2025 Birthday and Christmas Present round up

Posted on January 22, 2026 by Fiona

Every year without fail I am the lucky recipient of some Blyton-themed stuff when it comes to my birthday and Christmas.

Here’s what it looked like this year.

Famous Five Jigsaw

This is a 1975 Whitman 224 piece puzzle of Five Fall Into Adventure. There were three others made – Five On a Treasure Island, Five Go to Smuggler’s Top and Five Go to Demon’s Rocks.

Sadly mine came with only 214 pieces, one of which was for a different jigsaw – but that’s always the risk you take with older kids’ puzzles, toys and games!

Famous Five Graphic Novels

I’ve already got the first four graphic novels by Beja and Natiel, so these are the recently released next two in the series.

Famous Five Adventures

Apparently there are 20 of these! The first ones are actually Blyton-written and are the short stories collected in Five Have a Puzzling Time and Other Stories, but then the rest are new short stories by other authors.

I’ve never read any of these before but I couldn’t resist asking for one set in a library.

Child Whispers

Not the rare (aka expensive) 1922 version, but still one that has all the poems in and which I was intrigued enough by to ask for.

Amongst other things I was also lucky enough to get a couple of books about Shirley Hughes:

And a Lego 3-in-1 set which can be a typewriter, a keytar or a flower pot. Naturally I’m going to build it as the typewriter and although I know that Blyton’s typewriter wasn’t pink, it’ll remind me of her anyway.

Let me know in the comments if you got any Blytonian presents last year!

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Monday #785

Posted on January 19, 2026 by Fiona

It’s January, it’s still cold, I’ve probably moaned far too much about the weather for a lifetime already, so on to something more cheerful perhaps?

Brodie has been persuaded to return to Circus Days Again so we have been reading that most evenings – and I even realised I can make notes in Bookmory so when I log which page I got to I can add any of his comments and questions. That way I a) won’t forget what he said when it finally gets around to me writing a post about it and b) will be able to find my notes as opposed to hunting for them in my notes app/blog drafts/messages to Stef.

2025 Birthday and Christmas present round up

and

Reading The Secret Mountain to BrodieAs it turns out I’ve never reviewed any of the Galliano’s Circus books either. Just what have I been writing for the past thirteen years??

Instead I can offer a post about the Galliano covers.

The Mr Galliano’s Circus covers through the years

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Reading The Secret of Spiggy Holes to Brodie

Posted on January 18, 2026 by Fiona

I’m way behind on these, and this is the best I could manage based on a handful of notes and memories. We actually read this in November 2024.

Questions and answers

It’s not a reading session with Brodie without at least one question. The first came before we even started reading.

SPIGGY holes? What’s a spiggy hole? That’s a really weird name for a book. Like so many questions the answer here was along the lines of Let me get on with reading it and you’ll find out.

George – like George from the Famous Five? She has a boat too! Sadly not a crossover, but I reckon George Kirrin could have done everything this George did, and more. For a while the Famous Five seemed to be stuck in his head though recently I asked him about them and he couldn’t remember any of their names!

Could they row to their island? No, because the island is on a lake not in the sea!

They want his boat? So they can go fishing too? They being the Diazes and Luiz, so no. I asked him to think about that for a moment and see if he could come up with another reason for wanting the boat and he suggested they needed it for their smuggling. (Really they wanted it so that nobody could be rowing around and seeing what they were up to.)

He really wanted to know what they were going to smuggle and asked if it was going to be Gems, treasure, gold? I think he was confusing smuggled goods with pirate treasure.

Baronia? Is that a real place? Sadly no.

Miscellaneous interruptions

 When the boys mention that they are not too far from their island he really wanted them to go see it again.

Not for the first time he confused Blyton’s habit of speaking directly to the reader for me speaking to him. (She didn’t guess what a strange time the children would have—poor Miss Dimity!)

He was very concerned about them getting trapped in the caves as he knows about tides and how dangerous they can be.

mike, peggy, jack and nora walking through a secret passage

When Mike asked Jack how the men got onto the beach Brodie immediately said A secret passage. Hardly surprising given the number of secret passages we’ve read about already. He didn’t work out that it was coming from Old House, though, as he was maybe thinking more of the Wrecker’s Way from Five Go Down to the Sea.

He was thrilled to hear about Another secret passage! and also thrilled when they decided to go back to their island.

He can’t hear me read Little bit of bread and no cheese! without doing his own tuneful imitation.

There was a fair bit of laughter at He put on both his stockings inside out, and buttoned his coat up wrong—but who minded. He also very much enjoyed Mr Diaz and Luiz getting their comeuppance when the boys stole their boat.

Spiggy surprises

Things that prompted gasps:

Smugglers! – I bet there still are smugglers and they’re going to catch them.

The various trips sneaking around old house as he was certain they were going to get caught every time. Particularly when Jack was a klutz and walked into a tin bath.

Honestly, that’s one problem with Blyton’s adventure books. It feels like every other chapter ends with a cliffhanger and it makes saying no to just one more chapter even harder.

The rockfalls had him very tense, I think he half-expected them to be crushed to death any moment. Not very Blytonian!

My experience

This was pretty easy to read. I went for a very slight accent which was probably closest to Mexican for the Diazes and Luiz.

There was very little I felt needed changing besides queer. The only thing I could see looking back was the references to them being black with soot. I called them dirty/sooty and chose not to say negroes.

I realised only this week that I have never reviewed The Secret of Spiggy Holes, or the rest of the series, after doing The Secret Island. Mind you, it took me 7 parts (and 12.5k words) to review The Secret Island so I did deserve a break after that!

 

 

 

 

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My 2025 in books and Blyton

Posted on January 14, 2026 by Fiona

Here’s where I look back on everything I read in the past year and see how well I did, based on entirely arbitrary and often vague goals I have set myself.

Goal one: Read 100 books

Result: 172 books read. ✓

Normally I set my goal at 100, and if I hit it early enough I’ll increase it. But last January I forgot entirely and aimed for 150 straight away.

Goal two: Read more new books than re-reads

Result: 132 new books and 40 re-reads  ✓

I love re-reading books (and this it’s a totally valid thing to do) but re-reading is the safe and easy option, and I can easily do loads of re-reading and not get around to picking up anything new. Hence the goal.

My rereads were mostly from Blyton, Jodi Taylor, Sue Grafton and Charlaine Harris as I revisited some of my favourite series.

Goal three: Read new authors

Result: 43 new authors  ✓

OK so this was less than the 50 new authors from last year but what can I say? I love a good series and when I discover an author I really like I will read everything I can get by hands on by them.

Some famous authors I tried for the first time were Daphne Du Maurier, Val McDermid, Kristin Hannah and John Buchan. (As usual I am late to the party.)

Goal four: read some books I’ve always meant to

Result: Four.  ✓

I like to try for an adult classic each year. This year I read Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier which I really enjoyed and The 39 Steps by John Buchan which I found a bit silly and unbelievable.

I also read Holes by Louis Sachar and The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster – these are both modern YA/children’s classics and both have been on my mental list of things I should get around to reading for ages.

Last year I specifically made a goal of reading more of my favourite kind of book – ones about bookshops and libraries (aka BABALs) but this year I actually tried to limit these as I was starting to feel like I needed more variety.

I read 28 BABALs, 2 about writing/publishing and one about the hunt for an old book. So actually not bad for me – though I “only” read 32 last year when I was trying to read more of them!

Goal five: Find a good balance between books for children and books for grown ups

Result: 141 adult books, 27 for children and 4 for teens.  ✓

I love children’s books and think there’s no shame in reading them as an adult. Saying that, I can find it too easy to read a bunch of children’s books instead of challenging myself with something more grown up.

I feel I could have been more lenient on myself this year and picked up a few more children’s books.

Goal six: Read more non-fiction

Result: 15 non fiction books.  ✓

I seem to read non-fiction in fits and starts. More in fits, to be honest. 15 is more than I expected it to be and in fact is one more than last year. However as I read even more fiction the chasm is still massive.

