisdumbnuts]

I read this for the first time last night and I can't think of a sadder Blyton. I thought Rose from "Six Cousins" was bad, but she's a saint compared to the mothers in this book.

Initially I felt some sympathy for Mrs. Berkeley and Mrs. Kent. I would feel upset and frustrated if I lost my nice home and had to downgrade. I would worry about the effect on my kids. Of course, it was wrong for Mrs. B. to snipe at her husband, and I quickly got tired and her moaning and wailing. Buck up, woman! It was unforgivable for her to force her children to side with one parent or another.

I also wasn't impressed with Mr. Berkeley walking out on his kids like that. When one parent is a mess, the children need the other even more. Even though Mr. B.'s daughters were against him, he shouldn't have left them. It was such a sad scene when the Berkeley kids are huddled together on the stairs listening to their parents fight and their dad walk out.

I also sympathized with Mrs. Kent initially. I would find being a stay-at-home mother very dull, especially if my kid were at school. (I don't have children, which is probably for the best.) When she said she was looking for a job, I was onboard. A little bit of extra income, more stimulating than being at home -- go for it, Mrs. K.! But when it became obvious she wasn't interested in her son at all ... wow. Also unforgivable. What a horrible, selfish woman to push her son out of his own home that way and put herself first.

When the Mackenzies take Bob in (hurrah!), I wonder how his mother reacted? The fact she moved away speaks volumes about how unfit she is to be a mother. Can we assume the Mackenzies adopted Bob permanently after fostering him? I can't imagine the courts would return him to a person who obviously doesn't want him.

[Anita Bensoussane]

The Six Bad Boys is a powerful book, beautifully structured. I'm sure we're meant to think of Bob as having a permanent home with the Mackenzies. Pat had always wanted a brother of her own because Donald felt more like "Jeanie's brother" (Donald and Jeanie were twins and did a lot of things together) and Bob peeps through the living-room window for one last time rejoicing in the fact that he is no longer alone but belongs to a caring family. I don't think there's any question of him losing the love and security he has finally found.