World of Blyton

The Famous Five TV Series

Posted on December 18, 2012 by pippastef

There have been a few adaptions of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five for the television and screen over the years. The first was Five on a Treasure Island in 1957, in black-and-white, made as a weekly serial for cinema goers by The Children’s Film Foundation. The second was the 1964 adaptation of Five Have a Mystery to Solve serialised in the same format.

1957 Five on a Treasure Island cast.

This blog and subsequent blogs will not be focusing on these two adaptations but will look at the 1970s and 1990s TV adaptations. I chose these two series because they get compared an awful lot on the Enid Blyton Society Forums. Due to these comparisons, I decided that I wanted to have a more detailed look into the two series and compare them to the original text and each other.

In this post I plan to outline a few key factors that need to be taken into consideration when looking at these adaptations, and introduce you to the actors and actresses who took on the roles of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five.

The title screen for the 1964 British Film Foundation film, Five have a Mystery to Solve.

1964 Five have a Mystery to Solve.

Let’s take a look at what we should remember when looking at these TV series.

Most importantly the two series were created almost 20 years apart. So not only had the filming techniques improved by the 90s, the children were allowed to film at night! (In the 70s series, dark filters were used to simulate night-time, which means that some of the scenes hardly a thing can be seen!)
Both series only had a limited time in which to fit a full length adventure. The two series only had 25 minutes per episode (sometimes adventures were put into two parts which enabled the directors to go into a bit more depth with the stories).
In the 1970s there were a few episodes of The Famous Five adventures that weren’t filmed. Five on a Treasure Island was not filmed because the copyright was still held by the Children’s Film Foundation , which means that the first book can only be compared to the 90s series. Other episodes not filmed were Five have Plenty of Fun and Five Have a Mystery to Solve. In these cases the books shall only have a comparison with the 90s series.
In the 70s series a new character was added into the fray, a new adult, Rogers who in a way replaces the cook/housekeeper Joan/Joanna. Rogers is a handyman/gardener type who on occasion has to keep an eye on the children.
There are two very different styles of shooting these two series. The 70s Famous Five was modernised and updated, so the children were wearing 70s clothes, and all the vehicles and technologies etc were all updated with them; this has aged the series more significantly than its 90s counter part. The 90s Famous Five was set in the 40s and 50s, the time period of the novels, which helps them create a wonderful period feel and does not age them.
A rather personal one now, but something you all need to bear in mind for me: I have a very strong bias to the 90s series. It was the version I grew up with and the cast that I do adore. I shall try not to let that influence my posts however.
The 70s Famous Five. (L-R) Marcus Harris, Jennifer Thanisch, Michele Gallagher, Gary Russell and Toddy

Now we have those six points that you need to keep in your mind when reading the blogs that will come after this one. On to the actors and actresses now!

70s Cast

Julian: Marcus Harris
Dick: Gary Russell
Anne: Jennifer Thanisch
George: Michele Gallagher
Timmy: Toddy

90s Cast

Julian: Marco Williamson
Dick: Paul Child
Anne: Laura Petela
George: Jemima Rooper
Timmy: Connal

The 90s Famous Five (L- R) Laura Petela, Paul Child, Marco Williamson, Jemima Rooper and Connal

There are the two main casts you will need to know about for these blogs. Two stellar casts that can divide opinions; for example neither Timmy really matches the one a lot of us have in our heads.

The first blog for the TV series to appear will be looking at Five on Treasure Island, and how the 90s adaptation lives up to what’s in the book. I shall also examine the official first episode of the 70s series a little to explore the way in which the cousins meet and begin to gel together!

For now, I direct you to YouTube to see snippets and whole episodes of each series for yourself.

Happy viewing!

Posted in Blyton on Screen | Tagged 70s Famous Five TV Series, 90s Famous Five TV Series, Gary Russell, Jemima Rooper, Jennifer Thanisch, Laura Petela, Marco Williamson, Marcus Harris, Michele Galagher, Paul Child, The Famous Five | 9 Comments

More Monday Musings

Posted on December 17, 2012 by pippastef

Another Monday has come around, and you may have noted that we didn’t have our regular “this is what’s coming up this week” post last week, and that was because we had enough material to keep going through Monday (not to mention the fact we got carried away with the schedule function on WordPress).

To get back in the pattern, here is a Monday’s musing blog!

Last week we reached 3000+ views, to all of you who have been checking in with us and reading our posts and to those who have commented, thank you so much. It really means something to know what our work here isn’t going unread!

This week we have another part of Fiona’s Childhood Books to keep you interested, some more poems, the last in Fiona’s instalments of the Famous Five summaries, and a blog on the Famous Five TV Series. Plus lots of more exciting stuff to look at!

Just a quick shout out, we are still looking for anyone who wishes to contribute to the blog, please go to the “Want to Write for World of Blyton?” page at the top of the blog to find out how to write for us!

In the meantime:

Posted in Blog talk | Tagged December, Monday | Leave a comment

The Magic of the Faraway Tree

Posted on December 16, 2012 by worldofblyton

by Corinna

When I joined the Enid Blyton Society in 2011 and started posting (albeit most infrequently!) on the forums I chose “Faraway_Tree” as my forum name for two reasons. The first reason was that I wanted “Shadow” as some of my very favourite Enid Blyton books as a young child were about Shadow the Sheepdog – but this name was already taken! The Faraway Tree Series were some of my other favourites, and moving from New Zealand to London felt a bit like how the children and other folk must have felt popping up the ladder at the top of the Faraway Tree to a land that was somewhat familiar, but at the same time full of strange and interesting people and places…

The Enchanted Wood Dust Jacket.

There are three stories in the main Faraway Tree series: The Enchanted Wood, The Magic Faraway Tree and The Folk of the Faraway Tree. Siblings Jo, Bessie and Fanny go to live in the country with their Mother and Father and settle in a cottage on the edge of the Enchanted Wood. When exploring the woods they notice that trees are a darker green than usual and make whispering sounds “Wisha-wisha”. They soon discover the Faraway Tree, which is so tall the topmost branches reach right into the clouds, and whole lands come and go from the top. The children befriend the folk who live in the Faraway Tree, including Moon-Face, Dame Washalot, Mr Whatzisname and even the Angry Pixie, and have many adventures with their friends in the strange lands at the top of the tree.

The three books follow the same rough outline, familiar to readers of childrens’ books: a chapter or two of establishing characters and setting, a series of adventures where the children get into and out of danger and mischief, a penultimate adventure where they are in the greatest peril, and then a nice happy ending. In the Faraway Tree series this pattern is followed, with the children having a series of adventures in the strange lands up the top – some nice (e.g. The Land of Goodies, the Land of Do-As-You-Please), some nasty (Dame Slap’s School), some dangerous for over-curious children (The Land of Spells, The Land of Enchantments) and some just plain peculiar (The Land of Topsy-Turvy, The Rocking Land)! They are in the most peril in the penultimate land, and then the last land in the book is a fun land where they all have a lovely time, or a land which provides the story with a happy ending (in the case of the second book the land is not a fun one, but the Land of Magic Medicines where they get the medicine to cure their Mother’s illness). Other exceptions to this pattern are in the second and third books the three main children have a friend to stay. The other difference that strikes me is that at the end of the first two books it is the children and their friends themselves (and in the case of the second, their ill Mother) who are in peril, and in the third book it is the Faraway Tree itself which is in great danger.

What makes these books so appealing to children? Well, I can only answer what made them so appealing to me! The most obvious reason is of course pure escapism – what child (or indeed adult) doesn’t love the idea of visiting strange and wonderful lands and people? And the idea of sliding down a long curving slide, the Slippery-slip, all the way to the bottom of an enormous tree?

I think one of the primary reasons why children love these books so much is that the magical adventures happen in a somewhat familiar setting – what child doesn’t love to explore the woods and climb trees? It seems only a slight stretch of the imagination for a tree to reach right into the clouds (many do appear to, especially from the perspective of a small child), and who hasn’t thought, as a child, they have almost seen some of the little folk, or imagined how they might use rabbit burrows or toadstool rings? When I was about 8 I was half-convinced that a twisting branch leading up from the ground into a small tree was a staircase for the fairies.

The only part of these books which puzzled me as a child was the children’s Mother’s reaction (or lack thereof!) to all the strange folk her children were bringing to the house. I don’t know why in a world that included magic trees with strange lands at the top, pixies, and talking animals this particular point should strike me, but it did! I think I felt that the stories would be somehow more believable if Mother hadn’t met any of the Tree folk. I felt that only children should have the privilege of meeting fairy-folk and having magical adventures, perhaps.

It is quite ironic really that on the one hand what appealed to me about the books was their base in familiarity, and the thing that annoyed me as a child was the crossover between the children’s magical world and the adult’s “real world”!

Another aspect of their appeal must surely lie in the wonderful characters in the book – the fairy-folk, I mean. I personally find the three children to be a bit bland, and I kept getting confused between Bessie and Fanny (and I think the only reason I’m not confused about Jo is that he is the only boy sibling!). The two other children that come to stay in the second and third books, cousin Dick and Connie have slightly more personality – if it is just only a couple of points about Dick being greedy and Connie being curious and stuck-up.

The magical folk, however, are bursting with personality. My favourites are Moon-Face, who is very resourceful, but can also be very naughty, the Saucepan Man with his hot temper and funny songs, the Angry Pixie who values his privacy, and the humble red squirrel who works hard for Moon-Face collecting cushions at the bottom of the slippery-slip, and only wants a new red jersey without holes in it.