I managed to read a few which you could classify as feminist – Unlikeable Female Characters by Anna Bogutskaya, Women in White Coats, A History of Britain in 21 Women by Jenni Murray and probably even Girl Sleuth by Melanie Rehak.

I also really enjoyed This Is Going to Hurt by Adam Kaye, Forensics by Val McDermid and Wildings by Duff Hart-Davis.

New goal for 2025: Read things I already have instead of borrowing them from the library

Result: 7 read from my to-read pile, 56 borrowed from the library ❌

This was pretty much an abject failure. Four of the ones I did read were on my Kindle so only 3 were from my shelves. I just can’t resist new books. Thank god I borrow them and not buy them, though!

My to-read-already-owned list on Goodreads now stands at 67 books but to be fair some of were random free books which have been on my Kindle for years and I should probably just delete them instead of having them sitting there never being read.

Other reading stats

Bookmory gives other stats so here are some of them.

Top author: Val McDermid (which I’m sure will come as no surprise to anyone who’s read any of my monthly round ups).

Right at the end of 2024 I decided to give Val McDermid a go, and I finished a book of her short stories in January 2025. I then proceeded to read 24 more of her books – often reading an entire book in a single day – through the rest of the year. (I’ve already read two more in 2026, so am on track to run out of her books by the end of this year. It’s annoying how much longer it takes to write a book than it does to read it.)

Following on from Val, were Charlaine Harris (12), Sue Grafton (8) and Steffanie Holmes (6). And Blyton, of course!

Total authors read: 86
Total pages read: 49, 209*
Average page count: 286
Longest book: The Secret of Secrets – Dan Brown (677)
Shortest book: Pages to Fill – Travis Baldree (33)

Bookmory also records whether each was a physical book, ebook and audiobook (though I kept my own record anyway!). This is just out of interest as they’re all equal in my mind. I think this year the audiobook number is going to be quite high.

In fact I listened to more audiobooks (69) than I read physical books (59) this year! But if you add physical and ebooks together as “eye reading” then that comes comfortably ahead of “ear reading” (103 vs 69).

Two years ago I started recording how many books came from the library and last year I added sources for all my books.

Audible: 34 (2 less than last year, but still very good value I think)
Bought: 6 (also 3 less than last year. Well, I probably bought more than 6 but I read 6 that I bought last year)
Found in a holiday house: 3
Free online: 1
Gifts: 10 (5 more than last year, though I undoubtedly was gifted more books that I haven’t yet read)
Kindle Unlimited: 26 (4 less than last year – am starting to wonder if this is good value for money).
Library: 56 (21 MORE than last year – where I was supposed to not be borrowing so many books…)
Owned already: 36 (1 more than last year, but at least 7 were ones I hadn’t read before)

The library is the clear winner here!

I also kept a note of how much I spent on books…

Books bought: £42.96 (or at least that’s the cost of any books I read for the first time this year that I had bought myself).

Audible: £69.99

That’s £5.83 per audiobook based on the 12 credits I get. I read 33 new books from Audible, though. Some of them were in two books for one credit sales, others were from the Plus Catalogue that’s only accessible with a membership. So essentially I paid £2.05 per audiobook, and I often go back and re-listen to them so that brings the cost per listen down even further.

Kindle Unlimited: £9.49 a month/ £113.88 a year.

My 26 books worked out at £4.38 each. That’s not bad value, but I’ll have to have a think about whether to keep subscribing or not. Having added up the current ebook costs of the KU books I read it’s a bit less than what 12 months of subscription cost. Amazon doesn’t show you the purchase price when you’re looking through KU books though so you can’t tell if they’re on offer for 99p or they’re £2.99 or £5.99. Saying all that – if I’d had to click “buy” on all those books I simply wouldn’t have – even though I’d have ended up spending less. Strange how the (or at least my) mind works.

Total: £226.83 on 65 books last year. That works out at £3.49 per book – seems pretty reasonable, considering that the average paperback now costs over £10.

Something else I continued to log was days read, thanks to using Bookmory. Like last year I managed to read every single day, and usually more than one book each day. I was also able to set a goal to read 50 pages each day which also I managed to do!

The Blytons

Blyton was my most read author last year but not this year. I still did a lot better than many previous years, though.

In past years I’ve read:

2019 – 5
2020 – 5
2021 – 6
2022 – 6
2023 – 13
2024 – 26
2025 – 13

We started off the year strong but in the past few months Brodie has had a lot of other books he has wanted to read at bedtime.

Five Have a Puzzling Time and Other Stories, Red Fox, 1997
The Adventurous Four, 1st Edition Cover by E.H Davie

Blyton adjacent titles were:

Wildings by Duff Hart-Davis (all about Eileen Soper’s home and garden as well as her illustration work.)
Five Go Adventuring Again, Five Run Away Together and Five Go to Smuggler’s Top Graphic Novels by Beja and Natale
Five and the Forgotten Treasure by Chris Smith
Cherry Ames Student Nurse and Cherry Ames Senior Nurse by Helen Wells (recommended by me if you like Blyton.)

Goals for 2026

I think I will stick to my usual goals for the most part.

I’ve already aimed for 150 books on Goodreads and Bookmory.

I’ll aim to try lots of new books and new authors, and be mindful of not reading too many children’s books (though I can definitely be more lenient than I was last year).

I’m already starting to think about what books are on my ‘always wanted to read’ list alongside which classic(s) I’ll try this year. I have Emma as an audiobook so maybe that, we’ll see.

Not strictly a goal but I’d like to see if I can read the rest of Val McDermid’s work this year, as I reckon I’ve only got 24 to go. Depends if I can get hold of them all as the library is letting me down a bit of some of them!

Did you set a reading goal for last year, if so, how did you get on? Have you set one for 2026?

*Bookmory counts the pages as it were a physical copy when you read an audiobook and I always made sure that the page count was a fair average based on physical copies available. Goodreads logs audiobook pages as number of hours (ie a ten hour audiobook has ten pages) so I thought my Goodreads page count would be a lot lower – my maths say it should have been about 29k, yet my end of year round up said 47,700 so they must have done some estimating of their own.

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Monday #784

Posted on January 12, 2026 by Fiona

It looks like we are easing out of the grip of our cold snap now. We have been lucky not to have a load of snow or anything but it has been very icy and cold. Monday is supposed to have temperatures above freezing which will be nice. I always find January a bit grim – cold, dark, and particularly so when you contrast against all the lights and shiny Christmas things that have just been taken down. It’s also always a lot further to spring than you somehow think. I bought some daffodils at Aldi at the weekend for a bit of cheer and we have some fairy lights up all year too which helps.

My 2025 in Books and Blyton

and

Reading The Secret of Spiggy Holes to Brodie

As I plan to write about what Brodie said while we were reading The Secret of Spiggy holes this week, my initial thought was to link to my review of it. Well, it turns out I’ve never gotten around to reviewing it…

So instead, how about my review of the TV adaptation of the book?

The Secret Series on TV – The Secret of Spiggy Holes

secret series dvd

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A closer look at the Magic Faraway Tree trailer

Posted on January 9, 2026 by Fiona

This film feels as if it’s been in the works for years but we know now that it will be released in March this year.

The trailer came out at the end of last month and although it’s only about 3 minutes long I thought I’d pick it apart to see what clues it is giving us for the full movie. (I am jumping back up here to note that before writing this sentence I had written 376 words about the first 7 seconds of the trailer…)

Iconic scenes

‘Scenes’ is perhaps taking it too far as we barely get a glimpse of each of these in the first second of the trailer – but there a re couple of things that are instantly recognisable from the books.

We see what I assume is the slippery-slip and Fran hurtling down it.

We also see the ladder that leads from the top of the tree to whichever land has arrived at the top.

It’s a much longer ladder than I ever imagined – I think you’d be exhausted by the time you had reached the top (if you didn’t fall off first!)

