Enid Blyton at New Year

Posted on January 1, 2020 by Fiona

Happy New Year, everyone! Enid Blyton wrote such a wide range of material that it’s hard to find a subject she hasn’t at least touched on. There are, of course, some topics she gave more attention to than others.

New year got a fair amount of attention, after all, it comes around every year! I think she was a fan of resolutions as those are mentioned a few times.

Unfortunately there aren’t a whole lot of illustrations to go with these (mostly early) works so I hope you didn’t have too much to drink before tackling this.

1920s New Years

On New Year’s Resolutions from The Teachers World 1005, Jan 1924

This is a rather serious article, I suspect to be read by the teachers and not their children.

Blyton comes firmly down on the side of resolutions and suggests it’s better to have a positive I will resolution rather than a negative I won’t resolution.

Read the article in full here .

A New Year from The Teachers World 1069, Dec 1924

This is a cheery look at how everyone gets a New Year which will brings a fresh start along with all the wonders of spring.

Read it in full here (where you will also find a poem titled New Year Sing-Song).

New Lamps for Old from The Teachers World 1133, Dec 1925

This is a strange one. I’ve not heard the tale of Father Time collecting old lamps for new ones on New Year’s Eve. There’s a poem of that title by Rudyard Kipling but it seems to have a different background. It may be something Enid has made up as the whole article is a huge metaphor where the old lamps represent people who have become jaded and miserly.

Read it here and see what you make of it.

The Golden Promise: A New Year Story from The Teachers World 1135, Jan 1926

This is a lovely story, though it has two curious elements. One is that it specifies the year as 1925, and secondly Blyton speaks to the reader near the start. She often addressed the readers at the end of chapters in her adventure novels but here she says I once saw the number written down but I couldn’t have read it out. Anyway…

The story is of a bored old wizard who has a ton of money but nothing to spend it on. Then at his door arrives a small child – a Little New Year who has fallen from Father Time’s sleigh. He is terribly upset that he is lost in fairyland and won’t reach the mortal world in time for New Year, and even more so that he has lost some of his spring flowers and animals.

The wizard, who at first comes across as somewhat aloof (he may even be a cruel wizard for all we know) suddenly melts at the child’s tears and does all he can to make things better.

I have not done it justice at all in that summary so please do read it for yourself, it’s such a shame it hasn’t been collected anywhere else. There’s no reason the year at the start couldn’t have been changed for a new publication.

New Year Letter from The Teachers World 1261, Jan 1928

This one’s addressed to boys and girls. It combines a couple of her favourite themes: nature and doing good. She extols the joys of the spring to come (she even enjoys January, apparently), and hopes that the children reading will become happier, braver and kinder as the year goes on.

Read the letter here.

1930s New Years

The New Year from The Teachers World 1389, Jan 1930

A short but sweet nature-themed poem (and a few mentions of the New Year in the letter below, too).

A Happy New Year from The Teachers World 1597, Jan 1934

This is another poem, this time about what Gillian would wish for at the New Year.

Poor Mr Tumpy from The Teachers World 1389, Jan 1930

Mr Tumpy is probably one of her less-well-known characters. I’ve not read any of his stories though I know there’s one about him and his caravan. Anyway, Mr Tumpy makes a mistake ala the Three Golliwogs, and tears off too many days on his calendar and thinks it’s New Year’s Day a day early.

Read his story here.

Little New Year from Enid Blyton’s Poetry Book, 1934

This is another poem which we have posted in full before.

January Days from Enid Blyton’s Poetry Book, 1934

We have shared this poem in full before too.

A Happy New Year Poem #2 from The Teachers World 1649, Jan 1935

This poem has the same title as the earlier one, but is a different piece. I suppose there are only so many possible titles for New Years’ poems!

This one has a nature-theme as well, and you can read it here.

A Happy New Year! from The Teachers World 1936

A story in which Benny makes a resolution to smile more and it pays off. Read it here.

1940s New Years

New Year’s Party from Enid Blyton’s Book of the Year, 1941

A clever story about three children attending a New Year’s Party. One is selfish and greedy, one is lazy and the other is kind.

Blyton introduces an idea I’ve only ever seen in her work, this one and another story featured later in this post. I assume she is using an old idea from folk tales or somesuch but I really don’t know.

The children go into a candle-lit room and see there are long pictures on the wall, pictures of children doing all sorts of things.

One is spoiled by blots of colour across it and another has lots of unfinished bits. The marked one represents the selfish child’s year, and the marks represent all the times she has been unkind. The unfinished one belongs to the lazy boy, the unfinished portions showing where his laziness has meant he has abandoned tasks.

They then see the picture created by the kind child and hers is unmarred and wonderful.

I really love this idea.

Read the full story here

Happy New Year! from Enid Blyton’s Calendar, 1943

Yes, it wasn’t just books, poems and magazines Blyton wrote. She did calendars too!

It wouldn’t be of much use to write your appointments or birthdays on as the dates are the smallest part of this calendar. Each month has a few pages of beautifully illustrated poems and nature stories.

For January 1943 there is a New Year poem.

1950s New Years

Father Time and his Pattern Book from Enid Blyton’s Gay Street Book, 1951.

This is one I nearly missed as it doesn’t have New Year in the title! If it hadn’t been for a fellow Blyton fan sharing the contents of the story I wouldn’t have known it even existed as I don’t have a copy of the book.

This is another story that features the idea of children making pictures, or patterns, each year and the picture or pattern showing how ‘good’ or ‘bad’ they have been.

This time there is one child, Robin, who is shown several patterns by Father Time. His brother’s is lovely but spoiled by black dots here and there where he has lost his temper. Another is attractive except where rips show a girl’s cruelty. One is almost all ugly – made up of greed and selfishness, with just one or two bright threads which represent hard work.

Lastly Robin sees his own pattern which is beautiful apart from the grey smudges of lies.

I really do love this pattern/picture idea. If you’ve seen it elsewhere please let me know.

You can read the story in full, here.

A New Year Promise from Enid Blyton’s Magazine issue 2 volume 1, 1954

As the title may suggest this is a story about resolutions. John always breaks his so his resolution then is to keep any promises he makes. His sister Dinah goads him (perhaps her resolution is to be more encouraging!) that he always forgets and breaks promises but he’s determined. He does well at first, but then forgets he has promised to put fresh straw in the dog’s kennel. He remembers in the night and, eaten with guilt, sneaks down to do it and instead catches two burglars.

The dog gets to sleep inside as a reward for helping and John is forgiven for breaking his promise.

John writes a letter about his story a few pages later. (It is absolutely Dinah in the story, I’ve double-checked!)

Happy New Year again, if you got this far!

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Monday #352 – the last of the year!

Posted on December 30, 2019 by Fiona

This is the last post of the year and of the decade!

You may be pleased to know that’s the end to the Christmas quotes in the Monday posts but I think I’ll move on to wintry ones as having a theme is quite fun.

Enid Blyton at New Year

and

Birthday/Christmas present roundup for 2019

It was grand fun to be on the ice that clear winter’s morning. Roger fell over quite a lot, and groaned and rubbed himself, quite envious of the others, especially of Snubby. Snubby did not skate as gracefully as either Barney or Diana but he was as usual, full of idiotic tricks, leaping in the air on his skates, twisting himself round in never-ending circles till he fell over in giddiness – and altogether behaving in what Diana called  a “very Snubby-ish way.”

From The Rat-A-Tat Mystery.