With a cast of such memorable characters and the endless possibilities of the lands at the top of the tree, it is really no surprise that these books are not only one of my personal favourites, but the favourites of many children all over the world, since they were written in the 1930s/40s right up to today.

Posted in Book reviews | Tagged Faraway Tree Series, The Enchanted Wood, The Magic Faraway Tree, Written by Corinna | 1 Comment

My Favourite Birthday Cake – Enid Blyton Style

Posted on December 15, 2012 by Fiona

I think I might have mentioned it once or ~~twenty times~~ twice, but Five Go to Smuggler’s Top is one of my favourite books. For that reason my lovely mother made me this cake for my ninth birthday – though she missed out the apostrophe that Smuggler’s Top is supposed to have. I won’t hold that against her though. Much.

My most favourite birthday cake

That in itself seems a blog-worthy story, but something really funny then happened on the day of my birthday party.

My friend Lesley – also a Blyton fan – ran up to the cake, and said “oooh, I love this book” and then tried to open it. The cake. Which was just a cake, and not some sort of impressive feat of baked engineering, so all that happened was the cake ended up with a couple of fingermarks on it, and I had one slightly embarrassed party guest. No real harm was done, though and the cake was cut up and eaten later anyway.

Not only was it a really cool cake, it tasted great too. I bet this year’s cake will be lovingly bought from Tesco, but still, cake is cake!

Did you ever get an Enid Blyton themed cake? Or were any of your birthday cakes mistaken for the real thing? Share your stories in the comments!

PippaStef Edit: I just want to say that, even though she’s too modest to say so herself, I think you ought to know that funnily enough, today is Fiona’s birthday! (I won’t say how young she is, however!) In which case, I ask you to join me in wishing her a Happy Birthday!

Posted in Personal Experiences | Tagged Birthdays, Cake, Five Go to Smuggler's Top, The Famous Five | 1 Comment

The Party – A poem by Enid Blyton

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Fiona

Christmas is fast approaching and for many people that’ll mean at least one Christmas party this weekend. Here’s a poem by Blyton about a Christmas party.

You take off your coat and you change your shoes,
The party’s begun, there’s no time to lose,
You can hear them “Gathering Nuts in May”,
And you’re simply longing to go in and play.

There’s Twirl-the-Tray, and you twirl it fast,
And Musical Chairs, and you’re left in last,
There’s Twos and Threes and General Post,
And you really don’t know which you like the most.

There’s tea, with ginger and chocolate cake,
And coloured jellies that shiver and shake,
There’s trifle with cream, and pink strawberry ice,
There’s Christmas cake, too, and they cut you a slice.

There are dozens of crackers to pull with a bang,
There’s a Christmas tree, too, on which gay presents hang,
And then, oh dear, how the time does fly,
It’s “Thank you for having me!” and “Goodbye!”

Originally published in Teachers World No.1496 Jan 27, 1932. Copied from The Tenth Holiday Book, published 1955 by Sampson Low.

Office Children’s Party (Photo credit: Mish Mish)

Whatever kind of party you’ve got lined up we hope you have fun 🙂

Posted in Poetry | Tagged Cake, Christmas, Party | 1 Comment

Series Synopsis: The Famous Five Books 16-18

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Fiona

Here we are at the penultimate instalment of my Famous Five series of posts. Thanks to anyone who’s stuck with me and actually read them all. As always there may be spoilers, I accept no responsibility for ruining your enjoyment of these books.

First edition dustjackets from “Five Go to Billycock Hill”, “Five Get Into a Fix” and “Five on Finniston Farm” illustrated by Eileen Soper

FIVE GO TO BILLYCOCK HILL, 1957

The Location: Billycock Farm and Hill

The ‘Baddies’: The phony Mr Brent and Mrs Janes’ son

Significant other characters: Toby, a friend from school, Toby’s little brother Benny and Curly his pigling, Jeff their cousin who is a flight lieutenant in the RAF and Mr Gringle a lepidopterist also known as a ‘butterfly man’

The Plot: The Five are camping in the Billycock area, near Toby’s family’s farm. They meet Mr Gringle out looking for butterflies and find him quite strange, but still visit the butterfly farm to admire his collection. They go back the next day to show the butterfly Anne caught, but it is Mr Brent they see and he behaves even more peculiarly.They also talk to Mrs Janes who warns them away as her son is a nasty piece of work. Late one stormy night they hear a plane flying overhead and see who they think is Mr Brent out on the hill. The next day they are scared out of the Billycock Caves by a loud whistling noise. Jeff is then reported missing – and he s being accused to flying off abroad in his top-secret plane. A bit of investigating is in order so the boys head to the butterfly farm, and are briefly captured. Benny and Curly then disappear, but Curly reappears with a something written on him that leads the Five to the missing people.

My favourite parts: Not one of my favourite books, I can’t think of much I really love about this book. Julian is kind to Mrs Janes, the old lady, and gives her some money, and Benny is cute with his pig who “runned away”.

The five are scared out of the caves in “Five Go to Billycock Hill” illustrated by Eileen Soper

FIVE GET INTO A FIX, 1958

The Location: The Five are in Magga Glen in Wales to recover from an illness.

The ‘Baddies’: Thomas Llewellyn- The old lady’s son.

Significant other characters: Mrs Jones at the farm, her son Morgan, Aily, Fany-the-lamb and Dave-the-dog.

The Plot: Heading to Magga Glen the driver takes a wrong turn and they head up a hill, at the top is a house with a bIg gate and a loudly barking dog. As they head back down the car struggles to move, it seems to weigh a ton, but works fine again once they are off the hill. The Five settle in at the farm, and are enjoying themselves until Timmy gets into a fight with some of the farm dogs and George is determined to go home. Mrs Jones suggests they take the summer cabin, where Julian and Dick stopped at on their walk and met Aily, the little daughter of the shepherd. She dresses far too lightly for the weather but doesn’t seem to feel the cold and doesn’t speak much English. With that sorted they move into their new digs and enjoy a spot of tobogganing, but at night a really strange thing happens – there is a loud rumbling and vibrating from underground and a bizarre shimmering above the hill opposite where the house is.

My favourite parts: Morgan shouting for his dogs. DAI! BOB! TANG! DOON! JOLL! RAFE! HAL! Makes me shiver, every time. (And yes, I named them all without looking it up!) Aily is cute, too, and I like how she interprets the letters Mrs Jones throws her and the “fence that bites”.

The Five see a strange sight from the cabin in “Five Get Into a Fix” illustrated by Eileen Soper

FIVE ON FINNISTON FARM, 1960

The Location: The eponymous Finniston Farm

The ‘Baddies’: The American Mr Henning and his sidekick Mr Durleston

Significant other characters: Mr and Mrs Philpot, the Two Harrys (twins – Henry and Harriet), Junior Henning, Nosey the Jackdaw, Snippet the Poodle and Grandad.

The Plot: The Five are staying at Finniston farm, as are Mr Henning, a loud American man, and his rude son. Mr Henning is determined to buy as many old heirlooms from the Finnistons as possible, and the Finnistons are short of money so they agree. There was once a castle on the farm ground, which burnt down long ago. Supposedly there were dungeons which were never found, though they contained treasure from the castle. The Five, plus the Philpot twins decide to search for the dungeons to help out Finniston Farm, but Junior Henning hears them and Mr Henning gets a permit to dig for the dungeons – digging where he saw the Five discover the castle’s kitchen midden earlier. Thanks to Nosey and Snippet, the Five plus the twins are able to enter the dungeons before the men but getting out of the dungeon is not as easy as getting in. Thankfully two of the farm workers are around to help out.

My favourite parts: The story of how the castle was burned down, and of the Lady escaping with her children. I also love Grandad’s triumphant sword-wielding at the end. I wasn’t aware of this as a child but Finniston Farm is based on a real farm owned by Enid Blyton which is a lovely thing to read in the foreword to the book.

Five explore the farm in “Five on Finniston Farm” illustrated by Eileen Soper

What do you make of these three titles? Are any of them your favourite?

Next post: Books 19-21

Posted in Book reviews | Tagged Famous Five Series Synopsis, Five Get Into a Fix, Five Go to Billycock Hill, Five on Finniston Farm, The Famous Five | Leave a comment

The Christmas Book – A Review

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Fiona

This is the first time I have read The Christmas Book despite having bought it from Su over a year ago. I had planned to leave it until Christmas-time to read but I managed to lose it! Well, it wasn’t really lost – it was on one of my shelves the whole time but I kept missing it as the lettering on the spine has faded away to nothing. My copy is the third printing from 1946 which was given as a Christmas gift by Marlene in 1946.

The inscription at the front of the book.

From the descriptions of The Christmas Book found on the internet it sounds like it is one of Blyton’s traditional family stories – and this was what I was expecting when I opened it. It turns out that it’s rather more along the lines of Rambles with Uncle Nat or large parts of the Farm Series. The family setting is really just a vehicle for Blyton to impart a large number of stories, myths and facts on the subject of Christmas traditions. Interestingly Blyton thanks a friend of hers, L. Brimble, for giving her much of the facts that she wrote the book around. Usually Blyton’s books were written with little conscious effort, rather than being planned or researched.

Silhouette drawing of the children making Christmas cards.

