New Class at Malory Towers: Bookworms by Lucy Mangan

Posted on February 26, 2022 by Fiona

I’ve had this book ages but only recently read the first story, A Bob and a Weave by Patricia Lawrence. I wrote so much about that one short story that I’ve had to review each story in a separate post.

The plot of Bookworms

In a nutshell: Darrell starts visiting Malory Towers’ library and makes friends with the library monitor. Someone then starts playing pranks in the library and it’s up to Darrell to stop them.

There will likely be spoilers through the rest of the review, so if you don’t want the story spoiled I suggest you stop reading now.

Looking for a quiet place to sit Darrell ends up in the library where she meets Evelyn, the library monitor. Although the blurb of the book suggests that all the unfamiliar girls we meet are ‘new girls’ Evelyn doesn’t seem new, just new to us. She is older than Darrell and has clearly been at the school a while to earn library monitor status.

I really like Evelyn as I can really relate to her.

We use the Dewey Decimal System. Anything else is anarchy.

– Evelyn

My thoughts exactly, Evelyn.

She recommends that Darrell try The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, which Darrell loves.

When she returns for more Evelyn points her to the Noel Streatfelds, only for Darrell to remark that He seems to write an awful lot about shoes. I can relate to that too, as in a job interview for the library I referred to D.H. Lawrence as she. I didn’t get the job that time, I’m not sure if it was because of that blunder, but probably not.

Then the pranks start. Evelyn finds a muddy heap of worms inside a Shakespeare book along with a note.

A few more bookworms to join your club.

Which is actually quite witty! Darrell recognises the handwriting as Alicia’s but out of loyalty she doesn’t tell Evelyn, but just has a word with Alicia. It had no effect as next there’s jam and bread in a cookery book, then the trickster really ramps it up by turning all the books the so that the pages face out, and not in the right order. Not only that but various books have been bent and bashed in the process.

It put me in mind of the recent (heinous) trend for backwards bookshelves, but I doubt the trickster was just making a style suggestion.

Darrell has had enough now and having confronted Alicia and Betty a couple of times without success decides to turn the tables and play a trick on them, with the unlikely help of Emily and Mary-Lou. Basically they pretend to have read that some worms are poisonous, and make the two of them believe that they’ve been poisoned. And thus ALicia and Betty are chastened and Alicia apologises to Darrell and Evelyn, and even hints she might use the library after all.

How does it compare to the originals?

As with the review of A Bob and a Weave I will look at four key points:

  • Is it set in the same time, and is it updated in any way?
  • Does it fit with the continuity of the series?
  • Are the characterisations consistent?
  • Does the author attempt to adopt Blyton’s writing style, and if so is that successful?

The setting and updates

It is still set in the past, and the library books are by Blyton’s contemporaries.

Series continuity

They mention the chalk trick as occurring in the last term, so this is towards the end of their second form. Marietta isn’t mentioned, so it’s hard to say if this follows on from the previous story or not.

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe was published in 1950, and White Boots in 1951, which places this story to 1951 or later. So a few years later than Blyton had in mind. She didn’t always write her books to fit in with real time (for example the Famous Five have 21 adventures over 22  real years, but if you account for time of year the books are set in they take place over 11 years, but the children only age about 5 years), but with Malory Towers being published one a year for six years, and Darrell moving up a form each year, it would make sense that her fifth form year was around 1950 when the book was published. She certainly wasn’t still in the second form then.

I did wonder if Malory Towers actually had a library, but yes, there is one solitary mention of it in the six books –

“I’ve had to help Potty with the books in the library,” went on Gwen. “Great heavy piles! It’s set my heart fluttering like anything!”

– Upper Fourth at Malory Towers

I think Blyton threw that in there randomly as it’s never mentioned any other time, and the girls never spend any time in there that we know of. It still strikes me as odd that this story asserts that no-one would think to look for Darrell[in the library], as she intends to be a writer and surely therefore enjoys books?

In fact it’s quite a big part of the book that Darrell isn’t really a reader but Evelyn persuades her. I suppose Blyton never really had Darrell read for fun, I just always assumed as a budding writer it went without saying.

There are at least two or three occasions where Betty is in the north tower second form common room, something that I don’t think ever happened in the real books. Betty and Alicia were in separate towers to keep them apart for one, something that would have been pointless if they were allowed in each others’ towers – it’s also said that girls sneaking to other towers for midnight feasts is a far worse offense than just having one for that towers girls. In Fifth Form they do gather all the fifth formers in the north tower fifth form common room, but that’s the only time I can think of, except for the already rule breaking midnight feasts.

Characterisation

Again, I don’t think this story gets Alicia quite right. She’s definitely mean but she is not cutting, she doesn’t have that sharp, dry wit. She’s jealous of Darrell’s friendship with Evelyn – that’s like Alicia – but the repeated attacks on the library aren’t. I’d think her more likely to put worms or something into a book right before Darrell returned it, hoping to cause a disagreement between Evelyn and Darrell.

At the end while I suspect that Alicia and Betty might fall for the poisonous worms trick, they’d be rather suspicious, being tricksters themselves. Even if they did believe it, I doubt they would run from the room wailing as this story has them doing. I think they’d walk off, heads held high after pouring scorn on the idea that they’d been poisoned.

The style

This is closer to Blyton’s style than the last one, but it doesn’t capture it entirely. The language is Blyton-ish with frightfully, awfully, and so on used just the right amount.

Overall

I enjoyed the library scenes and I really like Evelyn – it’s a shame that she’s a one-off character.

I’ll shelve that in my “uninformed opinions section”

– Evelyn

Alicia being the enemy two stories in a row was a bit much, though. Between the two they’ve turned her into a bit of pantomime baddie.

There are quite a few contrivances in the story, though I recognise that short stories don’t have the space to explore all the backgrounds.

Darrell ends up in the library as she needs somewhere quiet to sit – this could have been achieved in a few words about her being tired of Gwen boasting or Alicia teasing or anything. Instead the story begins with them going to the pool and she and Alicia tormenting Gwen in the water.

It adds that Darrell is already in trouble for teasing Gwen recently, and for rushed prep – neither are unbelievable but they do seem like an information dump of excuses to get Darrell into the library, especially when you add that her first two choices are the boot room which is being cleaned and a music room which is being painted.

Overall this was definitely a better effort than the first story, but it still didn’t quite get it right.

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A guide to Enid Blyton reference books

Posted on February 24, 2022 by Fiona

I have already written a guide to Enid Blyton biographies, books which have covered various aspects of her life and career, so what’s left are some non-fiction books that don’t really fit the biography category.

So You Think You Know Enid Blyton’s Famous Five?

by Clive Gifford

This is actually a quiz book rather than a standard reference-type book. It contains over 1,000 questions (according to the introduction, I didn’t count them), mostly about the Famous Five, but with a few about Blyton thrown in too, and even the odd one about Noddy and other Blyton creations. Personally I would have preferred just 900 Famous Five questions, rather than having it padded out to 1,000, but a bit of variety can’t be too bad.

You also have to watch as they go by the updated text as I have spotted a question about Uncle Quentin giving the children money, and whether it was 25p, 50p or £1.

The questions are divided into three sections easy, medium and tough, with there being 50 easy, 50 tough and the rest being medium. I’m sure you’ll be glad to know as well that all the answers are at the back.

I wrote a fuller review here, which I had entirely forgotten when I wrote this, if I had remembered I could have saved myself some time!

The Famous Five Everything You Ever Wanted to Know!

by Norman Wright

There is a chapter in this about Blyton herself, but it more or less just summarises the usual biographical information. The rest of the book is all about the Famous Five (not surprisingly).

There are guides to the characters, from the Five to their families, their friends to enemies and even the various animals they encounter. Places, both real and fictional, including a section all about Kirrin locations.

There is also a summary of each of the 21 books, and over 150 quiz questions (and answers) at the end.

Who’s Who in Enid Blyton

by Eva Rice

I have written three very long posts (one, two and three), and then a fourth about the updated version, about this book. To summarise, this is a guide to characters from several of Blyton’s main series. Unfortunately is is patchy and inconsistent, with some books getting almost every character (no matter how minor) listed, and other books getting the bare minimum. There are also glaring omissions and various mistakes throughout.

Dissecting the Magic of Blyton’s Famous Five Books

by Liam Martin

I have also written about this one, but just one post! This is a useful book which has categorised all sorts of details about the Famous Five books, such as locations, the weather, food stuffs, animals and nature, and so on. It lists each item and where the reference(s) can be found in the books.

Enid Blyton Society Publications

Many of the society publications are more booklets than books, but are still very much worth the money.

There are rather a lot so I will just provide a few highlights here, and leave a link so you can see the rest.

The ones I have are the illustrated bibliographies, which come in four volumes and cover every Blyton book published from 1922-1974. They provide all the main publishing details, publisher, date, plus the format of the book and dustjacket etc. It also gives some details on reprints.

There are also indexes to Enid Blyton’s Magazine (unfortunately sold out, and I wish I’d managed to get one), Sunny Stories and Sunny Stories for Little Folk.

And lastly The Famous Five — a guide to the characters by David Rudd surely promises to be better than Eva Rice’s attempt.

A full list of ‘further reading’ on Blyton can be found on the Society Website here, including all the Society booklets and some booklets and pamphlets from other sources that I haven’t mentioned.

The Enid Blyton Society Shop has some of their publications available, though others have sold out. It may be possible to find them second hand, however.

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Monday #464

Posted on February 21, 2022 by Fiona

It is back to just me writing this week, and although I was able to come up with two posts fairly easily it has taken me until 11.30pm on Monday night to write this. If I’m lucky I’ll get it finished before midnight and actually publish it on Monday still.

A guide to Enid Blyton reference books

and

New Class at Malory Towers part 2

‘Eunice!’ said Daisy. ‘Goodness, what an unusual name. But look at the clock, Fatty—you won’t be in time to meet them—it’s eleven-forty-five already!’

‘Oh, my goodness!’ cried Fatty, leaping to his feet. ‘I must go. No, it’s all right. That clock’s fast. What about you all coming with me to the station and seeing what our dear Eunice is like? Come on!’

They paid the bill hurriedly and went out of the little shop, all looking gloomy. Yes—no wonder Fatty felt fed-up. Blow Eunice—she would spoil everything!

With storm Eunice having blown through this past week I thought that this was an apt quote!

mystery of the missing man eunice tolling

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Malory Towers on TV series two – Episodes five and six

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Fiona

I has been a while since I reviewed the first four episodes of series two, Christmas got in the way and then I just never got back to it. That’s not a great sign, really, if you watch 4 episodes of something then aren’t that bothered about watching the rest, but I definitely haven’t found this series as good as the last.

A reminder of episodes one and two, and three and four.

Episode five: The Caricatures

It is Alicia’s birthday in this episode, but unlike last year a hamper from her family has not arrived. Alicia is pretty upset – as you would be (it turns out OK in the end, though, as the delivery has just been delayed).

Mary-Lou, the recently discovered artist, gives her a picture of Matron and Mam’zelle, though a big deal made about how it mustn’t be shown to anyone else.

And so it becomes very clear now that Mary-Lou is taking on Belinda’s plots. In the book Belinda draws the two Mam’zelles trying to murder each other, as they are driving the girls mad fighting over who will act in the French play. The two Mam’zelles have a long history of not getting along but I can’t recall if Mam’zelle and Matron have the same sort of attitude, or if Mam’zelle had to face a spider in the last series/episodes. If anyone’s spotted anything like that as a background to the drawing, let me know!

Back to Belinda for a moment, I’m rather gutted that she won’t be in the show. Katherine and Emily have moved on (with no acknowledgement) so there should have been room in the dorm for two new girls. I love Belinda, and her friendship with Irene, so it’s a real shame that she isn’t going to be brought to life.

Anyway,  for a joke Alicia sticks it to the chalkboard, thinking that Mr Parker will enjoy it (in the book the girls put the sketchbook on the desk thinking Mam’zelle Dupont will find it funny). In both it is Mam’zelle Rougier who shows up unexpectedly, leaving the girls desperately trying to remove the picture before she sees it.

In the book Darrell goes up and says the book has been put there by mistake, and nearly gets away with it, but Mam’zelle Rougier being pedantic wants to check it before it was taken.

