Those are quite nice! It has been good to see the publishers returning to a more traditional style (like the Ruth Palmer Malory Towers and St Clare's covers) recently.
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.
Yes I really like those covers Pete. As John Pickup and Fiona said it seems to represent a welcome return to a more traditional type of illustration. The Treasure Island one has definitely been influenced by the beautiful original; the Adventuring Again cover is lovely and it's nice to see a scene taken directly from the text.
"What a lot of trouble one avoids if one refuses to have anything to do with the common herd. To have no job, to devote ones life to literature, is the most wonderful thing in the world. - Cicero
There is something very wrong here, these cannot possibly be official Enid Blyton books as they don't have the Enid Blyton logo for the signature. If you check the link above that Pete has given for eBay, the seller Birchwood is offering a number of Blyton paperbacks (as well as a Bruno Vincent!) all at £40 with £5 postage for good measure.
I have checked out the Arcturus website and I cannot find any Blyton books on it - mystery!
I see that the version of Five On A Treasure Island in Pete's link was published on 3rd April 2020. It didn't occur to me that Enid's logo was missing. Indeed, a mystery.
These covers do look nice and looked like the artist had read the books and used scenes from them.
But then, being pedantic, I noticed 'Kirrin Island Again' and the telescope used by the Five to look at the island should have been a fixed one (at the Coast Guard's). Also is Dick signalling with a mirror? (which didn't happen in the book).
And because the image is so small I can't tell if Uncle's tower is on the island.
I found another few covers on the web while googling 'arcturus blyton'
I did like some of the new summary of the caravan book though:
In book five, the Famous Five go on a caravan holiday together. When they stumble across a circus troupe, the gang are thrilled. But some of the circus people have more sinister plans than just clowning around... Fantastic new cover art will draw young readers into this accessible timeless classic.
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.
Nothing for spring or autumn 2021 though, so it looks like they only did the first 6 books.
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.
These are extremely nice illustrations, I'd say easily the best of all the modern ones by a long long way. Whoever has made those has done a good job, they actually look like they've been done by someone who read the books properly and put some genuine thought and effort into the task. They look like they've been designed by a fan not just someone who did the job and got paid with no care whatsoever into what they produced. If I wanted modern copies I would buy these.
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I'm just an old fashioned girl with an old fashioned mind
Not sophisticated, I'm the sweet and simple kind
I want an old fashioned house, with an old fashioned fence
And A̶n̶ ̶o̶l̶d̶ ̶f̶a̶s̶h̶i̶o̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶m̶i̶l̶l̶i̶o̶n̶a̶i̶r̶e̶
Totally agree with you, IceMaiden! Those covers are just beautiful — they look pretty much right for the period that the books were written in, but they're also fresh-looking and I think they'd intrigue younger readers as well. There are plenty of children's books with a historical period setting and most of them don't get garish cartoony-looking covers that don't fit the tone of the story. So why should that keep happening with Enid's books?
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It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
