The Enid Blyton Society

Shadow The Sheepdog - Adventure in the Woods

Tuck's Annual for Boys and Girls 1951 & Sunny Stories No.291 Dec 18,1942

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I'm not sure if this short story is taken from the book,or is separate from Shadow's other adventures as it's so long since I read the book??

I don't think that it is in the book, Pete. As you probably know Shadow was serialised in Sunny Stories in 24 Chapters starting at No. 221 in April 1941 and finishing in March 1942. It often appeared every two issues and once there was even a four issue gap. Just to make it more complicated the book alters the order of the original chapters. In Sunny Stories the final chapter was 'A Very Cunning Enemy' in No. 272, but your story come in No. 291 in December 1942 and the final chapter in the book - 'A Mountain Adventure' - was actually Chapter 12 in Sunny Stories!

'Adventure in the Woods' was used by both Award and more recently by Bounty in The Sneezing Dog.

Thanks for that detailed reply Tony.

I could see from The Cave that Shadow The Sheepdog had been serialised in Sunny stories,but wasn't sure if this particular short story (above) was lifted from the book or completely separate,so many thanks for all that extra info!

     It so happens that I read this book quite recently, so I can definitely say it is not in the book (and it is a fairly early edition). I must save that so I can read it later on. (I'm at a library, and I tend not to actually read things there, where time is often short.)
     I wonder how many more short stories there are relating to books that were not included in the actual book.

Regards, Michael.

Thanks for confirming that the short story (above) is not part of the book too Michael.
I haven't read the book Shadow The Sheepdog since around 1977,so I wasn't sure.

The short story Adventure In The Woods also appears in The Ninth Holiday Book, Pete.

Thank you Rob.
Here is The Ninth Holiday Book version of the same story illustrated by 'Leo'.I really like the illustrations in this slightly later version.

Does anyone know anything about Leo and what he/she illustrated for Enid Blyton etc?



Shadow The Sheepdog - Adventure in the Woods

The Ninth Holiday Book Version From 1954 - illustrated by Leo

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Leo also illustrated 'The Troublesome Three'

Three cheers for an extra story featuring Shadow and co. I never knew this short piece existed. It's interesting to know that not all the chapters of 'Shadow' were published in the order in which they originally appeared in the magazine. I wonder what criteria were used when it was decided to publish a series of articles/ chapters from a magazine as a book -and by whom ? Did Enid or her publisher take the lead in deciding what to publish when - and was the decision re: Shadow taken after it was clear that the 'Lassie' film had made sheepdog stories suddenly fashionable? Are there any letters from Enid about this floating about in her publishers' archives, or in the personal papers of her editors?

I don't think the Lassie film would have been the reason as the first one didn't come out until 1943 and my Shadow book says it was first published in 1942 so presumably the book would have been read before the film was even seen. However the book the film was based on was published in 1940 after first being a magazine story in the Saturday Evening Post in 1938 until the author expanded his story into a full novel. Maybe Enid read or saw that magazine story in the paper and it gave her the idea to write Shadow from it?

Some very interesting detective work there IceMaiden,thank you.

I'm rather embarrassed to admit that there was no detective work involved, as a child I was obsessed with Lassie, I could have gone on Mastermind about her and the knowledge has clearly never left . I've obviously never seen the original story in the SEP but I have got the book and there are similarities in it between Lassie and Shadow, both doing brave heroic feats with unwavering loyalty, both totally devoted to their young master and would do anything for him, both a tale of the bond between a boy and his dog etc, so personally I would think one had some influence and inspiration for the other. It could even be that Enid put Shadow stories in her magazine to give children their own version of the serialised Lassie newspaper story.

Yes - I've always believed that the Shadow stories were based on or inspired by Lassie.