The cast & characters

The adult cast list has been known for a while, but we get a good look at them in the trailer – though it doesn’t do much in the way of explaining who any of the characters are. Even I’ve heard of most of them – and I’m notoriously bad at naming actors.

In order it highlights:

Andrew Garfield who is playing the children’s dad. (I recognise him as having played Spider-Man)

Claire Foy as the children’s mum. (I know her from The Crown)

Nonso Anozie as Moonface – though he has more of a moon hair look rather than a moon face. (I didn’t recognise though looking at his acting credits I have seen him in a few things)

Nicola Coughlan as Silky – sans wings though I have a feeling I’ve seen her with wings in some other clips or photos. (I’ve never seen Derry Girls but I know she was in that.)

Jennifer Saunders who according to the cast list is the children’s grandma. I’m not sure how big a role she has. It’s possibly just a short scene but they like putting the biggest names in the trailers regardless. (Who doesn’t know who Jennifer Saunders is.)

Rebecca Ferguson as Dame Snap – not Slap. (I also didn’t recognise though looking at her acting credits I have seen her in a few things. The trailer made me think of the title character from Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children but that’s Eva Green)

Not introduced by actor’s name but also shown are:

Beth, Joe and Fran the three children. (Originally Bessie, Jo and Fanny.) Delilah Bennett-Cardy is Beth, Billie Gadsdon is Fran, and Phoenix Laroche is Joe.

Brian the farmer. (When watching I knew I recognised him but could I think of his name or what I’d seen him in? Turns out it’s Simon Farnaby and the most recent thing was Ghosts.)

Bella, Brian the farmer’s Wifi… sorry, wife. Turns out Claire Keelan is Simon Farnaby’s wife in real life and this is the first time they’ve had a role together which is quite nice.

The Saucepan Man (Dustin Demri-Burns) who is nicely covered in saucepans and mishears Fran as Stan.

Mr Whatshisname (Oliver Chris).

Mr Oom-Boom-Boom (Mark Heap).

Dame Washalot (Jessica Gunning). If you look closely you can see her cape is made out of gloves.

There are other cast listed online who don’t appear in the trailer. One is the Angry Pixie, and another is Hannah. Lenny Henry and Michael Palin are also listed as appearing, but as who we don’t know. Obviously a trailer can’t show us everyone and everything!

The setting

By 24 seconds in we know it’s in the present day as Joe asks if there will be wifi. From the looks the parents give each other the answer is ‘no’ and so the movie is unlikely to have much tech in it, if any. I have already seen people groaning about how this is all modern and therefore won’t be any good – but I think it makes it more relatable for today’s kids who, after all, are the target audience. As there’s no wifi the children won’t be on their devices and are obviously going to be off adventuring for most of the film, so the fact it’s 2026 and not 1946 is barely relevant.

They arrive to find their new accomodation is a barn, and not even a nicely converted one at that, though in later shots they seem to have made some improvements.

We see a little of the Faraway Tree – Silk’s house and Dame Washalot’s area.

We see several Lands, including the Land of Birthdays and the Land of Dame Snap.

I think it’s fair to say that everything looks really good. Very whimsical and full of magic.

The premise

Beth says that ‘trees are boring’ and then in a voice-over says that they’ve become poor and had to move to the countryside. So, sticking to the plot of the book there – though it perhaps seemed more realistic in the 1940s.

The older two children in particular do not seem thrilled about this and I suspect the no wifi/screens will be a bit of a running joke at least to begin with.

Fran finds a letter on her pillow addressed “Dear Human Child” and which thanks her for returning a purse. I assume this is from Silky. It invites Fran to the Magic Faraway Tree – though she’s been warned (by Bella) never to stray into the woods as they’re full of strange creatures and floaty lights.

Once there she is whisked into the tree to meet the inhabitants, before they go off to the Land of Goodies.

The other children must get involved later as we see them visiting lands and being excited about what’s coming next. There must be more to the story, though. Perhaps Fran begging the others to come along and them not believing her at first, or them wondering where she’s sneaking off to and following her – I’ll have to watch the film to find out.

I suspect the main action and peril will come from them visiting the Land of Dame Snap as she’s clearly being set up as the main villain of the piece. I expect the flying school bus is them escaping from her as I’m pretty sure they escape by plane in the book.

Overall I thought it made the film look pretty good (that’s it’s one job after all). It seems to be sticking fairly close to the source material despite being set in the present day. It definitely looks like massive amounts of money have been invested in it. That’s not always a sign of excellence of course – but isn’t it time that Blyton had a blockbuster after all?

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December 2025 round up

Posted on January 7, 2026 by Fiona

It’s that time of year again, when I can’t decide if this is the last roundup of the year or the first!

What I read

I had already hit my goal of 150 books in November, so everything in December was just a bonus. I managed to hold onto my last Audible credit as I had a few books I’d bought on 2 for 1 deals and I also listened to some things from the plus catalogue. Audible keeps reminding me I can renew early and get 12 credits now… but I’m trying to hold out! If I wait for another 2 for 1 sale I can get two books for my last credit and then I can see what else is in the plus catalogue and available at the library.

Only two books in December were BABALs* though there was also one about a woman searching for a book. Eight were Christmas-themed. A few came from the library. I’ll find out just how badly I did at not borrowing more books until I’d read what I already had when I do my 2025 year in books later this month.

I read:

  • Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret (Ernest Cunningham #3) – Benjamin Stevenson
  • The Impossible Fortune (Thursday Murder Club #5) – Richard Osman
  • The Secret Christmas Library – Jenny Colgan
  • How Heathcliff Stole Christmas (Nevermore Bookshop #3.5 ) – Steffanie Holmes
  • A Reluctant Christmas Novel – JC Williams
  • Hot For Slayer – Ali Hazelwood
  • Dead Over Heels (Aurora Teagarden #5) – Charlaine Harris
  • A Loom of One’s Own – Virginia Wool
  • A Fool and His Honey (Aurora Teagarden #6) – Charlaine Harris
  • A Cornish Seaside Murder (Nosy Parker Mysteries #6) – Fiona Leitch
  • Last Scene Alive (Aurora Teagarden #7) – Charlaine Harris
  • The Mystery of the Missing Book – Judith Cutler
  • Cruel Winter With You – Ali Hazelwood
  • A Cornish Campsite Murder – (Nosy Parker Mysteries #7) – Fiona Leitch
  • Christmas at a Highland Castle – Rachel Barnett
  • Poppy Done to Death (Aurora Teagarden #8) – Charlaine Harris
  • Murder at Martingale Manor (Chronicles of St Mary’s #14.8) – Jodi Taylor
  • A Nurse’s Secret (Nightingale Nurses #14) – Donna Douglas
  • Out of Time (Time Police #6) – Jodi Taylor

I ended the month still working through:

  • Charlie and the Christmas Factory – various authors
  • Trick of the Dark – Val McDermid
  • A Brush With the Past 1900-1950 – Shirley Hughes
Version 1.0.0
Version 1.0.0
Version 1.0.0
Version 1.0.0

What I watched

  • Only Connect and The Simpsons plus a few episodes of The Repair Shop as Brodie likes it when they fix up toys. Ewan and I also watched the final season of Stranger Things and we finished Lego Masters Australia (Australia Vs the World).
  • Christmas/New Year specials of Only Connect, Taskmaster and Gladiators.
  • I’ve watched a bit more of Byker Grove, I think I’m in 2001 now (which was only 15 years ago… right?)
  • My sister and I finished the Princes Switch trilogy with the third film – Romancing the Star. 
  • Our Christmas movies were Home Alone 1 & 2 and Elf.
  • On Christmas Eve we went to the cinema to see Zootopia 2.
  • I watched the second series of Karen Pirie which is based on the second book in the series – A Darker Domain.
  • We introduced Brodie to Labyrinth as well, which he liked.

What I did

Like November, December was also pretty dominated by Christmas-themed stuff.

