Listen-Through/Discussion of Famous Five Audio Books

[Lucky Star]

Does she wear a skirt in the text or is it just in the illustrations. I know there is a somewhat funny looking picture of her climbing a rope with Dick below her but thought that was Eileen Soper's error rather than something Enid had actually written. I should have re-read it at Christmas as I often do. I didn't get around to it this year.

[Deej92]

I know I'm in the minority here, but I love Mystery Moor - and I love the word-play, rivalry and general dislike that exists between George and Henry. Brilliant stuff!

Me too, I love the book for the same reason. You also see a similar type of rivalry and dislike that exists between George and Jo also, although they obviously grow to like each other after Jo's bravery in climbing up the ivy and rescuing George from the tower of the cliff top house in Adventure.

[Rob Houghton]

Does she wear a skirt in the text or is it just in the illustrations. I know there is a somewhat funny looking picture of her climbing a rope with Dick below her but thought that was Eileen Soper's error rather than something Enid had actually written. I should have re-read it at Christmas as I often do. I didn't get around to it this year.

If you look on the previous page of this thread, Pete answers your question with some quotes from the book!

[db105]

Yes, right here:

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/foru ... sf=msgonly" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[db105]

The idea that she wears a skirt is surprising to me (and I have just listened to that book). I just can't imagine her doing so willingly. You say that because of the illustrations, right? Nice as they are, I don't really consider the illustrations as canon, for me it's just an artist's interpretation of the story, and a different edition might have different illustrations or none at all...

I have checked the Go Adventuring Again audiobook and it uses the revised text. It says jeans instead of skirts or shorts. That's why I was surprised when George wearing skirts was mentioned. I like respecting the original text, but whether they wear shorts or jeans to adapt to the current fashion does not matter much. George wearing skirts willingly seems kind of out of character given all we know about her now, so for once I actually prefer the revised version here.

[Rob Houghton]

But...there's actually no evidence whatsoever that she 'wears them willingly'!!

[sixret]

I like the fact that George wears skirt either willingly or unwillingly! She can wear whatever clothes she wants to wear without us reading too much into the reason behind it!

[Rob Houghton]

I just feel, given the days it's set, the fact that George wears skirts is very important - otherwise, wearing shorts wouldn't have the significance to her that it has. Its a real stand against what was expected of her. If the adults just allowed her to wear shorts (or jeans) all the time, then that would suggest no one was really that bothered about her wanting to be like a boy. Surely the whole point was that everyone thought little girls shouldn't dress like boys?

George was being shocking and rebellious by wearing shorts, so I think obviously she would have been made to wear skirts when there was company (like Mr Roland) in the house - wearing shorts would be just looked upon by the adults as a silly whim of George's and certainly wouldn't be viewed as the official respectable way for a girl to dress, even by other boys and girls. This wouldn't have even needed to be explained at the time the books were written - girls wore skirts and boys wore shorts.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I have checked the Go Adventuring Again audiobook and it uses the revised text. It says jeans instead of skirts or shorts. That's why I was surprised when George wearing skirts was mentioned. I like respecting the original text, but whether they wear shorts or jeans to adapt to the current fashion does not matter much. George wearing skirts willingly seems kind of out of character given all we know about her now, so for once I actually prefer the revised version here.

My Famous Five books are 1970s Knight paperbacks so I didn't realise that George wore a skirt in Five Go Adventuring Again until someone mentioned it in a Readathon on these forums some years ago. It surprised me too.

But...there's actually no evidence whatsoever that she 'wears them willingly'!!

We don't see George actively welcoming wearing a skirt, and I strongly doubt it's her favourite item of clothing. However, in Five Go Adventuring Again it's merely mentioned in passing a couple of times and no issue is made of it.

George was being shocking and rebellious by wearing shorts, so I think obviously she would have been made to wear skirts when there was company (like Mr Roland) in the house - wearing shorts would be just looked upon by the adults as a silly whim of George's and certainly wouldn't be viewed as the official respectable way for a girl to dress, even by other boys and girls. This wouldn't have even needed to be explained at the time the books were written - girls wore skirts and boys wore shorts.

