Despite still being popular and relevant new gift options for Blyton fans are often slim-pickings. Here’s the best of what I’ve been able to find.

(Previous guides can be found here, though I can’t guarantee all the items on them will still be available!)

Books

While a lovely vintage copy of a title they don’t have would go down a treat with any Blyton fan, you don’t need a gift guide for that. So instead here’s the books that have been released in 2023, which I’m sure children will love and even some adults too.

Starting with the Hodder story books, there are 4 of them this year. Stories for Christmas, Spellbinding Stories, Stories of Tails and Whiskers and Five-Minute Stories.  You always know what you’re getting with these – 25-30 stories picked for their theme, some which have never been reprinted before.

Stories for Christmas £6.49 (normally £7.99), Spellbinding Stories £6.49 (normally £7.99) and Stories of Tails and Whiskers £6.49 (normally £7.99), Five-Minute Stories £7.99, all from Waterstones.

There is also a “new” collection of more than 20 Amelia Jane stories.

The Amelia Jane Collection, £9.99 from Waterstones

Then there’s this – which has me intrigued, at least. A new Famous Five short story by Sufiya Ahmed (good to see it being acknowledged on the cover that it’s not by Blyton). There’s more coming out next year, one of which has a plot about saving the local library so I might be tempted by that.

Famous Five Adventures: Message In a Bottle £6.99 at Waterstones

And lastly a new non-fiction book about Blyton, at least partly. I’ve never particularly connected Blyton with Bowie, but apparently you can.

In this one-of-a-kind book, novelist and academic Nicholas Royle brings together two remarkably different creative figures: Enid Blyton and David Bowie. His exploration of their lives and work delves deeply into questions about the value of art, music and literature, as well as the role of universities in society.

Blending elements of memoir and cultural commentary, Royle creates a tender and often hilarious portrait of family life during the pandemic, weaving it together with musings on dreams, second-hand bookshops and unpublished photos of Bowie taken by Stephen Finer. He also shares previously unrecorded details about Blyton’s personal life, notably her love affair with Royle’s grandmother.

DVDs

I included series 1-3 of Malory Towers in my last guide, but now series 4 is out and also a box set containing series 1-4 – both contain the two Christmas specials as well. As far as I know it’s all on the BBC iPlayer, but it can be nice to have the DVDs.

Series 4 £12.99 and series 1-4 £27.99, both on Amazon UK

Etsy for everything else

I can always rely on Etsy to have something Blyton related.

Various things I’ve put in previous gift-guides are still available but these posters are new.

Folk of the Faraway Tree Poster and Five Go to Demon’s Rocks Poster, both £14.95 for A4 and £19.95 for A3, by BooksnBobs