Gex, you sound as obsessed as I was! I was very proud of owning every single Enid Blyton book, from Noddy to Mallory Towers (Darryl was pretty cool). If I ever win the lottery and design my dream house, instead of stairs it will have a pully and a helter-skelter slide like the one in the Faraway Tree. Not sure I could manage the magic lands at the top, but i’d give it a try…
I actually re-read a Famous Five story not that long ago, using a teaching course as an excuse to regress, and I don’t care about the racism and sexism, those were great books. Those kids do all the things I wanted to do as a kid, and they do it without any help from the grown-ups. Why couldn’t I accidentally get in a plane with smugglers and end up hiding out in a cave in an exotic valley? Why couldn’t I have my own run-down castle and fight villains in the tunnels under it? Why couldn’t I join the circus?
Actually, I do care about the racism and sexism, and I noticed them even when I first read them. ‘The River of Adventure’ had a few sections that made me so uncomfortable that I had to skip them on re-reads (because of course every book had to be re-read fifty times at least). However, I hope that my daughter will read these books when she’s older, and we’ll discuss the issues they raise. That’s why schools ban them (though not all do) - not because the racism and sexism are so bad, but because they don’t want to have to talk about them with the children.
I would LOVE to get a copy of that. I think I’d die happy if I could watch that half hour special. I read it and adored it. As a fan of Enid Blyton, I’m sure I should be getting offended, but it’s just such a perfect send up. Did she live to see that “Five Go Mad in Dorset” and if so, does anyone know what she thought?
Zoggie, she was dead long before the Comic Strip got to her work (I don’t think there ever really was a mescaline parody, anyway). According to http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bio1.html, she died in 1968.
Ahhh… The Faraway Tree. I loved that book. I usually climbed up into our tall Jacaranda tree and read it there, shielded from view by the foliage, but not quite able to see the top of the tree.
Ohhhh, Enid Blyton books were my favourite books to read when I was little.
They are very engrossing. Joining the circus, midnight feasts at school, magic places, adventures away without parents, saving the day… it’s the stuff of dreams.
I’ve remembered another little series you guys haven’t mentioned yet - The Adventurous Four.
(I think) It was a group of 3 siblings and a friend. The friend had a little boat, and they went on sailing trips and became lost and found smugglers (etc) and saved the day. I think there were only about three books in the series.