  • Elf returned and got up to a lot of nonsense in our house.
  • We made our yearly visit to a nearby country park to make Christmas decorations (Brodie made a Christmas helicopter, naturally) and hunt for reindeer and elves in the woods before having hot chocolates in the cafe.
  • We also kept up our yearly tradition of visiting the big garden centre to look at all the Christmas stuff and have hot chocolates, and visiting a Christmas Tree farm cafe for even more hot chocolates and Christmas stuff. This year I bought a skirt for my Christmas tree as I’ve wanted one for ages!
  • I did very little on my birthday as I was the only one off, but I did take Brodie to a library Christmas party.
  • I did a couple of jigsaws that I got for my birthday. Sadly the Famous Five one was missing a few pieces!
  • We had a few hilarious games of Telestrations (my drawing was supposed to be chicken nuggets… At the end of one game we all drew dalmatians as the one my mum drew earlier had been mistaken for a cheetah.)
  • We went for exactly one walk which was along the beach (rather cold but I found some pottery and Brodie found two golf balls).

How was your December?

*Books About Bookshops and Libraries

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Monday #783

Posted on January 5, 2026 by Fiona

Happy New Year! For the first time in years none of us were ill over the Christmas break so I’m taking that as a serious win.

Being January it’s now time for me to look back at the previous year in my various round ups. There’ll be one for December, one what I read in 2025, and a look at what I got for my birthday and Christmas.

December round up

and

A close look at the Magic Faraway Tree Trailer

“I want to go and see that!” – Brodie

And what was he talking about? The upcoming Magic Faraway Tree film, of course. (Let’s ignore the fact he said the same about almost every trailer we saw that day…) We were at the cinema on Christmas Eve to see Zootopia 2 and the Magic Faraway Tree Trailer was shown before it. My niece (11) also expressed an interest in seeing it, and she has read the books. The rest of the audience seemed to like it as well – there was much laughter at the wife/wifi joke.

 

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Enid Blyton references in other works fiction part 5

Posted on December 11, 2025 by Fiona

It has been more than a year since I posted one of these. (I did one on non fiction books in June this year.) I still think that’s pretty good going. How many authors do you think you’ve seen mentioned 8 times or more in all the books you’ve read in the past year?

You might have a slight sense of deja vu when you see one of these book titles – yes I’ve already covered it a previous post but recently found another photo on my badly organised laptop.

A Winter’s Tale – Trisha Ashley

This wasn’t my find but someone (I have forgotten who now, sorry!) directed me to it.

It actually sounds like something I would enjoy, though! It’s about a young woman who inherits a crumbling mansion along with its staff and possibly even a ghostly relative…

Creeping about searching the place like something out of a Secret Seven novel.

…

And I saw all the Enid Blyton adventure books in the nursery, so I think she has a lot to do with this mania of yours too.

…

Oh I do so want to come back, and search, Mum. It’s all so Famous Five!

 

 

A Place of Execution – Val McDermid

This is just the first of a few references from Val McDermid’s books which I have been steadily working my way through this year. Val (I feel as if I can call her Val as I have been in the same room as her now, at a talk) has never hidden the fact that she read everything by Blyton that she could get her hands on (except the Secret Seven who irritated her).

In this book a teenage girl has gone missing and Detective Inspector George Bennett is looking through her room for clues.

With a sigh, he began the distasteful search of Alison’s personal possessions. Half an hour later, he had found nothing unexpected. He’d even flicked through every book on the small bookcase that stood by the bed. Nancy Drew, the Famous Five, the Chalet School, Georgette Heyer, Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre held neither secret nor surprise. A well-thumbed edition of Palgrave’s Golden Treasury contained only poetry.

 

The Wire in the Blood – Val Mcdermid

This is the second book in the series about Detective Inspector Carol Jordan and criminal profiler Tony Hill, and the book which gives the TV series based on the series its name.

Unfortunately I didn’t record who said this or why.

It’s not, “Five Go Hunting a Psychopath.”

The Torment of Others – Val McDermid

This one, from number four about Carol Jordan and Tony Hill, is rather a stretch. I’ve also seen references to Noddy suits, though, at crime scenes. I’d love it if someone could explain why the lights/suits are called that.

Carol, Kevin and Stacey pounded pell-mell down the corridor. ‘We’ll take my car,’ Kevin shouted. ‘I’ve got a noddy light.’

The Telephone Box Library – Rachel Lucas

I actually read this a while ago but only found the photo of the reference recently.

Mel pulled a face behind her back. “God, sorry. It’s just, she’s so “head girl at St Clare’s” that I can’t help it. She makes me want to misbehave.

The Bookshop of the Broken-Hearted – Richard Hillman

For more Blyton-related quotes from this book see my previous post.

[Maggie] steered him to the titles he might enjoy reading, urging on him her favourites. He took a chair to the back of the shop and read himself into a Famous Five stupor.

the bookshop of the broken hearted robert hillman

A Cornish Christmas Murder – Fiona Leitch

I half-picked these as they are narrated by Zara Ramm (narrator of the Chronicles of St Mary’s series by Jodi Taylor. It felt serendipitous that the St Mary’s author is Jodi and the Cornish books are about a woman called Jodi(e).

Anyway- Jodie with an E is a retired Met officer who returns to Cornwall and sets up a catering business. And then she keeps tripping over dead bodies and can’t stop sticking her nose in to solve them.

In this book she, her mother, her daughter, her best friend and a host of other folk including a group of Japanese tourists are trapped by a snowstorm in a rural former abbey which is being turned into a hotel. Then the guy who played Father Christmas at the party is found murdered and they realise the murderer could only be someone who was in already inside…

They are all supposed to be sticking together downstairs but Jodie (known as Nosey Parker for a reason) and her band of catering assistants/investigators sneak upstairs to see what they can work out.

“Bloomin’ eck, this is like a poor man’s Famous Five, innit?”

….

“Be quiet, Timmy.” (aka Germaine, Jodie’s dog)

….

“Bingo! Now that is proper Famous Five stuff.” (When the secret passage in the stone wall opens.)

A Reluctant Christmas Novel – JC Williams

Adam is a writer of sci-fi/space opera books which aren’t selling so well anymore. His publisher tells him that romantic Christmas book are always good sellers, so he has a go at that. In need of more immediate income he also takes a job driving a minibus for a charity which combats loneliness in the elderly by getting them out and about to different activities.

Once these older people find out that Adam’s an author they start calling him by author’s names. First it’s stuff like Hey Stephen King – watch out for that parked car! Then it’s Agatha Christie.

Then it’s

Ey, Enid Blyton!

Then a slightly more oblique reference that you might be able to argue is a coincidence, but seeing as he mentioned Blyton’s name shortly before I’d like to think it was deliberate.

For many both children and adults alike books were portals to lose yourself for a while. Enabling you to escape  to far off lands and dip your toes into a sea of adventure that wouldn’t be possible in the real world.

The Village Demon Hunting Society – CM Waggoner

This is another stretch as the author is American but the main character in this book is a librarian called Sherry Pinkwhistle.

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Letters to Enid part 79: From volume 4, issue 16.

Posted on December 9, 2025 by Fiona

Previous letters pages can be found here.

Letters page from Volume 4, issue 16
August 29th – September 11th, 1956.

OUR

LETTER PAGE

A letter from John Scott, Lowestoft, Suffolk.
Dear Miss Blyton,
I should like to tell you how to grow miniature trees. First, cut an orange in half, then scrape out the fruit inside and then paint the outside fairly thickly with WATER GLASS. When this dries, fill it with ordinary garden soil, and plant two apple pips (or any other tree seeds). The bowl must be put in the dark until two green shoots appear; take out the weakest one, and put the bowl in the daylight. As the shoot grows, the roots will come out through the orange skin; these must be snipped off quite near the skin. When the tree is about 3ins. tall it will bear really tiny fruit, which is unfortunately uneatable. Yours sincerely,
John Scott.

(I really think I must try to grow one of these “miniature trees.” I have sent you my prize, John, for a most unusual letter.)

