Anyway Page four brought a very welcome return for Rob Houghton's Cookery Book series. I have been enjoying this series since it's inception and was particularly pleased to see my favourite Roast Dinner featured this time out. The Family stories are a bit hit and miss for me. I have read some of them but by no means all so it was really interesting to read this round up of the genre. As usual I seem to agree with most everything Rob writes and his stories of his own childhood thoughts often resonate with mine. I too remember seeing my toy hanging on the line and wished that I had a tree in my garden. I was very pleased to see The Six Bad Boys featured here, probably my favourite title from this article.
On to Enid Blyton's Orphans by John Lester another contributor whom I rate very highly. John does not disappoint in 71 either with a superb and interesting article about the child characters in Blyton who have no (or appear to have no) parents. Though I am familiar with every character John lists I was still pretty amazed to see just how many children Enid created who had unusual or difficult family situations. This article should be required reading for all those who lazily dismiss Enid's characters as middle class "perfect" children.
Ilsa's George Goes to School story was a welcome piece of good old fashioned storytelling. Written just about exactly as I'm sure Enid would have written it herself had she bothered to do so it has a very authentic feel to it and the use of letters to Aunt Fanny to move the story along was a very clever touch. Most enjoyable.
On to Anita's Five Get into a Fix analysis. Anita begins by describing this as "arguably the best of the last eight Famous Five books". I would probably agree with that although I would also put Demon's Rocks in that category and be somewhat hard pressed to choose between them. Still, Fix is undoubtedly either best or second best and it's a cracking story. Anita as always does a marvelous job of analysing the story, setting it in context with other stories and coming up with thought provoking questions. One example of which is George's love of dogs. Is it a love of dogs or just a love of Timmy? Upon reflection I am actually inclined to think it's the latter. Like Anita the thought of Morgan calling his dogs in the underground caves is a scene that resonated with me. For a long time as a child I was able to recite the names of Morgan's dogs, I knew them so well because I read the book quite often and between reads I would often go back and read just that scene!
John Henstock's cheery article about Enid Blyton's Jolly Story Book was very enjoyable. The cover looks lovely and though I don't have a copy of the book I am familiar with some of the mentioned stories. John gives us a lovely review of the various stories and handles the issue of the now outdated racial undertones very well, in particular his sad observation that many people today refuse to even contemplate any opinion which does not jibe with their own or which deviates from the accepted norm.
On to Tim Venning's Famous Five 78 TV Series Part 6. This a specially good installment for me since for once I have actually visited some of the places mentioned. Tim tackles Finniston Farm and Get into Trouble this time round and the pictures and text, in addition to their regular interest, brought back fond memories of our last forum get together. So much so that I got out my own photos of that day to look them over.
Angela Canning never disappoints either and she surpassed herself this time with her absolutely fascinating article on Brownsea Island. I have visited it before and often read snippets about it but to read it's full, varied and often amazing history was a revelation. I now have an immediate urge to return to Dorset. Typical of this to come over me just when there is no possibility of getting there. But well done for this excellent article.
Winfried Secker was up next and those comic book adaptations look beautiful. If I were a rich collector I would certainly love to have them on my shelves. Alas it is likely that reading about them in Journal 71 will have to suffice.
William E Ferguson's article was a riveting read as always. It's wonderful to hear how Enid's work can continue to inspire children today just as it has for many years past. I found it interesting that the class rated Dick and Anne higher than Julian or George. The latter two always seem to dominate any Five discussion so good to see the other pair getting their turn.
Together with some well chosen material from Enid herself and an absolute host of wonderful and evocative illustrations throughout all of the above made Journal 71 a veritable feast for the Blyton fan. Profound thanks go as always to all of the contributors and most especially to our heroic editor Tony who has had an even harder job than usual this time round due to computing issues. 71 now takes it's rightful place on the shelves with it's predecessors. Roll on number 72.
It's lovely to know that, like me, you both rate Five Get Into a Fix highly and have fond memories of reading it as children. I'm surprised too that a long, cold and risky car journey followed by a stay in a draughty hut in the snow-covered hills is considered just the ticket for children who have been ill and are still at the coughing stage. Still, it makes for an exciting story! Five Go to Demon's Rocks is my second favourite of the later titles, John. The lighthouse sounds super and I used to think I wouldn't mind being a lighthouse keeper!