I actually found every story within the book interesting, and the majority of it was new information to me (which I’m sure I will take great joy in imparting to my friends and family over the Christmas season – they’ll soon be sick of me saying “did you know…”) The book covers the origins of just about every Christmas tradition – some of which are still deeply ingrained in our Christmas celebrations and others which are rather more uncommon these days. It covers Christmas cards, mistletoe, Yule logs, mumming, wassailing, Santa Claus, stockings, gift giving, carols, holly, the Christmas tree, as well as telling the story of the birth of Christ.

Illustration of the nativity

In the foreword Blyton writes:

“There is no time of the year at which we honour more old customs than at Christmas time. The whole season is full of them and their beginnings go back down the centuries into the mists of time. We keep many of these old customs without knowing their meaning – but it adds much more to their interest if we know how they began, where and why… This book tells the story of a family who like to keep Christmas properly, and in the course of the story, most of the old customs are explained in, I hope, an interesting and natural way, so that the child reader will learn and enjoy at one and the same time.”

Unfortunately, at a few points in the book (mostly early on), I found the introduction of some of the stories to be a little contrived and unnatural (possibly due to the manner in which the book was written as I mentioned earlier) though I’m sure a child reader would not have had this problem. I was also a little disappointed that the mother, on being asked the origins of a tradition, almost always said something along the lines of oh, I don’t know, I’m not very clever – you’ll have to ask Daddy when he comes in from work. She might as well have said I’m just a woman and housewife! Clever old Daddy, though, managed to be a bit offensive at one point – after explaining what people from long ago believed about mistletoe he called them “ignorant” which I found a bit cruel – they formed beliefs based on the information and knowledge they had available to them at the time. Those beliefs may seem laughable to us now, but then again, I’m sure plenty of things Daddy would have believed true in the 1940s would be laughable to you or I (smoking is good for your health, for example).

Contrivances and gender stereotypes aside, the tellings of the origins themselves are well written. They are long enough to include enough of the facts but not so long that they become dull. I actually read one of the stories aloud to my other half (who has no interest in Blyton) and he listened to it all and found it very interesting (probably because it was a retelling of Norse mythology, but still, progress!)

The children decorating the tree

The illustrations are by Treyer Evans (who did some of the books in the Find-Outers series) and they’re very nice. Unusually, there are two styles of image. Most are regular line drawing with a little shading (fairly similar to his work on the Find-Outers books) but others are silhouettes of the characters. There are illustrations of the family going about their Christmas preparations and celebrations as well as several of the myths, historical scenes and of the nativity story. It also has rather nice coloured endpapers (which for a moment I thought had been carefully coloured in by a previous owner!)

Illustrated colour endplates

One of my favourite parts was when the youngest, Ann, heard Santa Claus landing on the roof of the house. One year I could have sworn I had heard a bump and jingling from the roof of my house but I didn’t end up having cocoa with Santa so maybe it was just my parents in the loft fetching the presents?

First edition dustjacket illustrate by Treyer Evans

First edition dustjacket illustrated by Treyer Evans

Have any of you read this book, or is it something you’d like to read? For those of you who have read it what did you think of it? Did you learn anything?

Posted in Book reviews | Tagged Christmas, Holly, Mistletoe, Saint Nicholas, Santa, Santa Claus, The Christmas Book, Traditions, Treyer Evans | 3 Comments

My childhood books, part 2

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Fiona

Welcome to another lengthy ramble and reminiscence! Part One covered Amelia Jane and the Famous Five and this part will be about the Adventure Series and Malory Towers.

THE ADVENTURE SERIES

I think I started reading the Adventure Series not long after the Famous Five, and again had a mismatched set of books. Four were beautiful early editions with illustrated boards (and no dustjackets) and they had the same ‘smell of adventure’ (musty pages) as my Famous Fives did. I also had two Armada paperbacks and two 90s paperbacks.

The Macmillan hardbacks were the first two: Island of Adventure and Castle of Adventure, as well as book 5: Mountain of Adventure and book 7: Circus of Adventure, all of which were handed down to me by my mum.

Island, Castle, Sea and Circus with illustrated boards. You can tell they’ve been well read over the years!

Valley of Adventure (3) and Sea of Adventure (6) were Armada paperbacks that used to belong to my mum (who coloured in several of Valley’s pictures in thick dark pen – though she denies it and is blaming her brother!).

The Armada paperbacks, covers uncredited.

Ship of Adventure (6) and River of Adventure (8) were 90s paperbacks, by Piper. There’s a lengthy story as to why this is the copy of River that I had. I originally had an Armada paperback, with a plain paper cover replacing the missing original. My sister then for some unknown reason borrowed the Piper copy from the school library, and then proceeded to drop it down the toilet. (She came downstairs in tears wailing “I’ve done a baaaad thing, I’ve done a teeeeerible thing!” which I will never let her forget.) We then replaced the school copy and kept the wrinkly water damaged one. We were just going to tell the school we’d had a mishap with the book, but my sister decided to walk up to the head teacher in the corridor and announce the book’s fate to all and sundry.

Piper paperbacks of “Ship” and “River”, covers by Peter Mannim.

With this series my least favourite stories are the ones which 90s paperbacks. River is my absolute least favourite of the series, and Ship just isn’t quite as good as the other books for me. I have a very hard time organising the other six into an order of favourites – except for Circus which is the clear winner for me. Interestingly, while both the Macmillans and the Armadas have Stuart Tresilian’s wonderful illustrations, the Piper editions are not illustrated – which might be partly why those two are my least favourites especially compared to titles like Mountain which is considered the weakest title by several people I know. Like with my Famous Fives I liked reading the hardbacks best, what with their “smell of adventure!” I also liked the images on the fronts – almost like having a dustjacket in my opinion – as well as the illustrated spines.

The spines of my hardbacks featuring Kiki the parrot.

MALORY TOWERS

Trying to write about my Malory Towers books has given me such a headache. I’ve been racking my brains, I’ve even frozen my bottom off searching the loft looking for the box of old books… and I still can’t be sure which copies I had/read for two in the series.

Second Form I know was the Dragon paperback – though I’d definitely read it in some form borrowed from the library before getting that version from an unknown source as I remember being desperate to read that thrilling cliff-top scene with Mary-Lou and Daphne again. I didn’t own Upper Fourth as a child, but the copy I remember best was an 80s Methuen hardback with dustjacket which I borrowed a few times hundreds of times from the local library, and I later bought the same version on eBay (accidentally, I think as I would have been after an earlier book) which once belonged to a Newcastle public library. Whether or not I owned another version between the library borrowings and the Newcastle copy, I have no idea.

“Second Form” Armada paperback, cover by Paul Wright and “Upper Fourth” Methuen hardback, cover by Hilda Offen

In the Fifth was a 90s Dean hardback, which was also borrowed multiple times from the library – and eventually I bought it from the sale rack for about 20p. Last Term, a 90s Armada paperback, was presumably bought for me by my parents.

“In the Fifth” Dean hardback, cover by Hilda Offen, and “Last Term” Armada paperback cover by Gwyneth Jones.

Not a very exciting set of stories, but for the life of me I couldn’t tell you where or when I got most of those books, just like I cannot identify which copy I had of First Term or Third Form. There are 15 versions to choose from in the Cave of Books… none of them jump out at me like the others did. I’ve considered the possibility that I never owned them, and so don’t remember those two as I only read them a few times having borrowed them from the library, but I was so sure I’d had them all. The fact I can find the other four in the loft somewhat lends credence to that theory though. Maybe I’m confusing myself with completing the collection in hardback.

Favourites wise, I’d say I like all six about equally, so my preference really wasn’t influenced by format. All my copies had illustrations by Jenny Chapple, and I remember quite liking them – though my memory has failed me again and I couldn’t tell you what her style was like… though I’ve now made another trip into my freezing loft to find out. They’re quite good – perhaps a little wobbly-lined but they’re fairly timeless and simple. Perhaps the uniformity of illustrator was more important than the disparity in format and covers. Actually, when I started buying the Methuen hardbacks I was slightly disappointed by Stanley Lloyd’s illustrations as their shading is a bit strong so fine detail is lost somewhat, plus the characters looked different to what I was used to.

I’m going to stop before my memory completely gives out now! Do you recognise any of these editions, if so what do they mean to you?

Posted in Personal Experiences, Purchases | Tagged Armada, Dragon, Editions, Gwyneth Jones, Hilda Offen, Jenny Chapple, Macmillan, Malory Towers, Methuen, My Childhood Books, Paul Wright, Stanley Lloyd, Stuart Tresilian, The Adventure Series | Leave a comment

Winter and Christmas reads, part 2

Posted on December 10, 2012 by pippastef

I hope you all enjoyed my last book on the Blyton books you should be reading this winter. Here are five more titles in my list of winter and Christmas must reads by Blyton. If you missed my first post you can see it here.

Warning; May Contain Spoilers

Now for those wintry titles:

1. I’m going to start with maybe a not so obvious winter title: In the Fifth at Malory Towers. Published in 1950 and the penultimate book in the Malory Towers series it sees the girls in the beginning of the fifth year, the winter term. Over the course of the novel we have references to winter sports and to make the Fifth the most interesting book yet, the run up to the Christmas Pantomime that our heroine Darrell Rivers gets to write and the whole form performs. This book isn’t quite as wintry as some of the others on this list, but it certainly helps you get into that Christmas spirit!

