What was the first Blyton book you read?

[Rob Houghton]

I’m not sure about the first girl I kissed, but I do remember having a sweetheart called Gillian when I was about seven years old and a pupil at Tan Lane Infant School in Stourport-on-Severn, Pete. Happy days!

How strange, Eddie! My first 'girlfriend' (everyone in my junior school said we 'fancied' each other, which wasn't exactly true!) was also called Gillian. At one of my parties the other kids shut us behind some curtains and said we were 'snogging' (typical 70's kids!) and so we had a quick kiss (on the cheek!) just to prove them wrong...!!

[Eddie Muir]

That’s very interesting,Rob.

Perhaps we should have a thread devoted to first romances.

[IceMaiden]

The Wishing Chair. My dad would read me a chapter a night and I'd sit there absolutely enthralled. My mum had bought the book from Woolworths six months before I was born, she tells me she saw it and thought I might like it when I was older. How right she was - she must've known!

The subject of first kisses is a different matter. This is an area where I really wish I hadn't been so straight laced at school. I was so shy, underconfident and afraid of giving my parents any grief (living in a small place where everyone knows everyone they'd have been mortified if I'd misbehaved), not to mention becoming the subject of classroom gossip, that I never bothered with any of the boys, even in secondary school when all the other girls were behaving in typical teenage ways. It's left me with a unblemished record card but a very dull one. I have no memories or tales to relay of childhood sweethearts, young love, 'moments' or anything else that other people look back in fondness on and I never will. For the most part it doesn't bother me but I can't help feeling rather envious of those who can. My first kiss was to a work friend - they were letting people go and I jokingly said to my friend that if he could persuade them to keep me on I'd kiss him in gratitude. He managed it somehow so never one to go back on my word, I did! I suppose at least I can remember it!!

[Courtenay]

Don't worry, IceMaiden, I've only ever had one serious romantic crush in my life (about 10 years ago), which was absolutely wonderful until it became too clear he didn't feel the same way about me... But I got over it (eventually!), and now that I'm a bit older I have quite a number of friends who've either never "found someone", or they did but it didn't work out, and they're still happy and wonderful people. So although I can't absolutely rule out the possibility that I might get married one day, I also know I can be happy on my own (and I might be better off that way), so I don't have any serious regrets.

I've just been reading back over this thread and seen that I put Learn to Go Shopping With Noddy as probably my first Blyton book — well, I do remember Mum reading it to me when I was very little and explaining words like "greengrocer" and "ironmonger" that were no longer commonly used in 1980s Australia! But probably the first actual Blyton novels I ever read were the Faraway Tree series and The Wishing-Chair Again (we didn't have the first book!), alongside the Mr Pink-Whistle stories and one or two Amelia Jane books that we had. I remember my sister urging me to read The Treasure Hunters because it was her favourite, and I read it and loved it too — I must have been about 6 at the time — but Enid Blyton was already a familiar name to me by then, so I definitely must have started earlier than that with the Faraway Tree etc. I moved on to the Famous Five and then the Five Find-Outers when I was about 7, I think.

[Lucky Star]

My very first would have been one of the Purnell Sunshine Library books, possible Bedtime Stories but I'm not quite sure which. My first proper Blyton, indeed my first proper book, was The Sea of Adventure. That one hooked me on reading for life.

[Rob Houghton]

That's quite an advanced 'first book'! I didn't even read an 'Adventure' book until I was 11 years old - The Valley of Adventure - which was a 'spare time reading book' in the top class of the juniors.

[Lucky Star]

I’d already gone through all the Sunshine Library books by that stage. And before that I’d read all the Ladybird books so I was a reasonably advanced reader by the time I hit the Adventure stories. I suppose I must have been about 8 although I can’t really remember.

