What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

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Daisy
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Daisy »

I started to read Hollow Tree House last night - Church and Sunday School are mentioned in it. In fact the children enjoy acing out some of the Bible stories they hear there.
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I'm glad you're on the mend, Stephen.

Characters also go to church in House-at-the-Corner, and Peggy and the others keep Sunday as "a day of rest" in The Secret Island - we're told that they can hear a church bell ringing if the wind is in the right direction. Those Dreadful Children and The Seaside Family have a religious element too, though I can't remember whether church is mentioned.
Stephen wrote:How does a thief break into a secure room and steal valuable papers (or stuffed animals) without any trace of a break in? The trouble for me was one of the few things I could remember from the first time round was the identity of the thief - so all the clues made it all the more obvious to me. I only hope I would have been able to work it out if I had been reading it for the first time!
I didn't manage to work it out when I first read The Rilloby Fair Mystery as a child so it was deliciously perplexing and kept me hooked from beginning to end. A first-rate mystery laced with humour.
Stephen wrote:I really like the interactions the children have with each other which seems more down to earth and natural than those in other series.
Yes - the children are really quite cheeky at times and their conversation is full of banter and sounds very real.
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Rob Houghton »

Yes - I always feel a bit 'ashamed' of my younger self when I hear people say how obvious the solution to the crime in Rilloby Fair was and how they guessed it from the beginning etc. I certainly didn't as a child and couldn't for the life of me think what the outcome would be. Right until the finally 'denouement' I was completely in the dark! :-)
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I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Stephen »

I can't tell you how much I love Five On A Treasure Island! While the FF ultimately isn't my favourite series, I would say this is one of my favourite Blyton books of all time. The characters are given strong introductions, and we learn their traits which will last for the following twenty books. Julian isn't quite the confident general of the Five yet, but he still possesses the leadership skills which will become a staple ingredient in what's to come. Anne is the timid one who scares easily and has a tendency to accidentally say too much at the dinner table. If anything, I think she's the most realistic. George is a fascinating character. She actually comes across as a right little madam at times, but she's a complex, three dimensional person who's both brave and loyal. It's only Dick who perhaps isn't that well defined at the start. I used to think of him as the "not-Julian" - but funnily enough, despite being the eldest sibling myself, I tended to identify with Dick the most. He didn't have Julian's sense of responsibility or decisiveness - which are two things I tend to lack!

Having said that, Dick shows tremendous bravery when he climbs down the well to rescue the others. At the time, I used to smile at Aunt Fanny's line "You might have been killed!", thinking that he'd just been having an exciting adventure. But reading now as an adult, what Dick did is absolutely terrifying! This is very much a "them and us" book, with the children as the primary characters, and the adults generally getting in their way. I remember the sense of moral outrage I felt when it was clear George had only been given the island when her parents thought it wasn't worth anything, and were now ready to take it back and sell it. Through older eyes, it makes perfect sense!

Something I'd never noticed before despite reading this and other books set in the area is the layout of Kirrin Bay. I'd always visualised it as a wide arc. You have the island, and then the open sea. A bit like Marazion and St. Michael's Mount. But this book makes several references about Kirrin Island being near the ENTRANCE of the Bay. That makes it sound as if there's a large perimeter of coast all around with only a small opening to the open sea which is more like Poole Harbour and Brownsea Island.

I suppose it's a bit of a coincidence that a shipwreck that's been underwater for several hundred years should come up just when the Five visit the island for the first time. On the other hand, you could argue this is where it all starts from. They're just ordinary children who go to this unremarkable place, happen to witness a historical event, and from that moment on, they're destined to be the crime-fighting, adventure-having Famous Five! By the way, I have to have first read this book before the raising of the Mary Rose. I remember watching it live at school and thinking how boring it looked in comparison!

My next book is The Mystery Of The Missing Man which I can't recall ever having read!
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Rob Houghton »

No, no, no!! NO!!! It would NEVER be right to sell Kirrin Island no matter how much its worth!! Get that idea out of your head!!! :lol: :lol: :shock: :shock: :cry:
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Courtenay »

Yeah!!! :shock: :twisted: :lol: :wink:
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by pete9012S »

Stephen wrote:I can't tell you how much I love Five On A Treasure Island! While the FF ultimately isn't my favourite series, I would say this is one of my favourite Blyton books of all time.
Yes,It is my fave Blyton of all time Stephen - glad you like it too!
Great overview - thank you.
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by db105 »

I have finished reading Sea of Adventure, so I have now reread the first four books in the Adventure series. Those I also read as a child, but if I remember correctly, I haven't read any more in this series (I may be wrong... I'll know for sure when I start reading the other ones).

Anyway, it's a very enjoyable series. The adventures are more dangerous and perhaps a bit more complex than in the Famous Five. I know some people do not like Kiki, but I love her. I never get tired of her scolding the bad guys and other stuffy adults.

I will read the rest of the series, but now I have started reading the first book in the Barney Mysteries series (The Rockingdown Mystery). Oh, how I would have enjoyed getting this book as a child. Another Blyton series I knew nothing about then, with a new group of children to get to know and live adventures with. I already like Roger, Diana and Snubby (and Loony, of course). Barney and Miranda have just been introduced.

