I had this out last year while I was working on Enid Blyton’s Christmas Stories then and now. That series took me longer than expected, so I didn’t get around to reviewing the annual. I did take a photo of it, though!
When is a Christmas Annual not a Christmas Annual?
Given the cover I’ve always thought of this as a Christmas Annual. It would have come out in time to be a Christmas present, and the cover and endpapers are definitely Christmas-themed. Then inside are a surprising number of title pages/frontispieces also with a Christmas theme.
The contents show there are a couple of Christmas stories inside, too, but also ones set in summer. At first glance it almost seems to say Christmas Annual but in fact it is Children’s. There were Blyton contributions in four – 1958-1961, but it’s hard to find any solid information on how many there were.
There are many Collin’s Children’s Annuals I can see online, most of which have Christmas or winter-themed covers, but there are some which don’t. I can’t find any information on whether these came out twice a year, or if some years were summer instead of winter. Most results are copies for sale and many don’t have a year on them as they are undated inside.
Collins were very busy in the annual world as I’ve seen references to their Holiday Annuals, Boys Annuals, Girls Annuals, Schoolboys Annuals, Schoolgirls Annuals, Toddlers Annuals, Painting Annuals, Aircraft Annuals, Sports Annuals, Railway Annuals, Motor Annuals, Adventure Annuals… I doubt they all ran at the same time, and some may even be the same annual with a name change, but still, it’s a lot!
Contents
There is only one Enid Blyton contribution inside – the main reason I bought this – but there are many illustrator names I recognise from their work on Blyton’s books. I have marked the obvious Christmas stories with an asterix – but there may be others!
STORIES
TAI-LU AND THE MAGIC JEWEL BOX
by Shelagh Fraser and Billy Thatcher
Drawings by Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone
IT HAPPENED ONE MORNING
by Enid Blyton Drawings by Frank Varty
A SUNDAY ADVENTURE
by Christine Pullein-Thompson Drawings by Roy Newby
SEA FEVER
by Martin Downes Drawings by Will Nickless
THE WISHING STONE
by Edward Boyd Drawings by Gilbert Dunlop
MUFFIN’S HAPPY CHRISTMAS*
Written and illustrated by Molly Blake
HUMPHREY – A BARGAIN
by Frances B. Clark Drawings by Hilda McGavin
PICTURE STORIES
RESCUE FROM THE RIVER
Illustrated by A. L. Bushell
THE CHRISTMAS STORY*
Illustrated by H. C. Gaffron
A VERY SHARP LAD
Written and illustrated by Racey Helps
THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN
Illustrated by Jean D. Howe
TOBY THE TUG
Written and illustrated by G. W. Backhouse
ARTICLES
CARILINO OF THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS
by Lydia S. Eliott Drawings by Malcolm Tompkins
HOW THE WILD BIRDS FEED THEIR YOUNG
by David Stephen Drawings by Neave Parker
POEMS
NOSEGAY
by Marnie Harker Illustrated by Kris
THE SNOW OWL
Written and illustrated by Racey Helps
PLEASE TO REMEMBER
by Marnie Harker Illustrated by Ionicus
IF A NONSENSE RHYME
Written and illustrated by Justin Michman
THE TALE OF GREGORY BEETLE
by Barbara Lindsay Illustrated by Hilda Boswell
GAMES AND PUZZLES
ALL-IN-ONE-LINE PUZZLE by Justin Michman
WHERE ON EARTH PUZZLE by ‘Mickey’
DOG PUZZLE by ‘Mickey’
HOW TO DRAW FIGURES
HOW MANY WORDS PUZZLE
TAI-LU AND THE MAGIC JEWEL BOX
I have just emerged from a lengthy Google search as I decided to look up Shelagh Fraser and Billy Thatcher.
As it turns out Shelagh Fraser was Aunt Beru in the first Star Wars movie, and Billy Thatcher, a theatre actor and writer. It looks like they’re only credited for writing one book about Tai-Lu but it appears they then wrote multiple short stories for annuals/story books.
Anyway, Tai-Lu is a cat – not just any cat – a Princess Siamese cat. She and her (talking) cat friends go on a picnic (taking sardine sandwiches and milk, naturally) and find a jewel box. Not just any jewel box – one which grows in size and turns into a secret entrance to an underground vault full of birds in cages.
From the colour plate above it looks as if the cats are going to have a feast – but they’re not. To reference Star Wars once more – it’s a trap! Any being who helps themselves to the strawberries and cream gets turned into a bird and caged. Luckily escape (and a little revenge) is all that’s served.
