What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

[Carlotta King]

Rockingdown isn't my favourite either; I've read it countless times but on my most recent re read I found myself feeling a bit cross with Diana and her constant whinging about Miss Pepper, and hers and Roger's picking on Snubby etc, and their meanness to Mr King. Their behaviour in this book is a bit tiresome and nothing like the warm, friendly, loving behaviour in the rest of the series, where they all get on great and are even good friends with Miss Pepper.

I really like Diana, she's one of my favourite characters, but she's really spoilt-sounding and a bit mean in Rockingdown, which is a shame.
I remember her complaining about a lack of parties, which just makes her sound spoilt, rather than the nice girl she is in the later books.

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Rockingdown, in fact I like it very much, but I like the others more!

Courtenay, you definitely shouldnt let Rockingdown put you off the others - they're so much better, and full of great adventures, great characters, and some of the best humour I've read in any of Enid's books, what with Snubby and Great Uncle, and then all the mysterious stuff going on, particularly in Rubadub.
It'd be a real shame if you missed out on that strange old inn, or the snowy old house in Rat A Tat, etc, and the wonderful fairy tale-esque village of Ring O Bells.

I think I might read one now! I'm on Castle of Adventure but its been a few months since I've read a Barney and all this talk is making me want to read them again!

[sixret]

The 'finding his father' subplot is the strongest subplot in any Blyton series - which is why she really shouldn't have listened to the 'pester power' of her readers!

I agree with your assessment of Barney's character but maybe I am the only one who have the wistful hope that she should have written more books in Barney series.

[Courtenay]

Hmmm, I think what disappoints me about Rockingdown so much is not the lack of character development — Snubby is funny and Barney is intriguing, even if Roger and Diana are a bit ordinary — but the let-downs in the plot. The abandoned old house is so mysterious and eerie and sad, and we hear quite a bit about its history and see the main characters discovering the children's rooms from long ago — but the house itself, and its back story, don't play any real role in what develops from there. It's all just a cover for what turns out to be going on underground, all of which stretches credibility a lot more and just doesn't feel like what the story originally seemed to be promising.

However, I do have a copy of Rilloby Fair that's been sitting on my shelves for ages, so I have no real excuse for not trying it, bar my usual constant I've-got-so-many-other-things-on-my-to-read-list-already situation... and I have to admit, with all the people here who praise the Barney series to the skies, so many Enid Blyton fans can't all be wrong, can you?

[sixret]

Rilloby Fair is one of the best in the series. In fact, it is in my top three.

My list of Barney series from the most to the least favourite:

1) Rubadub
2) Ring o' Bells
3) Rilloby Fair
4) Rat-A-Tat
5) Rockingdown
6) Ragamuffin

[number 6]

I've now started to read the Secret Seven series, which I've never read before! I intended to read them several months back, but I somehow forgot!

[Deej92]

It's a good series with short and easy to read stories. I wouldn't put the Secret Seven books in the same category as Famous Five or the Find Outers, but they're still a good read. Hope you enjoy them, number 6.

[number 6]

Thank you, Deej92. I shall definitely enjoy reading them!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Rilloby Fair is one of the best in the series. In fact, it is in my top three.

My list of Barney series from the most to the least favourite:

1) Rubadub
2) Ring o' Bells
3) Rilloby Fair
4) Rat-A-Tat
5) Rockingdown
6) Ragamuffin

I agree that Rilloby Fair is a brilliant title, sparkling with humour and intrigue. It's in third place for me too, my order of preference being as follows:

1) Ring O' Bells
2) Rubadub
3) Rilloby Fair
4) Rockingdown
5) Rat-a-Tat
6) Ragamuffin

I wasn't quite sure whether to put Rat-a-Tat before Ragamuffin, or vice versa. Rat-a-Tat always seems a bit daft to me, and Ragamuffin a bit drab. In the end, daftness won out over drabness!

[Dick Kirrin]

A comparison between Rockingdown and Rat-A-Tat is interesting when we think of character development in general. Snubby, Barney and Diana seem to change most... though the word 'idiotic' is freely used when talking of Snubby... not nice.

However, I think it is quite interesting to have a look at the underlying concept of Barney changing because he changes in social status.
'Clothes make the man' or 'Social Class matters' - well, considering EB was mainly writing for Middle Class kids (not saying her books didn't find favour with working class children as well, maybe more so than some specifically aiming at them) you would expect her going that way.
But digging deeper I have to ask a few more questions - or maybe I am reading too much into it?