Five Get Into a Fix is set in the depths of winter and the Five get an extended Christmas break to recover from being ill. They are sent off to Magga Glen which, of course, they find an adventure in. There’s a big house on the hill which has signs warning off trespassers, it also has a strange ‘shimmering’ above it some nights. There’s Aily, who brings notes telling of a woman being held prisoner in her own home. There’s surly Morgan with his booming voice and seven dogs.  There is also a lot of fun as they toboggan in the snow and ‘camp’ out in the summer-house above the farm.

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Monday #351 – Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 23, 2019 by Fiona

Christmas is finally here! This will be the only post this week, as I’m taking the rest of the week off to celebrate and eat too much. (After I’ve cleaned and tidied and wrapped etc!)

I’ll be back on Monday the 30th for the last post of the year, and posting as normal from then on.

Coming up in the next year there will be a new fanfiction story about Darrell’s first date with the suave-yet-secretive Anatoly, a guide to our other recommended children’s authors, and I’ll be carrying on comparing The Naughtiest Girl in the School, reviewing the Famous Five books and sharing letters to Blyton from her magazines. Plus a lot more, which I’ll have to dream up at some point!

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas!

– Fiona 

 

 

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Five Fall Into Adventure part 2

Posted on December 20, 2019 by Fiona

Following on from part one of my review now it’s time to see what happens now that the three plus Jo are hunting for George.

Delaying tactics

Jo being taken off by Jake means that the other three get lost when trying to get out of the woods again, and after going round in circles for hours they have to sleep there. Jo finds them in the night and leads them home in the morning, so there’s about two chapters out of these three which don’t further the story, really.

Perhaps Blyton just felt like we needed a chance of pace after all those hectic event-filled preceding chapters.

Off to Red Tower’s tower

The final assault begins in chapter seventeen with Julian, Dick and Jo taking George’s boat up the coast to find Red Tower’s abode.

You’d think they would be in their element here, exploring the caves that lead from the beach to Red Tower’s house, but it all goes very wrong. They’ve brought their own rope and torches but neither can stop Red from catching them. He orders their boat to be destroyed and for Timmy to be shot.

So shortly Julian and Dick are tied up, Timmy is drugged in the summer house and George is locked in a high room in the Red Tower’s tower.

All about Jo

Jo is pretty much the hero from this point on. OK, so it’s substantially her fault that they are in the situation they are in, but she fixes everything for them.

Having hid when Red Tower catches the boys, she is free to rescue them a short time later. She then scales the tower, rescues George and even takes her place so that George can escape. She stands up to her father and Jake, knowing they’re likely to beat her, and manages to lock them and Red in the tower room before making her own escape.

She’s absolutely fearless and very brave, it has to be said. With everyone free – though Timmy’s still very dopey – they just have to work out how to escape. The lack of a boat is a major problem, of course.

There are several dramatic moments in the final chapters, as they strive to escape. The twist is the boat has not actually been destroyed, but getting to it and getting it in the water becomes the challenge.

Uncle Quentin

Quentin only appears in the first chapter, but there’s a reasonable amount of things I can find to say about him, still.

George tells her cousins that Father’s in quite a good temper. He’s been to America with Mother, lecturing and hearing other scientists lecturing too. Mother says everyone made a great fuss of him, and he liked it. 

This is an interesting insight, I would have imagined he would have no time for being fussed over, but I suppose he does have an ego.

It’s also said that The children were fond of him, but held him in great respect. That’s perhaps over-simplifying things. There is certainly respect, and perhaps some fondness, but they also find him frustrating and Anne certainly can be afraid of him.

He is wild about what’s in the newspaper. “Look here, Fanny,” he shouted. “See what they’ve put in this paper – the very thing I gave orders was NOT to be put in! The dolts! The idiots!” He’s so mad, in fact, he doesn’t appear to even notice the children have arrived. Of course, he’s right to be angry, anyone who has read the book before will know that.

Contradicting what George said a mere page or two earlier Quentin is snappish and jumpy, Fanny declares he is as touchy and nervy as can be and it will do [him] good to get away. I suppose his good moods disappear as quickly as his bad moods arrive.

He is, at least, consistent with his forgetfulness. I didn’t know [the children] were coming… you might have told me, Fanny. Of course she has, several times. And regarding going to Spain – Well you might have warned me it was tomorrow! 

The next day he spends ages sorting his notebooks while the taxi waits. Eventually he is chased out the door by another call from a reporter, but he’s taking a despatch case of work with him much to Fanny’s dismay.

My questions, comments and nitpicks

This is the fifth Kirrin adventure, and comes after two non-Kirrin ones. It is the end of the summer holidays, they only have two weeks as Julian, Dick and Anne have been in France for six weeks.

The first chapters are such a clever series of tiny events. The newspapers have published details of Quentin keeping his work at home. The adults leave. Jo makes friends with Timmy. The pantry window doesn’t shut. Timmy goes out on his own for a walk at night. George takes him out the next night. Some of these are mentioned well before they become important and everything draws together nicely. You could say it’s all a bit coincidental but it works for me.

  • Jo spits damson stones at the Five, and I honestly have to admit I’ve never seen or eaten a damson before. I had to Google to make sure I was picturing them correctly.
  • The Five dig ‘comfortable’ sand holes. It may be my age talking but I can’t imagine a hole in the sand being particularly comfortable.
  • How funny would it have been if Anne chose an ‘unimportant looking’ notebook  for the kidnappers, but it turned out to be the very important American one? (Uncle Quentin gave them to a friend for safekeeping so it’s not possible, but Anne wasn’t to know that.)
  • I always feel sorry for Sid as it’s after midnight before he goes home, and he has a paper round in the morning! He will be up early for that, I bet.
  • When the Five are on the beach with the whole place to themselves, they ask why Jo and her father would sit right beside them. Well, a) Jo’s clearly trying to get the measure of them and get in with Timmy and b) that happens everywhere. Park in a deserted bit of car park, someone will park next to you. Sit in an empty cinema row, someone will plonk themselves in front or right next to you. Some people just don’t observe the unwritten social rules!

Looked at with an adult’s critical eye there are some possible flaws surrounding the burglary.

  • Quentin’s study is fairly trashed, but surely that would have made a lot of noise? It was done in the middle of the night, and while I’m sure they didn’t want to be there for hours surely a careful search through his papers would have been more sensible?

joan joanna five fall into an adventure

  • Why did they bother locking the door behind them when they left? That then identified the pantry window as the entry point.
  • The illustration of Anne and the window shows that the window is not that small at all. Anyone could slide through it feet first, surely?

  • Julian is described as sensible but he goes off to bed, leaving the front door open for George to return later.
  • I wonder that there only seems to be one set of keys (unless Quentin or Fanny has taken some away).
  • Dick’s adventure (following Jo after the parcel is picked up) takes around an hour based on the times given (the notebook is collected at 11 and it is after 12 when they bring Jo inside) but what’s written doesn’t seem like it would have taken nearly as long as that.

A few general nitpicks:

  • Joanna, the cook, has become Joan. There’s no mention that it’s a new cook, it reads as if it’s the same person. Perhaps she turned 40 and decided to go by a more mature version of her name? Or is it just me who thinks Joanna sounds younger.
  • All of  a sudden George’s boat has a sail. Jo takes the tiller and steers the boat while Dick and Julian look at the map on the way to Red Tower’s, with no mention of rowing. They also take a sail down when they get there. On the way back the row all the way with no mention of a sail. That’s not implausible if the wind is not in their favour but at no point is a sale ever mentioned before this point. I know if I had a sail and had to row I would be lamenting the lack of wind/wind blowing in the wrong direction. Also, there are no illustrations of a sail on George’s boat in this or any preceding book.