This adaptation goes for a sillier series of events. As it’s on the chalkboard in plain sight the other girls need to distract Mam’zelle while Alicia retrieves the picture. Before she can sit down again, though, Mam’zelle asks her to come up to the front. It seems to me that she had time to try to slip the picture into her desk or hand it to someone else, but no, she takes it back to the front albeit hidden behind her back. I know that Mam’zelle is sharp and might have noticed and asked to see it anyway, but surely it was worth a shot? Instead, running out of options she then slips it into the pile of prep on the desk, the pile that Mam’zelle is going to mark later…

After French class the girls join Matron in their housecraft lesson, where Sally has arranged for them to make a cake for Alicia’s birthday. Earlier, Matron had told her she needed to find the ingredients, somehow, a bit of a challenge given that they are still under rationing. As it turns out Ron has worked a miracle and got them flour, sugar and eggs (real, not powdered!) from the grocer.

They then make the cake in the attic room where they do their painting, music, try on debutante dresses etc. I thought it seemed an odd choice (but they only seem to have seven sets), as although the mixing is easily done anywhere it still has to be baked. Later we see Matron with the iced cake back in the attic room, so either there’s an oven up there or she carted it up and down the stairs. This is when she can’t resist eating a big slice (her internal battle is a treat to watch).

Luckily Alicia wasn’t present for the lesson, as she had gone to try to get the picture back – which begs the question, how was Sally planning to surprise Alicia if Alicia was supposed to be in the lesson? It isn’t explicitly said it would be a surprise but none of the girls mention it to her before hand, and Sally talks about making it for Alicia not with Alicia.

There’s also the question of how the cake gets finished, as Mam’zelle catches Alicia and hauls the rest of the class back down to grill them on who is responsible.

This is where Alicia acts somewhat un-Alicia like. She lies and tells Mam’zelle that she drew the picture. First up, Alicia isn’t a liar. In fact she often tells too much of the truth. Few of Blyton’s characters, excepting ones like Gwen, tell lies. Secondly, Alicia (at least of the books) doesn’t have a whole lot of time for Mary-Lou who she finds to be a baby, so she wouldn’t be that keen to protect her. And thirdly, Alicia is not stupid, and should know that it is not a credible lie as she simply cannot draw like that.

Miss Grayling is smart enough to know that Alicia is lying, but Mary-Lou has plucked up the courage to come clean just as Alicia is being forced to draw something.

Despite all the proof being in front of her Mam’zelle refuses to believe it is Mary-Lou –

She is lying to protect her friend. I know Mary-Lou and this is not her.

whereas Matron laughs and finds it funny – keeping her cast in the Mam’zelle Dupont role. I’m left wondering why nobody told her about any of this, she only discovers it by chance.

The caricature plotline is one I really enjoy in the book, and it’s a shame that it has been meddled with to such an extent. It’s barely recognisable as the same story, especially as it’s surrounded by two other plots.

One is Gwen and the play – I now realise that this play does come from the book, as above the Mam’zelles are putting on a French play, but beyond the casting issues the play isn’t really in the book.

But here we have Gwen begging Mary-Lou to help her with her lines as it is far more important (than Mary-Lou’s essay), and I have a lot on. She refuses Darrell’s help, in a cut-your-nose-to-spite-your-face sort of way, and later is furious when Darrell tells Mary-Lou about Gwen’s father. I still can’t work out if her father really is ill, or if it’s a lie.

Gwen’s also having to make the bunting for the play as Georgina has told her to do it. Are Gwen and Georgina the only actors in the play? It’s only the two of them at rehearsal anyway. Gwen tells Georgina about her father and the older girl is entirely unsympathetic.

I don’t have time for melodrama, Gwendoline!

The last plot is pretty minor – just a continuation of Ellen’s story. She has an outburst about noise in the common room –

Goodness I wish I could be as relaxed about work as you two are, playing music and learning lines. Some of us need to study!

rather out of the blue and Gwen, being Gwen later remarks that Ellen will have no friends with that attitude which Ellen overhears. Shortly after Ellen says to Jean that she didn’t mean to be rude. I feel like the show has tried to make Ellen a bit more rounded but she swings between behaving like a regular, happy girl and a snappy, studying obsessed girl. Maybe that’s more realistic but it makes the snappishness seem to come out of nowhere. In the book the other girls (and the narrative) mention how Ellen is always snapping about noise, always studying and so on. The show has shown us she is stressed about school work but perhaps not to the same extent as the book.

And we end on probably the best part of the episode as Matron brings the birthday cake to the dorm, with a slice missing, and says Obviously I had to grade your efforts.

Episode six: The Runaway

This episode focuses more on Ellen again. She wakes up in the morning with her bed full of books and papers from studying.  She resumed feverish studying, planning to skip breakfast even though that’s not allowed – and Jean covers for her at breakfast. They were to have a test that day, so skipping breakfast doesn’t seem like the wisest decision even if it leaves more time for studying.

She admits that she’s worried that she will fail and have to leave school. This is book Ellen’s worry too – compounded by her parents not being well off and having paid a lot of money for uniforms and so on. TV Ellen has another element added – she says if she goes home she will have to look after her aunt, presumably instead of an education and/or career.

We see them sitting their test and Elle looks pleased, she finishes in plenty of time and is even able to go back over her answers. That makes it double gutting that afterwards she realises that she has missed a page or two. She is so upset by this – assuming that she has failed the test and will be asked to leave. So she ‘runs away’ hence the title of the episode. She doesn’t go far – just to the potting shed – which at least makes sense. Running away because you’re being sent away doesn’t make any sense, but hiding away because you are afraid and don’t want to face the teachers I can understand.

Anyway, when she’s found she’s very shaken, and is sent to the San. I was thinking that we were getting back on track for the plot of the book – Ellen being ill ad unable to study leading to her trying to cheat. But Mr Parker comes to see her and says she’s had an attack of the nerves and needs to rest. Malory Towers is about more than academic achievement and she needs to broader her horizons and play sport and have fun. He even tells her that she wouldn’t have to leave even if she fails at tests.

So the pressure has been entirely taken off Ellen, now. I cannot see how the original plot can be brought back in now. Even if something really drastic happened, would Ellen really be moved to cheat?

The two secondary plots are interlinked. One is that Georgina has lost half-a-crown and asks Gwen to look for it. I was then wondering if we would get the thief plot from the book, even though we have no Daphne. But Gwen sees it in Mr Parker’s drawer (he found it on the classroom floor). Georgina finds Gwen slacking off in the common room and so Gwen pretends she was still hunting for the coin, which she by way of sleight-of-hand produces from the back of the sofa.

There was something odd about that whole scene. Was Gwen planning to keep the coin, or was her lie about still looking for the coin simply so that Georgina wouldn’t know she was slacking? She seems to look at the coin rather wistfully, making me wonder if there are money problems at home. What’s definitely odd is that Georgina doesn’t think it’s odd that her coin was found in the second formers’ common room. But saying I spotted a blue backdrop and brown curtains in the corner of the common room, ones that looked rather like the audition stage, so it looks like Georgina held the auditions in their common room, though I can’t see why. (Lack of sets, again?)

This all ties in to Darrell and Sally trying to think of money making schemes, their whispering makes Gwen paranoid that her secret (about her father being ill) will get out. So much so that she keeps trying to read Darrell’s diary. What she finds in there instead is about the school’s money problems, and she immediately spills the news to the rest of the form. None of them are very happy about being kept in the dark but Gwen is really vicious about it.

This episode also barely resembles the book, the plots that have been taken have been hanged substantially, so much so that both these episodes felt quite filler-y. Not a lot happened to move the main storyline(s) on.

One highlight was Matron falling asleep on a chair in the san and being woken by an embarrassed Mr Parker.

I think you were resting your eyes.

That’s the thing I do. Focuses my thoughts.

The other is Matron dancing around the San to a confiscated record. (There’s another subplot about a ‘dance’ that turns out to be the girls in their uniforms dancing around the common room with some sandwiches and sausage rolls).

So overall all, a couple of slightly disappointing episodes. Matron provided some bright moments, but none of the storylines really moved on. Gwen was magnificent in the first series but hasn’t been given a lot to work with this time, which is a shame.

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How ‘Jennings’ compares with Blyton’s stories by Chris

Posted on February 16, 2022 by worldofblyton

I’m sure I’m not the only person who grew up with Anthony Buckeridge’s Jennings stories as well as Enid Blyton’s stories and still loves and re-reads them both. Yet both Jennings and Buckeridge are much less well-known than Blyton and many of her characters. There seems to be only one, not very active, Jennings fan site. Therefore I expect that some readers of this blog don’t know the stories at all. So I thought that discussing how Jennings compares with some of Blyton’s stories might be of interest to those who know them both and to those who only know Blyton’s work.

Just a small selection of the Jennings titles

Anthony Buckeridge OBE (1912-2004) was a near contemporary of Enid Blyton and, apart from wartime service as a fireman, was a school master for most of his career. He was a far less prolific writer than her, producing ‘only’ twenty-four Jennings books between 1950 and 1994 (almost all of them 1950- 1973), which started life as a series of BBC radio plays in 1948. He also wrote five books in the much less successful ‘Rex Milligan’ series.

The Jennings books are school stories, set in Linbury Court School, so the most obvious comparison is with Blyton’s St Clare’s (six books, 1941-1945) and Malory Towers (six books, 1946-1951) series*. However, Linbury Court is a boys’ ‘prep’ school (i.e. preparatory to Public school or independent school) whereas St Clare’s and Malory Towers are girls’ Public or independent schools, so the ages of the children are different. Even so, they are all boarding schools for mainly middle or upper-middle class pupils. It’s easy to imagine that if Jennings had an older sister, she might have gone to St Clare’s or Malory Towers.

Unsurprisingly, Jennings (John Christopher Timothy) is the central character throughout the series, more so than any one character in the Blyton series, even Darrell Rivers in Malory Towers. Almost as central is Jennings’ ‘side-kick’, Darbishire (Charles Edwin Jeremy). The extent to which Jennings (and Darbishire) hold centre-stage is probably why it isn’t called the ‘Linbury Court’ series whereas Blyton’s series are named after the schools. Another aspect of this is that Jennings and Darbishire are really the only characters who are well-defined. There is a recurring group of school-mates, especially Venables, Temple and Atkinson, but they are hardly described at all. This is very different to the Blyton series which both have a large ensemble cast of well-drawn characters, as well as the regular introduction of new and dramatic ones.

Another big difference with the two Blyton series is that Jennings and his fellow-pupils never get older or progress to more senior forms. Instead, they are permanently locked in their eleven or twelve year old incarnations. So the reader has to suspend disbelief as, say, yet another summer terms comes round and, by the end of the series, Jennings ought to be well into his twenties! This also means that there is no character development at all in the stories. In the same way, the main masters, Mr Carter and Mr Wilkins, appear throughout, whereas in the Blyton series they change to some extent. The headmaster, Mr Pemberton-Oakes, rather like Miss Theobald in St Clare’s and Miss Grayling in Malory Towers, is a consistent but remote figure of whom the pupils are rather in awe.

One minor difference is that, although we do know their Christian names, Jennings et al are routinely called by their surnames whether by masters or fellow-pupils, as was common in such boys’ schools at the time the stories are set, and indeed later. In Blyton’s stories the girls are known by their Christian names.

In Jennings, although again we do know their Christian names, the masters also address each other by surname, but use ‘Mr’ when speaking about each other to the boys, just as the boys call them ’Mr X’ or ‘Sir’ to their faces, or by nicknames such as ‘Old Wilkie’ behind their backs. In Blyton’s stories, the school mistresses are also referred to by title, with some, such as ‘Potty’ Miss Potts, also having nicknames amongst the girls. I can’t be completely sure without re-reading all the books again if they ever use first names amongst themselves when out of the girls’ hearing. I think not.

Blyton also has a couple of male teachers at her schools but there are no female teachers in Jennings, where the only regularly recurring female character is Matron who, as with the matrons in the Blyton stories, is unnamed. In all the series there are various members of domestic staff of both sexes, who sometimes play a minor role in the plots. It strikes me, now, that in both Buckeridge and Blyton stories all the teachers appear to be unmarried. That might have been the norm in girls’ schools of this type and time, but don’t think it was the case in boys’ schools

Like Blyton’s school stories, the Jennings books are not adventures in the sense of the Famous Five or Adventure series, although very occasionally in both there are adventurous episodes. Instead, the plots concern the ‘low-level’ excitement of school life. That includes things like the midnight feasts found in Blyton’s school stories, but is more often to do with Jennings’ confused understandings of the world around him, for example mis-concluding that a burglary is in progress or that a teacher is leaving, or Darbishire’s incompetence and impracticality, for example his boasts of swimming technique when, in fact, he is unable to swim.