In the Fifth at Malory Towers 1957 reprint by Lilian Buchanan

!In the Fifth at Malory Towers!, 1957 reprint, illustrated by Lilian Buchanan

2. The Christmas Book is my second title – and in the run up to Christmas what could be a better book to curl up and read. It follows four children, Benny, Susan, Ann and Peter in the run up to Christmas, with the story ending on the big day itself. Its filled with interesting facts about traditions at Christmas. Its a good one for topping up your Christmas knowledge and makes you feel very Christmassy.

The Christmas book illustrated by Treyer Evans in 1944

“The Christmas book”, 1944, illustrated by Treyer Evans

3. The Mystery of the Strange Bundle is the 10th book in the Five Find-Outers series, and even though we can call it a wintry book, we can’t go as far as to say that it’s a Christmas book. This mystery takes place after Christmas, when the children are just recovering from the flu that Bets gave them all when they came home from school. Most of the Five Find-Outers – Bets being the exception – have been in bed over Christmas (rather like Five Get Into a Fix). Anyway this mystery is rather a change for the Five Find- Outers as things become clear that they are dealing with a much more national problem. Not a particularly Christmassy read, but still good when you consider the children wrapped up warm against the cold and snow!

“The Mystery of the Strange Bundle”, 1952, illustrated by Treyer Evans

4. Five Get Into a Fix The 17th Famous Five novel is in a way is one of Blyton’s most blatant Christmas stories, being one of the two only Famous Fives to be set around Christmas. Like the Mystery of the Strange Bundle, the Five spend Christmas in bed with coughs and colds, but this time at the house of Julian, Dick and Anne’s parents. We are treated to wonderful post Christmas snowy scenes as the Five are sent to Magga Glen in Wales to build their strength up again after their illness. Needless to say, they manage to find themselves in the middle of a rather thrilling adventure.

Five get into a Fix 1958 Illustated by Eileen Soper

“Five get into a Fix”, 1958, illustrated by Eileen Soper

5. Shock for the Secret Seven is the 13th Secret Seven novel. During the Christmas break, fights break out amongst the Seven because of Jack not being able to remember the secret password and his sister Susie always knowing it. For a while the Seven cease to exist, but then dogs start to go missing, including Scamper. We’re treated to scenes of the Seven sketching footprints in the snow and stomping about in Wellington boots in the cold. A proper winter tale!

“Shock for the Secret Seven”, 1962, illustrator unknown

So there you are! Another five wintry books for you to try out! Which one’s your favourite? Or have I missed any out? Let us know in the comments below!

All pictures taken from The Cave of Books.

Posted in Reading Recommendations | Tagged Christmas, Five Get Into a Fix, In the Fifth at Malory Towers, Malory Towers, Seasonal Reads, Shock for the Secret Seven, The Christmas Book, The Famous Five, The Five Find-Outers, The Mystery of the Strange Bundle, The Secret Seven, Winter | Leave a comment

Series Synopsis: The Famous Five Books 13-15

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Fiona

Welcome to post number 5. You know the drill – there might be spoilers here if you’ve not read (or can’t remember) these books. Again, we are extremely lucky that these books were even written. After succumbing to her readers’ requests to continue the series beyond the planned 6, Blyton then intended to finish the series with book 12 Five Go Down to the Sea. But as before, she was inundated with pleas from her readers and continued the series. Hurrah!

First edition dustjackets from “Five Go to Mystery Moor”, “Five Have Plenty of Fun” and “Five on a Secret Trail” illustrated by Eileen Soper.

FIVE GO TO MSYTERY MOOR, 1954

The Location: Captain Johnson’s horse riding school near Milling Green and the surrounding moor – once called Misty Moor, now known as Mystery Moor

The ‘Baddies’: A group of gypsies who travel to the moor regularly.

Significant other characters: Sniffer, one of the gypsy kids, Henry(ietta) – a girl from the riding school who also likes to act like a boy

The Plot: The girls are staying at a riding school, and George is well and truly sick of a girl there who dresses and acts like boy. When the boys came back from a school trip and join them things get worse as they mistake Henry for a real boy. Due to overcrowding at the school, the Five decide to borrow tents and go camp on the moors. They follow ‘patrins’ laid out by Sniffer, a gypsy boy they met at the stables when he brought his injured horse for care. They camp out on the moor, near where the gypsies are – and they are shining some sort of light at night. A plane then starts dropping lots of small packages of money in the area. The Five gather them up – sure something funny is going on – and decide to head back to the stables. One of the mists the moor is famous for rolls up and the group gets separated. The girls are captured and it’s down to Timmy to get help.

My favourite parts: The tragic and slightly creepy tale of the Bartletts as told by the blacksmith, and he clever re-use of George’s bright idea from Five on a Treasure Island to trick the men.

The five find the old train-engine in “Five Go to Mystery Moor” illustrated by Eileen Soper

FIVE HAVE PLENTY OF FUN, 1955

The Location: The Five are back at Kirrin for this adventure

The ‘Baddies’: Enemies of Elbur – an American scientist working with Uncle Quentin

Significant other characters: Berta, Elbur’s daughter, Jo the gypsy girl who we’ve met twice before and her fair friend Spiky.

The Plot: The daughter of Uncle Quentin’s friend is reportedly in danger – people have threatened to kidnap her it order to learn scientific secrets. Elbur has said he would give away all his secrets in order to have his daughter returned, and in exasperation Uncle Quentin arranges for Berta to come and stay with them at Kirrin. She arrives in the dead of night, and to George’s annoyance she has brought her pet poodle, Sally. Strange flashes – the sun glinting on field glasses perhaps – are seen from Kirrin Island, and the family suspect people may know where Berta is. She is then disguised as a boy, and when Aunt Fanny and Uncle Quentin leave for a few days, she sleeps in Joan’s room in the attic. George takes Sally out to the kennel at night to get some peace, and is taken by mistake. In her nightwear she apparently looks more like a girl, and after all she is carrying a poodle, so to the men she must be Berta. It’s then up to the rest of the Five to find out where George is (the police, though very attentive, are never very good at solving crimes) with the help of their old friend Jo. Meanwhile Berta goes back to being a girl, one with a new name, and is taken in Joan’s sister. They track George down to a fair in another village – but she’s already been moved on and they have to do a spot of breaking and entering to rescue her.

My favourite parts: Jo’s literal interpretation of Julian’s “do NOT take my bike”, which meant she simply took Dick’s instead, the scamp! Also, Uncle Quentin’s inability to get Berta’s name right, as he always seems to be one step behind. As soon as he remembers there’s a girl called Berta staying, she becomes a boy called Leslie. By the time he’s got that straight she’s a girl again this time called Jane.

Having a swim before the adventure starts in “Five Have Plenty of Fun” illustrated by Eileen Soper

Five on a Secret Trail 1956

The Location: A common near Carter’s Lane

The ‘Baddies’: Prisoner Paul’s cronies.

Significant other characters: Guy and Harry Lawdler

The Plot: George goes off camping, in a huff, because people are laughing at Timmy wearing a collar to protect some stitches behind his ear. Anne soon joins her and they do a bit of exploring – running across a strange and slightly annoying boy a few times. That night Anne sees a light and hears noise coming from half ruined cottage near by but George doesn’t believe her. The next night it pours with rain and they shelter in the cottage – and they both see people standing outside, and a man looking in the window at them. They’re pretty scared – even tough old George, so they decide to pack up and head home. Before they get very far Julian and Dick show up, and feeling braver they all decide to stay, only to witness a spooky light and noise show clearly designed to scare them away. The five pretend to pack up and leave, hoping they will then catch the baddies in the act. Julian and Dick spy on a group of people who seem to be searching the cottage for a stone slab of a certain size, which is near water. They don’t find what they’re looking for, but the five now know what size of stone to look for. They find one of the strange boys at the archaeological site, and he tells them he has a twin and who has been kidnapped. Together they find the right stone slab and enter the secret passage and find some blue prints. They find the kidnapped twin and get caught by the bad guys but they are the Famous Five and that has never stopped them before.

My favourite parts: How they figure out the “friendly country woman” is not all she seems, the confusing appearances of a strange boy until they figure out it’s a pair of twins as well as a well-hidden secret passage. The end is quite amusing, too, as they discover the scientist hasn’t even noticed his blueprints have been stolen.

Discovering the way into a secret passage in “Five on a Secret Trail” illustrated by Eileen Soper

Next post: Books 16-18

Posted in Book reviews | Tagged Famous Five Series Synopsis, Five Go to Mystery Moor, Five Have Plenty of Fun, Five on a Secret Trail, The Famous Five | Leave a comment

Sunskriti’s Animal Character Exploration: Kiki from the Adventure Series

Posted on December 8, 2012 by worldofblyton

By Sunskriti, age 10.

Kiki has always been my favourite Blyton animal. She’s funny, adorable, and loyal. How? What made me say that? You might disagree. But funny, for example should be obvious. With her ready stream of talk, way of getting mixed up, and sometimes making noises at crucial points of the adventure to scare away the baddies she always amuses me. For example, in The Valley Of Adventure, when Juan goes to have another look in the shed, Kiki is sulking and is annoyed to see Juan again. “Wipe your feet! And how many times have I told you to shut the door?” This and a few other dialogues frighten the men to the point of fleeing from the shed! I would give anything to listen to her railway engine screech! She loves being the centre of attention, and seems to say quite the right things at times!