Barney NEVER really was a circus boy - 50% of him always were Middle Class. Well, his father was an actor, not typically a Middle Class profession, but by now in Rat-A-Tat, we must realize that he comes from money and from a rather posh background. A none too small house just for their holidays, well, the Kirrins didn't have that.
So if we say class matters, he always was a member of the Middle Class in disguise so to speak. Which would explain why he doesn't change too much - or does he?
If we say it is the character that matters more than the social status, well, we could get the idea that a certain lifestyle and certain clothes do indeed corrupt. EB could have made more of it - after all, this is a series aimed at older kids.

[John Pickup]

Someone remarked earlier that you couldn't expect Barney to remain a circus boy, sleeping under hedges after he'd found his father. I agree with that but it isn't the point. The point is that when Barney's circumstances change, his character suffers as a result. I really felt for him when he was a lonely, wandering boy with just a monkey for company but in the last two books he's just the same as Roger and Diana.

[Rob Houghton]

Someone remarked earlier that you couldn't expect Barney to remain a circus boy, sleeping under hedges after he'd found his father. I agree with that but it isn't the point. The point is that when Barney's circumstances change, his character suffers as a result. I really felt for him when he was a lonely, wandering boy with just a monkey for company but in the last two books he's just the same as Roger and Diana.

Completely agree - this is what I was trying to say earlier (and apparently doing it badly as no one understood what I was saying!!)


since everyone is listing Barney books in their order of preference...I think my choice is a bit different!

1. Rubadub Mystery
2. Rilloby Fair Mystery
3. Ring O' Bells Mystery
4. Ragamuffin Mystery
5. Rat-A-Tat Mystery
6. Rockingdown Mystery

[John Pickup]

I understood what you meant, Rob!
My order of preference is:-
1. Rubadub.
2. Ring O'Bells.
3. Rilloby Fair.
4. Rockingdown.
5. Rat-A-Tat.
6. Ragamuffin.

[Anita Bensoussane]

...the word 'idiotic' is freely used when talking of Snubby... not nice.

Maybe Roger and Diana don't find Snubby's idiocy nice, but I love it! His (at times) ridiculous, impulsive behaviour adds verve and unpredictability to the stories. Snubby is my favourite character - he simply bounces off the page and is actually very observant and demonstrates a good understanding of people (e.g. Dummy in The Rubadub Mystery).

Interesting to see people's lists!

[Rob Houghton]

I also love Snubby's idiocy - and I never found that term 'not nice' - just affectionate and rather friendly-like! Maybe I misinterpreted it!

Barney NEVER really was a circus boy - 50% of him always were Middle Class. Well, his father was an actor, not typically a Middle Class profession, but by now in Rat-A-Tat, we must realize that he comes from money and from a rather posh background. A none too small house just for their holidays, well, the Kirrins didn't have that.
So if we say class matters, he always was a member of the Middle Class in disguise so to speak. Which would explain why he doesn't change too much

It's an interesting idea, and I would agree, at least in part...I think you're right when you say an actor (especially in those days) wasn't looked on as a typically middle-class profession - and yet it is hinted at way back in Rockingdown that Barney's father's (strangely snobbish and upper-class) family were against his relationship with his mother, a circus girl to such an extent that she was unhappy and ran away from her marriage...so where are these cruel people in Mr Martin's family now? They all seem to have vanished by the time of Rat-A-Tat!

Its also odd that Barney's father is never actually seen to be an actor, I don't think - except in the 'back story'. Enid seems to abandon this idea once Barney finds his father. Mr Martin certainly doesn't come over with any verve and doesn't ever become the exciting character Enid has painted him as previously. You can hardly imagine a glamorous circus girl falling for him! He actually seems rather blandly middle-class, whereas Enid could have made him a bit more exciting and dashing as he's supposed to be an actor in Shakespeare's plays! Instead, she seems to have given both Barney and Mr Martin a 'head transplant' by the fifth book!!

[Daisy]

Someone remarked earlier that you couldn't expect Barney to remain a circus boy, sleeping under hedges after he'd found his father. I agree with that but it isn't the point. The point is that when Barney's circumstances change, his character suffers as a result. I really felt for him when he was a lonely, wandering boy with just a monkey for company but in the last two books he's just the same as Roger and Diana.

Certainly Barney's circumstances change - and that is what he had been seeking for many years - but his character? I'm not so sure about that. As Snubby says - he is sure he will never change, and so it turns out, (more or less!) although inevitably he has taken on some of the veneer of a more civilized way of life. It must have taken some thought on Enid's part to write this begged-for story which she had really not intended to write!