Final thoughts

I have this ranked as 13th in the series. It doesn’t mean I don’t think it’s a great book, just that there are 12 others I enjoyed more.

If I was to pick the ‘flaw’ that pushes this title down into the bottom half it’s the fact that George is missing for a significant chunk. She goes out with Timmy at the end of chapter 7 (p56) and doesn’t appear again until chapter 18 (p132). That’s 76 George-free pages, and actually 86 without any dialogue from her. Of course Timmy is absent for all those pages too, so that’s three fifths of the Five missing for well over one third of the book. To add to that, Anne is missing for 54 pages (and barely appears for a few before then) which is almost a third of the book.

As much as Jo is a great character the Five books are about the Five, and how they interact and solve problems together.

It’s a pity there isn’t a lot of the Five together (54 pages at the start and 6 at the end!) because there are a lot of good things about this book. As I’ve said earlier I love the fast-paced beginning with all the little details that tie together. I enjoy the scene with Sid, and the escape from Red Tower is a real thrill-ride. I just like my Famous Five books with more Famous Five!

Next post: Five on a Hike Together

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Eileen Soper at Christmas

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Fiona

It’s no secret that Eileen Soper is my favourite Blyton illustrator. She is best known for her work on the 21 Famous Five books, both the covers and internal illustrations, but she also illustrated lots of short story collections, a few other novels, jigsaws, card games, nature books and lots more.

So here is a look at the illustrations she has done for various Christmas stories, spanning just over a decade. There are potentially many more but these are just the ones I happen to have myself. You might have seen some of these if you have read my Blyton at Christmas series, but there are new scans as well.

Santa Claus Gets a Shock

from Enid Blyton’s Happy Story Book, 1942

Santa Claus falls into the pond and is rescued by Betty and Fred before warming themselves at their fire.

I’ve seen the Famous Five illustrations so many times in my life that I can’t help but see the Five in Soper’s other illustrations. That could just be Anne and George with Santa, had they known each other that young and had Santa dropped in on Kirrin Cottage one Christmas!

The Great Big Snowman

from Enid Blyton’s Happy Story Book, 1942

This isn’t strictly a Christmas story, but snowmen are associated with Christmas and appear on cards. The girl doesn’t resemble anyone from the Famous Five, but the boy with the cold knees could be Dick.

Five Go Adventuring Again

Obviously Soper illustrated the whole book, but of the 32 illustrations (not including the two dust-jackets and the endpapers) there is just the one that depicts anything Christmassy. We can forgive her as so much happens in the book that Christmas is the least exciting part.

Five Go Adventuring Again

Santa Claus Makes a Mistake

from The Green Story Book, 1947

Another Santa with two children by/in a fireplace. I’d say the boy looks like Dick again but the girl is fresh.

The Cracker Fairies

from Enid Blyton’s Lucky Story Book 1947

I’ve never featured this story before – I missed it on my previous searches because it doesn’t have Christmas or Santa in the title. Soper must like Dick Kirrin’s looks because there he is again! In actual fact that is William with his sister, Elsie. They have been ill over Christmas and too miserable to enjoy any of it, until they open some magical crackers.

The Tiny Christmas Tree

from Tales After Supper, 1949

Compare this to the little Christmas tree from Miss Brown’s Class below, it’s very similar. (I have a 1962 edition of Tales After Supper which I think is of a cheaper making, hence the awful colour of the paper).

Enid Blyton’s Book of the Year, 1950

The first edition of this book was illustrated by Harry Rountree, illustrator of the first two books in the Cherry Tree/Willow Farm series (coincidentally, Soper illustrated the third book), The Secret Mountain and around eight other lesser known Blyton titles. 

Eileen Soper then freshly illustrated the whole book for the 1950 reprint. I have the 1952 reprint which has the same Soper illustrations. Normally I date the book as 1941 (as I have done in my Blyton at Christmas series) but as I’m really looking at the illustrations I’m dating it as 1950 this time.

One Christmas Eve

This is perhaps less recognisable as it has no people in it, but I can still see Soper’s style in the castle (she’s drawn enough of them over the years!)

The Little King

This I can’t really recognise as Soper’s work. Poor baby jesus looks a little awkward without a neck.

Christmas Carol

Baby Jesus looks a little more natural here, and the animals are certainly Soper.

A Christmas Tale

Soper’s girls certainly have more variety to their looks!

The Christmas Tree

The three Santa Clauses we have had so far from Soper look very much as if they are the same person.

What They Did at Miss Brown’s School

What they did was make a Christmas cake, as above, and a little Christmas tree for the birds, shown below. Above we have Dick, Anne with longer hair, George and an unknown child.

The Christmas-Tree Party

from Tricky the Goblin and Other Stories, 1950

Showing the pictures alone here you could almost read it as a comic with little to no text, the illustrations show the story so well. There’s a young Anne (it’s really Janey) and her brother Dick (really Robin) and the child in the first image really makes me think of Fairuza Baulk. The changing colours between illustrations is funny as it looks like Janey has two identical outfits, one in red and one in pink.

Enid Blyton’s Bright Story Book, 1952

There are two stories in this one – one of which I have featured in my Blyton at Christmas, and one which I managed to miss entirely despite it having Christmas in the title.

 Santa Claus Gets Busy

No people but a very Soper-ish castle in this one.

One Christmas Eve

 I hope you’ve enjoyed looking at Eileen Soper’s Christmas works.

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Monday #350

Posted on December 16, 2019 by Fiona

Last week before Christmas!

Eileen Soper at Christmas

and

Five Fall Into Adventure part 2

There were trees about three feet high, just big enough for a small nursery. Then there were rows of bigger trees, whose branches could take quite a lot of toys and ornaments. Then there were bigger trees still for parties – the kind of Christmas trees that almost touch the ceiling of the drawing-room, and look simply wonderful when they have candles lighted.

And largest of all were the trees that were sold for school-parties – the sort that tower right up high, and hold hundreds of presents and sparkle like magic.

Who knew there were so many kinds of Christmas tree? From The Tiny Christmas Tree in Tales After Supper.

Janey, from The Christmas-Tree Party is a little girl who is a bit of a voyeur, actually, but a nice, honest one. She isn’t invited to the party in the house across the street but she watches it all being set-up in awe, exclaiming over all the lovely decorations and food. Meanwhile, her brother Robin is sulky and jealous about it. Being voyeuristic means that Janey sees the Christmas tree about to fall on the dining table and rushes over to warn her neighbours. Her good deed earns her an invite to the party, while sulky Robin has to stay home and sulk even more.

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Letters to Enid 19: From volume 2 issue 7

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Fiona

Previous letters pages can be found here.

Letters page from Volume 2, issue 7. March 31st-April 13 1954

OUR

LETTER PAGE

A letter from Sunbeam Christine Warren, 51 Central Road, Wembley.
Dear Enid Blyton,
Today I left my big china doll, Daphne, in her cradle sitting up with my Enid Blyton’s Magazine in her hands, and I went downstairs to tea. When I came up she looked as if she was reading it. I looked to see what page it was open at and she was looking at the News Sheet, straight at the  place of the Sunbeams’ News, looking as if she would like to be a Sunbeam. So I enclose a postal order for her badge. Daphne is about 27 years old and I hope she is allowed to join.
Love from
Christine.

(I am delighted to have Daphne for a Sunbeam as well as you, Christine!)

A letter from Margery Wallace, Leith Hill Place Farm, Holmebury St. Mary, Surrey.
Dear Miss Blyton,
When I knew that March 18th was the first birthday of our Magazine I said to my friends: “Those of us who are members of the F.F., will drink a toast on that day for its birthday. We will each bring a glass and a nice little bottle of cherry-ade, and at “break” we will sit on the forms and I will make a speech, and we will all stand and drink the toast.” They thought it was a good idea and I hope you will too.
Love from
Margaret Wallace.