Kiki scares Juan and Pepi out of the cowshed in “The Valley of Adventure” illustrated by Stuart Tresilian.

Adorable. What tells you she is adorable? Well, I’d pay to have a pet like her! Don’t you find it adorable the way she always puts in her words, enters into the conversation, and most of all, nibbles Jack’s ears? And then what about Silly-Billy? That’s SO cute!

Now to the aspect of loyalty. Kiki is happy as long as she is with Jack, and loves to comfort him whenever he’s feeling afraid or sad. There are too many examples for this one! She will never run away from Jack, and her master gives her the love and affection he can.

But most of all, what I want to tell you regarding Kiki isn’t the above 3 aspects, but her feelings and emotions. Blyton has shown her in such a way that we think she is one of the children herself, because of her talking. But actually she DOESN’T know what she’s saying. But Kiki says doesn’t always make us share her emotions much. Blyton was a clever author as she tells us how Kiki is feeling, where Kiki wouldn’t be able to tell us herself. It is often written in the books that Kiki is sulky, sad, frightened, puzzled, etc. This shows her real emotions behind her talk. Here are a few examples:

Valley Of Adventure: Kiki is Sulky.

“Kiki was most interested in all the proceedings. When Jack hung the rope down the tree, she gave it such a tug with her beak that it was pulled from Jack’s hand and fell to the ground.”

Jack is angry with her when she does it 2 or 3 times, and she’s later shown as sulky.

River Of Adventure: Kiki is Afraid.

“Kiki hadn’t liked the continual drenching spray, and hadn’t seen anything of the waterfall at all. She had hidden herself in Jack’s cardigan, afraid of the noise and afraid of the spray.“

This shows she is afraid and doesn’t like it all much.

So you see, though she is only a parrot, she has a good many emotions, which is her most striking feature to me.

With her ready talk, this parrot will be the death of me! It has definitely made me like pets, and is a successful character in the Adventure Series for sure!

Kiki in “The Island of Adventure” illustrated by Stuart Tresilian.

Long live Kiki!

More of Sunskriti’s animal explorations can be found here, or posts about Blyton’s animals in general are here.

Posted in Characters | Tagged Animals, Kiki, Sunskriti's Animal Character Exploration, The Adventure Series, Written by Sunskriti | Leave a comment

A Blyton childhood in New Zealand

Posted on December 7, 2012 by worldofblyton

by Corinna

I had a simply smashing childhood! I loved to go for bike rides with my friends, explore the tiny pine forest behind our house, dig for treasure at the beach and have picnics of sandwiches, cakes and ginger beer. And of course, I loved reading Enid Blyton books.

So how old do you think I am? Would you think that I grew up in England in the 1950s?

I started reading Enid Blyton books independently when I was 6 or 7, which makes it the early 1990s. I grew up around the other side of the world, in New Zealand. It has been suggested (often as a case for modernising Blyton’s books) that modern children cannot relate to Blyton’s stories, and contain unfamiliar language and concepts that interfere with the storyline. To which I say – nuts to that!

There are of course many differences between my childhood in suburban New Zealand in the 1990s and the adventurous lives of the Famous Five, the Five Find-Outers, and the Mannering/Trent clan but I would argue that they enhanced rather than hindered my enjoyment of the books.

A case in point is money – something rarely mentioned in the Famous Five but a pivotal part of the Find-Outers stories (they seem to do a lot of sleuthing over ice cream or cakes in the tea shop!) Most of the Find-Outers books I have are first or early editions, and therefore the currency is pre-decimalisation, and has also not been adjusted for inflation. Was I ever confused about this? Probably – but when I asked Mum and Dad about it I learnt all about pre-decimal currency. New Zealand had the New Zealand Pound which was divided into the same units as the GB Pound at the time until 1967 when it changed to a decimal currency and the New Zealand Dollar. I remember my poor Dad trying to explain inflation to me when I asked how come they could purchase an icecream for only twopence!

Another key difference that I remember noticing as a child was the vocabulary: adjectives such as smashing, wizard, marvellous, brick (as in “you’re a brick, old thing!”) and phrases like “that’s a turn-up for the books” and “nineteen to the dozen” were not in common usage in the New Zealand of my childhood. I always managed to either figure out the meaning from the context though, or by asking my parents, who were slightly more familiar with the language (some of my Blyton books are my parents’ 1960s editions).

My sister, who is a primary school teacher, has pointed out that children in New Zealand are probably more familiar with the unfamiliar in terms of children’s books. As a small country with limited (but excellent) children’s authors, children in New Zealand read books from all round the world, particularly from Britain and the USA, and come across unfamiliar language and currencies all the time. What do some of our British commenters think?

Another interesting comment from my sister regards how children in New Zealand are tested on their reading skills. As part of the testing, they are given text to read with unfamiliar vocabulary in it, and have to work out the meaning from the context. So not only are children extremely capable of handling unfamiliar language, but it is also an important part of learning to read and an ongoing skill. Even as an adult with an Arts degree, I still come across words (in English) that I don’t know!

And finally, to tie in with a certain upcoming holiday, the seasons were of course all back-to-front for me. Christmas in New Zealand (although loaded with colonial imagery of snow and reindeer and robins) is in mid-summer, and is during the long school holidays. Blyton’s books provided an excellent example for my parents to explain the shape and rotation of the earth and show me why this means that we have Christmas in summer and our coldest month in July.

Above all, though, I would suggest that the reason why I enjoyed her books so much was that I really could relate to the children – I too loved to solve puzzles and read and eat and ride my bike. Although I never had the opportunity to apprehend smugglers or go on camping trips without my parents, I don’t think that many children in the 1940s and 50s did either! After all, isn’t that the point of books – to escape into a fantasy world where such things are possible?

I firmly believe that Blyton books will still be relevant and entertaining to children in the future (and can even provide a painless lesson in historical currency, economic inflation, and even meteorology!) and I certainly plan to read them to my own children one day. Even if this means I will have to explain what a bike is (they’ll have hover bikes) and cash and winter…..

Posted in Personal Experiences | Tagged Childhood, New Zealand, Written by Corinna | Leave a comment

Julian’s News, chapter 1

Posted on December 6, 2012 by pippastef

As you may have gathered from my last fan fiction post I like to think of myself as a bit of a writer. I received very positive feedback from those of you who read my last story and I’m truly grateful that you took the time to read it! It does mean a lot to me.

After this piece was published on the blog I was presented with an idea by someone on the Enid Blyton Society Forums for a short piece on what it would be like for Julian to tell the remaining members of the Famous Five about his ‘girlfriend’ (Side note: The piece before describes a meeting between Julian Kirrin and Sally Hope at St Andrews, which for all intents and purposes DOES NOT happen prior to my completed fan fiction novel. However, this piece takes the almost natural progression from the previous piece and assumes that in the end they do end up dating).

When this idea was suggested to me I pounced upon it immediately (figuratively, of course) and my imagination took control. I started to write down the conversations and the reactions relevant to Julian’s piece of news. Almost naturally I started by looking at how Julian would inform Dick of his relationship with Sally Hope, and what his brother’s reaction would be. So this is where I’ll start today.

In time I hope to complete the two interactions between Julian, George and Anne with the same piece of news. Dick’s however seemed the easiest to write.

I hope you enjoy this piece, please leave any feedback, and thank you very much for reading!

TELLING DICK

Julian Kirrin stood in front of the newspaper stand, his satchel on his back and his case by his feet. Tucked under his arm was the afternoon’s paper as he had his hands in his pockets to try and keep them warm while he waited for his brother’s train to come in.

Julian felt a little awkward about this meeting with his brother: it was the first proper time he had been away from his family for so long and he wasn’t entirely sure of how to greet him. A hearty slap on the back seemed like a good enough greeting for his younger brother.

Another reason for Julian’s hesitation was that he hadn’t been very good at keeping in touch with his family this term, what with one thing and another. The adventure he and his university friends had been on had taken up most of his time, as had the work load. It hadn’t just been the work and adventure that had kept him from writing more frequently to his brother and sister, but more importantly the introduction of Sally Hope into his life.

Sally had dominated his thoughts for most of the term, and it was only two days ago, standing outside in the ruins of St Andrews’ Cathedral when they had admitted their attraction to each other. Julian smiled to himself at the memory as he heard the big clock strike eleven.

Yes, telling the others about Sally was setting Julian on edge. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell them and show Sally off, but he was unsure how his brother and cousin would take it.

Julian was almost certain that Anne would approve of the relationship. Sally was sensible and kind, like Anne. Julian smile wryly when he realised that both of them had a certain habit of asking him not to get involved in adventures.

Whereas Julian was sure Anne would approve of Sally he wasn’t so sure about his cousin, Georgina. George, as she liked to be called, had scorned Anne on plenty of occasions for not wanting to have an adventure and was in fact more like Darrell Rivers, Sally’s best friend. Julian wasn’t sure how George would take to Sally or the idea of Julian being grown up enough to be in a relationship. George did like having adventures.

Julian looked around as people started heading off the platforms, trying to spot his brother Dick. They had to make good time to get to Paddington to catch the train to Kirrin, so Dick needed to be punctual off the train.

Julian looked at his watch impatiently as the crowds began to thin out, before finally spotting Dick making his way towards him, a huge grin on his face.