Illustrations here (and from what I could see, for all Tai-Lu stories, come from Janet and Anne Graham Johnstone who were well-known for their work on reprints of Blyton titles like The Enchanted Wood.
IT HAPPENED ONE MORNING
This is actually a Blyton story that only appears in one other book. It was specially written for this annual and then reprinted in another Collin’s title The Happyland Story Book 1962.
While the first story was probably not set in winter, this one seems all the more incongruous as it begins with Mother saying what a lovely sunny morning it is and suggesting the children have a picnic lunch.
Having taken their picnic to the woods the children are – unusually for a Blyton story – bothered by flies and decide to go up a hill to get away from them. (Michael says this is what reindeer do in lapland, so there’s a sort of Christmas reference!).
The hill they go up is thimble hill – named for its shape. Blyton did like an interesting-shaped hill – Billycock, Sugarloaf, Fang, Thimble – and probably more.
In a likeness to other books they climb a tree for their picnic (imagining it is a boat), accompanied by birds and a red squirrel. And, of course, as we know, trees give you a good vantage point to spot thing that are happening…
Which is an overturned boat on the lake with two people hanging on to it. Unable to find help they take a table from a cottage and (in another likeness to other Blyton stories) use it as a raft to go to the rescue.
Typically for a Blyton story there’s a moral there – the children were told they couldn’t go boating as the twins can’t swim properly. In rescuing two boys who couldn’t swim they realise Mother was right. And they get gifted the boys’ boat from their grateful father, so it all ends very nicely for them!
Illustrations are supplied by Frank Varty – not a name I recognise – but are nicely done. He ha did some UK covers for Nancy Drew books and also worked on the Hardy Boys books.
NOSEGAY
This is a short poem about wishing for a garden plot to grow flowers in.
THE SNOW OWL
This is a slightly longer poem, which gets one of the colour plates to go along with it. I hadn’t heard of Racey Helps before but Angus Clifford Racey Helps wrote and illustrated various books about woodland creatures.
RESCUE FROM THE RIVER
This was probably a peak time for children’s interest in ‘Cowboys and Indians’, as there were many TV shows and films in the 1950s. Blyton had some of her characters dress up and play these games (Those Dreadful Children, The Boy Next Door, Jock from Five Go Off to Camp) but as far as I know she never wrote her own version of the stories.
This is only a two-page story so there’s little time for detail. It ends in the chief of the Indian settlement swearing never to fight with white man after the children save his only son.
ALL-IN-ONE-LINE PUZZLE
A couple of puzzles where you have to trace the shape(s) without lifting your pencil or going over the same line twice.
CARILINO OF THE SOUTH SEAS
This is listed as an article and appears to be a factual description of life on the South Sea Islands. I’m not sure that Carilino is real, though, she may just be made up to personalise the article. Although the article starts out with factual statements and descriptions it then moves on to sound more like a fictional story, narrating how Carilino swims before breakfast then goes to school and finally takes part in a canoe race.
Lydia S Eliott was an Australian author who wrote various bible retellings, much like Blyton did, and adventure stories such as Kangaroo Country and Kangaroo Coolaroo.
The South Seas is a common Australian name for the Pacific Islands in Melanesian, Micronesian and Polynesian regions.
A SUNDAY ADVENTURE
I have heard of Christine Pullein-Thompson, but the extent of my knowledge is that she writes ‘pony stories’. I was never into that sort of thing when I was younger – I definitely never longed for a horse of my own! The closest I got in books was Bill, Thunder, Clarissa and Merrylegs at Malory Towers, or the family’s horses at Mistletoe Farm.
This story is told in the first person, where Maria relates a story of a golden August Sunday where she and Marcus must have been about eleven or twelve.
I’ve always assumed that pony books including Pullein-Thompson pony books (something like 200 between Christine, her mother and sisters) were primarily aimed at girls but looking at the titles/covers/blurbs it seems that many were written to appeal to both boys and girls. In this case we have a girl and boy having an adventure, which features both horses and a train to widen its appeal.
Overall a thrilling story which makes me wonder what else I’ve missed out on by ignoring pony books!
SEA FEVER
At first sea/boat/ship obsessed Philip is disappointed that their floating holiday is on a houseboat and not at sea. But it’s not an ordinary houseboat – it’s a real ship, moored at the riverside.
The Ship – Waterwitch – apparently has as much sea fever as Philip does for she breaks her moorings in the night and is nearly washed onto the rocks in the tideway. In a dramatic (if far-fetched) effort to save themselves Philip’s mother and sisters tie all their sheets and blankets together and this is hoisted up to act as a sail to steer them. Annoyingly Philip gets all the credit from the coastguards when they arrive.
To be continued in part 2
Fiona
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