A letter from June Harris, Stroud, Glos.
Dear Enid Blyton,
Thank you very much for the lovely birthday cake you sent me. My sister and I could not open the box quick enough, and when we saw the lovely cake we thought we were dreaming. Lots of relatives and friends came to see it, and I was glad that you wrote to tell me I had won the cake, because shouldn’t have had a party if I hadn’t heard that it was coming. My father is going to take a photo of me cutting the cake.
Lots of love from
June Harris.

(Thank you, June – I do not always have such a nice thankyou letter from the winners of our monthly Birthday Cake. I did enjoy reading it.)

A letter from Robin Johnson, Stevenage, Herts.
Dear Enid Blyton,
In our street there is a boy who has got 51 of your books, and he lends them out to us others at a penny a time, and if we lose one we have to buy him a new book, but nobody has lost one yet. My cousin has got 62 books, all kinds, but he won’t lend them. I have got 13. Do you think my cousin Les has more books than anyone else, because he keeps on saying he has. (I have counted them myself.) Please send an answer. Yours faithfully,
Robin Johnson.

(Well, Robin, I will let our magazine readers answer! Perhaps those who have books of their own would like to count them and let me know (on a postcard) how many books they have of THEIR OWN.)

Anyone else read John’s letter and think ‘ooh I could try that’? I’d need to work out what water glass is (obviously not a tumbler to drink out of!) best I can find online is some sort of silicate mineral paint a bit like limewash? Suggestions on a (digital) postcard, please.

I had no idea Blyton sent out birthday cakes! (Or maybe I forgot?) I am imagining cakes in the shapes of her books with the dustacket images painted on but they were probably ordinary round cakes with some plain icing and maybe a few sugar flowers? Still, pretty exciting to win one!

I definitely have more books than Cousin Les, and I do lend them. I hope lots of children replied to Robin to put Les in his place!

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Monday #779

Posted on December 8, 2025 by Fiona

We seem to be moving rapidly through December now, that’s a whole week gone. People keep telling me how many days it is until Christmas and I’d just like to stuff my fingers in my ears and go ‘la la la’ because it’s not enough days to get everything done, surely??

Letters to Enid part 79

and

Enid Blyton references in other works of fiction (this must be part… 5 by now?)

Last week I shared the Magic Faraway Tree poster, this week the first teaser trailer is out!

It shows that Moon-face doesn’t have a moon-head, it’s more of moon-hair. I also think that this perhaps resembles the Jacqueline Wilson book  rather than the originals (at least the family parts). It certainly all looks very good – I suppose it depends just how much ‘real world’ stuff about no wifi goes on. That’ll appeal to kids today, but for adults it may detract from the magic.

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November 2025 round up

Posted on December 6, 2025 by Fiona

My last round up I noted that we were stamping books for December 1st which was three weeks away. Today (Thursday as I start writing this) is three weeks until Christmas (though we’re not stamping the 25th on loans, that would just be mean as we’re not open!)

What I read

I finished a lot of books in November, quite a few of which were audiobooks. I’m down to my last credit on Audible and that’s to last me until the end of March. I have not rationed them well this year.

Five were BABALs* (Aurora Teagarden is a librarian in the first few of her books but that’s more of a side detail than a main plot, and Lindsay Gordon is a journalist so it’s publishing adjacent, so I’m not counting any of them.)

Two I borrowed from the library as I seem to have sort of forgotten about the whole ‘reading what I already have’ plan. Oh well.

I read:

  • How to Kill Men and Get Away With It (Kitty Collins #1) – Katy Brent
  • The Pyramid Plot (Usborne Puzzle Adventures, #16) – Somper, Justin
  • Much Ado About Murder (Nevermore Bookshop Mysteries, #7) – Steffanie Holmes
  • The Bookstore Family (Once Upon a Bookshop #4) – Alice Hoffman
  • Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime – Val McDermid
  • The London Girls – Soraya M Lane
  • A Cornish Christmas Murder (Nosey Parker Mysteries #4) – Fiona Leitch
  • The Last Witch – CJ Cooke
  • Real Murders (Aurora Teagarden, #1) – Charlaine Harris
  • A Bone to Pick (Aurora Teagarden, #2) – Charlaine Harris
  • The Lending Library – Aliza Fogelson
  • Three Bedrooms, One Corpse (Aurora Teagarden, #3) – Charlaine Harris
  • Common Murder (Lindsay Gordon #2)
  • The Julius House (Aurora Teagarden, #4) – Charlaine Harris
  • Crime and Publishing (Nevermore Bookshop Mysteries, #8) – Steffanie Holmes
  • A Cornish Recipe for Murder (Nosey Parker Mysteries #5) – Fiona Leitch

I ended the month still working through:

  • Charlie and the Christmas Factory – various authors
  • Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret (Ernest Cunningham #3) – Benjamin Stevenson
  • The Impossible Fortune (Thursday Murder Club #5) – Richard Osman
  • How Heathcliff Stole Christmas (Nevermore Bookshop #3.5 ) – Steffanie Holmes

What I watched

  • We have been watching Only Connect and The Simpsons but we finished Taskmaster. We watched a little more of Only Murders in the Building but haven’t finished it yet as we discovered the latest series of Lego Masters Australia (Australia Vs the World) was available (we’d been waiting forever but as it turns out it’s been online since June…)
  • I’ve watched a bit more of Byker Grove but I’m still in the early 2000s – [spoilers] Geoff is now dead (sob).
  • My sister and I finished Is it Cake Halloween some time after Halloween and turned our attention to terrible Christmas movies. We watched The Princess Switch and The Princess Switch 2 (Christmas is actually rather inconsequential to either of these films hence not making it into the titles but there are a lot of Christmas trees and snow etc.)

What I did

November was pretty dominated by Christmas-themed stuff.

  • We went into town to see the Christmas Tree light switch on and see the stalls, rides and ice sculptures.
  • We went to another (smaller) Christmas light switch on as Brodie had signed up to sign in the school choir. Turns out I still know all the worlds to all the verses of Away in a Manger, and at least the first verse of some other carols.
  • Brodie had to get new glasses (prescription change this time rather than broken glasses) so we fitted in some Christmas shopping when we went to collect them
  • We put up our Christmas tree and other decorations
  • And we hooley-hooleyed (as Brodie puts it). As in we attended the Hooley, a celebration on St Andrews day with a parade and lots of entertainment. Brodie got hungry not long after we arrived so we tried out Taco Bell for the first time.

How was your November?

*Books About Bookshops and Libraries

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Enid Blyton Christmas Gift Guide 2025

Posted on December 3, 2025 by Fiona

This is my 8th Christmas Gift Guide – you can find the previous seven here.

New books

I say ‘new’ in a loose sense. Most of these are not really new, but old stories collected together or retellings of Blyton’s work.

First up – Hodder have new short story collections again. In my personal experience kids quite like these. For adults there may be a certain level of rage at the obvious edits and name changes, however they generally do contain a fair number of otherwise hard-to-find short stories.

Sleepy Time Stories, £7.99 / Animal Adventure Stories currently £6.49, normally £7.99 / Five-Minute Magic Stories currently £6.49, normally £7.99/ Christmas Bedtime Stories currently £6.49, normally £7.99. All at Waterstones.

Last year there were stories for six and seven year olds. This year it’s the turn of the five and eight year olds.

Stories For Five Year Olds / Stories for Eight Year Olds / both £6.99 at Waterstones.

There’s a new lift-the-flap Faraway Tree book as well (more are listed to pre-order, but aren’t out yet). Last year there were two of these. I thought they were very cute.

Where’s Teddy? £7.99 at Waterstones.

Also illustrated by Becky Cameron is Pixie’s New Friend. I’m not sure if this is an original Blyton story as there isn’t one with that title, or if it’s a rewrite or something new written by someone else.

Pixie’s New Friend 7.99 at Waterstones.

There are two new Famous Five Graphic Novels (which are on my list)

Five Go Off in a Caravan / Five Get Into Trouble / both £8.99 at Waterstones

I think I’m going to buy this next one for Brodie – it’s a book of Famous Five puzzles.

