Good Enid Blyton Winter/Christmas Reads

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Deej
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Re: Good Enid Blyton Winter/Christmas Reads

Post by Deej »

Daisy wrote:Happy Christmas Five sounds very nice but it contradicts what we hear about George in Five Go Adventuring Again if "the fairy doll had been on the top of the tree since George was little". In FGAA George had never had a tree before... no doubt a reference to the impoverished state of the family until the discovery of the gold the previous summer.
I know they had financial problems but I never thought the family were living in an impoverished state in such a lovely cottage. They always struck me as living very comfortable lives. Maybe Quentin and Fanny saw no need in having a tree until George's cousins came round for their first Christmas there.
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Re: Good Enid Blyton Winter/Xmas Reads!!

Post by Chrissie777 »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:Interesting to hear of people's favourite winter reads by other authors. Two of mine are The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper and The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. And last year I discovered Arthur Ransome's delightful Winter Holiday.
"Mystery Christmas" by Norman Dale is a great winter book. Published at The Bodley Head some 50+ years ago.
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Re: Good Enid Blyton Winter/Xmas Reads!!

Post by Chrissie777 »

pete9012S wrote: My most moving Christmas story I think still remains 'The Little Matchgirl'.....which made me cry aged about 8 or 9 when I first read it......it doesnt matter how often ive re-read it since then,I still find it incredible moving and emotional.....
The Little Match Girl..........
Hi Pete, that's a fairytale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen who also wrote the famous story about the little mermaid in Kopenhagen which also appeared as a fairytale in his books of many fairytales.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Mermaid" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I also read "The Little Matchgirl" when I was a child. Very touching story.
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Re: Good Enid Blyton Winter/Christmas Reads

Post by Moonraker »

Of course, the greatest Christmas story can be found in the New Testament!
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Re: Good Enid Blyton Winter/Christmas Reads

Post by Chrissie777 »

So very true!!!
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Re: Good Enid Blyton Winter/Christmas Reads

Post by Courtenay »

Hear hear... and Enid retold it pretty well, too! :D I've recently read and enjoyed The Children's Life of Christ, but I see she also wrote at least one separate book specifically about "The First Christmas":

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Re: Good Enid Blyton Winter/Christmas Reads

Post by Daisy »

If you've read Angela Canning's article in the latest Journal, you will see she wrote a few more Bible-based stories, (and there's always the Cave to consult as well.)
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Re: Good Enid Blyton Winter/Christmas Reads

Post by Chrissie777 »

"Silver Bells" by Luanne Rice, a lovely xmas novel.
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Re: Good Enid Blyton Winter/Christmas Reads

Post by Courtenay »

Daisy wrote:If you've read Angela Canning's article in the latest Journal, you will see she wrote a few more Bible-based stories, (and there's always the Cave to consult as well.)
Oh, I know. I was just looking specifically to see if she had any other versions of the Nativity story.
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Re: Good Enid Blyton Winter/Christmas Reads

Post by Rob Houghton »

Courtenay wrote:Hear hear... and Enid retold it pretty well, too! :D I've recently read and enjoyed The Children's Life of Christ, but I see she also wrote at least one separate book specifically about "The First Christmas":

Image
I always find this book interesting, as it has some rather strange illustrations (photos)! :shock:
'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: Good Enid Blyton Winter/Christmas Reads

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I haven't got that book, but I'm curious about the illustrations now!
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Re: Good Enid Blyton Winter/Christmas Reads

Post by Rob Houghton »

:twisted: i just find the photos (of rather ugly papier mache models ) a bit scary/ strange for a children,s book, especially given the subject, but maybe some people would really love them - just not to my taste! :-)
'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: Good Enid Blyton Winter/Christmas Reads

Post by shadow »

I bought this book on eBay but when it arrived I was so off put by the illustrations I haven't read it yet.
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Re: Good Enid Blyton Winter/Christmas Reads

Post by Courtenay »

They do look a bit, er, interesting, going by the cover. I was wondering what it meant by "illustrated in colour photography", since the picture on the front doesn't look at all like a photo of real people! Now I know it's not. I wonder what led to the idea of photographing papier-mache models instead of simply employing an artist to draw the illustrations? (The Children's Life of Christ, which I recently read and enjoyed, has illustrations by Eileen Soper in her relatively simple but very appealing style - they suit Enid's retellings of the Bible stories very well.)

Still, I must say this does remind me a little of a museum in Jordan that we visited during my tour of the Holy Land a couple of months ago. Part of the museum was dedicated to life-size dioramas of Bible stories from the Old and New Testaments - also a bit weird and rather over-the-top, but one couldn't help admiring the effort they'd put in! This was their display of the Nativity:

Image

(Mind you, it rather beats me why the three wise men seem to be looking at each other as if to say "Er... um... how did we get ourselves into this??" :lol: )
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Re: Good Enid Blyton Winter/Christmas Reads

Post by Rob Houghton »

Great photo! I agree the wise men look a bit perplexed...or scared...maybe they got the wrong stable! :wink: Its a much better and more human display than those in the First Christmas book though! :shock:

I don't want to start a modern legend that the photos are of papier-mache figures, LOL...but that's what they look like. Might be wooden or even clay but either way they are pretty hideous! :lol:

on the inner front flap of the DW it describes the story as being 'illustrated uniquely by Paul Henning's coloured photographs' and goes on to say 'the pictures illustrate the story perfectly for they are as simple and child-like as the small reader himself - author and artist work here in happy combination.' I'm afraid I disagree! :shock: The figures and scenery were apparently by someone called Hellmuth Weissenborn.
'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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