I enjoyed Julie's examination of 'Caravan Holiday' from
Enid Blyton's Treasury, which is a gorgeous book. When Roddy allows his siblings to go without supper and says,"You went hungry because it was your own faults - jolly good lesson for you - but I didn't see why
I should suffer because of your carelessness and forgetfulness," Julie remarks, "I think Enid just wanted to make a point here of how angry Roddy was." I see it as a bit more than that. Roddy is pointing out that the children brought their misfortune on themselves, by being irresponsible and failing to do their jobs earlier in the day, so it's simply a case of facing the consequences of one's actions. However, I can't help thinking it would have created a feeling of solidarity if Roddy had stayed with them and gone without his meal too. It would have reinforced the notion of being a team, all for one and one for all - something which is sadly lacking.
What did people think about Enid Blyton's article on Children's Reading? I found it fascinating. It was written in 1954 and Enid makes it clear that, by that time, she was well aware that her work was read by "many different children of all ages, classes and races." We see that she understood the importance of the attitudes she presented in her books, stressing that stories which absorb a reader matter tremendously because they "affect a child's behaviour, and orient his mind towards good or bad." She regarded herself as having a responsibility to engage young readers and turn them away from "really vicious" material such as American comics!
Reading the following sentence, I wondered what Enid would make of modern computer games:
"Too much dwelling on violent reading (and on violent films) may produce a brutal young robber if the reader is an adventurous type with a poor home background; but an enthralling story of Captain Scott, or, to come to present days, Captain Carlsen, may produce an overwhelming desire to emulate the fine qualities of men like these."
Her comment about girls' magazines is as relevant as ever:
"Magazines or books completely devoted to sex, glamour and love may swing a girl's mind permanently in the direction of shallow values - with a few good pushes in the same direction by trashy films - and yet a book of real interest dealing with, say, the story of a courageous nurse, may fill her with a desire to use herself for others."
The passage below made me think about the appeal of characters like Amelia Jane, Elizabeth Allen, Connie (Faraway Tree), Snubby, Binkle and Flip, and the brownies Hop, Skip and Jump:
"Goodness, in itself, is not intensely interesting to children... Young children would always rather read about a bad child than a good one. Very well; let us use this characteristic of theirs. Let us give them books where bad and good mix, as they do in real life; but let us show very clearly how much better, how much more admirable and lovable are the good things!"
We see from this article (and others) how seriously Enid Blyton took her writing. I'm always amazed when critics dismiss her books as superficial.
!