In the Jennings series, there is none of the ‘moralism’ of the Blyton stories where snobbish or spiteful girls get put in their places, and almost none of the inter-personal conflict or jealousies that give her school stories much of their plot. There are no suggestions of social class differences between the pupils at Linbury Court, although there are passing references to some of the local people and domestic staff being of a lower class. Nor are there any references to ‘dramas’ or tragedies at home, and there are no ‘exotic’ characters like Carlotta or Claudine in St Clare’s, or even any ‘jokers’ like Alicia Johns in Malory Towers.

Instead, and far more than in the Blyton series, there is a huge amount of humour based on word play in the form of puns, double meanings and often quite complex metaphors. There is also an extensive jokey schoolboy language, some standard for the time (e.g. ‘flying into a bate’ when someone, usually Mr Wilkins, loses his temper) but much of it invented. Examples include ‘fossilised fishhooks’ (expression of surprised alarm), ‘addle-pated clodpoll’ (fool, idiot) and ‘ozard’ (meaning something bad, deriving from ‘Wizard of Oz’ because ‘wizard’ means good, so ‘ozard’ is its supposed opposite).

In fact, the whole tone of the Jennings books is of gentle good humour, including the wry amusement of Mr Carter, who is based on Buckeridge himself, at the strange logic and bizarre enthusiasms of Jennings and his friends, and the farcical situation this gives rise to. Actually, although all the series are told in the third person, there’s an intangible feeling that Jennings is being narrated by an adult – Buckeridge originally told them as stories to his pupils – which isn’t present in the Blyton stories.

There is also, to a greater extent than in the Blyton school stories, some sense of what is going on in the wider world (such as space travel) and also a sense of the place, the Sussex Downs, where Linbury Court School is located. By contrast, although we know that Malory Towers is in Cornwall, the location of St Clare’s isn’t even mentioned and nor, extraordinarily given when they were written and set, is the fact that there is a world war going on!

Whilst having all these differences and similarities, I think there are some underlying connections. A minor one is that all the series appeared in many editions, but the early ones in particular have some fantastic and atmospheric illustrations. They’re just pleasing books to hold and look at. More importantly, although all these stories are very much of their time, primarily the 1940s to 1960s, they all have a timeless quality. And although they are set in a very particular kind of educational institution, the English boarding school, they still manage to capture some of the universal experiences of childhood.

*Note: I haven’t made comparison with the Naughtiest Girl series partly because I haven’t read them and partly because, as I understand it, Whyteleafe School is very different to the others.

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Monday #463

Posted on February 14, 2022 by Fiona

As with every week I consult my online calendar to see what I have lined up to write, or at least what rough ideas I could choose.

Sometimes (like this week) it is done with mild anxiety as I am not at all sure I have any suitable ideas, other times it is done with the confidence of someone who has half a dozen posts half-done and the calendar days filled with post headings for the next three weeks.

As it turns out, I’m sorted for this week! I had entirely forgotten that one of my contributors had sent me something, and as a bonus I had already drafted it into a post complete with images.

That nearly makes up for all the times I check with confidence only to realise that yes, a few weeks ago I had lots of half-done posts but I have already run out…

How Jennings compares with Blyton’s stories by Chris

and

Malory Towers on TV series two – episodes five and six

One of the moments that made me laugh this week came from the matron of the Malory Towers TV programme.

Matron, played by Ashley McGuire, had been helping the girls bake a cake in class, and when the girls were called away by an irate Mam’zelle Rougier, she succumbed to overwhelming temptation (remember they’re experiencing rationing and proper cakes are hard to come by) and ate a big slice.

Later she takes the cake, complete with missing slice and a candle on top to the dorm for Alicia’s birthday.

When the girls notice the missing wedge, she says with an absolute straight face and no shame whatsoever;

Obviously I had to grade your efforts!

 

 

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New Class at Malory Towers: A Bob and a Weave by Patrice Lawrence

Posted on February 11, 2022 by Fiona

Published in 2019 New Class at Malory Towers is a compendium of four new short stories set at Malory Towers. They are set during Darrell’s time there but each features a new girl joining the school.

The stories are:

  • A Bob and a Weave by Patrice Lawrence
  • Bookworms by Lucy Mangan
  • The Secret Princess by Narinder Dhami
  • The Show Must Go On by Rebecca Westcott

I have heard of the Guardian writer Lucy Mangan, and I know that Narinder Dhami has written the novelisation of the Malory Towers TV series and some additional Wishing Chair books. The other two, I have not heard of.

The internet tells me that Patrice Lawrence is known for writing Granny Ting Ting, Orangeboy, Indigo Donut and Eight Pieces of Silva and has won several writing prizes.

The plot of A bob and a Weave

I initially thought this story was going to be all about hair from the title, and it sort of is, though the bob and weave actually refer to boxing. Sport not being my thing that’s obviously not where my mind went first. Anyway, this review contains spoilers.

Marietta is starting Malory Towers and is reluctant to go. She almost echoes Elizabeth Allen of the Naughtiest Girl when her father agrees that if she still hates it after half-term she can come home, as she refuses to join in or get to like anyone because she plans to leave.

She has a lot more secrets than Elizabeth, though. Firstly she comes from a family of circus performers and doesn’t want the other girls to know in case they judge her (obviously she hasn’t read the St Clare’s books where Carlotta is widely accepted and liked). Then there’s her mother’s illness, we later discover that her mother is a boxer in the circus and has sustained a serious head injury which she is taking time to recover from.

And lastly, there’s the small matter of her stress induced alopecia which she’s hiding with a wig. That definition is never used in the book but I’m fairly sure that’s what it is, a she says her hair started falling out after her mother was injured.

So, Marietta goes to school determined that she doesn’t need to be there (she was previously taught by the circus conjuror), wanting to be at home with her mother and trying to hide three secrets, a recipe for disaster, surely.

She’s branded ?rude and stuck up by Gwen pretty much straight away as Gwen tries to touch her hair and Marietta pushes her away. It’s a gentle push but we all know how over-dramatic Gwen is and she acts as if she’s been hurled across the room.

The rest of the girls try to draw her out but have little luck, except for Darrell who manages to persuade her to try out for the lacrosse team. But when she is chosen and Darrell is not, Darrell is rather put-out. She’s not outwardly mean about it but she complains to the other girls.

Everything comes out after half-term as Alicia has been to a circus and seen women boxing – I assume it’s Marietta’s circus as that was nearby for her father to collect her at half-term and have a few days at home. She is scornful and saying it’s all fake and Mariette blows up to defend the boxers, ending up giving herself away on all three accounts.

The other girls, being the generally good people that we know them to be (except Gwen of course) do their best to make amends and at the end I think Marietta is much happier at Malory Towers.

How does it compare to the originals?

For me there are four main elements that I look at when comparing continuations to the original work(s). Your standards may vary, of course, as will how important each of the points are. I’d say that characterisation is probably the most important.

  • Is it set in the same time, and is it updated in any way?
  • Does it fit with the continuity of the series?
  • Are the characterisations consistent?
  • Does the author attempt to adopt Blyton’s writing style, and if so is that successful?

The setting and updates

Happily this is set in the 1940s or 50s with steam trains, governesses and circuses with animals in them. Saying that it isn’t very strongly flavoured as a period story, it’s too short to have space for fitting in a lot of references to place the time period. Money isn’t mentioned, for example, or gramophones or anything else that would date it. The language is fairly generic, so not a lot of golly goshes or anything particularly Blyton-esque, but it isn’t hugely modern either. I did note that Gwen is described as ‘whiny’ which stood out.

Series continuity

It doesn’t actively contradict anything that happens in the main series, but as with the St Clare’s fill ins, if you read them all in order things would stand out.

For example this must be set in either late in the second or early in the third form as Belinda has joined the school but Darrell has not yet made it on to the lacrosse team. In Third Form at Malory Towers Darrell is desperate to get on the team, and who is playing seems to be decided on a match by match basis. She is third sub for one match then makes it on to the team for the next, the decisions being posted on a piece of paper on the notice board.

In this short story she and Marietta try out, and Marietta is told she is on the team (seemingly permanently) moments after the practice game. Darrell is told she is not quite ready.

If you read this and then Third Form it would seem a little strange that Darrel doesn’t mention her previous disappointment, in fact it is presented as if this is the first time she has tried to get on the team (which of course it is).

There is also the matter of Mariette disappearing between this story and the rest of the books – but girls did rather do that in the main series.

I also noted that Darrell is described as having shoulder-length curly hair. At first we don’t know who the girl is and I’d not have guessed it was Darrell from that description. I’m not sure her hair is described in the books, but she is generally drawn with short hair and that seems to suit her practical personality.

Characterisation

On the whole I think this book did quite well. Gwen is recognisable as the vain and spoiled girl, talking about having to brush her hair 100 times a night and how a governess is much better than a school. She holds a grudge after Marietta pushes her and is the only one two crow when her wig comes off, which is all very Gwen-like.

Darrell is quite accurate too, keen to look after the new girl, encouraging her into lacrosse and being disappointed about not getting on the team. I’m not sure that Darrell would hold a lengthy grudge against a girl who got on the team ahead of her, new or not, and if she had been standoffish about it I’d expect her to apologise fairly quickly.

The other girls we see very little of – except for Alicia. Alicia is argumentative but we don’t see her cutting wit.

The reveal of Marietta’s secrets begins with Alicia badmouthing the women boxers, and then it all becomes quite bizarre. Marietta says it’s not true, and Alicia demands she says it to her face. Then, without waiting on a response Alicia accuses Marietta of stealing Darrell’s place on the lacrosse team. Alicia is known for being mean but this isn’t a calculated and cutting comment it’s more of a passionate accusation. Marietta has her mother’s boxing gloves and tells Alicia to put them on and hit her. Again, Alicia has no cutting remark she just sniffs the gloves and says yuck. 

Marietta attacks her and somehow Alicia ends up with Marietta’s wig in her hands, causing her to scream and flail her hand, throwing the wig.

Obviously Marietta is extremely upset and later Alicia tries to make amends by chopping all her hair off at the scalp. This just strikes me as very un-Alicia-like. Although she can be very sharp with people she is also more than capable of making a sincere apology when she knows that she’s in the wrong. She does apologise, but by cutting off her hair she’s making it all about her which isn’t like Alicia.

Going back to continuity I find it hard to believe that something as drastic as cutting all your hair off would never be mentioned again at school. Blyton isn’t known for massively harking back to previous books as each book is supposed to be a complete story which can be enjoyed by itself, but the school books (and many other) do contain references to earlier books. Admittedly Blyton’s continuity wasn’t always great and she often wrote things that either directly contradicted previous books or at least seemed odd given past events, but she was churning out massive quantities of books. If you’re writing a short story and you already know the contents of the next book it should be far easier to avoid such things.

The style

Patrice Lawrence makes no attempt to mimic Blyton’s style. I wouldn’t say that is necessarily a bad thing as a badly mimicked style is usually much worse than just writing in your own style.

As above the language is not particularly of the time, but everything else is Lawrence and not Blyton. The entire story is told from Marietta’s viewpoint, meaning that we don’t know any of the girls’ names until she knows them. This is rather odd for a Malory Towers story where although Darrell is the main character we get insights into all the other major characters. It rather felt like being stuck in a box and only seeing out a small hole.

There are several ‘flashback’ memories from Marietta, exposing information about her circus life and the circumstances of her mother’s injury so we spend quite a lot of time in her thoughts whereas Blyton usually kept inner monologues to a minimum.

Overall

This wasn’t a bad short story but I feel like Marietta had too many disparate secrets. Obviously being in a circus led to her mother boxing which led to her injury, but it all felt like too much. She was embarrassed about her social standing, about her appearance and reluctant to tell anyone anything else about herself including about her mother.

The ending was also plain silly as the argument between Alicia and Mariette escalates rather ludicrously. They are disagreeing about the boxers and then Alicia throws in the accusation about the lacrosse team and the next thing they’re in a physical fight, it just makes no sense. I actually read a page twice because I was convinced I must have missed a bit between Alicia saying ‘say that to my face’ and ‘you stole Darrell’s place’, but no, she just makes that leap all by herself.

I had initially intended to read all four stories and review them but quickly realised that I would have too much to say for that. As it is I have written 1,900 words on a 9,000 word short story.

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A guide to Enid Blyton biographies

Posted on February 9, 2022 by Fiona

We all know that Enid Blyton wrote a lot of books, an awful awful lot of books. As well as being phenomenally popular she has been a controversial figure both during and after her career. So it’s perhaps not surprising that there have been a lot of books written about her. I have most of these books, though I haven’t read all the ones I have, and I have two more on order.