(I think it’s a splendid idea, Margaret, thank you very much!)

A letter from Margaret Paterson and Lorna Coad, 75 Tudor Gardens, West Acton.
Dear Miss Blyton,
We are fond readers of your magazine and books, especially “The Famous Five.” We have a club which is called “The Adventurous Club,” and we use the F.F.’s Club badge. When we write to each other we use invisible ink or secret codes. For our clubroom we use an attic.
Much love from
Margaret and Lorna

(This excellent little club is typical of many. Good luck to it!)

Such nice letters this week, and they make a refreshing change from the frequently seen letters about how much money has been raised by the writers.

 

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Christmas bits from Enid Blyton’s magazines

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Fiona

Continuing the theme, I thought I’d have a nosy in the magazines for more Christmassy things. I’ve included some crafts and stories in some other posts but I have some new magazines to look through, and there are other things I’ve not used before.

Christmas Letters

Naturally Blyton references Christmas in several of her letters at the start of magazines published in November and December.

And now I must send some special messages of my own to my readers. First, the Famous Five Club members: Happy Christmas, Famous Five Members, and may you enjoy the next adventures of Julian, George, Dick, Anne – and Timmy! Thank you more than I can say for all the help you have given to our little Children’s Home this year. You really are good friends.

Next, the Busy Bees. Happy Christmas to all my Bees, and may you buzz loudly and often in the coming year! Thank you very much indeed for all your kindness to animals and birds this year, and your really splendid work.

And last the Sunbeams, our newest Society. Happy Christmas, Sunbeams, and may you shine brightly in the months to come. Thank you with all my heart for the way your are helping our little Blind Children.

And now to every one of my readers, big and small, I send my warm wishes for a wonderful time at Christmas – plenty of cards, children, a stocking full to the top on Christmas morning, a fine Christmas pudding, Christmas tree, balloons and crackers! I must wish you a Happy New Year too, because it will be in 1954 before I write to you again.

– Vol 1 Issue 21, Dec 23 1953

DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS,

Only a little more than four weeks and Christmas will be here! I have had many letters from you, telling me of your Christmas plans – and I am very pleased to hear that o many of you are thinking more of that to give other people than of what you are going to have yourselves! Some of you are suggesting that you might send toys to our little Children’s Home here, but as the generous Famous Five Club members have, as usual, send me almost enough money to buy new toys for every one of our small children, I suggest that you send your toys to the Evening News, who are asking for Christmas Toys for Sick Children… I know they will be grateful. The toys will go to children ill in hospital, of course.

And now I must tell you some news you have been waiting for. I told you that my pantomime “Noddy in Toyland” is to be performed again this Christmas – and that I had written another play also, for older children, about the Famous Five. Well, we are now busily rehearsing for both plays – and they will both be in the same theatre, one in the afternoon (Noddy) and one in the early evening (Famous Five), and the theatre is – PRINCES THEATRE in London. I know that hundreds of you could not see “Noddy in Toyland” [I think there are a few words missing here!] telling you early, in order that any of my readers may be sure of seats at either of the plays.

– Vol 3 Issue 23, Nov 23 1955

DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS,

Now that we are in December I expect you are all thinking of the excitements of Christmas-time – the carol-singing, gay cards arriving, mysterious parcels – the Christmas tree and the Christmas pudding – parties and pantomimes! It really is a merry time, isn’t it? I have already had my first Christmas cards – they came from abroad, where they had to be posted early – and they must have caught a fast boat because they certainly arrived in good time. One is from South Africa, two from New Zealand, and three from Australia. I wish I could post cards back to the kind senders, but they wouldn’t get there in time.

As you can guess, I am very, very busy now, not only with Christmas, but with rehearsals for the two plays… which must be ready to be performed the week before Christmas. We haven’t much time left!…

There will be another number of the magazine for you before Christmas, so I shall be able to give you my Christmas wishes there. We shall all be feeling very excited by then, shan’t we?

– Vol 3 Issue 24, Dec 7 1955

There is also another letter from Father Christmas in Vol 2 Issue 26.

Christmas adverts

While Sunny Stories was advert-free from what I’ve seen, Enid Blyton’s Magazines have quite a lot of adverts. Some are for her own books, and lots of others for Noddy toys, but there are plenty for other toys of the time as well as adverts for sweets and chocolates.

Here are a selection of Christmas-themes adverts I’ve picked out (some are similar to ones that had already been running with ‘perfect for Christmas’ type wording added!).

Three consecutive years (1853, 1954 and 1955) feature a list of books which would make good Christmas gifts.

Of course an Enid Blyton book is at the top of each of these lists! Malcolm Saville features on them all as well.

The Children of Green Meadows even gets its own advertising space in 1954, after being serialised.

These are just some of the Noddy adverts – if I’d shown all the ones from November/December issues we’d have been here all day. I’ve just picked the ones that say ‘Christmas’ in them. Also in there is an advert for the Enid Blyton Diary.

And here are a couple of confectionery adverts which feature Christmas. The comic-style one is for Mars and tells the story of a boy who dreams that Santa only gives Mars bars to boys who help others. The boy then goes carol-singing for the children’s hospital and is rewarded with a Mars bar.

The Palm toffee bar advert is a good example of the times Enid was living in – and why she used golliwogs so often. You can see along the bottom that the banana split flavour is illustrated by a banana, the fruit and nut by a strawberry, and the chocolate and liquorice flavours with a golliwog’s face (I assume as they are ‘dark’ or ‘brown’ flavours). That’s far worse than anything Blyton ever wrote! I’ll stop there as this is supposed to be a Christmas post not a debate about racism in her books.

And some other bits

If you do decide to make skittles out of cotton reels I’d advise you to leave off the stereotypical ‘Chinaman’ additions. You could easily paint them in reds and greens with more pointed hats as elves, or in red, black and white with a cotton-wool beard and red hat for Santa.

Possibly the least-festive Christmas greeting I’ve ever seen!

 A part advert and part puzzle from Cadbury.

And lastly a Christmas carol.

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Monday #349

Posted on December 9, 2019 by Fiona

Christmassy bits from Enid Blyton’s Magazine

and

Letters to Enid 19

Hallo, hallo, here’s Santa Claus,
He’s come to see you all because
To-morrow’s Christmas Day!
So bring the ducks and bears and gollies,
Motor-cars and books and dollies,
Crackers bright and gay.

One of Santa’s songs from Santa Claus Gets Busy.

santa-claus-gets-busy-no-6

Margery from The Enormous Stocking is painted as greedy and piggish. And to be fair – she probably is, as she always takes the largest portion and the best toys. Her Christmas list is also very very long. Saying that – her solution, knitting an enormous stocking – is not only clever but very industrious. She works long and hard to make a big enough stocking for all she wants and it’s quite harsh that all she gets is vegetables in it! I think her ingenuity should have been rewarded at least a little bit.

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November 2019 round up

Posted on December 6, 2019 by Fiona

It’s the penultimate round up of the year already!

What I have read

I reached my target of 100 books this month! It was helped along by me working through quite a few short books, classic children’s ones that I missed out on. But I read several ‘real’ books, too!