“Hallo Julian,” Dick said, in his usual cheeky tone. Suddenly all of Julian’s awkwardness disappeared.

“You Fat-head. I honestly was beginning to think that you had missed the train,” Julian said in a teasing tone, picking up his suitcase and starting to walk. “What on earth possessed you to get off the train that slowly! We have to get across London yet.”

“Good to see you too Julian,” Dick said, a touch sarcastically as he followed his brother. “It wasn’t my fault I was sat at the end of the train, or that everyone managed to get ahead of me!”

Julian smiled at Dick over his shoulder as they headed down towards the tube.

“You should know by now that I dislike being kept waiting,” Julian said, easily as they started down the stairs to the platform.

“Oh I know,” Dick said, with a grin, ducking ahead of Julian. “I am familiar with you, you know!” He called over his shoulder.

Julian gave his brother a playful shove on the shoulder and laughed.

“Get on will you! There’s a train due in a moment!”

Soon enough the boys were at Paddington, and on their train to Kirrin.

“So tell me about St Andrews? What was university like? Your letters were horribly vague,” Dick said, once their luggage had been stored in the racks above their heads. Julian laughed.

“St Andrews is, well it’s really good. It’s such a magnificent place, Dick, you have no idea. It is so different from Oxford and Cambridge. It’s like Kirrin, gets under your skin,” Julian said with a laugh. “The university is grand as well, rambling buildings and it has a nice feel to it.”

“Well that’s all very well,” Dick said, with a gleam in his eyes. “But are you going to tell me about this adventure you had? I did think you were very mean in having an adventure without the rest of the five. I suspect George will be sulking with you because if it. And when I got your letter telling me, well I must say, it was a very poor account Ju.”

Julian laughed.

“ I’m not good at writing down our adventures, only good at telling them to the police,” Julian said with a wink. “Anyway, I shan’t fill you in on the details until we’re all together, that’s only fair, and I don’t want to tell the story half a dozen times!”

Dick laughed and glanced out of the window as the train sped out of London, heading towards the coast and Kirrin.

“You seemed to be having fun though,” Dick said, after a moment. “St Andrews certainly seems to agree with you. I wasn’t even sure it was you back at the station. You seem much older somehow.”

“Do I? Well I feel older,” Julian said with a grin. “It’s certainly different from school. In fact it is incredibly different if you take the girls studying there into account.”
Continue reading →

Posted in Fan fiction | Tagged Dick Kirrin, Julian Kirrin, Julian's News, Sally Hope, The Famous Five | 1 Comment

A song from “Santa Claus Gets Busy” by Enid Blyton

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Fiona

There’s just three weeks until Christmas so Santa must be getting all the toys ready to deliver to all the children around the world.

Here’s a song from “Santa Claus Gets Busy” a musical play for juniors in one act, written by Blyton.

The toys:
One by one now into the sack we go,
Soldier, sailor, rabbit and all in a row
Santa Claus is waiting for his sack to fill,
When we are inside we know we must keep still.

Then down the chimneys Santa Claus will climb,
Brining children toys at Christmas time;
In their stockings he will put us one and all,
Golliwog and Teddy Bear and Duckling small.

When they wake up, all the girls and boys
Will be glad to see so many toys,
How they’ll clap to see so many toys,
How they’ll clap their hands and shout “Hip-hip-hurray!”
What a lovely time we’ll have this Christmas Day!

Good-bye, good-bye, now we all must go
On our journey over ice and snow.
Close the sack and tie it up and make it fast,
Off we go with dear old Santa Claus at last!

Santa:
Gnomes and fairies, I must say goodbye,
Drive my reindeer up into the sky,
I’ll come back again another year to you,
But now I must depart and journey all night through!

First published 1939 by A. Wheaton.

A 1914 depiction of Santa Claus in Japan

Posted in Poetry | Tagged Christmas, Santa, Santa Claus | 1 Comment

Poppy’s Book of the Month: Five Go Adventuring Again

Posted on December 4, 2012 by worldofblyton

By Poppy Hutchinson age 11

Title: Five Go Adventuring Again
Series: The Famous Five
Main Characters: George, Anne, Julian, Dick and Timmy
Published: 1943
First Published By: Hodder & Stoughton
Rating (Out of 5): 4/5

You will most probably all have have figured I have picked Five Go Adventuring Again for this month’s book review for a reason. That reason being the joyful season of Christmas approaching. Five Go Adventuring Again has a delicious Christmas feel to it unlike most of the other Famous Five novels where the five are described to be lazing in the glorious sun. This novel is the second in the fantastic Famous Five series and is quite a lot different I think, to the others. Basically, the book is about Uncle Quentin hiring a tutor for the children over the Christmas holidays. In the meantime Quentin’s large valuable notebook, where he writes all his formulas and experiments goes missing, apparently stolen. There are quite a few ups and downs in this book, and I found it rather depressing hearing about George’s sulks and strops. My liking of Uncle Quentin decreased when I heard he had hired a tutor for the children over Christmas — a rather harsh thing with it being the Christmas Holidays. I certainly wouldn’t like to have someone staying at my house over Christmas, never mind the work! Aunt Fanny was rather weak over this, I think. Poor George had a hard time those holidays, her cousins and her parents all against her. Then poor Tim is made to live outside. This will certainly have broken her heart. Kirrin Farmhouse is mentioned a lot in this book with the sliding panels and the last excitement all ending up there, but no doubt you will read about that yourself!

I have given this book a 4 star rating. I did not award the last star because it wasn’t my favourite Famous Five book, and also, like I said, it was a little depressing at times, hearing about George’s sulks and strops. I loved the story line but would have appreciated fewer arguments! I would recommend this book to 9+ girls and boys for anyone who wants a good Christmas read to get into the jolly festive mood. A very merry Christmas to everyone!

Dustjacket from the first edition of “Five Go Adventuring Again” illustrated by Eileen Soper

Image taken from the Cave of Books at http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk

Posted in Book reviews | Tagged Five Go Adventuring Again, Poppy's Book of the Month, The Famous Five, Written by Poppy | 3 Comments

Monday Musings in the First Week of December

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Fiona

It’s Monday again, just where did the weekend go? Anyway, we’ve actually got quite a few things planned for the blog this week and for the coming weeks.

We have the next instalments of Poppy’s Book of the Month and Sunskriti’s Animal Explorations, we’ve got two new contributors busily writing their début pieces plus the next parts of My Childhood Books and the Famous Five Synopsis by me. PippaStef will hopefully be putting together another set of recommendations for great winter reads, and we’ve also got a few Christmas themed Blyton poems and songs to share with you.

This weekend saw two milestones: the World of Blyton Blog turned one month old yesterday, and on Saturday I celebrated 5 years as a member of the Enid Blyton Society Forums.

As always, we will end our post by thanking everyone who’s reading the blog and we encourage you to comment, contribute and critique!

Have a great week everyone!

P.S. The forecast is for cold weather and maybe even snow in the UK so wrap up warm, won’t you?

Tomorrow’s weather for the UK.

Posted in Blog talk | Tagged Anniversary, December, Monday, Weather, Winter | Leave a comment

Winter and Christmas Reads, part 1

Posted on December 2, 2012 by pippastef

Yesterday we hit the twelfth month of the year – December and we all know what December means: Christmas!

Now I don’t know about a lot of you, but when I think of Enid Blyton my mind doesn’t automatically go to the winter/Christmas stories that she wrote. I know that when I think of Blyton my mind automatically goes to her books on the perfect summers and spring times with holidays in abundance; lots of picnics, walking, cycling and swimming.

I know that Blyton has a fairly strong Christmas repertoire and in this blog post I hope to highlight some of these works for you so you can spend your long December evenings curled up with a good Christmas story by Enid Blyton. And maybe this list will help with padding out your Christmas lists! 😉

I’m going to start with five Winter/Christmas books from Blyton for you to enjoy!

[Some suggestions taken from the Enid Blyton Society forums!]

1. Five go Adventuring Again

Cover from “Five Go Adventuring Again” illustrated by Eileen Soper

The second Famous Five adventure takes place in the run up to and the days after Christmas. Filled with good food and a mystery within Kirrin Cottage itself, and a great deal of snow, this thrilling book is worth a read on the run up to Christmas for sure.

Images from “Five Go Adventuring Again” illustrated by Eileen Soper

2. The Mystery of Tally-Ho Cottage

Cover from “The Mystery of Tally-Ho Cottage” illustrated by Treyer Evans

The 12th book in the Five Find-Outers series, we have a nice winter mystery which includes hot drinks in the dairy as well as finding a stolen painting in the village of Peterswood.

Images from “The Mystery of Tally-Ho Cottage” illustrated by Treyer Evans

3. The Six Bad Boys

Cover from “The Six Bad Boys” illustrated by Mary Gernat

Bob, one of the six boys plans to spend Christmas down in the cellar of the ruined house where the group originally met. Rather emotional, so make sure you have plenty of tissues with you when you read this one!

Images from “The Six bad Boys” illustrated by Mary Gernat

4. The Rat-a-Tat Mystery

Cover from “The Rat-A-Tat Mystery” illustrated by Anyon Cook

More of a January mystery for this book in the Barney series, but still one to read in the the depths of winter. The snowy landscape helps create a great atmosphere when the children are hot on the heels of another mystery. Snowy footprints it a great image to take from this book . Something I always like when it snows – seeing all the footprints left.

