Poll 16: The Secret Series

[Lucky Star]

I'm glad someone else feels the same about Prince Paul!! For me, he's like a human version of Kiki!!

I don't like him either. A spoiled pain in the neck! However for Enid Blyton he must have proved a very useful plot device with his access to airplanes, bodyguards, strange foreign country etc.

[Rob Houghton]

Agreed!

[Chrissie777]

The scene where Jack and Mafumu swim through a water-filled passageway, (in The Secret Mountain) is, in my opinion, the most tense and realistic description of a tunnel that Enid ever described! Absolutely terrifying, as they don't know how long it will be before they can come up for air, and wouldn't be able to hold their breath long enough to swim back again!

That sounds exactly like one nail-biting scene from the 1957 "Five on a Treasure Island" movie.

[John Pickup]

Mountain and Island. I like Secret Mountain better than Mountain Of Adventure as I find it quite frightening at times. Secret Island is a beautiful book and one I maintain is best read as a child. The whole series is excellent though.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I agree that it's an extremely strong series, John, even though it's uneven in some respects (what I mean by "uneven" is that The Secret Island feels like a stand-alone title, Prince Paul doesn't appear until partway through the series, the main child characters gradually lose some of their individuality and the locations are so varied that each book has a very distinct atmosphere). However, the fact that it's uneven means that it's forever fresh and unpredictable - and I love that.

If I were you I'd give it a go, Chrissie!

[Courtenay]

I definitely want to read the rest of it too (I do have Spiggy Holes but haven't managed to get into it yet). I'm just having to reserve all my reading time at the moment for a high-speed discovery of at least two more Barney books before the poll closes!!

[Chrissie777]

So far I couldn't find a decent "Spiggy Holes" copy. Is that still one of the books in this series that are located in the UK?

[Chrissie777]

If I were you I'd give it a go, Chrissie!

Anita, I'm thinking about it.

[Rob Houghton]

There are some good secret passages in all of them!

[Daisy]

So far I couldn't find a decent "Spiggy Holes" copy. Is that still one of the books in this series that are located in the UK?

Yes, it is located in the UK, Chrissie.

[Chrissie777]

There are some good secret passages in all of them!

In "Spiggy Holes", too?

[Daisy]

Oh yes... in "Spiggy Holes" too.

[Rob Houghton]

Yes - in fact most of Spiggy Holes is about secret passages!

Its set in Cornwall.

[Chrissie777]

Anita, Daisy and Rob, you've convinced me.
I cannot resist stories with secret passages.
Next year when I'll order at amazon.co.uk again, I'll try to find "Spiggy Holes".

[Chrissie777]

I probably should try to explain my point of view some more, why I never tried to read the rest of the Secret series.
We all have our preferences and certain things that we feel comfortable with or things we dislike.
From childhood on I never was interested in any books taking place in Africa or South America or Asia (and there were plenty of them at the children's book section at our public library).
Exotic settings and heat just don't appeal to me, no matter how many more photos my uncle from Germany sends us from his AIDA cruise trips to Asia and South America (so far he didn't go to Africa).
But give me an old children's book which is taking place in England and contains secret passages, a castle, a cliff, a cave or buried treasure and I'm absolutely thrilled.