  • One of Our Thursdays is Missing (Thursday Next #6) – Jasper Fforde
  • Undead and Unwed (Undead #1) – MaryJanice Davidson
  • Where the Sidewalk Ends – Shel Silverstein
  • Where the Wild Things Are – Maurice Sendak
  • Dead Girls Don’t Dance (Undead 1.5) – MaryJanice Davidson
  • Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day – Judith Viorst
  • The Snowy Day – Jack Ezra Keats
  • The Four Streets (Four Streets #1) by Nadine Dorries
  • The Woman Who Died a Lot (Thursday Next #7) – Jasper Fforde
  • Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park #1) – Michael Crichton
  • The Harveys See it Through – Phyllis Gegan (reviewed here)
  • Undead and Unemployed (Undead #2) – MaryJanice Davidson
  • The Lost World (Jurassic Park #2) – Michael Crichton
  • Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories – Dr Seuss
  • A Light in the Attic – Shel Silverstein
  • Bite (Five short stories) – Laurell K Hamilton and other authors

And I’m still working on:

  • The Naughtiest Girl in the School – I’m doing a text comparison on this one
  • Hocus Pocus and the All New Sequel – A.W. Jantha
  • Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
  • Five Fall Into Adventure – Reviewed here

Off this list I do not recommend The Four Streets as it was dire, and unless you’re a fan of at least a few of the authors in Bite (I was only reading for the MaryJanice Davidson story from the Undead series) I wouldn’t go for that either. I’d already read the Charlaine Harris entry and the others were pretty awful.

What I have watched

  • Hollyoaks
  • Only Connect
  • More of Taskmaster
  • Tiny House Nation on Netflix where people build very small homes, usually on trailers.
  • Murder She Wrote, season six
  • The start of the new adaptation of His Dark Materials
  • George Clarke’s Old House New Home and some of Grand Designs House of the Year
  • Some of Tutankhamun with Dan Snow which explored possible reasons for the pharaoh dying so young, his less than stellar burial rooms and other mysteries.

What I have done

  • Hosted International Games Week at my work and did a few games events
  • Visited the wildlife park
  • Hosted International Games Week at work
  • More trips to increasingly damp playparks
  • Did a few rather muddy walks in the woods
  • Educated Brodie on Christmas songs by putting the music channels on
  • Did some Christmas shopping (but not enough!)
  • Went to our annual Christmas event and Brodie was not impressed by Santa

 

What I have bought

I’ve been back on eBay again – much to my bank balance’s horror! I’ve bought ten more of Enid Blyton’s Magazine, as I’m trying to fill the gaps in volume 2 so that I don’t have to skip any letters pages. I also bought two Mary Mouse strip books from the same seller as I couldn’t resist.

Please excuse the terrible photos, I only have time to take blog photos after dark these days!

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An updated round-up of Christmas posts 2019

Posted on December 4, 2019 by Fiona

We’ve done this once before but have written a lot since then – so here’s a new guide to all our Christmassy posts from the past six years. (I had written this ready to go up in December 2018, but due to a scheduling glitch it didn’t post! I have now updated it again and hopefully it will post this year.)

Book reviews

Enid Blyton’s Christmas Stories – one of Hodder’s short story collections.
Enid Blyton’s Christmas Treats – another Hodder short story collection.
Enid Blyton’s Christmas Stories Audio – the audio adaptation of the Hodder short story collection.

The First Christmas – Blyton’s retelling of the nativity story.
Noddy Meets Father Christmas – the 11th Noddy book.
The Christmas Book – a one-off novel about Christmas traditions.
Father Christmas and Belinda – a Collin’s Colour Camera Book.

Songs and poems

Christmas Gifts
Christmas News
In the Stable
Santa Claus Gets Busy
The Party

Christmas tree

Guides and round ups

Blyton at Christmas – a guide to stories, books, poems, puzzles and more.
1920-1945
1946-1950
1951-1962
Christmas bits from Enid Blyton’s Magazine
More Christmas stories

Winter and Christmas reads – a guide to Blyton’s seasonal novels
Part 1
Part 2

Decorating for Christmas
Decorating the Blyton way

Christmas illustrations
Eileen Soper at Christmas

Blyton Christmas Presents

We’ve been lucky enough to get lots of Blyton goodies for Christmas (and birthdays):
Birthday/Christmas 2019
Birthday/Christmas 2018
Birthday/Christmas 2017
Birthday/Christmas 2016
Birthday/Christmas 2015
Christmas 2015
Birthday/Christmas 2014
Birthday/Christmas 2013
Christmas 2012

And we’ve come up with some ideas for gifts for other Blyton fans:
Gift guide 2020
Gift guide 2019
Gift guide 2018

We’ve even thought about what Blyton’s characters would have been given:
What would Enid Blyton’s characters be unwrapping?

Recipes

Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without a ton of food!
Mince Pies
Gingerbread by Katie Stewart

Plus we have lots more recipes which can be found here – after all, who says that treacle tart or shortbread can’t be devoured over Christmas?

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Monday #348

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Fiona

A very rounded week this week.

Round up of Christmas posts

and

November round up

“That’s the way I always go into and out of a house.It’s much more exciting than using the door.”

Father Christmas extols the virtues of using chimneys as an entry and exit point to a house in Father Christmas and Belinda.

The Man Who Wasn’t Wasn’t Father Christmas doesn’t have any other name given. He resembles Father Christmas, and would like to be as generous, but as he is poor he has nothing to give any children. He takes a job on Christmas Eve, dressing as Father Christmas and handing out adverts for a toy-store and feels quite disgusted with himself. All he wants is to be handing out sweets or toys so he is very happy when the real Father Christmas allows him to do so while he takes a break.

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Five Fall Into Adventure

Posted on November 29, 2019 by Fiona

This is the ninth book in the series, so I’m almost half-way with my reviews. Just as a random point – I always confuse this title with Five Go Adventuring Again. It doesn’t hep that they are two of the vaguer titles and have the adventure/adventuring similarity, but I know they’re not that similar. I just have a bit of a mental block about them.

If I’m trying to remember plots I have to think for a moment about Fall Into Adventure, Plenty of Fun and Wonderful Time (but I know what Adventuring Again and Get Into Trouble are about instantly… the mind is a strange thing.)

Anyway, I am writing about Five Fall Into Adventure today, so I do know the plot. If I happen to call it by the wrong name, forgive me?

A story in three parts

Continuing what I’ve started by dividing each book into chunks:

  • Part 1 – The first days at Kirrin
  • Part 2 – George is kidnapped and Jo is found to be involved
  • Part 3 – They go searching for George but lose Jo
  • Part 4 – Up the coast to Red Tower’s place

You could combine parts 3 and 4 for a very long search and rescue mission, but a lot happens and all the drama at the end is quite different from what comes before.

A series of somewhat unfortunate events

Dick foolishly remarks that two weeks isn’t long enough to find an adventure when they arrive at Kirrin. But the very next day a chain of events begins which will lead to a pretty big adventure.

First they get rid of Uncle Quentin and Aunt Fanny to Spain, amidst phone calls from the press. Quentin is not long back from America where he has attended a conference and attracted quite a lot of attention.

Later they see a man and boy on the beach, and the boy is bold enough to sit in George’s sand hole. That turns into an argument which Dick breaks up, he won’t let George fight a boy. Only, once the boy has punched Dick and Dick has punched him back, it turns out that the boy is actually a girl.

And so we meet Jo, who I will dedicate a section to later, and the Five are already on the slippery slope to adventure though they don’t know it yet.

That night Anne sees a face at the bedroom window in the middle of the night – and it wasn’t a dream because the ivy is damaged. The boys are a bit worried but downplay it for Anne’s sake. They have no leads so there’s not much they can do anyway.

They have another meeting with Jo the next day on the beach – and a damson stone spitting competition, of course – and she makes friends with Timmy, much to George’s horror.