Images from “The Rat-A-Tat Mystery” illustrated by Anyon Cook

5. The Secret Seven

Cover from “The Secret Seven” illustrated by George Brook

The first book in the Secret Seven series set in a wonderful wintry scene where the boys pretend to be snowmen, and the seven have mugs of blackcurrant tea (actually quite yummy!)

Images from “The Secret Seven” illustrated by George Brook

As you can see, snow features quite heavily in my first five books full of Blyton’s wintry wonderlands. Why don’t you look out and read a few yourself?

Let me know which one you prefer below and hopefully next week, I’ll have a few more suggestions for you to get your teeth into!

Enjoy 🙂

All images taken from the Cave of Books at http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk

Posted in Reading Recommendations | Tagged Christmas, Five Go Adventuring Again, Holidays, Seasonal Reads, Snow, The Barney Mysteries, The Famous Five, The Five Find-Outers, The Mystery of Tally-Ho Cottage, The Rat-a-Tat Mystery, The Secret Seven, The Six Bad Boys, Winter | 2 Comments

Series Synopsis: The Famous Five Books 10-12

Posted on December 1, 2012 by Fiona

This is part four of the series of Famous Five posts. If you’ve not yet read these three books you might find this gives away some things you didn’t want to know, so read on at your own peril.

First edition dustjackets from “Five on a Hike Together”, “Five Have a Wonderful Time” and “Five Go Down to the Sea” all illustrated by Eileen Soper

FIVE ON A HIKE TOGETHER, 1951

The Location: Some un-named moors (though presumably not the moors from Off To Camp or Mystery Moor), the Taggarty’s cottage, Two Trees and Gloomy Water.

The ‘Baddies’: Dirty Dick (who’s as unpleasant as his name suggests) and his friend Maggie.

Significant other characters: Dirty Dick’s poor old deaf mother, an escaped convict by the name of Nailer, an extremely rude and unhelpful police man (a rare occurrence in Blyton books) and a helpful old postman.

The Plot: The Five set out for a few days of hiking at their Autumn half-term holiday. Timmy hurts his leg down a rabbit hole so George and Julian take him to Mr Gaston at Spiggy House (no known relation of Spiggy Holes) as Mr Gaston keeps horses and dogs, and there’s no vet for several miles. Dick and Anne carry on to find Blue Pond farmhouse following directions from an old fellow they meet – who only seems to know the word “ar” – and in the pouring rain they stumble across a cottage they assume is the farm. The deaf old lady there lets Anne sleep in a little attic room, and sends Dick out to sleep in an old barn. He is awoken in the night by a man with a wild-eyed face who rattles off a strange message and passes him a scrap of paper. Once the Five are reunited the next morning and have had an epic breakfast they take the note to the village policeman, convinced it had something to do with the escaped convict they’d heard about. Annoyingly the policeman completely disregards them, and sends them away. There’s nothing for it but to hike to Two Trees as mentioned in the mysterious message and try to figure it all out. Unfortunately the message has been delivered to Maggie as well so she and Dirty Dick turn up at Two Trees and are not pleased to see the five. The Five have to use all their brains to outwit the dastardly duo and find the loot before they do.

My favourite parts: The message “Two Trees. Gloomy Water. Saucy Jane. And he says Maggie knows”, and the treasure map marked “Chimney, Tock Hill, Steeple and Tall Stone” are both fixed in my memory. I still laugh at Maggie and Dick trying to watch for all the landmarks at once and then how the five outwit them at the end. I also like the atmosphere of the book, from the terror of the bells clanging at night to the sinister feeling of Gloomy Water.

Timmy stuck down a rabbit hole and being rescued by Anne in “Five on a Hike Together” illustrated by Eileen Soper

FIVE HAVE A WONDERFUL TIME, 1952

The Location: Faynights Castle

The ‘Baddies’: Mr Pottersham, the scientist.

Significant other characters: The fair folk: Bufflo, Skippy, Alfredo, Mr India-Rubber and Mr Slither, Jo the gypsy girl, Beauty-the-snake, Mr Terry-Kane the other scientist.

The Plot: The Five are camping by Faynights Castle and struggling to get along with their campsite neighbours – some gypsy fair folks – until Jo turns up and bridges the gap between the two sides. It turns out she’s related to some of them. It has been in the newspapers that two of Uncle Quentin’s colleagues have gone missing, and rumour is that they have defected with some important secrets. Uncle Quentin is adamant his friend would never do such a thing, so when the Five look through their field glasses and see a familiar face at a window of the castle they are determined to get to the bottom of things. They set off at night to investigate and end up prisoners themselves, but Jo is able to escape and rally the fair-folk into embarking on a daring rescue.

My favourite parts: Another ruined castle, and more secret passages – some of my favourite things in real life as well as in books. I like how George is late to the holiday thanks to a cold caused by swimming in the sea in April, that sounds just like her, doesn’t it?

Dick spots someone at a castle window in “Five Have a Wonderful Time” illustrated by Eileen Soper

FIVE GO DOWN TO THE SEA, 1953

The Location: Down by the sea in Cornwall, the Five are staying at Tremannon Farm.

The ‘Baddies’: The Guv’nor

Significant other characters: Mr and Mrs Penruthlan, Yan and his old grandad, the Barnies.

The Plot: There is a history of wrecking on the Cornish coast and they are intrigued to hear from Yan and his grandad that there are still lights being shone on stormy nights. The Barnies, travelling performers, then arrive to set up for their annual performances in the Penruthlan’s barn. Julian and Dick sneak out a couple of times and become suspicious of Mr Penruthlan as they’ve seen him out when he’s told his wife he’d been in the stables. The five decide to explore the hillside ruin where the wrecker’s light is supposed to shine from, and find a secret way where they then get trapped. This being a Famous Five story though, of course they escape and are able to apprehend the wrong-doer at the last possible moment.

My favourite parts: Julian and Dick dressing up in Clopper’s costume and getting stuck in it makes me laugh every single time. I like the whole Barnies idea, travelling performers who can make everyone laugh and have a great time even if the singing is a little off, and the props are falling apart. Oh – and of course – there’s a secret passage, and by now you should know I love those.

Trapped down in the Wrecker’s Way in “Five Go Down to the Sea” illustrated by Eileen Soper

Next post: Books 13-15

Posted in Book reviews | Tagged Famous Five Series Synopsis, Five Go Down to the Sea, Five Have a Wonderful Time, Five on a Hike Together, The Famous Five | 3 Comments

Second Form at Malory Towers

Posted on November 30, 2012 by pippastef

Warning: Spoilers

Second Form at Malory Towers is (surprise, surprise) the second book in the Malory Towers series. First published in 1947, a year after First Term at Malory Towers.

Once again we join Darrell Rivers on her way to Malory Towers down in Cornwall. The second journey however we are treated to the company of Sally Hope as Darrell’s best friend. The two girls are seen to be very close, a complete change from the first book. This gives us some insight to the past year of the girls’ lives at Malory Towers, but mostly in regards to Darrell’s famous temper.

Almost immediately we are treated to a different Sally – happy, carefree and such a lovely change from the first novel. Instantly she is seen to be a very good friend for Darrell and in her way a very charming character. Second Form at Malory Towers is not so much Darrell’s book as it is Sally’s. We get to see Sally as head girl of the second form, promoted over older girls because of her sensible and caring nature. Alicia Johns takes great offence to this.

The second book is where my dislike for Alicia’s character really grips me. In Blyton’s books the message that’s always relayed is that nasty people receive a comeuppance but Alicia’s always seem slight and never quite achieves the required effect on her. From the moment Sally is made head girl of the second form on the second day of term, Alicia decides that she will not follow Sally’s rules – beginning as an almost quiet protest. She calls Sally “such a bore” which seems unfair. Head girls are chosen for their qualities – good work and a calm nature – not for playing tricks on the mistresses! Alicia almost seems a little immature in the second form for her outbursts continue – culminating in an explosive confrontation with another girl in the form.

Three new girls grace the pages of Second Form: Belinda Morris, a scatter brained artist who draws caricatures like a political cartoonist for a newspaper, Ellen Wilson, a rather moody scholarship girl and Daphne Turner, a not-all-she-seems pretty girl who is instantly Gwendoline Lacey’s favourite.

The new girls at Malory Towers, illustrated by Stanley Lloyd

The first fun of the term starts when Alicia and her friend Betty Hill are restless and decide to play a trick on their unsuspecting music master. The trick itself is genius, simple and quite a hoot. When I was little I always wanted to get my hands on some “invisible chalk”. It was clearly one of the safest tricks that is played in the Malory Tower’s series.

The first time the trick is played it comes off perfectly, with hilarious results, however when the trick is played a second time it’s not quite as successful. You’ll have to read the book to find out more specifically – but as a result Alicia becomes very cold towards Darrell, trying to wind up our heroine and make her lose her temper.

Mr Young sitting at his piano, illustrated by Stanley Lloyd

After the tricks, things really start to kick off for the second formers. Belinda’s artistic flare gets the better of her and she captures a feud between the two Mam’zelles. The fight is over the casting of the lead characters in the two French play that the girls will be doing. Mam’zelle Dupont wants Daphne – her current favourite – to take the parts while Mam’zelle Rougier would like anyone but Daphne to take the parts. Needless to say that the mistresses come to blows, and the situation only comes to a close with the ‘help’ of Belinda’s drawings.