The autobiography

The Story of My Life is Blyton’s only autobiography. I would have loved for her to have written one for grown-ups, but most of her attempts at writing for adults had ended in failure. So instead, we have this short book, full of photos, aimed at her child readers.

It’s a lovely book but it glosses over a great deal of what makes Blyton’s life interesting. For example it makes no mention of her first husband, Major Hugh Alexander Pollock. Instead it features her second husband, the surgeon Kenneth Darrell Waters, along with her two daughters, Gillian and Imogen, as a happy little family. It makes out that there has only been one husband, and that he is the girls’ father, a pretence that I believe she kept up in real life too.

Likewise it doesn’t mention her parents’ divorce or her estrangement from her mother, instead focussing on the books she read as a child and how her father taught her about nature.

The Story of My Life published by Pitkin, 1952.

The biographies of Blyton’s life

There have been many more biographies than there have been biographies, from a number of different writers. The ones in this section focus primarily on Blyton’s life but as it’s nearly impossible to do that without mentioning her writing they do all feature various elements of her career.

Enid Blyton by Barbara Stoney

This is generally considered to be the definitive biography of Enid Blyton, and the one which most later biographies refer to.

After her mothers’ death many people reached out to Gillian Baverstock, wishing to write a biography of her mother. However, it was Barbara Stoney, who had already done a great deal of research on Enid Blyton after writing about a master thatcher who happened to have worked on the roof of Old Thatch, that Gillian chose to be the writer.

Gillian was adamant that she wanted the book to be the story of her mother’s life, rather than a literary criticism or an examination of how she wrote.

Stoney had access to what remained of Blyton’s papers and diaries (many of which were destroyed, reportedly by her second husband) and although many people she would have wished to interview had already passed away she nonetheless spoke with some thirty or more people who had crossed paths with Blyton at some time or another.

Enid Blyton: A Biography first published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1974, with revised editions in 1992 and 1997.

Enid Blyton by George Greenfield

George Greenfield was Blyton’s literary agent, having first worked for the publisher Werner Laurie where he contacted Blyton to request permission to reprint some of her books. He was her agent for the final 15 years of her writing career, and also considered himself a friend of Blyton’s.

This biography is a short one, at around 100 pages as it is part of a ‘pocket biography’ series.

Enid Blyton published by Sutton Publishing, 1998.

Blyton also has chapter six of Greenfield’s memoir – A Smattering of Monsters – dedicated to her.

A Smattering of Monsters published by Little, Brown and Company, 1995

Tell Me About Enid Blyton by Gillian Baverstock

This is a very short and simple biography, written for children and covering the basics of Blyton’s life and career. It has got a lot of photos across its 22 pages, and it is nice that it was written by Blyton’s elder daughter.

My review can be found here.

Tell Me About Enid Blyton published by Evans Brothers, 1997. Cover above from the 2003 edition.

Gillian Baverstock Remembers Enid Blyton

This is a similar book to the above, but aimed at slightly older readers as it has less photographs but more details. The first half has Gillian’s biography of her mother, followed by a significant section written by Sheila Ray (author of The Blyton Phenomenon, see below) who writes about Blyton’s books and the criticisms of them.

It is part of Mammoth’s Telling Tales series on authors.

My review can be found here.

Gillian Baverstock Remembers published by Mammoth, 2000

The Real Enid Blyton by Nadia Cohen

Relying particularly heavily on Stoney’s biography this book purports that Enid carefully crafted her public image to ensure her fans only knew of [her] sunny persona, but behind the scenes, she weaved elaborate stories to conceal infidelities, betrayals and unconventional friendships, lied about her childhood and never fully recovered from her parents’ marriage collapsing.

Whilst I would agree that Blyton presented a happy family life to the outer world (see her autobiography, above) I suspect that where this book deviates from copying Stoney’s painstaking research it veers into the realms of sensational rumours of naked tennis and lesbian affairs.

As much as I dislike linking to the Daily Mail, I think this article about the book – bizarrely written by Nadia Cohen herself, will tell you all you need to know.

It’s one that I am unlikely to read or add to my shelves unless I came across an extremely cheap or free second hand copy.

The Real Enid Blyton published by Pen & Sword History, 2018

The biographies of Blyton’s career

Whilst the above books are mostly about Blyton’s life, there are a few that are the opposite and focus primarily on

The Blyton Phenomenon by Sheila Ray

Starting life as a thesis by librarian and lecturer Sheila Ray this book delves into the changing attitudes towards Blyton’s books during and beyond her lifetime. Ray was a children’s librarian during Blyton’s career and not only experienced but seemingly shared the attitudes of the time that Blyton’s books were ephemeral and insignificant. Moving on to teaching librarianship Ray says that she delivered a lecture guaranteed to ensure that my audience of potential children’s librarians would never buy a single Blyton book. However, soon after Blyton died and Ray began to collect written references to her, culminating in her writing the thesis that appears to have more or less changed her attitudes to Blyton.

The Blyton Phenomenon published by Andrew Deutch, 1982

The Enid Blyton Story by Bob Mullen

This one begins with a personal biographical chapter but then gives way to an analysis of some of Blyton’s main series and book themes, drawing on her personal life to give context. The last few chapters examine some of the controversies and criticisms of her works. I haven’t seen it, but apparently the book is related somehow to the TVS television programme The Story of Noddy.

The book has lots of books covers and illustrations reproduced (some in colour) as well as various photographs of Enid.

The Enid Blyton Story published by Boxtree, 1987

The Enid Blyton Dossier by Brian Stewart and Tony Summerfield

This is an unusually large book – very much a coffee table book! It’s so tall I had to scan it in two sections and join the two images together, and it’s wider than I show as well. Tragically the publishers of this book went under at the time of publishing and the small print run was remaindered, all copies being sold in places like The Works. Copies do appear second hand, though, but often at inflated prices.

The book is packed full of illustrations, photographs and book covers, most of which are in full colour. It begins with a chapter covering the basics of Enid’s life before going on to examine a variety of her books and series, providing context from her life along the way.

The Enid Blyton Dossier published by Hawk Books, 1999

Enid Blyton and the Mystery of Children’s Literature by David Rudd

Described as an academic study of Enid’s works, I assume that this is either a thesis, or like above, a thesis that has evolved into a book. I have a copy on order (if you want one of your own I would shop around – it’s selling for £119 new at Waterstones, but was around £60 when first published and second hand copies vary wildly in price, mine was a little under £40.) so I will update this when I know more!

For now the synopsis will have to do:

Blyton has captivated children worldwide for almost eighty years, but there has been very little serious critical attention paid to her. This book remedies this, looking particularly at her three most popular and well-known series, Noddy, the Famous Five and Malory Towers . It is the first study to draw extensively on the view of her readership, past and present, and to use a variety of critical approaches to show how adult criticism has consistently missed the secret of her appeal.

Enid Blyton and the Mystery of Children’s Literature published by Macmillan, 2000

Enid Blyton – The Untold Story by Brian Carter

Despite the title suggesting tales of naked tennis and lesbian affairs, this is a serious look at Blyton’s writing career and particularly the parts that are less well documented. It examines primarily her non-fiction writing, especially that written early in her career for teaching purposes. It does segue into a chapter about clairvoyance, and so your mileage may vary with that part of the book, but otherwise this is very much a book worth having.

My review can be found here.

Enid Blyton – The Untold Story published by Bloomsfield Publishing, 2021

Enid Blyton’s literary life by Andrew Maunders

Published at the end of 2021 this is another quite academic book, attempting to reveal some of the secrets of the enigma that is Blyton. It does look at her personal life, but also her evolving career, her reputation, and some analysis of both well-known and lesser-known books.

Enid Blyton – A Literary Life published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2021

Partial Biographies

These two probably fall under the broad category of biography, but both are told through the lens of the author rather than taking a more unbiased approach.

A Childhood at Green Hedges by Imogen Smallwood

Imogen’s book has the subtitle a fragment of autobiography by Enid Blyton’s daughter. I think it is well-known that Imogen, Blyton’s younger daughter, had a more difficult relationship with her mother when compared to Gillian. Despite this she was heavily involved in the Enid Blyton estate and was still attending events celebrating her mother’s life as late as 2012, aged 76.

This book Imogen’s story, which of course is entwined with her mother’s, and gives an unparalleled insight into what went on inside Green Hedges, albeit from the viewpoint of a child.

A Childhood at Green Hedges published by Methuen, 1989

Looking For Enid by Duncan McLaren

I have chosen to put this alongside Imogen’s book as although this isn’t a story about Duncan McLaren’s personal life, it is partly the story of a sort of pilgrimage he takes, visiting locations that Blyton did, rereading her books and making up stories of his own about her life.

It has divided fans, I believe, as it is quite irreverent at times and clearly doesn’t appeal to everyone but I found it fun.

Looking For Enid published by Portobello Books, 2007

Location biographies

Lastly, a slightly odd sounding category, books that focus on places that Blyton had a relationship with.

Enid Blyton and her Enchantment with Dorset by Dr Andrew Norman

I haven’t read this one yet but even I know that Blyton used several Dorset locations in her book, she holidayed in the area and there is an endless belief that she based Kirrin Castle on Corfe Castle.

This book is an account of the various visits Blyton and her family made to Dorset, interspersed with chapters about the Famous Five books which are set in the area.

Enid Blyton and Her Enchantment with Dorset published by Halsgrove, 2005

Enid Blyton at old Thatch by Tess Livingston

This is a slim book which, by no coincidence, I bought while visiting the Old Thatch Gardens back when they were open.

Naturally the book contains information about Old Thatch but also expands the story out to encompass Bourne End, and its fictional counterpart of Peterswood.

Enid Blyton at Old Thatch published by Connorcourt, 2008

Phew, well that was supposed to be a quick and easy post but turned into about six hours work and 2,000 words.

This will be one of the posts that I update when new books come out, or I actually get around to reading more of the ones listed. I have read more than the reviews might suggest, but how many have you read?

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Monday #462

Posted on February 7, 2022 by Fiona

I’m a little bit late again this week, but it’s still Monday at least. I’ve made plans with Stef to watch more Malory Towers this week so that I can get back to reviewing series two, but in the mean time I have found some other things to write about!

A guide to Enid Blyton biographies (and other reference materials)

and

Malory Towers – the new short stories

 

 

One that a lot of people probably haven’t heard of is David Rudd’s Enid Blyton and the Mystery of Children’s Literature. This is an academic study of Enid’s works – so akin to a thesis or dissertation, I assume – by David Rudd who is a senior lecturer at the Bolton Institute.

Published by Macmillin in 2000 it was priced at £60 – and unsurprisingly had a small print run. This has made it quite hard to come by, with second hand copies regularly going for over £100. I just so happen to have bought a copy for just under £40, which I’m quite happy with!

 

 

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2021 birthday and Christmas present round up

Posted on February 4, 2022 by Fiona

Christmas (and my birthday) were quite a while ago now, so you might be wondering why I’m only getting around to posting about it now. Or, given my track record, you might well be assuming I had forgotten to write this up.

Actually, one of the things I got just took forever to be delivered. It was ordered in time for my birthday but didn’t even make it in time for Christmas. In fact it showed up around the second week in January. Of course my mum then forgot to give it to me for another week or two, but who’s counting,

Blytonian gifts

This will be a shorter post than some previous years as I think that my friends and family have probably just about exhausted any and all possible Blyton gifts over the last decade.

All three things I got were things I asked for, having already put them on my Christmas gift guide. (I got other presents which were surprises, though).

First up was the Famous Five 2022 calendar – there was a slimline version too, but I thought two was excessive as they have the same pictures. This is hanging in my kitchen now, though obviously I’ve turned it to the February page.

The January one prompted Ewan to ask if the backwards telescope had been put in as a joke.

The there’s the book – that’s the one that arrived very late between one thing and another. For some reason I keep wanting to call it (and search for it as) Literary Lives, but it’s Enid Byton: A Literary Life, singular.

And lastly the Faraway Tree Stories for the DS. The Adventure Series game wasn’t all that impressive, but this one looks like it has different kinds of games so I will see!

Loosely related to Blyton gifts

I got two of the Adventure Island books by Helen Moss, a series which I’ve recommended if you like Blyton. They were #5, The Mystery of the Cursed Ruby, and #9 The Mystery of the Smuggler’s Wreck. I’m missing a few more from the series but I thought these two had the most Blyton-esque titles.

Another If You Like Blyton recommendation that I got was The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I listened to the audiobook not too long ago and loved it, so I wanted a paper copy and what better copy than the one illustrated by MinaLima with interactive elements like pull-out maps?

