Author Archives: fiona

Secret Series covers through the years

Posted on February 16, 2019

I recently looked at the different covers used for the Famous Five books and The Adventure Series. One series. Five books. Four cover artists. The Secret Series is perhaps unusual due to how many different cover artists the series had. While … Continue reading →

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Happy Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 14, 2019

Romance is rare in Enid Blyton’s books. I can’t think of many scenes or plots that lend themselves to romance or love. There are lots of married parents, of course, but few weddings. Bill and Aunt Allie get married, of … Continue reading →

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Noddy loses his clothes, artwork by Gina Parr

Posted on February 13, 2019

While searching for information on who steals Noddy’s clothes in one of the books (for the latest search terms post) I stumbled upon something a bit random and surprising. Now that’s not that uncommon with the amount of stuff on … Continue reading →

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Monday #256

Posted on February 11, 2019

A piece of Noddy artwork and Secret Series covers The Second Form at St Clare’s is not, as the title suggests, the second book in the St Clare’s series. Rather, it is the fourth. After three books focussing on the … Continue reading →

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Five Go Off in a Caravan

Posted on February 9, 2019

Five Go Off in a Caravan is the fifth Famous Five book. The Five are a well-established group now and they had their first non-Kirrin adventure in the last book, Five Go to Smuggler’s Top. This time they go off in … Continue reading →

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January 2019 round up

Posted on February 6, 2019

What I have read I have set a new target of 100 books for 2019. I haven’t started out very well, though. I got quite a few books for my Christmas but I haven’t started any of them yet. I’m … Continue reading →

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Monday #255

Posted on February 4, 2019

  January round up and Five Go Off in a Caravan “Who is he, Jack? Who is the prisoner?” cried Nora impatiently. “Well,” said Jack, turning to them, “he has just spelt out on his fingers that he is Prince … Continue reading →

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This Is Enid Blyton Magazine

Posted on February 2, 2019

In December 2018 a new magazine came out, all about Enid Blyton. It was a one-off, as part of a This Is series of magazines each of which has a different topic. The series has been published by DC Thomson … Continue reading →

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Search terms 8

Posted on January 30, 2019

I like doing posts about our search terms so much here’s the 8th one for you! Good questions Can you read Famous Five in any order? > You can, as each story is complete in itself – Blyton says this … Continue reading →

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Monday #254

Posted on January 28, 2019

Enid Blyton search terms part 8 and This Is Enid Blyton Magazine The Rat-a-Tat Mystery is the fifth Barney mystery. This one has the children staying at Rat-a-Tat house in the middle of the country. It is even more isolated … Continue reading →

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The Adventure Series covers through the years part 2

Posted on January 25, 2019

Last week I wrote a great deal about the Stuart Tresilian covers for this series. In my defence there are three different covers for six of the books and two for the other two. That’s twenty-two different designs! Anyway, after … Continue reading →

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Five Go to Smuggler’s Top part 3: a focus on Uncle Quentin

Posted on January 23, 2019

Unlike the 70s TV series in the books Uncle Quentin doesn’t turn up at the end of every adventure (only a slight exaggeration) to resolve everything. Normally he is to be found skulking around Kirrin Cottage slamming doors and shouting when other people are noisy. I have reviewed … Continue reading →

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Monday #253

Posted on January 21, 2019

Five Go to Smuggler’s Top part 3: A focus on Uncle Quentin and The Adventure Series covers through the years part 2 I tell you Red Tower isn’t a place. Red Tower is a man. Jo sets Julian right in … Continue reading →

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The Adventure Series covers through the years

Posted on January 19, 2019

I recently looked at the covers of the Famous Five covers through the years. There were so many incarnations of the 21 books that it took two posts. The Adventure Series hasn’t been reprinted nearly so many times, so this should … Continue reading →

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2018 Birthday and Christmas present round up

Posted on January 17, 2019

As always I got spoiled for my birthday and Christmas. Every year my nearest and dearest manage to come up with something Blyton-y to give me, so here’s what they did this year. 1. Enid Blyton t-shirt How often do … Continue reading →

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Monday #252

Posted on January 14, 2019

I treated myself to the Enid Blyton edition of This Is Magazine and it arrived this week. It has a lot of freebies with it and I plan to review it all soon. Christmas and birthday present round up and … Continue reading →

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The Famous Five covers through the years, part 2: 1990s-2018

Posted on January 11, 2019

Last time I started at the beginning with Eileen Soper, and on to Betty Maxey and the TV tie-in covers. Now we have the 90s covers and the dreaded modern ones. My era of Famous Fives Technically in my era … Continue reading →

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December 2018 round up

Posted on January 9, 2019

We are in 2019 if you can believe it, so this is the last 2018 round up chronicling what I got up to in December. What I have read My total number of books was 98 for the year, so … Continue reading →

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Monday #251

Posted on January 7, 2019

Happy New Year, everyone! I took a longer than anticipated break over Christmas, but I am back now! I had intended to start again on the 31st but being in that strange limbo between Christmas and New Year I lost … Continue reading →

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Inscriptions in books 4: Books given with love

Posted on December 22, 2018

These are some of my favourite types of inscriptions – ones where a book is given as a gift. There are lots of lucky children here, given books by their aunties, uncles, parents and possibly even friends. There are books … Continue reading →

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