Mam’zelles Dupont and Rougier argue, illustrated by Stanley Lloyd

Once the problems with the Mam’zelles have been sorted out the term starts to move by quite quickly and as a reader you start getting more into the action and wondering what the girls will be up to next. Now is when the focus is brought back to one of our new girls, Ellen Wilson, who isn’t doing very well academically even though she should be as a scholarship girl. Problems arise and Sally asks Jean (the shrewd Scot’s girl) to befriend her in the hope that it will make Ellen less snappy.

Along the way we start to discover that girls’ personal belongings – money and jewellery – have gone missing. Oh golly – there’s a thief in the second form. Everyone begins to suspect Ellen, and Alicia even confronts her about it against Sally’s wishes. Poor Ellen. I do feel for her as a character – not at first maybe but certainly later on. I relate to her work wise as well. Ellen says quite a few times that she has to slog really hard to achieve her fine results: I too have to work hard to get good results in my work.

Without giving too much more away, I shall tell you that there is a twist to the plot in this story and it’s handled very well.

Overall, Second Form at Malory Towers is not one of my favourites, but I do still like it because we get to see more of people’s characters. Sally Hope isn’t in the background as much as in later books. Belinda and Irene simply make for the most astonishing situations, and the invisible chalk trick is really quite brilliant.

There is a point in the book where the headmistress, Miss Grayling, is talking about good and bad and one quote really stands out for me, so I thought I would share it.

“We all have good and bad in us, and we have to strive all the time to make the good cancel out the bad. We can never be perfect – we all of us do mean or wrong things at times – but we can at least make amends by trying to cancel out the wrong by doing something worthy later on”

This statement really gets me as it talks about how everyone has a choice, how you can be whatever you want to be and that people can change. I think it’s an incredibly important lesson for us all to take on board.

It is a very readable book (aren’t they all?) and there is a darkness to this story, almost like a cloud that hangs over the plot, creating atmosphere. It really is a thrilling read. I love the way the characters interact and Sally come more to the forefront of the book than she has previously and ever will do again really. This is one thing that grieves me about Malory Towers is that Sally (particularly) starts off with the potential to be such an interesting character and all her flare is gone by the end of book two it feels.

Apart from my personal grievances about the characterisations after Second Form at Malory Towers, it really is a book to get your teeth into and enjoy! So I suggest you pick it up and give it a go, you won’t be disappointed!

“Second Form at Malory Towers” dust jacket 1957 reprint by Lilian Buchanan

Next review: Third Year at Malory Towers

Or read a review of the audio adaptation of Second Form here.

Posted in Book reviews | Tagged Malory Towers, Second Form at Malory Towers | 3 Comments

My childhood books, part 1

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Fiona

This series of posts is inspired by a thread on the Enid Blyton Society Forums, where members are discussing which Blyton was the first they read or bought. Many of them have fond memories of a particular copy of the book(s) they first read, and often lament the loss of such copies due to clear outs or house moves.

MY COLLECTION, THEN AND NOW

As a child I had a rather eclectic Blyton collection. Very little of it matched – I had tatty hardbacks, a few neat hardbacks with dustjackets, varying styles of Armada and Knight paperbacks and some rather ugly shiny modern paperbacks (modern = from the 90s!) Most, if not all the older books were handed down from my mum, aunts, uncles and cousins. Despite all these different copies a lot of my ‘main’ series weren’t complete and some series were missing altogether.

Now I have an awful lot of old hardbacks my paperbacks are relegated to a box in the loft, but seeing their covers often evokes a particular feeling about the stories they contain or where they came from. Using the wonderful Cave of Books, an amazing project by Tony Summerfield, I have pulled together as many images of my childhood Enid Blyton books as I could and I’m going to attempt to write about their origins and their effect on my childhood reading.

I’ll do this by series, so first up is what I think might be my first Enid Blyton books (I did ask my mum but she couldn’t remember)

AMELIA JANE

I adored the stories of Amelia Jane as a child, in fact I still have a soft spot for them. I remember being horrified at the things she did – especially her first story where she got scissors and cut holes in things like the carpet, the curtains even snipping off the pink rabbit’s tail. Funnily, my sister did something rather similar aged 5 or so (cutting holes in a half knitted jumper and my favourite home-made Sindy dress amongst other things) I wonder if Amelia Jane inspired her?

“Naughty Amelia Jane” and “Amelia Jane Again”, Dean impressions illustrated by Rene Cloke.

I had the first two books in the series, brightly coloured Dean & Son hardbacks. I’m usually quite disparaging of the Dean editions (been bitten once too many times by sellers describing them as firsts) but I rather like these two as they’re familiar and immediately put me in mind of the wonderful stories inside. I often turn my nose up at reprint illustrators (Rene Cloke included) but looking at the dustjacket for the first edition, I find myself preferring Cloke’s image of Amelia Jane, though it’s clear it’s closely based on Sylvia Venus’ work. Cloke’s internal images may not be better than Venus’ but I find their familiarity comforting, and her particular style takes me right into that nursery alongside the toys. I also think Cloke’s Amelia looks more doll-like, while Venus’ Amelia could be a real child.

Illustrations of the same scene from “Naughty Amelia Jane”, on the left by Sylvia Venus and the right by Rene Cloke.

I just love the cheeky smile on Amelia Jane’s face in Cloke’s illustrations.

THE FAMOUS FIVE

I had several versions of Famous Five books in my collection (I did have all 21 though). Several (Books 1-3: Treasure Island, Adventuring Again, Run Away Together, 5 and 6: Caravan and Kirrin Island Again, 9 and 10: Fall Into Adventure and Hike plus 14 and 15: Plenty of Fun and Secret Trail) were Hodder and Stoughton hardbacks with red boards. They’d all been owned by two or three family members before me, so were really rather tatty – several didn’t even have their spines any more. I only had book 4 Five Go to Smuggler’s Top and book 11 Five Have a Wonderful Time with dustjackets, (I’m ashamed to say I lost the one from Smuggler’s Top as I liked to display the lovely clean and bright boards underneath it).

The second version dustjackets from “Five Go to Smuggler’s Top” and “Five Fall Into Adventure”.

Book 8: Five Get into Trouble, as well as books 16-19 (Billycock Hill, Fix, Finniston Farm and Demon’s Rocks) were Knight paperbacks from the 70s, bought by my mum to fill the gaps in her collection.

Knight paperback covers from “Five Get Into Trouble”, “Five Go to Billycock Hill”, “Five Get Into a Fix”, “Five on Finniston Farm” and “Five Go to Demon’s Rocks”, by Betty Maxey

And lastly were the 90s paperbacks (in two different styles) bought by my parents so I could read all of the books. Those were Camp (book 14) Sea (12), Mystery Moor (13), Mystery to Solve (20) and Together Again (21).

90s paperbacks – “Five Go Off to Camp” (Knight, uncredited), “Five Go Down to the Sea” (Hodder, Barnett), “Five Go to Mystery Moor” (Hodder, David Barnett), “Five Have a Mystery to Solve” (Hodder, David Barnett), and “Five Are Together Again” (Knight, uncredited)

I loved my hardbacks – reading them felt more special somehow than picking up a paperback. I remember classifying the smell of old books as “the smell of adventure” as the two were so intrinsically linked for me. Saying that some of my hardbacks fell into what I’d consider my “least favourites” category while some of the paperbacks are amongst my favourites. I certainly much prefer Eileen Soper’s illustrations to those of Betty Maxey, and for me Soper’s depictions ARE the Five.

Depictions of the same scene from “Five on a Treasure Island”, on the left by Eileen Soper and the right by Betty Maxey. Soper captures George’s haughty walk but Maxey seems to have her sleepwalking past! Likewise, the others actually look surprised in Soper’s illustration and completely indifferent in Maxey’s. The less said about the flares the better.

Having said all that I’m not offended by Maxey’s covers for the paperbacks I had – but that may just be because they are familiar and remind me of the stories. Most of my 90s paperbacks are amongst my least favourites (Sea being the only real exception) I don’t know if that’s down to the stories themselves, the covers or the complete lack of illustrations.

Anyway, I think I’ve rambled enough for one post!

Did/do you have any of these editions? If so, do you love them or do you prefer another version?

Posted in Personal Experiences, Purchases | Tagged Amelia Jane, Betty Maxey, Dean & Son, Editions, Eileen Soper, Hodder, Hodder and Stoughton, Illustrators, Knight Books, My Childhood Books, Rene Cloke, Sylvia Venus, The Famous Five | 2 Comments

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FIVE GO TO BILLYCOCK HILL, 1957

FIVE GET INTO A FIX, 1958

FIVE ON FINNISTON FARM, 1960

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MALORY TOWERS

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All pictures taken from The Cave of Books.

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FIVE GO TO MSYTERY MOOR, 1954

FIVE HAVE PLENTY OF FUN, 1955

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Valley Of Adventure: Kiki is Sulky.

River Of Adventure: Kiki is Afraid.

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TELLING DICK

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Image taken from the Cave of Books at http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk

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All images taken from the Cave of Books at http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk

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FIVE ON A HIKE TOGETHER, 1951

FIVE HAVE A WONDERFUL TIME, 1952

FIVE GO DOWN TO THE SEA, 1953

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MY COLLECTION, THEN AND NOW

AMELIA JANE

THE FAMOUS FIVE

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