As a kid, I had been a huge fan of the Hollisters. That series was my first literary love. My sister and I loved them passionately and reread them many times. When I was outgrowing them, I discovered Enid Blyton, and fell in love with the Famous Five books, and the first four Adventure ones (the ones I could find). The Secret Seven were also around, but they seemed to me less exciting and more "for little kids", so I never got into them. I never heard about other Blyton series (except the girl boarding school ones, which seemed to me unsuitable for my boyish dignity back then :wink: ).

So, how are the adventures in the Barney mysteries as compared with the Famous Five and the Adventure series? Is the target audience the same, or are the barney books for younger children, like the Secret Seven?
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Stephen »

On the earlier subject of Famous Five books with no criminals, the baddies in Treasure Island of course have a revolver, threaten to shoot Tim, and lock the children in the dungeon. But why did they have a gun in the first place? Surely they had just sailed across to an island they were in the process of legally buying anyway. Were they expecting anyone else to be looking for the ingots at that point?

Carrying a weapon was just asking for trouble!
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Daisy »

db105 wrote:So, how are the adventures in the Barney mysteries as compared with the Famous Five and the Adventure series? Is the target audience the same, or are the barney books for younger children, like the Secret Seven?
The Barney stories are usually regarded as being for the older child and are certainly well beyond the group the Secret Seven are aimed at. I think you will enjoy them very much. Most people on here rate them highly.
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

db105 wrote:I have finished reading Sea of Adventure, so I have now reread the first four books in the Adventure series... Anyway, it's a very enjoyable series. The adventures are more dangerous and perhaps a bit more complex than in the Famous Five. I know some people do not like Kiki, but I love her. I never get tired of her scolding the bad guys and other stuffy adults.
The Adventure series is my favourite Enid Blyton series. I love the remote and beautiful locations, the hair-raising situations, Jack's interest in birds, Philip's affinity with animals and the way the child and adult characters are brought together. Kiki is marvellous and it's lovely that she's able to fly free rather than being kept in a cage.
db105 wrote:So, how are the adventures in the Barney mysteries as compared with the Famous Five and the Adventure series? Is the target audience the same, or are the barney books for younger children, like the Secret Seven?
In Enid Blyton's autobiography, The Story of My Life, she actually rates the Barney series as being for slightly more mature readers than any of her other series. The Secret Seven books are said to be aimed at children aged 7-11. The same applies to the Adventurous Four books and one-off novels like The Boy Next Door and The Children of Kidillin. Most of the other mystery/adventure series (Famous Five, Adventure, Secret and Find-Outers) are described as being for "older ones" as well as 7-11s. The Barney series alone is said to be for "older ones" only. That surprises me as I think the most thrilling and complex adventures are to be found in the Adventure series. However, the Barney series has a particularly wistful and emotional thread running through it so maybe that's why Enid Blyton felt it would appeal to older children. I love the Barney books as they're full of intrigue, atmosphere and fun - though the last two titles aren't as good as the first four in my opinion.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by John Pickup »

I've been dipping into the Treasury which I bought the other day. I've read a couple of the stories, The Secret Of Sky-Top Hill and The Mystery Of Melling Cottage which I enjoyed especially as John is a character in both. I can't remember my name cropping up very often in Enid's stories. It's a beautiful book ad the full colour illustrations are stunning.
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by IceMaiden »

I've just finished The Secret of Killimooin. I've really loved the Secret series, the way that the characters from previous books come back and set up the plot for the next is very clever, and am I right in thinking this is the only series where there are adults in the adventure and as much a part of it as the children? Usually the adult characters are left behind pretty quickly but in both Mountain and Killimooin the adults are the reason for the adventure, and even Dimmy in Spiggy Holes was much more involved than the grown ups usually get.

Anyway, Killimooin. It has elements of Mountain of Adventure what with the pony trek and the way inside the mountain itself, Castle for the great storm, River for the swift flowing water that disappears into the earth and Valley for the Secret Forest surrounded by enormously high mountains with no pass through them. I think the Secret books resemble a mixture of other books but the Adventure series most of all.I

I had guessed they would end up in the Secret Forest, as soon as you read 'it's impossible for anyone to get to - ' you know that's exactly where they will end up, but I didn't guess how. What an imagination Enid had to come up with such things. I have a very vivid imagination in that I can picture what she's describing, but it's got to be there in the first place, I couldn't imagine it all up from nothing to begin with nor think up characters like Blind Beowald. A truly marvellous mind to be able to dream up so much.
Last edited by IceMaiden on 15 Feb 2018, 20:59, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by jon beeza »

I am still making very slow progress on Five On, A Treasure Island. Not read it in years, but I started it a few days ago. I keep getting sidetracked by other things. I did not manage to read any of it, last night. :(
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Shanku »

The Mystery of Holly Lane. Fatty has just had the last laugh as Mr. Goon opens his shed door to find his own black cat instead of Buster!

I am going through all the Mystery series - Old Clear Orf and Fatty's rivalry is now quite repetitive and finding myself skipping pages. :roll:
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