 

I also got Operation Goodwood by Sara Sheridan, from the Mirabelle Bevan series which both Stef and I would recommend as Blyton for grown ups. I have read this before but I think it may have been on my Kindle so there was a paperback missing from my collection. Not anymore!

Did anyone else get any nice Blyton gifts last year?

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January 2022 round up

Posted on February 2, 2022 by Fiona

Somehow it is not only 2022 but it is the end of the first month of 2022.

What I have read

I haven’t started off very well towards my goal of 100 books in 2022, in fact all month the little counter on the Goodreads homepage has been telling me how many books I am behind by. Right now it’s at 3 books behind but at one point it was 4.

My excuses are that I spent the first week of the month not well and then I have mostly been reading one very long book since then!

What I have read is:

  • Last Scene Alive (Aurora Teagarden #7) – Charlaine Harris
  • Call the Midwife (Call the Midwife #1) – Jennifer Worth
  • Five Get Into a Fix – reviewed here
  • Poppy Done to Death (Aurora Teagarden #8) – Charlaine Harris
  • Go Tell the Bees That I Have Gone (Outlander #9) – Diana Gabaldon

And I’m still working on:

  • The Borrow a Bookshop Holiday – Kiley Dunbar
  • A Batchelor Establishment – Isabella Barclay (aka Jodi Taylor)
  • Cookie – Jacqueline Wilson

The Outlander book was the long one – coming in at 902 pages!

What I have watched

  • Hollyoaks
  • The last rounds of Only Connect, and more House of Games.
  • I’ve finished season five of Charmed and I’m nearly at the end of season six.
  • The Christmas special and what’s been shown so far of Call the Midwife series 11
  • We also watched Encanto as a family

What I have done

  • Completed the two jigsaws that I got for Christmas and started one with Ewan that I got him for his Christmas.
  • Went for walks in the Botanic Gardens, on the beach and in any bits of woodlands that are actually still open after all the storms, and found a few geocaches along the way. I also collected various more bits of sea glass and pottery, then organised them in a new box I bought.
  • Helped my mother in law build her Lego bookshop set, and installed a light set in it as well.
  • Celebrated Burns night twice – first at our house with potato and leek soup, veggie haggis pie, veg, yorkshire puddings and cranachan (plus Irn Bru jelly babies and tablet). Then a week later at my sister in law’s with veggie haggis tacos and cranachan.
  • Had a fancy afternoon tea at a hotel for my mum’s 60th birthday

What did your January look like?

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Monday #461

Posted on January 31, 2022 by Fiona

With the first month of 2022 almost over already this week will be a very round one, by that I mean I am posting two round-ups, one rather overdue.

January round up

and

2021 birthday and Christmas present round up

Enid Blyton –  A Literary Life by Andrew Maunder has finally made it into my hands (long story) so I think it deserves to be book of the week. I highlighted it in my Christmas gift guide for 2021 as it just came out at the start of December. I quoted from the blurb then and I’ll just do so again now:

This book is a study of the best-selling writer for children Enid Blyton (1897-1968) and provides a new account of her career. It draws on Blyton’s business correspondence to give a fresh account of a misunderstood figure who for forty years was one of Britain’s most successful and powerful authors. It examines Blyton’s rise to fame in the 1920s and considers the ways in which she managed her career as a storyteller, journalist and magazine editor.

Naturally I plan to read and review this when I get a chance!

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Five Get Into a Fix part 3

Posted on January 29, 2022 by Fiona

Having used up an entire post just to talk about Aily, here are my thoughts about the solution to the mystery, my various other comments and of course the nitpicks.

The solving of the mystery

I was actually mildly disappointed when I read the final chapters again, I had forgotten the Five’s various failures in solving the mystery. Naturally spoilers will occur here.

They did do well in that they worked out what was going on with Mrs Thomas and got into the house to her. It’s not their fault that she was unfit to escape with them.

They did not do well, however, as they made rather a lot of assumptions (more on that later) which just so happened to lead them right, but then foolishly got captured and jeopardised someone else’s investigation.

Their interest in the Old House really begins when they see the strange shimmerings that appear over it and night, and they feel the judderings that travel across the hills to their cabin.

They then hear from Aily that there is an old woman and many men in the house, even though the caretaker has shooed them off saying he is the only one there. Incidentally Julian’s investigative skills reach as far as asking did he sound like a caretaker? at this point. I’m not sure exactly what caretakers sound like, but George notes that he didn’t sound Welsh – and their assertation is that it would be odd for the owners not to hire a trustworthy local turns into them deciding that its all rather fishy.

They fail to imagine that the owners might have hired a non-Welshman for any number of reasons. Nobody suitable in the village, they hired a friend or relative… or he could have been born in Wales but raised elsewhere, or have only moved to Wales in the past few years and not yet developed an accent.

It’s actually a bit tiresome that the Five’s rubbish logic is so often right! Especially when all the other odd stuff isn’t worth looking into, but a non-Welsh caretaker is.

Anyway, they interrogate Aily and get hold of one of the notes and it does not say that Aily is a good girl.

“I want help. I am a prisoner here, in my own house, while terrible things go on. They have killed me son. Help me, help me! Bronwen Thomas.”

Something about the way the note is written is a bit off to me, it doesn’t read very naturally. But then again Mrs Thomas is probably very distressed. It’s also possible that she is ‘off her head’ as the rumours go – it would have made it easier for her to be misled and held prisoner.

The Five’s logic fails again when they discuss Mrs Thomas being ‘off her head’. That’s a horrible way to put it (but not by 1950s standards) and I’m only using it myself as it’s a direct  quote. They decide they must find out for themselves if that is the case. I know that social care has changed a lot in the past 70 years but surely the police would be in a better place to make that judgement? Either they go and find her held prisoner, or they go and find her mentally unwell and get a doctor to her. Or they find her mentally unwell, but well cared for, and the notes are just part of her delusions. I cared for many ladies with dementia as a student nurse and recall the way that one woman would swear blind that there had been a terrible ruckus in the night with screaming and shouting – and there had been no such thing. Another was convinced that everything we served her contained poison (and obviously it didn’t, even if hospital food isn’t always very appetising).

They also don’t consider speaking to Mrs Jones who may know about the woman’s situation.

But thankfully Julian sees sense and decides that they must speak to Morgan. I mean, obviously only a man could know what to do.

Unfortunately Morgan is not very helpful. He can’t be, otherwise the rest of the plot wouldn’t work. Instead of saying he is aware of the situation and it is in hand, but thank you for your concern, he rebuffs the boys and tells them not to stick their noses in.

Of course they them jump to the conclusion that he’s in on whatever’s going on – did they not learn from their debacle with Mr Penruthlan?

And so they have no other course of action other than to sneak into the house and find Mrs Thomas. Having ascertained that she is indeed a prisoner it all goes wrong as they try to leave.

First Fany the lamb goes the wrong way – towards the men working – and Aily goes after her. Then George sends Timmy, and after a time she then goes after him. (Reminds me of the local story of the Nine Maidens where one goes to get water and when she doesn’t come back her father sends another daughter, until all nine have gone and he goes to find them killed by a dragon by the well…) Julian who is normally well in charge of these things seems entirely unable to stop any of that four from just sauntering off, and then compounds it by deciding the rest of them should follow too. Really, he should have sent Dick and Anne back out. They could have tobogganed at least half way back to their hut and then gone down to the farm to fetch help.

They reach Aily, George and the animals fine, but then having seen Morgan and the shepherd Julian decides they should follow them.

It’s not very clear what happens next but I think that Morgan or the shepherd is spotted by the men and then their escape is complicated by the children. If it had just been the two men, then they might have got away, but as they used up time to hide the children, then stayed close to come to their rescue when they were found, well, they all end up caught. And it’s pretty much all Julian’s fault!

This is all just about eclipsed for me by Morgan shouting for his dogs as that’s one of my favourite Famous Five moments, but still, Julian has not come out of this very well.

General comments

  • The setting of this one is early January. Billycock Hill was Whitsun – so around Easter, so that makes this one nearly a year later.
  • Normally its the fathers desperate to get rid of their kids but in this Julian’s mother is looking forward to a rest – even with them having had colds she only has them a few weeks a year!
  • The Five are extremely lazy in this book and sleep in until ALMOST NINE O’CLOCK on TWO occasions. Oh the horror.
  • The card game they play while Aily is hiding from her father is reminiscent of the one in Five Fall Into Adventure. In both they are half-pretending to play as they know someone is looking in the window.

  • They use the ropes  from their toboggans to lower themselves into the tunnel to the Old House, if this had been the Adventure Series the boys would have had rope around their waists.
  • If only that kid Aily would help us. She’s really our only hope. As soon as I read that I was hearing Carrie Fisher’s voice. (Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi… You’re our only hope.)
  • The Five comment that the hillside air is very strong. I’m not entirely sure what that means. Do they simply mean it’s fresh?
  • As I noted on a recent Monday post Julian is bizarely excited by the mundane items kept in the cabin. He exclaims in delight: “Bedding! Towels! Crockery – and cutlery!”
  • Mrs Jones is not a modern woman – when asked by the Five if they can stay at the cabin she says I’ll leave it to Morgan to decide. Though she is impressive when she comes to Timmy’s rescue – running across the farm with her skirts hitched up like she was a young woman. I think that might just fall short of my 11 favourite moments but could easily be number 12.
  • The driver says You’re in clover here referring to the Five staying at Magga Farm. I had guessed it meant you’re in luck? but it turns out to mean living a life of ease and luxury – something to do with clover being used to fatten cattle.
  • I have to remind myself that Dai is pronounced dye not day as that’s how I read it as a child.
  • Aily’s mother’s speech – It’s a queer place now – with noises at night – and mists – and shimmerings could well be the inspiration for the similar ones done by Robbie Coltrane in the Comic Strip Presents shows.
  • I wonder if the rumblings and shimmerings only occur in winter. The shepherd and his wife talk of them as if they are a long-term thing, so not just having started over that winter. Yet if they were all year round surely the previous cabin guests would witness it and word would get out?

I also wondered if the book would have worked if they’d stayed at the farm house? I think it could have – if say, the Five’s bedrooms were the only ones to overlook the Old House, and the farmhouse slope led on to the slope of the other hill. Aily could sneak onto the farm and avoid Mrs Jones, and the Five could witness suspicious behaviour from Morgan. Saying that it would make the plot a bit too similar to Five Go Down to the Sea.

Having noted the Five’s rudeness in Five Go to Mystery Moor I feel compelled to note some more here.

First, while the shepherd is telling them his tale George interrupts with what does he mean by that? The man’s standing right there, why is she talking about him as if he isn’t?

And secondly although said by Blyton it’s clear that she’s echoing the children’s thoughts – What a strange and impressive old man – and yet he was only a shepherd. 

Another attempt at sci-fi?

Blyton rarely made forays into the science-fiction but when she did she often used the same sort of elements.

The Mountain of Adventure (1949), The Secret of Moon Castle (1953) and Five Get Into a Fix (1958) all feature:

  • Strange coloured smoke or mist. In Mountain it is crimson, in Moon Castle it is greenish-purple and in Fix it is an indefinable colour.
  • Indefinable colours also appear in Mountain – shining out of a pit inside the mountain, and in Moon Castle some material swept after a fire is a colour the boys cannot identify.
  • Strange effects from whatever is going on. In Mountain the rays make the children feel light enough to float off, in Moon Castle the boys develop terrible pins and needles and in Fix the hill makes anything metal very heavy.

Food

As always there are plenty of descriptions of food – but as it’s winter there isn’t any salad for a change.

  • Their first breakfast at Magga farm is described as only a big crusty loaf, butter and home made marmalade, with an enormous jug of cold creamy milk. Clearly that just won’t do. Thankfully Mrs Jones offers ham and eggs, home-made pork sausages, or meat patties to go with it and everyone chooses ham and eggs.
  • The next breakfast is a less extravagant eggs, bacon and sausages.
  • Julian and Dick have a snack of crackers and ham at the cabin on their first visit.
  • One lunch comprises pork pie (home made – of course), a cheese (enormous), home made bread, new-laid boiled eggs to start, apple pie and cream to end with and a pot of tea.

 

  • Their first evening they are tired enough to suggest having a big meal instead of a light tea and supper later.
  • When leaving the farm for the cabin they take six loaves of bread, a large cheese, three dozen eggs and a ham, plenty of butter, a large pot of cream, bones and dog biscuits. The shepherd will bring them milk when they need it.
  • Food is more simple at the cabin. Anne makes sandwiches for lunch and they take apples.
  • The first meal Anne makes at the cabin is boiled eggs to start, with cocoa and cream, cheese and bread and butter, and a jar of jam.
  • There’s no fridge at the cabin so they store their milk and cream in the snow. Makes you wonder what the summer guests do.