Wearing shorts per se wouldn't have been seen as shocking and rebellious. After all, Anne often wears them too and she relishes the relative freedom they afford. In the first chapter of Five on a Treasure Island Anne says, "How lovely it will be to wear shorts again. I'm tired of wearing school tunics. I want to wear shorts or a bathing suit, and go bathing and climbing with the boys." However, at other times Anne enjoys dressing in "pretty frocks" and looking feminine. She even tries out a new hairstyle - a ponytail - in Five on Finniston Farm. George is scornful of things like that, of course, and I imagine that any skirts she does wear are extremely plain and practical.

[Rob Houghton]

Wearing shorts per se wouldn't have been seen as shocking and rebellious. After all, Anne often wears them too and she relishes the relative freedom they afford. In the first chapter of Five on a Treasure Island Anne says, "How lovely it will be to wear shorts again. I'm tired of wearing school tunics. I want to wear shorts or a bathing suit, and go bathing and climbing with the boys." However, at other times Anne enjoys dressing in "pretty frocks" and looking feminine. She even tries out a new hairstyle - a ponytail - in Five on Finniston Farm. George is scornful of things like that, of course, and I imagine that any skirts she does wear are extremely plain and practical.

Yes - I agree - what I really meant was that girls wouldn't have been expected to wear shorts if there was 'company' at home, or if Grandparents arrived to tea, etc. Girls would have then been expected to put 'a nice dress' or skirt on - much as when they were at the riding stables in Mystery Moor. Girls wearing shorts on 'formal' occasions such as at school, or on trips to the theatre or going to a party etc would have been pretty much unheard of - and that is why I think George would have been told to wear a skirt when she was being tutored by Mr Roland.

[Anita Bensoussane]

She might well have done, but no issue is made of it in the book which seems unusual to me.

[Rob Houghton]

No...but I think it would have gone without saying...rather like not wearing your pyjamas when guests come to dinner...

...unless it was a pyjama party, of course...

[db105]

No...but I think it would have gone without saying...rather like not wearing your pyjamas when guests come to dinner...

Like Anita's, my interpretation is that George doesn't like wearing girl's clothes at all, and when she is forced to do so she is likely to be in a bad mood and let people know she is displeased. Since no mention is made of any of that, I conclude that she's wearing them willingly. But maybe you are right and at that time it's simply taken for granted that even on holidays she has to dress like that when they have a guest. At school she has to wear girl's clothes too, after all.

[Rob Houghton]

I agree, from what we know of George later, she would protest more...but I don't think she even protests much at the riding stables (except to her peers - certainly not to the grown-ups!) As you say, its all open to interpretation.


I'm just about finishing 'The Rat-A-Tat Mystery' - not one of my faves as people know, but I've quite enjoyed it. I agree with some who have said its a bit 'silly' - all that fear about the snowman, and about footprints that lead one way only - intriguing, but not up to the mysteries the gang have come across in the past...but generally I've enjoyed it - that is until just about halfway through. I feel that Enid places the 'dramatic peak' way too early - it all builds up nicely, then Snubby is captured by the baddies and thrown into the seller - and then he gets let out next day and that's the dramatic climax finished - with another six or seven chapters to go! Nothing much else happens after this point - and I think that's the biggest weakness of this book - its all a bit of an anti-climax.

[Dick Kirrin]

George wearing shorts vs skirts is a question of character. However, George later developed into a team player, albeit a grudging one at times. So if the situation demanded, she would wear skirts - knowing that to the people that really mattered to her, i.e. her cousins, it didn't matter.
Apart from that, to me, the Five usually wore what was practical, not always what was fashionable.

Now for Rat-A-Tat, I fully agree that the climax comes too soon and things then just flow by. In the English version, we don't even see the men arrested. When the book was translated into German, the editiors obviously thought that finale too weak and so added a chapter or two and changed some of the final chapters slightly. Believe me, there is some more thrill in that.
Mr No-One, the one-way footprints and the wandering snowman scaring them, well, I wouldn't say that is plain silly. Of course, in the middle of town, nobody would be scared. However, out in a lonely house like this, cut off from nearly everything, I should think many people would feel different. Granted, it is more the type of mystery associated with the US series Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators - their cases very often deal with things that look supernatural and yet are just criminal, but it isn't so bad a plot.