[Boatbuilder]

I don't remember which Enid Blyton book was my first, although I think I probably read a Secret Seven before a Famous Five. Most of the books I read were from the public library children's section which I know I joined before what was then the age you were allowed to join which was 8. This was in the early 50's and things were a lot different those days. I remember my school teacher had to give me a letter to take to the library so I could join before 8 as I was more advanced in my reading for my age, so I was either 6 or 7. I know I always used to look first in the 'books returned today' and the 'new' section for any of the Enid Blyton books before checking the main shelves. I know I was always waiting for the next book in the FF or SS series to appear in the 'new' section and hope I would be the first to borrow it. I'm not sure when I started reading the Adventure series but I would think it was probably 8 or 9.

I guess my love of going to the library from then, was what led me to take an interest in libraries and at secondary school I became a school librarian and became Head Librarian when I reached the final year in the fifth form. I spent many happy hours doing library work, classifying new books that we had delivered before they went onto the shelves, amongst other things.

[sixret]

The Wishing Chair. My dad would read me a chapter a night and I'd sit there absolutely enthralled. My mum had bought the book from Woolworths six months before I was born, she tells me she saw it and thought I might like it when I was older. How right she was - she must've known!

The subject of first kisses is a different matter. This is an area where I really wish I hadn't been so straight laced at school. I was so shy, underconfident and afraid of giving my parents any grief (living in a small place where everyone knows everyone they'd have been mortified if I'd misbehaved), not to mention becoming the subject of classroom gossip, that I never bothered with any of the boys, even in secondary school when all the other girls were behaving in typical teenage ways. It's left me with a unblemished record card but a very dull one. I have no memories or tales to relay of childhood sweethearts, young love, 'moments' or anything else that other people look back in fondness on and I never will. For the most part it doesn't bother me but I can't help feeling rather envious of those who can. My first kiss was to a work friend - they were letting people go and I jokingly said to my friend that if he could persuade them to keep me on I'd kiss him in gratitude. He managed it somehow so never one to go back on my word, I did! I suppose at least I can remember it!!

It’s a blessing in disguise.

[Rob Houghton]

I think I must have been a 'lazy' reader because most people on here seem to have read the more 'grown up' Blyton books at earlier years than I did. I was puzzled as to why this might be, as I could already read full sentences before I started school (aged 4 and 8 months) - my mom taught me with 'flash cards' - and when I was tested throughout junior school I always had a reading age of about four years ahead (I remember being aged 10 and having a reading age of 14) - so all I can think is that I was bone-idle and didn't like being challenged when I read books. So I didn't read an Adventure book until I was 11, and I only started reading The Secret Seven and the Find Outer books aged about 9. Before that I had read books like The Wishing Chair Again (like Courtenay we never had the first book!) Mr Galliano's Circus, The Naughtiest Girl, Amelia Jane, Mr Pink-Whistle, Holiday House, the Family At Red Roofs and More Adventures on Willow Farm etc but not many adventure type books until I was older.

[Courtenay]

Well, I didn't read any of the Adventure books until I was in my early 30s — despite the fact that we had them when we were little and I know my sister enjoyed them — so that's even lazier for you!! I think I thought they looked too "grown up" and serious for me. I preferred the nice, fun, happy, magical stories like the Faraway Tree and Mr Pink-Whistle and Noddy.

[Inspector Jenks]

Chimney Corner Stories. But I have much more of a memory of my first Famous Five book. I was ill in bed for a couple of days and my mother bought me Five Have a Wonderful Time. Absolutely grabbed me from the moment they found the secret way into the castle, and I never looked back.

[pete9012S]

That's a wonderful initiation Inspector Jenks, and a great Famous Five book to start on.
Can you remember what the next Famous Five book you read was?

[Inspector Jenks]

I’ve racked my brains, but no, I cannot remember the next one! It took quite a while to read them all; I well remember the joy of randomly finding one in a book shop that I had never read. And my father asking me which ones I had not read yet so that he could let Santa know. And that the only hardcover one I ever received was Five on a Hike Together, which I was given to read in hospital when my tonsils were removed.

[pete9012S]

Yes, the second one is hard for me too Inspector Jenks.
I think it might have been the second book, but I'm not sure...

I know I did ask my family to buy them in sequence for me and I supplied my Mum & Nan with a list of which book I needed next which they very kindly adhered to.