Uncle Quentin’s study is burgled that night, and Timmy didn’t react as he had been doped with something while on his evening walk.

joan joanna five fall into an adventure

The Five manage to deal with all this quite well – even becoming bored of the police as they ask their endless questions and eat their way through all of Joan’s baking.

As you can see there has been a steady series of small events – seemingly unrelated – all leading to the real disaster striking. George and Timmy go missing – though it takes a while for anyone to realise as they think they’ve just gone off fishing early in the morning. By late afternoon they are quite concerned and then a ransom note arrives!

The note says that the kidnappers want to swap George and Timmy for another of Uncle Quentin’s notebooks so it’s up to Julian, Dick, Anne and Joan to come up with a plan to foil the kidnappers and rescue George and Timmy. The telephone wires have been cut and someone is watching to make sure none of them leave to get help. In a clever idea where they swap Dick for Sid the paper-boy Dick is able to follow the person who comes to collect the notebook – and lo and behold, it’s Jo!

What next?

What are the three remaining Famous Fivers to do? They have one of the gang in custody, but Jo’s just a messenger, or so she says. She admits to having let the burglars in, doped Timmy and shut the front door to make it seem like George had returned. So she’s in deep but she wants to help them, mostly because she’s taken such a liking to Dick.

Nobody is sure if they can trust her or not, but she’s got inside information and they decide it’s worth a try. She leads them towards Ravens Wood where she thinks they’ll have taken George, but on the way she is dragged off by a friend of her father’s.

Julian, Dick and Anne make the rest of the journey by themselves and even manage to find the caravan – but George and Timmy aren’t there. All that’s been left behind is a strange scribbling on the wall, Red Tower, Red Tower, Red Tower…

The exciting finale and my usual thoughts and nitpicks will come next.

Next post: Five Fall Into Adventure part 2

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Decorating for Christmas – the Blyton Way

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Fiona

Christmas today is probably quite different from Christmas back in Blyton’s time. There weren’t any plastic trees for a start (though ones made of feathers or brush bristles had been around a while) and while it’s easy to imagine it all as idyllic and cosy there was at least a certain level of consumerism and tat. Saying that, the majority of the Christmases that feature in Blyton’s works are very wholesome and that’s what I’ve tried to capture in this post.

Making your own paper decorations

Bring a bit of 1950s festivities to your home by cutting out various shapes from paper or card and making all these lovely decorations.

These are designed to be tied to a stick but you could easily string them across a ceiling instead. I think they would look great with red tissue paper over the windows, or even red cellophane saved from sweet wrappers. For the gum feel free to substitute a glue stick!

This one strikes me as challenging – to draw and cut out fourteen identical bells! I think I would have to make a template and trace the rest.

Paper chains can easily be made – there are plenty of shop-bought kits with precut strips and little bits of double sided tape to stick them together. When I was young we had kits of gummed paper that just needed to be licked at the end then stuck down. Or you could easily make your own by cutting up wrapping paper, newspaper or any other paper and gluing them into links.

Very fancy paper chains are shown in one of the magazines, though they wouldn’t be much use for hanging bells from.

I’m not sure how festive fish or birds (excluding robins, of course) are! but these could look quite effective if done using metallic paper as suggested.

These paper robins are definitely Christmassy. If I had the time I would give them a go – maybe in a few years when Brodie is old enough to want Christmas crafting projects.

If you have my crafting skills easy probably isn’t the right word for these, but there are some interesting uses for milk bottle tops if anyone still has the same type!

This looks like it would be really effective (but I’d have to use a template again, me freehanding would just make for really wonky trees!). If you used card instead of paper you could cut two trees and then cut slits in them, one from the top and one from the bottom then slide them together.

Decorating your tree

Something that has become more popular again recently is having a tree that is planted outdoors through the year and then brought in for Christmas before being replanted again. Now it’s being done for eco reasons, but it is mentioned in several of Blyton’s stories as a perfectly normal way of doing things.

Decorating the tree, however, has changed a lot!

Lots of Blyton’s Christmas stories involve trees decorated with toys and gifts which are then given to children attending a party, or the children who live in that home.

In Five Go Adventuring Again Anne hopes for the fairy doll from the top of the tree, whereas now I’m sure most people reuse the same fairy doll every Christmas. In The Christmas Tree Aeroplane Mrs Lee who holds the party gives each child a present (including a toy boat) from the tree. And in The Christmas-Tree Party the tree is hung with dolls, and engines and books and motor-cars. It seems strange to think of toy cars and boats and dolls ‘decorating’ a tree.

Five Go Adventuring Again

The other big difference is using candles as tree-lights! They were clipped on to the ends of branches and must have created a huge fire hazard. This is one ‘tip’ I don’t recommend!

In another make-your-own (but not out of paper) you can have little baskets of sweets on your tree.

It would be fun to make some gay little baskets to hang on the Christmas tree, full of sweets.

We want some flat round corks, some long pins, and some bright coloured wool.

Perhaps Mother has a pickle-cork she can let us have, a nice flat one that we can cut into two, and use for the bases of two baskets. If you are not very old, ask Mother to cut the cork for you, or you may hurt yourself with the knife.

Now we have our flat cork. Stick the long pins in all round – not too close together. Now take a gay length of wool and begin to twist it from pin to pin. You must begin weaving at the base of the pins, of course, not at the top. Go on weaving until the pins are quite covered with the wool, and you have your little basket.

A piece of wire (or a hairpin) will do for a handle. Twist some wool over it, then bend the ends to catch under the edges of the basket, just as in the picture.

Now put your sweets in, and hang your little basket up on a twig of the Christmas tree. If you make half a dozen, they will look very gay hanging on the tree.

I suspect the corks mentioned are cork jar lids rather than the type of corks we use now for wine bottles.

A different kind of tree

There are a few mentions of an outdoor tree – but not the kind we see now with outdoor string lights.

Rather how about decorating a tree (or bush!) for the birds?

As suggested in The Little Christmas Tree

“Robin! I’ve got such a good idea!” [Susan] said. “Even if we don’t feel like using the tree for ourselves, we could use it for the birds. We could hang biscuits and crusts and nuts and bacon rind on it. The birds would love it.”

They took a coco-nut and broke it into bits. They made holes in the middle of the bits and threaded them with string. Then they tied the bits of coco-nut to the branches, just as if they were toys.

The the children brought out some bits of bacon-rind and they hung those on the tree too. They brought out a bone and tied that to one of the strongest branches! Then the children tied crusts of bread and biscuits on to the tree, and then three fine sprays of the millet-seeds that the birds love so much.

  • The Tiny Christmas Tree

I imagine both trees would have to be refreshed and redecorated every few days as the birds ate away at the decorations!

Other decorations

In keeping with bringing a real rooted tree indoors, in several Blyton books and stories families bring in real holly and mistletoe to decorate with. Best to ask permission before you cut any down, though, unless it has grown in your own garden!

 

 

I wonder how many of these things Blyton decorated her house with at Christmas?

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Monday #347

Posted on November 25, 2019 by Fiona

Thursday is the 51st anniversary of Enid Blyton’s death. We have done a special post in the past to mark the occasion but I haven’t anything planned this year, as I write something every week that I hope shows the impact her writing had on me and her many other readers.

Decorating for Christmas – the Blyton way

and

Five Fall Into Adventure

“It’s Santa Claus,” said Brer Rabbit in a deep voice. “I’ve got a sack of presents for you, Brer Fox.”

“Come on down then,” said Brer Fox, pleased.

“I can’t,” said Brer Rabbit. “I’m stuck.” Brer Fox unbolted his door and went into the garden to look up at the roof. Sure enough, in the moonlight he could see someone in his chimney.