Can you help Julian, George, Dick, Anne and Timmy, better known as The Famous Five, solve these puzzling brain teasers? Find secret passageways, make your way through the maze-like tunnels and figure out where the smugglers are hiding with your five favourite adventurers.

These fun five-minute puzzles are sure to keep you entertained for hours. All you need is a pencil, your brain and a thirst for adventure. Crack codes, find clues and solve mysteries, just like The Famous Five!

Five Minute Mystery Puzzles  £7.99 at Waterstones

There are now Enid Blyton ‘Tonies’ for the Toniebox (a screen free audiobook player for children, you buy the ‘Tonies’ which are figures you can play with and when you put them on the box it plays the story.)

First Term at Malory Towers / The Wishing Chair / The Magic Faraway Tree / all £14.99 at Waterstones.

And lastly a slightly odd one, a reprint of Child Whispers. I have seen various Blyton books cheaply published (presumably in countries where copyright has expired) and sold on eBay and Amazon but never in the a big bookshop. The cover of this very much says ‘cheap’ but I’m intrigued nonetheless.

Child Whispers 11.95 at Waterstones.

Things that are not books

As usual, the not-books are bit harder to find. Maybe they’ll be some things to tie in with the Faraway Tree Movie next year, but there has been nothing for the Famous Five or Malory Towers TV series apart from DVDs. I’ve already included the Malory Towers DVDs in a previous guide and I’m not about to suggest anyone spends actual money on the travesties that are the recent Famous Five adaptations.

There are generally lots of prints on Etsy but I thought this Faraway Tree one was a little more unusual.

Faraway Tree Print £8.05 on Etsy.

Then there’s this lovely hand painted watercolour print from The Adventure Series

Watercolour Print £29.99 on Etsy

And a candle (it would be nice if it came in ‘old book smell’ but it does come in vanilla which is about as close as normal candle scents get.)

Candle £12.99 on Etsy

If you really want to splash out why not treat someone to one of these Enid Blyton teapots? If they can cope with them spelling Mal(l)ory wrong, that is.

Enid Blyton Teapot / Enid Blyton Tea and Books Teapot / both £109 on Etsy

Lastly how about these 1950s Noddy pyjamas? Not for the small child in your life but the adult collector who likes all sorts of strange and useless items as long as they say Enid Blyton on them.

Noddy pyjamas £15 on Etsy

 

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Monday #778

Posted on December 1, 2025 by Fiona

It’s December! Elf has returned to wreak havoc and I realise that I haven’t put together my yearly Enid Blyton gift guide. I aim to fix that oversight this week – and get on with my Christmas shopping too.

Enid Blyton Christmas Gift Guide 2026

and

November round up

The movie poster for the long (long, long) awaited Magic Faraway Tree adaptation was released last week. The movie itself will come out in 2026.

All I’m going to say at this point is that it’s Moon Face, not Moon Head.

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Famous Five 90s Style – Our live reactions to Five on a Treasure Island part two

Posted on November 14, 2025 by Fiona

Welcome to part two of our opinions on pullovers, parenting and picnics.

[While Uncle Quentin naps in his chair Julian sneaks into the study and knocks over a stack of books]

Fiona: You’re supposed to be finishing a book in a month – you don’t have time to sleep!

Stef: Clumsy oaf

Stef: Don’t knock over all the books!

[Anne notices that the box has a false bottom, where they find the treasure map]

Stef: Anne is pretty smart, timid but smart.

Fiona: There’s a balance though.

Fiona: Someone’s been painting it with their cold tea

[Julian returns the box and Uncle Quentin gets a call from a reporter asking for an interview]

Stef: 20 minutes for the rest of the book to happen

Fiona: What a great phone manner he has. [Quentin says Hello, yes? No I’m busy.)

Stef: They should be interviewing the kids that found it

Fiona: To be fair they’re not doing great hiding outside the window either

[The Five hurry to Kirrin Island but it is overrun with reporters and sightseers.]

Fiona: I thought nobody else could possibly land on her island

[Quentin has sold the box to a smarmy, posh-sounding fellow who didn’t sounds quite so posh earlier]

Stef: Creepy toff man

Fiona: Notice how different his accent is. He’s a good con man, well you know what I mean

Stef: He’s a very inconsiderate father

Fiona: Quentin’s kind of thick for not investigating properly

Stef: In the book as well

Fiona: Yes, true.

[Quentin is delighted that someone wants to buy the island and turn the castle in to a hotel, and doesn’t think it’s odd that it’s the man who bought the box, as the is an antique]

Stef: That’s a hell of a project

Fiona: Access is going to be an issue

Stef: Are you thick?

[The Five head back to the island and the title music plays]

Fiona: The music is very jolly hockey sticks

Fiona: Ohh it’s our favourite pullover! [I can’t decide if this is entirely sarcasm or not. I think this is one we love to hate. It’s so bad it’s good.]

Stef: A picnic that’s enough food for a day

Fiona: Or for a few minutes

Stef: Why does Dick always get the best pullovers. Is it because he’s the youngest boy?

[Timmy falls down the very visible and not at all hidden well, and then Anne finds a not very hidden door]

Fiona: Oh yeah, just right there in front of everybody

Fiona: I suppose they couldn’t have them pull up a big slab

Fiona: But it could have been more hidden

Stef: Yeah, it could have taken a fraction of a second longer

Fiona: Who goes treasure hunting in a dungeon in a cream sweater??

Stef: Anne does.

[They stand in front of the door to the ingot room examining the map. Then Dick half-heartedly bumps the axe against the lock and gets a splinter in his cheek]

Stef: It’s behiiiiind you

Fiona: That’s the worst breaking down a door ever

Stef: Top ten moments of Paul Child overreacting

[The baddies arrive and have a boat related mishap before heading underground and finding Julian and George in the ingot room]

Fiona: I think we did call them slapstick and caricature-y

Stef: They don’t think the guys who’ve bought the island would show up?

Fiona: In the book they’re supposed to have  few days

Stef: If Timmy’s growling it won’t be Dick and Anne

Stef: Best stage whisper goes to Marco

Fiona: Oh it’s gone completely has it? [Stef knew I meant the puncture in Dick’s cheek from the splinter]

Stef: He’s got a plaster on you just can’t really see it with the quality

Stef: Anne is cleverer than I ever give her credit for in this one

Fiona: The pullover always reminds me of space invaders

Stef: Mhmm!

Stef: You sent them a warning note they won’t be coming right down

Fiona: Maybe they will come sneakily

[Dick and Anne rescue the others]

Fiona: Could you hide more quietly and also where we can’t see you??

[Julian tries to hold the door shut while the others escape]

Stef: Chivalry isn’t dead

Stef: I don’t remember how long he held it in the book [On TV it was a whole 6.5 seconds…]

Fiona: I don’t think he did it at all, and it’s Dick who runs to escape from the well after bolting the door

[Dick immobilises the baddies’ boat]

Stef: Isn’t it Julian who does that?

Fiona: No it’s George

Stef: All he’s done is disconnect something

Fiona: Whereas George smashes it with the axe

[I think the screenshot is enough context here]

Stef: Once is bad luck twice is stupid

Fiona: Those boats would have oars in case they ran out of petrol

Stef: In the book George took the oars too

Stef: I want that on a tshirt [Sadly I’ve forgotten what Stef was referring to here. It must come somewhere from 21 minutes in and 21 minutes 34. So must be one of these: YOU CAN DROWN YOU OLD… I’d have had those kids if it hadn’t been for you / Daddy he’s a crook / He tried to steal the gold!]

Fiona [Parroting Julian’s ever-so-earnest story telling]: Well we went to try to find the gold

[The end scene has a government official claiming the gold and explaining things]

Stef: Why make it complicated

Fiona: So its post 1952/3 [her majesty is referenced]

Stef: It’s supposed to be earlier

Stef: Post war would be more realistic

Fiona: The clothes are very 40s

Fiona: Everyone else has changed their clothes again but Dick still has the hideous pull over on [Yes, another excuse to screenshot the pullover!]

