It’s a busy time in the UK at the moment, we have Halloween on October 31st and then Guy Fawkes Night on the 5th of November.

If you need some Blyton to get you in the mood for either occasion, we have the goods for you.

Halloween Tricks in St Andrews, a two-part Halloween fan fiction about Julian Kirrin, David Morton, Sally Hope and Darrell Rivers.

Blyton’s Bonfires, Guys and Fireworks, a post looking at what Blyton wrote about the 5th of November including some of her poems on the subject.

October round up

and

Malory Towers, continued

I’d like a good big birthday cake with fifteen candles on. I know candles are childish when you’re fifteen, but I can’t help it. I think a cake looks so pretty when they are all lighted. And, if we have the party at night, we can let the cake-candles light us!

– Carlotta Brown, The Second Form at St Clare’s

Surely you are never too old for birthday candles!

Magic and Mischief is the latest short story collection to come from Hachette. It contains 30 stories about pixies, witches and all sorts of other magical things and is released in time for Halloween even though Blyton never wrote specifically about that holiday.