George as a boy

Mrs Jones is no forgetful Uncle Quentin-type but she refers to George as a boy

‘Why for did you let him loose, my boy?… You should have seen this boy here—the one the dog belongs to—he stood in front of his dog and fought off Tang, Bob and Dai!’

But she had arranged for two bedrooms with two beds in each, implying she was expecting two boys and two girls. I know George does look like a boy, but she’d be unlikely to confuse either Julian or Dick for a girl!

Julian couldn’t help smiling to hear George continually called a boy—but, standing there in snow-trousers and coat, a woollen cap on her short hair, she looked very like a sturdy boy.

I wondered if she somehow knew George preferred to be a boy, but she is then surprised to find out that George is a girl.

‘She! What, isn’t she a boy, then,’ said Mrs Jones, in surprise. ‘Is it a girl she is—as brave as that? Now there’s a fine thing, to be sure? What’ll Morgan say to that?

Within five minutes however, she has forgotten again:

‘I’ll fetch you the TCP, boy,’ said Mrs Jones, forgetting again that George was a girl.

George doesn’t do a lot of protesting about her gender in this book. It is said that

Anne loved [making beds], though George didn’t. She would much rather have carried in the things as the boys were doing.

but she does the beds anyway.

As she is afraid that Timmy might run into the farm dogs if they go down to the farm she stays with Anne at the hut, an easy way to allow the boys to attempt to interrogate Morgan by themselves.

Then near the end she is afraid men would strike her though she was a girl.

Nitpicks

The first nitpick I can hardly claim as my own – everyone knows that Julian’s mother is called Mrs Barnard at the start of this book, even though he and his siblings are known as the Kirrins at other times.

In another name swapper Mrs Jones is on one occasion called Mrs Morgan. The boys call Morgan Mr Morgan, out of respect, but why not just call him Mr Jones?

The Five make rather miraculous recoveries once they get to Wales. One day their legs don’t feel their own, the next their coughs are entirely gone and the boys make a two hour hike up a hill.

I have tried to puzzle out the physics of the car going up and down hill so heavily. Surely if it can barely crawl downhill (with the assistance of gravity) it wouldn’t be able to get up the hill at all? The driver said he thought the car made hard work of the climb, but not so much as to have commented on it at the time.

Not truly a nitpick as toilets are never mentioned but clearly there isn’t one at the cabin, so there must have been a lot of yellow snow around. It also isn’t clear how Timmy managed when George kept him inside the farm house for at least 24 hours.

Aily and her mother’s English language abilities are rather variable. Sometimes they need things repeated slowly for them, other times they seem to follow rapid conversations. They also sometime speak in broken English, while at other times it’s not so bad.

And lastly one illustration depicts Timmy and George facing a barn but the text describes Timmy as having been backed up to the barn.

Phew, another 2.5k words later, and Fix is done!

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Enid Blyton greetings cards

Posted on January 26, 2022 by Fiona

It’s not too hard to find Blyton-themed birthday cards these days – there are the ones based on the Famous Five for grown-ups books by Bruno Vincent, there are some Noddy ones to be found on popular card websites, and people make their own and sell them on sites like Etsy. You might even be lucky enough to find a vintage card which was never written in.

Despite all that, now and again I experiment with making my own cards, so I thought I’d share the two I made this year.

Happy Birthday from the Famous Five

This one has a picture from the full-colour edition of Five Go to Mystery Moor. I can’t remember but I expect that the text behind is also from Mystery Moor. I know some people are absolutely against using books for crafts but I think that if it’s a) an old book that has fallen apart or is otherwise badly damaged or b) is newish and  mass produced then it’s probably OK. The ones I’ve used were surplus to requirement as I have better copies, and the colour illustrations were just too tempting not to use.

I used two pages of text for the background, the join hidden by some patterned tissue paper I bought a long time ago, so long I have no idea what the original purpose was supposed to be.

In an attempt to turn this towards a ‘how to’ post as those seem to be extremely popular, I will give a tip. When tearing paper it won’t tear the same in both directions. I wanted to remove the margins from all three pages, leaving a rough but not wildly lumpy edge, and so the horizontal and vertical margins needed different techniques to make a reasonably straight line. I’d advise experimenting with a spare piece first to work it out if it’s your first time!

Happy Christmas from the Five

I was pleased enough with the above card, which was for Stef’s birthday, that I decided to have a crack at making a Christmas one for her as well. I used to hand-make something for her birthdays and Christmases but that’s harder to do when you have a small child.

I didn’t have a copy of Five Go Adventuring Again with coloured illustrations, and it’s beyond even my morals to buy another book to tear up when I’ve got unfinished ones in the house, so I turned to another method.

Seeing as all the illustrations are in the cave I decided to print off the Christmas-tree scene and colour it myself. If I’d had the right paper (cream, textured) I’d have perhaps used that, but as it was I had to make do with regular printer paper.

After playing around a little with the size I think I got it more or less to scale. I then printed it in black and white, as the scans obviously maintain the cream colour of the original pages. In black and white that was reduced to a pale grey which was easy to colour over.

I used colouring pencils but added some detail on the tree with some glitter glue. The background is a bit of spare wrapping paper, and I had a couple of snowflakes left over from a previous Christmas (cut from shiny paper using a shaped craft punch).

 

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Monday #460

Posted on January 24, 2022 by Fiona

After taking my sweet time to begin reviewing Five Get Into a Fix I then wrote about 2,000 words about Aily last week. I would say that this week’s post will be more succinct, but that’d be a lie.

Enid Blyton greetings cards

and

Five Get Into a Fix part 3

“Ooh yes – we’ve brought some exciting ones away with away with us,” said Bob, remembering. “I’ll get them. They are all abut seven children who make a Secret Society and have Adventures.”

He brought out three books and gave one to Ralph. “Here you are – ‘Secret Seven Adventure’.”

A little plug for Blyton’s own books in The Adventure of the Secret Necklace. I enjoy how the discreet mention of the seven children in a Secret Society wasn’t enough – she even name dropped one of the other titles right after.

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Five Get Into a Fix part 2: All about Aily

Posted on January 21, 2022 by Fiona

Last week I finally posted the first part of my review, having been intending to do so for over a month. But we all know that time goes funny over the Christmas period and barely seems to count, so really, it was just a week or so. And it’s done now, and I’m keeping up by publishing part two, now!

Aily

Aily is one of those curious characters that only seem to exist in Blyton books. The kind who you may wonder is entirely human, sometimes.

Julian and Dick first meet her while they are at the chalet on the hill. They are not sure if she is a boy or a girl at first, only that they must be very cold.

It was a small girl coming alone, a wild-looking little creature with a mass of untidy curls, a face as brown as an oak-apple – and very few clothes! She wore a dirty pair of boy’s shorts, and a blue blouse – or it might have been a shirt. Her legs were bare, and she had old shoes on her feet. She was singing as she came, in a high sweet voice like a bird’s.

The illustration on the left is from the first edition, the one on the left is from the serialised story in Enid Blyton’s Magazine.

With her she has a little dog, and a lamb. All three are pretty wary of the two boys, though the dog is able to be tempted with a little ham. The lamb then wanders over and Dick, in a unusual move for him, takes hold of it and won’t let it go unless the girl comes to talk to them. He might do something like that in the midst of a mystery, when finding out a bit of information might be crucial, but otherwise it doesn’t seem very like Dick, even if he is very gentle with the creature.

Anyway, with the kidnap of her lamb and the bribing with biscuits, the girl is persuaded t talk to the boys. She does not speak much English and they have to talk slowly and clearly for her to understand them but she introduces herself as Aily, the dog as Dave and the lamb as Fany.

She also tells them (in a round-about way) that her father is a shepherd up on the hills, while she lives down the hill somewhere. With that she simply gets up and runs down the hill.

As Dick says:

What a funny little creature. Like a pixie of the hills, or an elf of the woods. I quite expected her to to disappear in smoke, or something. I should think she runs completely wild.

I see her as as a younger version of Tassie from The Castle of Adventure, I wouldn’t be surprised if she wandered about in the winter in just her dress and perhaps even no shoes.

Aily is also revealed to be even more Tassie-like when the boys ask Mrs Jones about her.

That mad little thing! She’s the shepherd’s daughter – a little  truant she is, runs off from school, and hides away in the hills with her dog and her lamb. She always has a lamb each year – it follows her about everywhere. They say there isn’t a rabbit hole of a blackberry bush or birds’ nest that child doesn’t know…

She’s as wild as a bird – there’s nothing to be done with her. If she’s scolded she goes off for weeks, no ne knows where. Don’t let her some round that hut now, when you’re there – she’ll maybe steal from you.

It’s not clear just how old Aily is, but old enough to supposed to be at school. Perhaps 7 or 8? Though in the illustrations she looks younger. Mrs Jones obviously has quite a low opinion of the girl, while the Five of course are much more taken with her.

Aily’s family

After moving up to the hut they meet Aily’s mother coming down the hill. It’s not clear if she has merely been to see her husband, delivering a meal perhaps, or if she has been looking for Aily. She has no better an opinion of her daughter than Mrs Jones does. She ask the Five to tell Aily, if they see her, to tell her not to stay out that night.

That child! She’s fey, I tell you… You tell here there’s a good whipping waiting for her at home if she doesn’t come back tonight. She’s like her father, she is, – likes to be alone all the time – talks to the lambs and the dogs like they were human – but never says a word to me!

It’s quite an information dump there, which takes the children aback, especially when added to all the gossip she has already imparted about the old lady at Old Towers (more on that later).

Julian is smart enough to know that a promise of a whipping is not a good enticement for a child to go home, and says as much, and the woman goes off muttering.

Aily’s father visits them the next morning, and he is much more like Aily than his wife. Aily’s mother spoke English fluently, whereas the shepherd is halting and needs things repeated just like Aily does. Presumably he spends most of his time with the sheep and dogs, and talks to them in Welsh. He doesn’t mention Aily, so perhaps she did go home after all – that or he just isn’t that worried about her!

The only view we get of the shepherd from the first edition, on the left, and an alternative scene on the right from Enid Blyton’s Magazine.

It’s interesting that later, in the end chapters, Aily sees her father while she and the Five are in a bit of a dangerous situation. She makes no move to go to him, or even make him aware of her presence. It could be because she’s afraid of Morgan, as he does go to her and pick her up later when he spots her, but perhaps despite being somewhat alike they don’t have a great relationship.

One last point is that we never learn Aily’s last name, she is always just Aily (except when she’s that child, of course.) Her father is just the shepherd or Aily’s father, though her mother is referred to as Maggy once.

Aily’s secrets

Aily herself turns up later that day, so she probably hadn’t gone home. I know it says that she runs off all the time, especially if she has been scolded, but I can imagine her mother would have locked her up – or at least tried to, to keep her home for a bit. Mind you, I wouldn’t put it past Aily to go climbing out of windows.

She is far less shy this time, as she probably knows there will be food on offer. If she’s off roaming the hills – especially in winter – I wonder how much food she is able to scavenge. I wonder if Mrs Jones suspects her from stealing from the farm – perhaps cheese or milk from the  dairy, as that would be more accessible than food from the kitchen.

Aily confirms that she did not go home last night (George must have assumed that as she asks where she slept last night), but instead slept in the hay at Magga Farm. She then tells them more about Old Towers and the old woman there – things that her mother clearly doesn’t know, if it’s true. During this little interrogation it’s revealed that Aily can’t read, something she is perhaps embarrassed by as she tries to hide it.

She reminds me of Brodie, as when asked what some notes means she makes up nonsense about them saying that Aily is a good girl and so on. This is exactly the sort of thing Brodie does – he insisted that one of our Christmas cards said Happy Birthday Brodie, there are lots of present for you. But Aily is presumably a bit older than four, otherwise they’d not have expected her to be able to read.

Clearly she misses so much school that she hasn’t learned – though I also wonder if it’s a Welsh/English thing. I assume her Welsh speaking is much better than her English but I don’t know if they were teaching both in schools in Wales in the 1950s. I know that there was a time that the Welsh language (and history) fell out of favour with schools, but whether or not that would have affected a tiny village school in the 50s, I don’t know. It’s possible that Aily might be able to read and write in Welsh, and the Five just didn’t consider that.