Brer Rabbit pretends to be Santa Claus to trick Brer Fox in Brer Rabbit is Santa Claus!  from Enid Blyton’s Book of the Year.

Harry from The Christmas Tree Aeroplane found in The Second Holiday Book is one of Blyton’s almost too good to be true children. A lady with a grand house has invited him and several other local children to her special Christmas party. Harry comes from a poor home and his mother is ill at the time. Still, he is generous without fault. He doesn’t complain when he doesn’t win any of the games, and  gives away his balloon to a child whose balloon has burst. He gives his toy ship from the tree to a child who was accidentally missed out and gives his bonnet from his cracker to another child, too. And he doesn’t say a word about being left without anything to take home. He is lucky that the lady hosting the party notices, and when she hears how he gave all his things to others, she gives him the special Santa-in-an-aeroplane from the top of the tree as well as some cakes, jelly and a ride home in her car.

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If you like Blyton: The Harveys See it Through by Phyllis Gegan

Posted on November 22, 2019 by Fiona

You might remember the name Phyllis Gegan from my review of A Mystery for Ninepence recently.

I bought this one partly because I like the Collin’s Seagull Library spines and partly because I like collecting books by authors I already have (even if I haven’t read them yet!). Anyway, it’s the second of the only two books she was known to have written, and it’s a different genre.

If a Mystery for Ninepence is like a Blyton mystery, then The Harveys See it Through is like…

As I said above, The Harveys is of a different genre to Gegan’s other book. It is far more like one of Blyton’s ‘family’ books – The Family at Red Roofs, House-at-the-Corner, or even The Four Cousins in a way.

It is not as deep as either of the first two I have mentioned. The Harveys do help someone out and manage their own home in the absence of their father, but as none of them have any deep character flaws to begin with, they don’t have to develop or learn any lessons along the way. Their situation is also not as serious as either of those books – nobody is presumed dead or gravely ill or anything like that.

The cast

The Harveys are

  • Miranda, 15
  • Julian, 13
  • Verna, 11
  • Giles, 9
  • Mr Harvey
  • Mamie (Giles’ spoiled cat)

There is also:

  • Miss Hodges the lodger
  • Mr Blake the neighbour whose garden meets the bottom of the Harvey garden
  • Nicky, 14, and Jo-Ann, 13, Weavers, friends of the children

The general plot

The story opens with the Mr Harvey telling his children that he is to go off to America on business for six weeks. He will leave them housekeeping money, an emergency five pound note, and a grown-up lodger as he doesn’t want them alone over-night. (Their mother died several years before and their daily woman is recovering with a broken leg).

While not overjoyed at the prospect the children take it well and resolve to be sensible about everything.

The main part of the story develops when they discover that Mr Blake has been in a car accident and ended up in hospital. They do not get on with Mr Blake as he unjustly accused Julian of causing the death of his dog. They can see that Mr Blake’s raspberries and currants are ripe, and know that he normally picks them and sells them.

So despite heartily disliking him, and being disliked back just as much, the children spend a lot of their summer holiday picking Mr Blake’s fruit and selling it by the roadside, intending to give him all the proceeds. They even turn a load of it into jam when it looks like it will rot before they can sell it.

When Mr Blake first returns home from the hospital he is incensed to see the Harveys have been in his garden and accuses them of stealing from him. However, when he receives the letter, account book and money from them, he is forced to apologise and a friendship is struck up between the neighbours.

The sub-plot regards the family managing without their father and daily woman. There is the shopping, cooking, cleaning and laundry to consider. Things become much worse when a visiting puppy eats his way through several envelopes which had contained a weeks worth of housekeeping money each. They then have to live very frugally – even with using the emergency money – until Mr Blake produces a miracle from the shredded notes.

In between these plots are various bits of fun where the children have their friends over, redecorate their fathers’ room, attend a fair and so on.

What’s Blyton about it?

First up the adults are quickly disposed of, excepting the lodger who is happy to have little to do with managing the children. There are plenty of good meals and even more scrupulous honesty in dealing with Mr Blake’s fruit, down to the last penny spent on sugar for the jam.

As I’ve mentioned, children having to earn money and/or manage a household alone features in a few Blyton books.

Is it as good as Blyton?

No, of course not, but very few of Blyton’s contemporaries do match up in my opinion.

The story lacks a compelling reason for them to be putting such effort into selling the fruit. If Mr Blake had been a very dear friend, I could understand it. Or even if he had been a kindly stranger! However, doing good for the sake of doing good doesn’t work so well.

The children, while likeable and having sufficient personality to stand out from each other, very rarely get cross, fall out, get upset or react in any interesting way. They tease each other, and there is a small amount of upset once or twice but generally they trundle along cheerfully.

Final thoughts

It may sound dull when I describe it, but the story isn’t boring. The ways in which the children manage to pick and sell the fruit is interesting and is interspersed with other plots like their tree-top party and a treasure hunt in the public gardens.

Giles often provides light comic relief with his nonsense over his cat, and his mosaic cake is funny (if concerning on a hygiene level…). There are even a couple of occasions when the children comment on terrible grammar which was appreciated by me, though your mileage may vary!

If you can pick this one up cheaply in a charity shop or online it’s worth reading. And as a bonus it will look good on your bookshelf.

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Enid Blyton Christmas gift guide 2019

Posted on November 20, 2019 by Fiona

This year’s gift guide has been a bit harder to put together. Last year there were plenty of new Noddy-related toys and games tied in with the Dreamworks’ Noddy Toyland Detective tv show. This year, however, none of the big toy retailers have any of those items left in stock and there’s nothing new either.

All is not lost, however, as there are plenty of new books!

Hodder Bumper Short Story Collections

I’ve lost count of how many of these there are now, but it’s somewhere in the region of 20 I’d guess.

This year’s offerings are Animal Stories, Summer Adventure Stories and Tales of Tricks and Treats which I mentioned in my Halloween post.

Animal stories £6.99, Summer Adventure Stories £6.99, Tales of Tricks and Treats £6.99

Malory Towers and St Clare’s

There the new short story collection for Malory Towers, written by several authors (I’ve asked for this!)

New Class at Malory Towers, £6.99

There are also the 2018 editions of Malory Towers and St Clare’s with the old fashioned covers by Ruth Palmer which I have raved about a couple of times. They’re only available as sets at the moment, with 12 for Malory Towers and 9 for St Clare’s as they include the continuation books by Pamela Cox.

Malory Towers boxset, £16.99

St Clare’s boxset £13.99

A few more new books

This year there is also Favourite Enid Blyton Stories which is a collection of excerpts chosen by famous people.

Favourite Enid Blyton Stories £11.99

I’m not sure why I’m including Mystery of the Theatre Ghost because based on my review of the first one, I think it will be pretty terrible. Children might like it, though!

Mystery of the Theatre Ghost £6.99

Enid Blyton quotes on just about any product you could imagine

Amazon is absolutely full of these, all from one company. Unfortunately there are only three choices of quote, ones which are always associated with Blyton –

The best way to treat obstacles is to use them as stepping-stones. Laugh at them, tread on them, and let them lead you to something better.

Leave something for someone but don’t leave someone for something.

and

If you can’t look after something in your care, you have no right to keep it.

These are wise sayings but give me a falling ash tree quote any day!

But you can have either on a chopping board, pillow, temporary tattoo, bookmark, babygrow, wall plaque, water bottles, cork trivet, coasters, magnetic clips, money box, clock, pin badge, makeup bag, drawstring bag, mirror, tissue box, letter holder, trinket box, clutch bag, phone case, tea towel, and so many more I’ve given up on writing them down.

