I knew this would happen – a matter of hours after part 3 went up I found another reference! But it has taken me over five months to collect enough to create a whole new post.

Tilly and the Map of Stories – Anna James

There were a couple of Faraway Tree references in the first book of the series (which I had in part 3), there was nothing in book two, but I’m on book three now and found another reference.

Tilly and Oscar find themselves on a rather magical train (the Sesquipedalian) where they are offered a meal…

Inside the powder blue menus were a lists and lists of every kind of food you could possibly imagine, and what book they were from. There was clam chowder from Moby Dick or a picnic with all the trimmings from a Famous Five book, and you could follow it up with an apple pie from The Railway Children, or some Turkish Delight from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

The only thing better than a Famous Five picnic is a Famous Five farmhouse meal!

Studies – Jenny Colgan

Not surprising – another Jenny Colgan reference from her boarding school series. Not surprising because there were references in the first book (as well as two others from another series).

Claire (our boarding school teacher) is on a weekend trip with some of her pupils to an outdoor activity centre.

The first is not a direct reference but given Colgan’s previous references and her talking about taking inspiration from St Clare’s and Malory Towers I feel like this has to be counted:

The children fell on lunch with an appetite…. and like all food eaten outside, in the sunshine, after some strenuous exercise, and a bit of a thrill, tasted unbelievably good.

As a side not the food included rice balls and halloumi alongside the more Blytonian chicken, salad, ham and egg pie.

And the second reference is a direct one:

With noise and chatter, the campsite came together in a clearing and it was undeniably fun – and a little Famous Five – to be on an island.

In her author’s note she also acknowledged Blyton again:

I have always loved boarding school books so much. Malory Towers, St Clare’s…

The Flatshare – Beth O’Leary

I’ve actually read this before but somehow did not note the two Famous Five references in the physical book, I got them when listening to the audiobook, though!

In the Flatshare Leon works nights as a nurse, and Tiffy works day time hours at a publishing house. That means they share the flat (and the bed) but never see each other in person. So they write a lot of notes to each other instead.

Leon writes:

Seems you’ve been shopping too. I like the blue and white dress on the back of the door. Looks like the sort of one the Famous Five might wear for going on adventures.

The only one who’d wear a dress would be Anne, but perhaps Leon didn’t read  the Famous Five, or has forgotten their names.

Later Tiffy is getting read for an unknown adventure that Leon has invited her on and thinks she will wear

The one Leon calls my Famous Five dress.

Lost for Words – Stephanie Butland

This is the first book about the bookshop Loveday Cardew works in – but I read the second, below first. I didn’t realise it was a series else I’d never have done that.

Anyway, there are various flashbacks to Loveday’s childhood.

I could pretend that I was enjoying the sun, which was something that adults seemed to consider a worthwhile use of time. I took The Famous Five book I was reading from my blue school backpack.

Dad had given it to me because he said The Famous Five were the best thing about his childhood. His name was in careful capitals on the inside front cover. I opened it, but I wasn’t reading. I was listening, despite myself.

And

I looked through the pile of my books that were starting to seem too childish for me, or had been reread so often that I wasn’t interested in picking them up again. The Secret Seven had lost their charm, and so had Captain Underpants.

Found in a Bookshop – Stephanie Butland

In this there are multiple narrators including Kelly who also now works at the bookshop. Kelly says:

I remember my first time reading a lot of things – even as far back as my first Malory Towers!

 The Librarian – Salley Vickers

The Libraran in question is Sylvia, who has just taken a job at East Mole library in the 1950s. She has big plans to engender a love of reading in the children of East Mole, but has to contend with a boss unwilling to allow change and the various intricacies of village life and gossip.

It appeared that the children at number 3 were not obviously acquainted with any actual books. Sylvia, hoping that this was not to be Swindon all over again, suggested, “How about Enid Blyton?”

“Noddy’s only for the Infants”, Sam said scornfully. “Stupid little twit.”

“Mrs Stewart reads it us”, Jem offered. “I liked it when he was got by the goblins and they took off all his clothes.”

Given that this is the 1950s it actually would have been gollies, and not goblins that the book (Here Comes Noddy Again, 1951) features, as the goblins were a much later edit to the book. I wonder if Salley Vickers had only seen a newer copy, and not realised it had been changed, or deliberately chose not to refer to gollies.

Noddy comes up again later:

Sylvia consented to being fed a banquet of wild flowers until the twins grew bored. Would you like me to read to you?”

“Is it Noddy?”

Sylvia was learning that candour with children was an ally. “Actually, Twins, I don’t like Noddy.”

“Noddy hasn’t got a willy”, Jem confided. “We saw when the goblins took all his clothes off.”

And then a more oblique (and perhaps unintentional) reference:

“That ash’s dropped half its branches on your roof – looks like most of the tiles are gone.”

Then in the author’s note Salley Vickers writes a bit about Blyton.

One last word: Miss Blackwell [the librarian who inspired the character of Sylvia] had a fierce dislike of Enid Blyton and I have given this prejudice to her name-sake. I mention this as people often imagine that a character’s views reflect those of the author, just as they imagine that what a character does is what the author has done or might do… I don’t share Miss Blackwell’s or Sylvia’s opinion of Enid Blyton. While her books are not lastingly important to me, as a child I enjoyed them and I still think that her Famous Five books in particular are good in their own way. It was a great spur to my enthusiasm that my atheist Socialist parents, otherwise unusually tolerant, refused to have Enid Blyton in the house and, as a consequence, I was obliged to read the Famous Five round at a friend’s, where I was also allowed Chocolate Spread sandwiches made with sliced white bread.

My parents also outlawed the Beano and the Dandy on the, I now suspect, spurious grounds that the printers of these comics were forbidden to be unionised – happily, I was able to read those in wet playtimes at school. This had the interesting effect that for many years sliced white bread, Enid Blyton, Dennis the Menace and God formed an unholy alliance in my subconscious, one that I naturally wanted to be part of. I have lost my taste for sliced white bread and chocolate spread but I still have time for Enid Blyton, who got children to read who might not have done so otherwise and for that alone she deserves praise. But in any case, tastes differ, thank goodness, and not even the best children’s librarian is, or should be expected to be, perfect.

And so we have another varied selection of Blyton references. No doubt I’ll find another one as soon as this goes up!