Anyway, her story, and her information that there’s a way into the grounds and the inside of Old Tower is of great interest to the Five (for reasons we will look at later). But before they can ask her anything more Aily’s mother passes, and spots her. Aily tries to hide but her mother grabs her and shakes her, dragging her home to be whipped.

Aily comes through

Aily obviously manages to escape, however, as the Five find her hiding in the oil-bunker of their chalet that evening. She doesn’t want to go inside with them, so she clearly hasn’t hidden there in the hope of them looking after her. Julian suspects she might sleep there, as it’s sheltered, on occasion.

This time she has run away from home as Morgan (Mrs Jones’ son) came calling, having heard her story about Old Towers from Julian and Dick. She’s a plucky soul, though, as despite being afraid of Morgan (and I suspect rather wary of the goings on at Old Towers) she readily agrees to lead the Five to the secret way in. This is mostly because she’s fallen for Julian who has protected her from Morgan and looked after her. Much like Jo took a liking to Dick, and Sniffer to George, Aily is now willing to do anything to please Julian.

So the next morning they set off – Aily deigning to wear a hat and scarf only because they are they same as Julian has on. It’s funny as she complains that tobogganing makes her nose cold, but as the others point out surely she’s cold all over already.

The above scene is only illustrated in the Enid Blyton’s Magazine version of the story.

Like Tassie, Aily is the kind of kid who never gets lost and is able to guide the Five to the right part of the hill in the middle of a heavy snow fall. She is goat-like in her ability to jump down into the deep pot-hole she reveals to them and goes off into a dark tunnel, so her night-vision must be good!

Inside the house she just hares off alone to check where the caretaker is – and then shows them the kitchen where she takes a bit of meat-pie and eats it. I guess that answers the question as to where she finds her food. She’s also smart enough to have locked the sleeping caretaken into his room. She won’t go any further than a corridor on the second floor, though, as she is too afraid of the rows of paintings that line the walls.

Later Blyton says that Aily has a  simple mind as she believes that the thunder and lightening comes from inside the hill as that’s where a great rumbling comes from. On one hand that sounds quite harsh, but on the other it might be quite true. Living where she does – and hardly attending school – means she probably lacks access to the knowledge of the wider world.

Anyway, it’s Aily – and her lamb – that lead to the final climactic scenes in the book. Fany, the lamb, skips off the wrong way underground and Aily plunges after her right away, with the Five following soon after. And that’s how they get caught up in everything that’s going on under the hill.

What happens to Aily?

I’d like to say that Aily has a happy ending but she doesn’t really get an ending at all. She returns to Magga Farm with the others to have a good meal and then isn’t mentioned again. Morgan returns later, but I’d have liked to have seen her father come and be reunited with her, perhaps with Aily realising that her wandering and adventuring is perhaps a little too dangerous and agreeing to go to school a little more. In return her father might promise to let her join him at the weekends and teach her what he knows about animals and nature.

I had no idea I’d be able to write over 2,000 words about Aily, but there you are. I think I’ve managed to cover a lot of the story as it relates to her, so next time I will look at the other story elements and then get to the usual nitpicks and observations.

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Jacqueline Wilson Vs Enid Blyton

Posted on January 19, 2022 by Fiona

Six months ago, though it feels like less than that, I wrote about English Heritage vs Enid Blyton. The furore that time was over English Heritage updating their website to mention some criticisms of Blyton’s writing. I found the update poorly done, giving undue prominence to accusations of racism, sexism and so on, but defended their thought process in doing so. I was therefore pleased when they made a further update which added more positive information on Blyton, while retaining a slightly reworded paragraph on her controversies.

Although I have titled those posts English Heritage vs Enid Blyton, it would probably be more accurate to say it was English Heritage vs Enid Blyton’s fans, who on the whole took it very badly. There were some reasoned arguments both for and against, but also a great deal of ridiculous over-defensive nonsense.

And unfortunately we appear to be right back at that point with words and phrases like snowflake, PC brigade, woke, wokeism, (and for some absolutely inexplicable reason wokey cokeys), being thrown around by rather a lot of people who do not appear to know what they are talking about.

What on earth has Jacqueline Wilson done?

Jacqueline Wilson’s ‘crime’ is to have written a book. The book is The Magic Faraway Tree: A New Adventure. 

Primarily known for writing original children’s novels (my favourites include The Suitcase Kid, The Lottie Project and the Hetty Feather series) Wilson has, more recently, begun to write her own versions of classic stories.

The first, Four Children and It, came in 2012, and is a modern story based on Five Children and It by E Nesbit. I have read this and found it very enjoyable. It retained much of Wilson’s storytelling style but also the whimsical yet often troublesome nature of making a wish to a Psammead.

Then came Katy, in 2015, a modern retelling of What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge, and then another E Nesbit retelling, The Primrose Railway Children, in 2021. I have read and enjoyed both the originals of these stories, and I would like to read Wilson’s versions too, at some point.

And now, of course, it’s the Faraway Tree’s turn. There seems to be some confusion at the moment, as the book is not out yet. It is due out at the end of May, and so, naturally none of the foaming-at-the-mouth ranters on Facebook have actually read it.

What they have read, though, is the Daily Mail’s version of events. Judging by the Daily Mail’s article(s) they haven’t the foggiest clue what’s going on either.

When is a rewrite not a rewrite?

The Daily Mail doesn’t seem to know if this book is a rewrite or not. Hint: it’s categorically not. The clue is rather in the title of the book – The Magic Faraway Tree: A New Adventure.

In their sensationalist headline they call the book a woke rewrite, a phrase they use later in the article too.

But they also admit that Wilson has said the book is a follow on… rather than a rewrite. They also quote Wilson as saying I had such fun writing a brand new Faraway Tree book. 

They follow this (in their style of writing an article then adding related / contradictory / repeated content as captions to the photos used) with A beloved novel by Enid Blyton has been rewritten by Jacqueline Wilson to airbrush alleged sexist elements.

Then Mrs Wilson said: I would agree with you in that I’m not actually updating it, I’m following on.

They then quote the The Free Speech Union, Classic works of children’s literature should not be rewritten to make them more politically correct.

And claim that this new book is the second time the book has been changed. It was updated in the 1990s to change the children’s names from Dick and Fanny to Rick and Frannie.

And lastly: This year’s rewrite will also not be the first time Mrs Wilson has change other classic authors’ works.

So… is it a rewrite or not? Because the author (and the Editorial Director at Enid Blyton Entertainment) has clearly stated that this is a new book, yet the Daily Mail use the word rewrite (or a variation of) seven times, not to mention their uses of updated and changed. It’s almost as if they are trying to stir the pot by claiming that Wilson has done a rewrite of the original.

The Daily Express isn’t much better, though they stick to the rewrite story right until the end of their article, before extensively quoting Wilson saying that it isn’t a rewrite.

Enid Blyton ‘wouldn’t be thrilled’ with woke The Magic Faraway Tree rewrite..

ENID BLYTON’S The Magic Faraway Tree is being rewritten again for political correctness… undergoing a ‘woke’ gender-neutral rewrite…

After more than 70 years, Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree series is being rewritten to appease the political correctness of today…

The original book, which was released in 1943, will also be tweaked…

After Jacqueline Wilson was confirmed to be making some significant changes to The Magic Faraway Tree…

They also try to accuse Wilson of making alternations to the book, before finally getting to the truth.

However, Wilson defended the work, distancing herself from the claims that it was simply a revisionist piece, instead asserting that “I’m not actually updating it”.

The backlash

The Facebook fans have either not read the article or have not read it properly because the majority of them are bemoaning a rewrite that doesn’t exist.

Some of the more ridiculous criticisms included accusing Jacqueline Wilson of using Enid Blyton’s name to make herself famous.

Jacqueline Wilson. Dame Jaqueline Wilson, awarded an OBE for services to literature in schools. Author of over 100 books, books which have sold over 10 million copies and been translated into over 30 languages. Dame Jaqueline Wilson, Children’s Laureate from 2005-2007, a holder of five honorary degrees from UK Universities…  I think she’s already pretty famous, don’t you?

Then, as usual, the cries of What next?? Shakespeare? Well, first, it’s not a rewrite, and secondly, Shakespeare’s ideas have been adapted, lampooned and rewritten many times over. (Also suggested have been Dickens and Austen, who I’m sure have both had their ideas reused, though probably less often than Shakespeare.)

Here are ten books based on Shakespeare’s plays just as an example. It’s not on that list but even Moby Dick was heavily inspired by Shakespeare. And of course, there are countless films, including many which take the original plot and characters and plant them in a different environment. William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996) for example. Or my favourite bizarreness, the film West Side Story (1957) which is also based on Romeo and Juliet, then has a cheerleader remake (Bring It On 5: In It to Win It) where two opposing teams (also called the Sharks and the Jets) compete. I know these are films and not books, but as Shakespeare’s works are plays, designed to be performed rather than read, I think they’re still relevant.

There were also the usual accusations of trying to ‘erase’ history, which is blatantly untrue, as this is a new story set in the present day.

And lastly, there seems to be a lot of ‘leave Blyton alone’ comments. This isn’t an attack on Blyton. This is an author who loved the books, read them over and over as a child, and is now writing her own story – an homage, if you will.

The truth

Buried amongst all the woke rewrite nonsense is a bit of information on what this new book is actually about.

Three kids, Milo, Mia and Birdy, are on a countryside holiday when they wander into an Enchanted Wood. Among the whispering leaves, there is a beautiful tree that stands high above the rest. The Magic Faraway Tree is home to remarkable creatures including a fairy called Silky, her best friend Moonface and more. Birdy is delighted to find that fairies are real. Even her older brother and sister are soon won over by the magic of the Faraway Tree and the extraordinary places they discover above it, including the Land of Unicorns. But not every land is so much fun. Danger looms in the Land of Dragons. Will Moonface’s magic work in time to save the children?

I really like the idea that the Faraway Tree is always there, and now and again, children discover it. Perhaps not that often, but maybe once in every hundred years the right group of children come along and befriend Moonface and Silky and the Saucepan Man, who are of course, immortal.

To be honest, I’d have been happy if she had plonked Jo, Fanny and Bess in the 21st century and have them visit more or less the same lands and have the same adventures, but against a modern backdrop, because that sort of thing fascinates me. I often wonder about how the Famous Five would have fared in the present day, and have even come up with a few stories in my head about them as grown ups today.

But then again I love fan fic, and all the what-ifs it offers. What if the Famous Five were from 2022? What if Philippa Mannering loved animals, and her brother David hated them? (I created that one on the spur of the moment but now I’m definitely intrigued and will probably spend too long thinking about it).

And to me, that’s what this is. It’s fan fic of the most epic kind. Wilson is in the privileged position of being a famous author who is able to have fan fiction published on a large scale with powerful advertising. Anyone could write a Katy novel or anything by E Nesbit as they are in the public domain, but not just anyone could get them professionally published on a large scale. Only a select few are given permission to write in the Blyton canon.

If you don’t like fan fiction, or films which wildly reimagined the classics then this might not be for you. You also might not like it if you aren’t a fan of Wilson’s, and that’s OK. But otherwise to dismiss it out of hand purely because it’s based in the now, and therefore reflects more modern attitudes is, in my opinion, just daft.

I will of course be reading it and reviewing it when it comes out, and I would be interested in the thoughts of anyone else who reads it too.

If you want to hear what Wilson said in full you can listen to the Radio 4 programme for another couple of weeks, the interview is at around 2 hours 45.

 

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Monday #459

Posted on January 17, 2022 by Fiona

Last week I managed to break out of my time loop and actually post the first part of my review of Five Get Into a Fix.

Jacqueline Wilson vs Enid Blyton

and

Five Get Into a Fix part 2

“I shall go all gloomy and glumpish if you scold me as soon as we get here,” complained Snubby. “I feel glumpish already.”

Diana gave a little squeal of laughter. “Oh, Snubby—that’s a lovely word. Much better than gloomy. Do you feel down in the glumps?”

Glumpish is a great word, modelled on the name of Mrs Glump, owner of the Three Men in a Tub Inn at Rubadub.

rubadub mystery

 

 

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Five Get Into a Fix

Posted on January 14, 2022 by Fiona

I have been meaning to read and review this for a while, and having finally got around to it in the first week of January I realise that I am actually reading it at the time of year it is actually set. Which is quite nice, even if we have no snow.

As a side note, I am rather gobsmacked to realise that I haven’t read this book in over ten years. TEN YEARS. I know this as I started logging everything I read on Goodreads in early 2012, and I have not read it in that time. I knew it had been a while, but I hadn’t realised it was that long. The Fives are my favourite Blyton series, so I feel a bit guilty to have abandoned some of them for a decade!