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October 2025 round up

Posted on November 12, 2025 by Fiona

With Halloween over I’m starting to think ahead to Christmas. At work this week I was stamping for the 1st of December which means that’s three weeks today.

What I read

I did a bit better reading-wise in October than I had done the past few months as I got through 14 books (having a week off work helped!).

Only one BABAL*, though 1989 is tenuously connected in the BAP (books about publishing) genre.

I read:

  • An Ice Cold Grave (Harper Connelly #3) – Charlaine Harris
  • A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder – Holly Jackson
  • Grave Secret (Harper Connelly #4) – Charlaine Harris
  • The Secret of Secrets ( Robert Langdon #6) – Dan Brown
  • A Fresh Start for the Country Nurse (Country Nurse #1) – Kate Eastham
  • U Is For Undertow (Kinsey Millhone #21) – Sue Grafton
  • The Skeleton Road (Karen Pirie #3) – Val McDermid
  • Changing Seasons for the Country Nurse (Country Nurse #2) – Kate Eastham
  • Murder Most Eastern (Great Maine Mysteries #1) – Nellie H Steele (Really awful – do not recommend!)
  • Autumn Chills: Tales of Intrigue from the Queen of Crime – Agatha Christie
  • Hex Around and Find Out (Moonshadow Cove #2) – Molly Harper
  • 1989 (Allie Burns #2) – Val McDermid
  • Holes – Louis Sachar
  • Hollow Tree House

I ended the month still working through:

  • How to Kill Men and Get Away With it (Kitty Collins #1) – Katy Brent
  • Much Ado About Murder (Nevermore Bookshop #7) – Steffanie Holmes
  • Hurrah for the Circus
  • The Last Witch – C. J. Cooke

What I watched

  • We have been watching Only Connect as well as Taskmaster and a few episodes of The Simpsons. We also started the new series of Only Murders in the Building (seriously, how many people can be murdered in one building?)
  • For Halloween we watched The Nightmare Before Christmas (Brodie’s choice), and on holiday we watched Ghostbusters (again) as we couldn’t agree on anything else.
  • I’ve watched a bit more of Byker Grove and have reached the 2000s – I had to remind myself that the 2000s are still not as recent as I think, as each episode still contains a warning about language and attitude of the times.
  • My sister and I finally finished And Just Like That and I was glad to see from reviews that we weren’t the only people that thought the whole season was awful and the end baffling. We then moved on to Is it Cake Halloween.

What I did

  • We had a week away in Burntisland (which is not burnt nor an island). On our first day we decided to walk to Aberdour which was the next place along the coast. It turned out to be a pretty long walk! But it had views of the Forth where we saw a load of seals, and there was a nice beach and park at the other end.
  • One of the reasons we chose Burntisland was could easily jump on a train to visit Edinburgh. The first time we visited the National Museum of Scotland and then a few shops (like Forbidden Planet, Lego Store and Krispy Kreme as we don’t have those at home), and also found time for Brodie to have his photo taken with Paddington before we visited Camera Obscura. The next time we visited Edinburgh Castle and saw the one o’clock gun fired.
  • Brodie and Ewan went back later in the week to visit Dynamic Earth but my knee was bothering me after so much walking already that week so I stayed in Burntisland and spent the afternoon reading on the beach (I even braved a paddle.)
  • We took the car to visit Edinburgh Zoo and were glad we arrived early enough to get in their car park. This was Brodie’s first visit and he really enjoyed it – I think we saw almost every animal.
  • One of the days we went through to Dunfermline and visited Pittencrieff Park (we will need to go back in the summer and explore properly as it’s huge), and we also went to the Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum where we practiced our Morse Code. There we found out they were doing a little trail for kids so we ended up also going to the Carnegie Library & Gallery (where we had a nice lunch) and Dunfermline Abbey & Priory Ruins. So much for it being a quiet, easy going day!
  • On our way through to Burntisland we stopped off at Fife Zoo to have lunch and see the animals.
  • Once we came back we decorated for Halloween, which mostly involves plastic spiders everywhere. (I’m still finding them now, two weeks into November…) We also went to Monikie for their Halloween trails and a hot chocolate, and to the library for a Halloween party.
  • I discovered the joys of die cutting at work as we have a Sizzix Big Shot so I spent time cutting out lots of Christmas shapes for our craft table.

How was your October?

*Books About Bookshops and Libraries

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Monday #775

Posted on November 10, 2025 by Fiona

After somehow failing to post this last week I took it as an omen that I should take the week off, but at least try to prep for this week. Did I prep for this week? Actually I did, a bit. Which is as much of a surprise to me as I’m sure it is to anyone reading.

October round up

and

Live reactions to Five on a Treasure Island part 2

I’m a bit late but I see no reason why we shouldn’t remember (remember) the fifth of November on the tenth of November.

Our bonfire night was a bit poor as it was rather rainy. We stayed in but did see some fireworks from our windows. Sadly no organised displays here any more. (Photo is from a proper display back when we had them.)

Remember, remember the fifth of November

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Letters to Enid part 78: From volume 4, issue 15.

Posted on November 2, 2025 by Fiona

Previous letters pages can be found here.

NB – a warning again for the use of wording that is considered derogatory and offensive in the UK (and potentially elsewhere) today. As I am transcribing these letters exactly as written by the child authors I will therefore be using it, though I wouldn’t be using it in any other circumstances.

The S-word has appeared in several previous letters pages now and I am starting to assume that Blyton only recently began working with a relevant charity or home hence the many references all of a sudden.

Letters page from Volume 4, issue 15.
August 15th – 28th, 1956.

OUR

LETTER PAGE

A letter from Freda Hoyle, Lancashire.
Dear Enid Blyton,
I would like to tell you about my little dog called Rover. One Saturday, as my Mummy, my brother Brian and I were going for a walk, Brian suddenly heard a whimpering noise behind a wall. Looking behind it we saw a little brown and white animal on the grass. I carefully picked it up and carried it home. When we got home I found out that the animal was a tiny puppy, just new-born. I got a doll’s feeding-bottle, while my Mummy warmed some milk. Then we put the milk in the feeding bottle and let the tiny puppy suck it. Mummy fed him every two hours, and she even got out of bed every two hours in the night to feed him. I got the pup a cardboard box to sleep in, and on cold days Mummy put a hot water bottle in it to warm him. Many people said we would not rear him, but they were wrong. He is now six months old and a very happy dog.
Love from
Freda Hoyle.

(I think my readers will agree with me that this is one of the most interesting letters we have ever had on the letter-page, and well deserves my letter-prize. I have sent it to you, Freda. You do not say if you are one of my Busy Bees or not, but we should certainly welcome an animal-lover like yourself!)

A letter from Sheila Urquhart, Lanarkshire.
Dear Enid Blyton,
Please find enclosed three separate postal orders, each for one pound, for your three Homes – the Beaconsfield one, the Spastics and the Sunshine Homes. The money was raised at a little concert which my chum (Elizabeth Whitelaw) and I gave in my Daddy’s church hall this summer. During the last winter my chum and I trained some of the little ones who lived near at hand to sing songs, recite and do some little sketches. My Mummy provided tea for the other Mummies who came to see the concert.
Yours sincerely,
Sheila Urquhart.

(Thank you, Sheila! I do not often get THREE postal orders in the same letter and you are indeed kind to remember all my Homes. Well done!)

Only two letters this week as both are quite long. We get two of Blyton’s favourite topics, though, animals and fund-raising.

I originally wrote animals and money but I re-read it and thought that made her sound a bit callous and possibly as if she was farming puppies for a living.

Freda’s rescue of the puppy was lovely, and I bet loads of children read it and kept their eyes peeled for abandoned puppies after that – particularly the ones whose parents had told them they weren’t allowed a dog. Makes you wonder why a new-born puppy was lying alone on the grass, but that’s maybe best not thought about too much.

