By Poppy Hutchinson age 11
Title: Five Go Adventuring Again
Series: The Famous Five
Main Characters: George, Anne, Julian, Dick and Timmy
Published: 1943
First Published By: Hodder & Stoughton
Rating (Out of 5): 4/5
You will most probably all have have figured I have picked Five Go Adventuring Again for this month’s book review for a reason. That reason being the joyful season of Christmas approaching. Five Go Adventuring Again has a delicious Christmas feel to it unlike most of the other Famous Five novels where the five are described to be lazing in the glorious sun. This novel is the second in the fantastic Famous Five series and is quite a lot different I think, to the others. Basically, the book is about Uncle Quentin hiring a tutor for the children over the Christmas holidays. In the meantime Quentin’s large valuable notebook, where he writes all his formulas and experiments goes missing, apparently stolen. There are quite a few ups and downs in this book, and I found it rather depressing hearing about George’s sulks and strops. My liking of Uncle Quentin decreased when I heard he had hired a tutor for the children over Christmas — a rather harsh thing with it being the Christmas Holidays. I certainly wouldn’t like to have someone staying at my house over Christmas, never mind the work! Aunt Fanny was rather weak over this, I think. Poor George had a hard time those holidays, her cousins and her parents all against her. Then poor Tim is made to live outside. This will certainly have broken her heart. Kirrin Farmhouse is mentioned a lot in this book with the sliding panels and the last excitement all ending up there, but no doubt you will read about that yourself!
I have given this book a 4 star rating. I did not award the last star because it wasn’t my favourite Famous Five book, and also, like I said, it was a little depressing at times, hearing about George’s sulks and strops. I loved the story line but would have appreciated fewer arguments! I would recommend this book to 9+ girls and boys for anyone who wants a good Christmas read to get into the jolly festive mood. A very merry Christmas to everyone!
Dustjacket from the first edition of “Five Go Adventuring Again” illustrated by Eileen Soper
Fiona
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worldofblyton
World of Blyton 
It would get a 2* rating from me. I found the whole plot most irritating – it was obvious who the villain was from the outset and I found Quentin’s attitude to his daughter – who was responsible for him becoming a wealthy man – abhorrent. There are worse Five’s, but not many!
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A good review by Poppy,extremely well done! I especially love Poppy’s line’ Five Go Adventuring Again has a delicious Christmas feel to it….’
However, I must agree with Nigel that Quentin’s harsh treatment of his daughter is a turn off in this story for me too.Did Quentin apologise in the book for his abominable treatment of George,I wonder??
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I like this book! It’s not one of my favourites but it’s somewhere in the middle. I think it has a lot of strong points, though I do feel uncomfortable at Uncle Quentin’s treatment of George but not so uncomfortable that it affects my enjoyment of the book over all. I think it’s a common plot point in many Blyton books and many other books both for children and adults – the protagonist sees something untoward but nobody believes them so they are left to investigate themselves. Besides, much of the harsh treatments were meted out for her earlier behaviour towards Mr Roland – based solely on his looks and dislikes for dogs. She behaved atrociously towards him, something I can’t condone. Yes in the end she was right about him – but Blyton children are not always right (think Mr Penruthlan and Mr King) so you can’t just behave hideously towards people because you assume they’re a bad’un. I’ll stop now before I write a blog in a comment.
Nice review, Poppy 🙂
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