The Valley of Adventure

Kirrin · Post by **Kirrin** » 16 Dec 2005, 17:27

This was the first adventure book I read
Whos with me in saying thats its brilliant and so under rated (as all these books are)

Moonraker · Post by **Moonraker** » 16 Dec 2005, 18:33

But is it underated? I always understood it to be considered Enid's masterpiece.

Raci · Post by **Raci** » 16 Dec 2005, 19:08

I wouldn't say under rated - I guess just in comparison to the Famous Five books its less talked about.
As (even more so) is the 'Secrets' series.

I really like all the 'Adventure' series.

Viv of Ginger Pop · Post by **Viv of Ginger Pop** » 16 Dec 2005, 21:33

This book is a terrific read, and was discussed on the Yahoo site a couple of months ago. It is the favourite Blyton book of my Mum, who wrote about it. I've copied it out for you below, because I think that it very interesting to see what an exciting story it was for an "original" reader. Remember, the family didn't have a TV either!

Viv

I'm Rosie, Viv's Mum, and as she knows that the Valley of Adventure
is my favourite Blyton book, She invited me to say a few words to you
all.

I was ten in 1947, so I was the age group that she was writing
for. WW2 ended in 1945 but life was very austere for the rest of the
forties. Enid Blyton knew that the children she wrote for had very
limited lives and she carefully described events which we had no
knowledge of. We children had seen Royal Air Force planes overhead,
or even the dreaded Luftwaffe, but had never been in one. Notice how
carefully she describes what it is like to look out and see the tops
of the clouds.

My favourite part is where the children go behind the waterfall. My
childhood was spent south of London and there are no waterfalls in
S.E. England at all. Of course no one had holidays during the war. My
first one was in 1949 when a big family group went to the Isle Of
Wight and there were no waterfalls there either. In 1953 an Aunt
moved to Blackpool and my family went to stay. My father had always
wanted to see the Lake District so bought tickets for unlimited
travel on the trains. Up early every morning, we found our way to
Windermere railway station and thence by bus to various parts of the
Lake District. It was here in my teens I was to see my first
waterfall and it was just as exciting as the one which Enid Blyton
had fired my imagination with in The Valley of Adventure!

Best Wishes,

Rosie

Raci · Post by **Raci** » 16 Dec 2005, 23:39

TY Viv!

I also loved the part with the waterfall and even now as an adult I'd love to be able to go behind one.

gareth jones · Post by **gareth jones** » 17 Dec 2005, 12:44

The adventure series have always been my favourite of Enid's books. They were just the read i needed as a child. They are brilliantly written and the plots are fantastic. I could relate to these books better because the children in them were more like me. The sea of adventure was the first of Enid's books i read but like you i have to say the valley of adventure is probably the best of them all and certainly not underestimated by me.
merry christmas and a happy new year to all Enid's children throughout the world young and old.
cheers Gareth.

Kirrin · Post by **Kirrin** » 17 Dec 2005, 15:33

I think the location helps this book a lot!

Venkat · Post by **Venkat** » 23 Dec 2005, 05:13

Valley of adventure had probably the most surreal beginning of any Blyton book and the way the children experience the silent valley with no birds was quite shaking.

Island, Castle and Sea were also some of Blyton's very best. I definitely prefer the adventure series to Famous Five, and did so as a child as well.

River and Mountain were not that good though

Regards, Venkat

Ali · Post by **Ali** » 23 Dec 2005, 06:04

I didn't manage to read the entire series in my childhood and I think more fondly of the books I experienced as a child which were the Island, Ship, Sea, and Mountain. I never particularly liked the Mountain of Adventure it just had a stranger feel to it and the thought of being thrown out of a helicopter wouldn't have found me to be either brave or couragous (and I did like to relate to the characters!). The Ship of Adventure was always appealing with the discovery of the map and the cruising around the islands, although I did read it again recently and didn't think that the children were very fair or kind to Lucian at times. Of course any story with a hidden passage, cave behind waterfalls, or underground tunnels were appealing.

puffin62 · Post by **puffin62** » 25 Apr 2006, 01:44

For me Valley and Sea were always the cherry on top of this series.

Valley's magnificent "european" atmosphere make it somehow different from the other books - including Boat and "fictitious" Circus - because (a) it deals with one of the most dark pages of C20 European history, (b) its a closed-space setting with unfamiliar references for British readers *and* characters, thus becoming (c) a very intimate book (don't you feel that pretty continental mood?...

) but not at all boring, with few characters outside main ones and no "everyday-life" backgrounds whatsoever.

Post by **Anita Bensoussane** » 25 Apr 2006, 08:10

I agree that The Valley of Adventure is special. I have such vivid memories of reading that book for the first time - it was the first "Of Adventure" book I read and I felt that I was trapped in that valley with the four children. My top three titles in that series, in order, are Valley, Sea and River. They're all so evocative and make me want to go off travelling and exploring.

Anita

Moonraker · Post by **Moonraker** » 25 Apr 2006, 11:30

Yes, me too. I remember vividly reading this for the first time (the only other Blyton's I share this with are Smuggler's Top and Sea of Adventure). The utter hopelessness of the situation, the truly foreign atmosphere, the feeling of dereliction and destruction - this was Enid's most powerful writing.
The next closest was Sea . Again, the desolation and remoteness, this time coupled with terrific scenery and wildlife - but again, how will they escape?

Susie · Post by **Susie** » 26 Jul 2006, 15:23

The Valley of adventure series were much more scarier, then The Famous Five books.

Lucky Star · Post by **Lucky Star** » 31 Jul 2006, 14:20

Like many others The Valley of Adventure is probably my all time favourite Blyton work. It was the second adventure book I read, the first was Sea which also holds a special place for that reason.

I remember being utterly fascinated with thoughts of a beautiful valley, a secret cave behind a waterfall and creeping through marvellous caves each filled with treasures more exciting than the last. Phew, I must have read this one at least 50 times in my life

.

Tumbleweed · Post by **Tumbleweed** » 28 Feb 2007, 13:42

I loved this book as a kid and read it loads of times. I think it was my favorite of the adventure series.

My own kids are just getting to the ages where they are old enough to read them now so I'll be able to read them all over again

.

The Valley of Adventure

The Valley of Adventure

Re: The valley of adventure

Valley of Adventure

valley of adventure.

hi

I loved this book on a recent read