 

 

A story in three parts

I didn’t divide the last book (Billycock Hill) into parts, mostly as I was too preoccupied with trying to work out why it’s my third least favourite Famous Five book. It was probably also because I didn’t have a good enough grasp of the storyline before reading it which is when I generally start this bit, fine-tuning it if my opinion changes after reading.

Anyway, Five Get Into a Fix is my 8th favourite book and so I have a much better recollection of the story.

I would therefore divide this one into:

  • The Five at home, and their first days at Magga Glen
  • The Five moving to the summer chalet on the hill and getting involved with Aily
  • The underground adventure and the ending

Off to Magga Glen

I had forgotten that the book started with a mention of Christmas. The Five are lamenting that they spent Christmas day in bed because of having a bad cold (seems a bit extreme to me, but from later descriptions it sounds as if they had a flu-like illness) and are still not feeling up to scratch.

As is often the case in Blyton’s books an illness means time to recuperate is needed, and doing that in your own home is only for the poor. If you have the money you go off for sea air, or mountain air, or as for the Five here a bit of both. I’m not sure that the actual air itself is of particular benefit (other than it being healthier than city smog) but a change of scenery, some exercise and so on is undoubtedly good for you.

The Five end up going to Magga Glen as fortuitously the gardener has overheard their plight and has an old aunt who lets farmhouse rooms in the Welsh mountains not too far from the sea.

All they need to do is pack copious amounts of clothing (more than they would if their mother/aunt wasn’t supervising I’m sure), plus skis and toboggans (doesn’t everyone had a shed full of these?) and they are off.

The first strange thing

Often nothing mysterious happens for a while, but we get one thing quite early on in this book. It seems like an isolated incident – nothing more than a wrong turn taking them to a locked gate guarded by an aggressive dog. Nothing too strange about that, lots of people have dogs and gates.

Even the when the car crawls heavily down the hill from the house, despite the accelerator being pushed down, it seems just a spot of engine trouble.

But then the tale of the strange magnetic hill reaches the Five’s ears. A hill that the postie can’t take his bike up as it becomes too heavy, a hill topped by a house inhabited by only an old lady who’s said to be off her head. 

Still, they’re not going to take a wrong turn again, and they certainly wouldn’t be going back up the hill to to the big old house for any reason.

When Welsh hospitality isn’t enough

The Five often camp out, or stay in caravans and so on, but sometimes they go to farmhouses or other homes (Five Go Down to the Sea, Five On Finniston Farm, Five Go to Smuggler’s Top). They don’t always stay the entire time – in Five Go to Mystery Moor the riding school is oversubscribed, so after a few weeks there for the girls they head off camping, and in Five Are Together Again they end up camping in field next to Tinker’s house, but this book takes the biscuit for short stays.

They stay just two nights, and if George had had her way it would have been even less. There’s nothing wrong with the house itself, or the hospitality. Mrs Jones is pleasant and tells them they can have the run of their part of the house, plus she provides them with ample food.

However George is silly enough to let Timmy off the lead where he runs into a few of the farm dogs, gets into a scuffle with them and sustains a small bite. George naturally thinks that this is the end of the world, and it’s just about the end of the holiday as she insists that she and Timmy need to leave for his safety.

Luckily there’s a solution. There just happens to be a summer cabin on the hill, all kitted out for small groups. And it just so happens to look across to the back of the hill that the old house is on…

Naturally Mrs Jones is sceptical. The house is designed for summer stays, not winter. There’ll be nobody to ‘do’ for them, and (probably) she has whole larder-full of food she had planned to feed them. But still, they are nothing if not persuasive and get their own way. Morgan, the enormous son of Mrs Jones lugs their stuff up on a sledge, and the Five are alone at last, and although they don’t know it yet, poised for another adventure.

In the next post: All about Aily, Noises and mists and shimmerings and something afoot at the old house.

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My 2021 in books and Blyton

Posted on January 12, 2022 by Fiona

Last year I did more in-depth round up of my year in books, so I think I’ll try to stick to the same format this year.

As I said last year (yes I’m being lazy and have copy and pasted this): Every year I set some reading goals. The main one is how many books – I generally start with a goal of 100 and if if I hit that early I’ll increase it, and I also have some looser goals that I don’t put actual numbers on.

Goal: read at least 100 books

Last year I aimed for 150 and read 166, but I was on furlough for 7 months last year, while this year I only had two months on furlough. So I aimed for 100 books and read 121, which I am more than happy with.

Goal: Read more new books than rereads

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with re-reading old favourites, I love revisiting childhood books as well as things I first read a few years ago and enjoyed. I am blessed with the sort of memory which means I can reread a murder mystery two or three years later and still not remember who did it, but some books are so good that even if I do remember it doesn’t matter, I’ll still enjoy it.

Having said that, I think anyone would miss out massively if they only ever re-read books. I know I would which is why I try to strike a good balance whereby I read at least as many new books as I do old ones. Last year I read 115 new to 51 old, which is a great result for me.

This year I read 27 that I had already read before and 94 that were new.

I am terrible at maths but the internet tells me that last year 70% of my books were new, this year 78% were. Obviously that doesn’t take into account the length of those books, but either way, I hit that goal!

The rereads

Most of my re-reads came from me re-reading the whole Anastasia Krupnik series by Lois Lowry. I’ve read the first five probably a dozen times, the last three I bought as a grown up so I’ve read them a little less often.

Another series I revisited is the Aurora Teagarden series by Charlaine Harris, about a librarian who solves murders. I’ve read these all at least once before, in print, this time I’m listening to the audiobooks. I listened to six of the ten books last year but the covers aren’t very inspiring so I’ll just show three.

My re-reading of all the Buffy novels didn’t really get very far as I only managed two, and though I did continue with the Kinsey Millhone books, I only read two of those as well.

Most, but not all, of my Blytons were re-reads as well, but I will get to them later.

The new

There are too many new ones to list, but a few things I ‘discovered’ were:

The Robert Langdon books by Dan Brown. ‘Where have you been?’ I hear you ask. ‘Those books were huge about fifteen years ago, and now everyone hates them.’

Well, I’m almost always late to a good reading party. I just never had the inclination to read them before, but as they’re always on those ‘must read’ lists, I thought I’d give them a go. And, I really liked them. They were clever, fast-paced and I just tore through them. They were ridiculous, like the biggest summer blockbusters on 500 pages, but great fun. I really must watch the films now.

I was also late to the Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children party. I have seen the film of that, though. I’ve been meaning to read the book – or as it turned out – books for a while, and now I’ve read the first two and I loved them. The fact all the photos inside are real vintage ones is just brilliant.

I was a little less late to the Thursday Murder Club party, I read that not long after the second book came out. I’m not sure I completely understood the hype – it was good, but only from about the half-way point on.

Goal: Read some books I’ve always meant to

My list of books to read is probably a mile long at this point, many of which have been there years yet I’ve never got around to them.

Lately I’ve tired to focus on reading one classic a year, reading some books that have inspired film or TV adaptations that I’ve enjoyed, and books that seem to appear on every ‘must read’ list.

The classics

This is the point that I rack my brain to recall if I did actually read any classics.

If we discount children’s ones (for the moment) then yes, I read Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck – so chosen as I knew it was pretty short.

The children’s classics (all in audiobook format) were Alice in Wonderland (I could take it or leave it) The Secret Garden (I loved it), and The Phoenix and the Carpet (good, but not as good as the first book).

The books adapted for screen

As I’ve said before I love reading books that films were based on, and seeing films that were based on books, regardless of which order that happens in. I’ve already mentioned quite a few that have been adapted – a few of the Robert Landon ones, Miss Peregrine, and the above four classics. I also think that some of the Aurora Teagarden books have been made into TV movies though I haven’t seen any of them.

I can add to that Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (seen), 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (not seen) The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald (seen) and The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak (not seen).

Books on all those ‘must read’ lists

I ticked off quite a few must read books this year though I think I’ve mentioned all of them already.

The Robert Langdons, Gone Girl, Of Mice and Men, The Book Thief and Alice in Wonderland certainly all appear on a lot of lists – though they do not necessarily all appear on the same lists.

One that appears on some perhaps more niche lists (lists of paranormal fiction, or books you will like if you like Jodi Taylor, Ben Aaronovitch and Jasper Fforde) was Soulless – the first Parasol Protectorate book by Gail Carriger. I liked it, but not as much as anything by the three names above, and so I’ve not picked up any more of the series yet. It may be one of those ones that takes time to really get into.

Goal: Find a good balance between books for children’s and books for grown ups

Again, there’s nothing wrong with loving children’s fiction – there have been so many amazing books published for children, and more come out every day. But it is easy for me to fall into reading too many children’s books as on the whole they are much easier than books for grown ups. I think it’s important to challenge myself as I usually end up loving the grown up books I do read.

Last year I read 104 grown up books to 56 for children, and 6 for teens/young adults.

This year I read 77 for grown ups,  36 for children and 8 for teens/young adults, so percentage-wise not too different.

 

Goal: Read more feministly

This was a new goal last year and I did reasonably well, but I have shirked a bit in 2021.

I read a short book We Are Feminist, which was all infographics, by Helen Pankhurst (the great granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst).

The only other one I could count is The Radium Girls by Kate Moore, which looks at the appalling treatment of women who worked in American dial painting factories in the 1920s. Although there were men affected by radium poisoning – it was sold as a health tonic! – the book focuses on a group of women, generally lowly paid and not listened to when their health began to fail in horrific ways. The book details their long fight to have recognition that their work was the cause of their illnesses, some of the women fighting until their deaths.

I got a couple of interesting feminist books for my Christmas so my 2022 can start off well for this goal.

I have added a new goal along with this one, though, which is to read more about Black history and rights. I would have said read more racistly, but that just sounds like the opposite to what I want to achieve.

For that I read Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge and How To Argue With a Racist by Adam Rutherford.

Read more non-fiction

Obviously the above books on feminism and race are non-fiction but I think reading some of those last year reminded me that I should be reading more non-fiction in general.

I didn’t do a fiction vs non fiction count last year, but this year it was 22 non fiction to 99 fiction, which isn’t bad at all. A few of the non fiction were short photo-histories with descriptive captions, but most were of a decent length.

A few of my favourites from this year were The Radium Girls from above, a book that has really, really stuck with me, but also The Butchering Art – the story of how Joseph Lister revolutionised surgery (after a whole lot of fighting back from other surgeons) by introducing asepsis.

I also enjoyed some books about books – The Book Lovers’ Miscellany and The Library Book.

I am not a huge memoir reader (with the exception of historical nurses/midwives) but now and again I like to read more recent ones. This year I enjoyed Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher and Best Foot Forward by Adam Hills.

How did the pandemic affect my reading?

Last year it affected me more, I think, in that it gave me more reading time, but deprived me of my usual source of books – the library.

This year I was busier, and had access to the library again, but I think I’ve just gotten very tired of the strain and stress of living in a pandemic and so I went through several phases of not even picking up a book because I couldn’t be bothered.

Last year I read 73 ebooks, 51 physical books and 42 audiobooks.

This year it was 27 ebooks, 66 physical books and 28 audiobooks. Audiobooks take a lot longer to get through than reading the equivalent in text so with less time this year it’s not surprising those have taken a big hit. I also read less ebooks as I was able to borrow from the library again.

(As an aside I don’t think that the format matters, they all count equally, I just like to see the numbers!)

And finally, my Blytons

Well, this is what you’re here for, isn’t it?

As with last year I read embarrassingly few Blytons for someone who blogs about her every single week.

I was carrying on my reviews of the Famous Five books of which I managed four:

Five Go to Mystery Moor
Five Have Plenty of Fun
Five on a Secret Trail 
Five Go to Billycock Hill

I also read two new (to me) Blytons:

The Big Noddy Book #6
Chimney Corner Stories

I did read some things that are Blyton-related, or Blyton-adjacent, if you like.

Such as the excellent biography of her writing career – Enid Blyton the Untold Story by Brian Carter.

I also read a couple of continuation books, though all from quite different perspectives.

Well Done the Naughtiest Girl by Anne Fine
Five Go Parenting by Bruno Vincent
Return to Kirrin by Neil and Suzy Howlett

The unofficial one – Return to Kirrin – is the only one worth reading out of those three by the way.

There was also the truly awful Island of Adventure based on the also terrible tv episode, but the less said about that the better.

And then there are few of the if you like Blyton type of books.

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
The Mystery of Tully Hall by Zoe Billings

Did you hit your reading goals last year?

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