IceMaiden, it reminded me of Haensel and Gretel.IceMaiden wrote:Perhaps Enid got the inspiration for this story from Grimms fairy tales!
What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!
- Chrissie777
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!
Chrissie
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"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
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"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
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- IceMaiden
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!
That's it! I knew it reminded me of one of them but it wouldn't come to mind which! I'm really enjoying it, it's so different yet at the same time has all the same familiar ingredients of an EB book. Must admit, when I got to the chapter with them finding the caves, I fully expected them to find a passage that came out under the floor in one of Jack's grandfather's sheds and a hidden pile of treasure in an one of the caves .
- Chrissie777
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!
No, IceMaiden, I believe that EB was not yet writing about secret passages in 1938 when "The Secret Island" was published.
You might also enjoy "Hollow Tree House" which also reminded me a bit of Grimm's fairy tales.
You might also enjoy "Hollow Tree House" which also reminded me a bit of Grimm's fairy tales.
Chrissie
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"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
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"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
- Rob Houghton
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!
There was a secret passage (behind wooden panelling) in Enid's first 'holiday adventure' book 'The Wonderful Adventure' - 1927.Chrissie777 wrote:No, IceMaiden, I believe that EB was not yet writing about secret passages in 1938 when "The Secret Island" was published.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)
Society Member
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)
Society Member
- pete9012S
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!
Just to be fair to Chrissie,until The Wonderful Adventure came to light I think we would have plumped for one of Enid's later books - unless there is another early example, perhaps a short story?
" A kind heart always brings its own reward," said Mrs. Lee.
- The Christmas Tree Aeroplane -
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- The Christmas Tree Aeroplane -
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- Chrissie777
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!
Thank you, Rob. Even though I bought this book a few years ago from EBS and read it twice, I forgot.Rob Houghton wrote:There was a secret passage (behind wooden panelling) in Enid's first 'holiday adventure' book 'The Wonderful Adventure' - 1927.
Question: does any EB expert now WHICH particular castle gave EB her inspiration to use underground passages in so many of her suspenseful books?
Or was that just a common thing in novels of the 1920, 1930's and 1940's (like in Norman Dale's adventure books)?
Chrissie
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"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
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"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
- Chrissie777
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!
Pete, since 2008 I'm trying to collect all of EB's suspenseful books with underground passages. Maybe I can start a new threat and ask all forum members which of EB's books contain underground passages. I might still miss a few.pete9012S wrote:Just to be fair to Chrissie,until The Wonderful Adventure came to light I think we would have plumped for one of Enid's later books - unless there is another early example, perhaps a short story?
Chrissie
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"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
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"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
- Rob Houghton
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!
Great idea for a thread, Chrissie! i'd be interested to see a list of books that all contain secret passages.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)
Society Member
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)
Society Member
- Chrissie777
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!
I finished "The Adventurous Four Again" and it was very delightful to read (with the underground passage and the underground river). But at the end of the book I was wondering: what hapened to Jill's, Mary's and Tom's father? Did he die in WW II? He was part of vol. 1, but is never mentioned in vol. 2 (I've read the English hardcover version from 1950).
Chrissie
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"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
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"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
- pete9012S
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!
Good point Chrissie. I wonder if he's mentioned in the Adventurous Four short story at all?
" A kind heart always brings its own reward," said Mrs. Lee.
- The Christmas Tree Aeroplane -
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- Rob Houghton
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!
Perhaps he was still away fighting in the war? I think the book is meant to take place a year after 'The Adventurous Four'...so presumably it's still wartime?
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)
Society Member
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)
Society Member
- Lenoir
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!
I finished reading Five go off to camp last night.
At the start it seems that Jock might almost be like Ern or Sid (the newspaper boy in "Five Fall into Adventure") because of the way he speaks and acts. His reaction when Julian has just told him about the episode with Wooden-Leg Sam:
Jock listened, enthralled. 'Coo! I wish I'd been with you. Let's all go there together, shall we?' he said.
His eyes almost fell out of his head, and he went brick-red whenever they came to an exciting part.
Very "Ern-like" I think.
But a bit later, after Julian says that they'll take him with if they go looking for spook-trains, Jock replies: "That's wizard of you. Thanks most frightfully."
He suddenly sounds like one of them. He doesn't go back to sounding like Ern. He seems to be a fairly normal boy without any fantastic gifts or odd habits that these secondary characters often have.
At the start it seems that Jock might almost be like Ern or Sid (the newspaper boy in "Five Fall into Adventure") because of the way he speaks and acts. His reaction when Julian has just told him about the episode with Wooden-Leg Sam:
Jock listened, enthralled. 'Coo! I wish I'd been with you. Let's all go there together, shall we?' he said.
His eyes almost fell out of his head, and he went brick-red whenever they came to an exciting part.
Very "Ern-like" I think.
But a bit later, after Julian says that they'll take him with if they go looking for spook-trains, Jock replies: "That's wizard of you. Thanks most frightfully."
He suddenly sounds like one of them. He doesn't go back to sounding like Ern. He seems to be a fairly normal boy without any fantastic gifts or odd habits that these secondary characters often have.
Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!
I've finished Ring O' Bells Mystery and thought it was very good indeed. I said before it was an 'old favourite' but to be honest I only remembered certain aspects of it such as Red Riding Hood, Mother Hubbard, and the hundred year old man who talked fondly of his childhood and own grandfather. The plot was something of a mystery in itself to me. But there was talk of someone having drowned in the well, the kidnap victim expecting to be 'bumped off' or just left to die, and the woman villain callously telling her partners that if Barney fell from the tower, he would be killed and they wouldn't need to worry about him any more. Quite frankly, I never noticed before that Enid Blyton books could be so gritty!
There's also a reference to brunch which surprised me as I had always thought it was an Americanism from the 1980s!
Next up is ANOTHER old favourite, Five Have Plenty Of Fun!
There's also a reference to brunch which surprised me as I had always thought it was an Americanism from the 1980s!
Next up is ANOTHER old favourite, Five Have Plenty Of Fun!
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!
I agree, Ring O’Bell is one of the best book written by EB.
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!
Hello everyone. My greetings to the administrators, to the members of the forum and to their visitors. I live in Getxo (Spain). This is my first message, after overcoming some resistance, because I neither speak nor write correctly in English, having to help me through the Google translator. Like many others, I am a great admirer of Enid, who since childhood made me part of a wonderful world in which nature and animals, in addition to children, occupied a preferential place. My favorites are the Find-Outers, followed by the Adventure series and The Famous Five. However, I have also enjoyed reading Secret Seven, St. Clare, Malory Towers, Secret Series, The Barney Mysteries, The Adventurous Four, etc. Now, at 59, I still enjoy all of them.
At this moment I am rereading The Mystery of the Vanished Prince and I have observed a curious thing: although Enid makes the stories of Find Outers happen in the Easter, Summer and Christmas holidays (not in autumn), both the Mystery of the Invisible Thief (8º) as the Mystery of the Vanished Prince (9º), begin in summer, which seems an involuntary forgetfulness of Enid. Greetings.
At this moment I am rereading The Mystery of the Vanished Prince and I have observed a curious thing: although Enid makes the stories of Find Outers happen in the Easter, Summer and Christmas holidays (not in autumn), both the Mystery of the Invisible Thief (8º) as the Mystery of the Vanished Prince (9º), begin in summer, which seems an involuntary forgetfulness of Enid. Greetings.