Reading Sheila’s letter I did think that it was probably easier to raise money if your father is the local vicar and has his own church hall, but that doesn’t take anything away from the effort she (and her chum) put in to raising £3. Then I wondered if she just meant the church her father goes to. But surely they’d all go and so she’d call it her church hall or the local church hall. And then I thought Fiona, you’re overthinking this, and this is why you shouldn’t blog late at night when you’re tired.

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Famous Five 90s Style – Our live reactions to Five on a Treasure Island part one

Posted on October 30, 2025 by Fiona

To cheer ourselves up after enduring Peril on the Night Train Stef and I decided to watch some of the 90s Famous Five and started, naturally with Five on a Treasure Island.

I don’t know if you’ll be able to tell but Stef has watched the 90s series quite a few times more than I have.

Apologies in advance for the poor quality screenshots but I don’t actually own the DVDS so these are taken from YouTube. (Mind you, the DVDs may not be that much better?)

[The episode opens on an old ship in a storm]

Fiona – I’d forgotten about the flashback scene.

Stef – It’s quite nice in a way for context, they do it in several episodes.

Fiona – You’re the expert.

Stef – Demons Rocks is one of them.

Fiona -The music always reminds me of the Beatrix Potter cartoons.

[Stef is mouthing along as they speak]

Stef: I’ve been to see the outside of that cottage.

[Screenshot on left, one of Stef’s photos on the right]

Fiona racking brains: Bossington?

Stef: Yes!

Stef: It’s a much gentler start. Did the George in the other one row? I mean she must have.

Fiona: Did Jemima have to take rowing lessons?

Stef: Possibly. Connal didn’t have to take barking lessons!

[In the study Frances and Quentin talk bills and having the cousins to stay]

Fiona: Every kind of science possible there.

Stef: Really hammering home the we’re skint.

Frances: I’ll do all I can to help, darling, but…

Fiona finishing her sentence: But I’m just a lowly little housewife.

Fiona to Stef: Do you know every single word? How many times have you watched these?

Stef: Too many.

[The cousins pack up and Anne has more stuffed toys than clothing]

Stef: They don’t use the Dick line about all the toys. But it’s a nice nod to it.

Fiona: I’m not saying it’s the best portrayal of Anne but it’s miles better than yesterday.

[George is in the garden and Timmy is barking repeatedly in her face]

Stef: Why are you sitting there letting him bark?

[Quentin exits his study and has to stop abruptly as George and Timmy come around the corner of the hall. He goes wild and says Timmy has to go]

Fiona: That’s an overreacting to not even tripping.

Quentin: Do you wish me to break my neck, child?

Both: YES

[Quentin storms off almost face-first into a wall and rants about the walls always being in the wrong places]

Fiona: The walls don’t move!

Fiona: Complete overreaction you’re right. She was holding his collar and he was behaving.

Stef: Here’s Alf.

Fiona: Or James?

Stef: A tenner a week?

Fiona: He said tanner. [Sixpence]

[The cousins see the island and the castle]

Fiona: For the time it was probably good CGI. Even Lord of the Rings doesn’t hold up as well it as it used to. Most of it, but just a couple of bits…

[Quentin walks through the hall saying Georgina is a difficult child and needs a good talking to… but he’s alone]

Fiona: Who was Quentin talking to??

[The next day at breakfast]

Fiona: Ugly pullover alert!

Stef: Oh that face!

[No context needed?]

[George tells the cousins that she doesn’t make friends with people unless she likes them and is surprised when Julian responds with the same]

Fiona: It’s nice they’re using actual dialogue from the book.

[Screenshot just to show off the hideous pull over to its best advantage, the breakfast screenshot really didn’t do it justice. Weirdly I quite like Anne’s cardigan, though.]

Stef: Getting rid of Timmy yesterday makes less sense than the books where it’s in the past.

Fiona: And nobody mentions [George going around all day with Timmy/Timmy boarding at Alf’s] to her mother at the post office?

Stef: I bet Frances knows.

Stef: It’s a shame they don’t do the diving bit to the wreck.

Fiona: It would be bit hard to pull off with child actors.

Fiona: There’s currents – good explanation why they can’t dive. They couldn’t exactly say that labour laws don’t allow child actors to deep dive on film.

[They visit the island on a lovely calm sunny day]

Stef: A storm comes out of nowhere

Fiona: Yeah in the time it took them to walk up.

Stef: Do they mention thunder and lightning in the book?

Fiona: It’s such TV thunder. Real thunder rumbles on and on.

Stef: Anne would be terrified where is she?

[Rewatching for screenshots and I realise you can see her in the top right of the frame, probably looking out the window]

[They say they will explore the wreck, then walk out from behind a rock in different outfits. This was legendary with me and my sister as it was probably the first time we spotted a ‘blooper’ and we went on about this magic clothes-changing rock for years.]

Stef: This must be another day as their clothes are different.

Fiona: Yes this is the magic clothes changing rock.

Fiona: I assume a scene was filmed but cut, that would have explained the rope and torches.

[Watching for screenshots, I notice that they don’t actually walk out from behind the rock, you can just make out the boys pulling the boat up the sand… so although a strange cut, not actually a blooper. Childhood, ruined.]

Stef: Julian does pick on Dick a bit more than in the book

[They climb aboard the wreck and find the captain’s cabin. Julian rattles the cupboard door for half a second. Then he flicks a pen knife in the gap for another half second and hey presto it opens.]

Fiona: “Blow, it’s locked” – you didn’t try very hard!

Fiona: And that was too easy.

Stef: How does seaweed grow? Does it take a seed? That could have got in the cupboard.

Fiona: I don’t know, that’s a hole in my knowledge.

[After failing to open the wooden box Dick and Julian squabble and have a tug of war over it]

Stef: I don’t think our Dick and Julian quite….

Fiona: Well they’ve grown up a bit.

[Knowing Stef as I do, I knew she was talking about our fan fiction versions of the characters and how they generally get on a lot better than these on screen brothers]

[Quentin flings open the window after the box lands and demands Am I to have no peace? You, sir, did you hurl this thing down here?]

Stef: No and yes.

[Quentin picks up the box and asks What is this object?]

Fiona: It’s a box, duh.

[Quentin asks where they got it from and Anne blurts out From the… the wreck.

Stef: You’re not supposed to tell him that.

[Quentin says And you, sir, showing no respect for the laws of gravity, to Julian.

Fiona: They were respecting gravity – they were harnessing it!

[Quentin tells them he is confiscating the box and describes it as A potential weapon of this sort.]

Fiona: A weapon? It’s a box.

Stef: Well if you throw it out a window at someone its a weapon.

Fiona: Well I don’t think he was throwing it at anyone. Well, maybe Dick.

[George says the box might contain a gold bar and Quentin says What a baby you are, this box is far too small…]

Stef: I don’t think he calls her a baby in the book?

[Anne says that the box could contain a map to the treasure. Quentin, sounding very condescending says My word, female intuition, eh. And possibly a brain there too?]

Fiona: Oh female intuition, eh? Urgh.

Stef: He keeps walking into walls – he needs new glasses.

[The screen goes black]

Fiona – Ad break?

Sef: No, end of episode

Fiona: I forgot this was a two-parter.

Stef: In my humble opinion they could all have been two-parters, but we take what we can get.

As the episode was a two-parter, so will the blog be.

 

Posted in Blyton on TV | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Monday #773

Posted on October 27, 2025 by Fiona

The clocks went back yesterday so it got dark even earlier. At least it leant a spooky air to the halloween party we were at after school.

Letters to Enid part 78

and

Famous Five 90s Style: Five on a Treasure Island, live reaction log

Posts of the week really, as Five on a Treasure Island was a two-parter.

Famous Five 90s Style: Five on a Treasure Island, part 1

Famous Five 90s Style: Five on a Treasure Island, part 2

 

Posted in Blog talk | Tagged , , | 4 Comments