Chopping board £11.99, Clutch bag £9.99, Tote bag £9.99,

The other unfortunate thing (to me anyway) is all these items are plain white (with the exception of the plain wooden ones) and in my house would get impossibly grubby.

Still, it’s a vast range and not particularly expensive either.

Create your own product

Last year I got a book light with a Famous Five cover on it from Klevercase and I love it. I couldn’t see any Blyton covers on their products this year but they are doing a create your own cover product. So you could upload any book cover from Blyton’s extensive collection and get it made into an e-reader or tablet cover, a book light, a notebook or diary.

Create your own product from £20.00

A new game

There are no new Enid Blyton for Grown-Ups, just the ten that came out in 2016 and 17, not that I’m too upset by that. There were three card games last year and another one this year.

Sticky wicket pranks and diversions, £7.81

 

And a few Noddy bits just so he’s not left out

Noddy backpack

A very expensive Noddy doll by Steiff

And a very expensive Noddy car

Brodie would absolutely love this car.

I hope you all get something nice on Christmas day, Blytonian or otherwise!

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Monday #346

Posted on November 18, 2019 by Fiona

I did warn you last week: The Christmas posts are starting from now! (There are less than six weeks to go, you know.)

Christmas gift guide 2019

and

If you like Blyton: The Harveys See it Through by Phyllis Gegan

It stood in the hall, with coloured candles in holders clipped to the branches, and gay, shining ornaments hanging from top to bottom. Silver strands of frosted string hung down from the branches like icicles, and Anne had put bits of white cotton-wool here and there to look like snow. It really was a lovely sight to see.

The Kirrin Cottage Christmas tree in Five Go Adventuring Again.

Five Go Adventuring Again

Father Christmas and Belinda is a lovely book full of colour photographs. Belinda’s owner gets a new doll at a Christmas party and relegates her and her doll-friend Tod to the window-ledge because they are old and dirty.

Because of that they are able to spot Father Christmas and he takes them on a sleigh-ride to deliver presents to a few children he has marked as special because of their unhappiness, and for a visit to his castle.

It ends with them being reunited with their owner who has missed them terribly!

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The Naughtiest Girl in the School: How has Blyton’s original text fared in a modern edition? Part 3

Posted on November 15, 2019 by Fiona

You can find part one, chapters 1-4, here, and part two with chapters 5-8 here.

I am comparing the 1944 5th reprint by George Newnes (which should be more or less identical to the true first edition) to a 2012 edition by Hodder and Stoughton.

CHAPTER IX Rita has a Job for Elizabeth / CHAPTER NINE RITA HAS A JOB FOR ELIZABETH

The editor must have fallen asleep during this chapter as not a single thing changes. To be fair there isn’t very much I would have seized upon as a potential for updating but all the italics are left alone as is the record on the gramophone.

CHAPTER X Joan’s Secret / CHAPTER TEN JOAN’S SECRET

Despite all the italics being left in the previous chapter, several are removed from this one.

  • I tell you I shan’t.
  • I do love them so much
  • I don’t know what you’d do if you did find a letter there one day
  • It was a story

Removing the emphasis can change the meaning of a sentence in quite a subtle way. There is a difference between I do love them so much and I do love them so much for example. Without italics readers will put their own emphasis – or read it flatly.

There are two queers in this chapter. One becomes odd, the other very queer people, is left alone.

Also left is a reference to two shillings. If you’re going to update a book at least be consistent!

CHAPTER XI The Meeting Punishes Elizabeth / CHAPTER ELEVEN THE MEETING PUNISHES ELIZABETH

The original book has the chapter title repeated on odd pages and the book’s title on even ones. Strangely in this chapter the title loses the capital P on the odd pages.

One change I approve of is the removal of silly capital letters. It’s always the Meeting in both, but the meeting is talked about as if it’s a live entity the Meeting hates and so on. Whereas there’s really no need for the box they put the money in to be called the Box. So I approve of it become plain old the box.

More money is changed. Queenie asked for half a crown (two shillings and sixpence) to buy a present for her old nurse’s birthday. Whether you rely on converting two shillings to pounds or consider that she’s asking more a bit more than her weekly pocket money, the new amount should be two pounds fifty or thereabouts. But no. She asks for one pound. How is she supposed to buy a present for a pound? And if all she needs is a pound why can’t she just spend half her pocket money?

John Terry’s request for a spade is originally priced at twelve shillings and sixpence. A considerable amount at over 6 weeks pocket money. This has been updated to five pounds, less than three weeks money. Five pounds seems rather cheap for a spade, especially when John has made a point of saying how expensive it it. Why isn’t it ten or twelve pounds?

In a pointless change refuses to clean it becomes refused to clean it. Elizabeth did refuse to clean it in the past so refused is not incorrect. But she made it clear that she refuses to ever clean it, so refuses is also not incorrect and therefore didn’t need to be changed.

Lastly italics are removed from the first of two italicised words in the sentence Lessons you don’t seem to like, you must miss those you do like.

CHAPTER XII Elizabeth has a Bad Time / CHAPTER TWELVE ELIZABETH HAS A BAD TIME

Italics are attacked inconsistently again. In one case where only half a word is italicised the italics are extended to the whole word I want everyone to I want everyone. The two more or less mean the same so changing it is pointless. But later however is left half in italics.

Also left is I shall have a few pence over for sweets. You wouldn’t get many sweets for pennies even back in 2012. I remember buying individual penny sweets in high school, but by the time I left (2004) it was mostly two-penny and five-penny sweets. (I shudder remembering the little tray with the sweets on it on the shop counter, and how many fingers must have touched the sweets before anyone bought them!)

Elizabeth’s stamps get updated from twelve penny ones and twelve ha’penny ones to twelve first class ones and twelve second class ones. 

Also in this chapter I first noticed the full stops have been removed from abbreviations like Mr.

This is the only chapter with an illustration for the paperback, but it’s a different one to in the original. Cable depicted Nora speaking to Elizabeth who is in bed, the French mistress praising Elizabeth for good work and Elizabeth raging at the boys who are teasing her.

Hindley shows Elizabeth stuck inside at her desk while her class sketch outdoors.

I’m struck by just how pointed everyone’s shoes are. Can Hindley not draw shoes, but just does crude triangles?

The count

Some things are changed more than once, but they are the same change and only get counted once:

Already counted:

Roman numerals to words
Case change for chapter titles
Removal of hyphens from good-bye, to-day, etc
Removal of italics for emphasis
Extra word capitalised at start of chapter
Quotation marks
Dash length

New:

Full stops removed after abbreviations
Queer to odd

Total: 2

Unique changes (some of which will move to the above list if I see more examples later):

Capital letter removed from the Box
Queenie’s money
John Terry’s money
Refuses/refused
Stamps

Total: 5

Total this post: 7

Over all total : 32

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Letters to Enid 18: From volume 2 issue 6

Posted on November 13, 2019 by Fiona

Previous letters pages can be found here.

Letters page from Volume 2, issue 6. March 17th-30th 1954.

OUR

LETTER PAGE

 1. A letter from  Sunbeam Susam Biffen, 11a Hazel Road, Rubery, Birmingham
Dear Miss Blyton,
We are sending you £2 os. 8d. for the little Blind Children. I enclose one News-Sheet, showing how we made this money. Gifts – 18s. 1d. … Earned Money – 11s. 7d. … Puzzle Money – 7s. 10d. … Pocket Money – 3s. 2d. Don’t forget we are always ready to help anyone, you can call on any of us.
Ann, Jane, John, Marlene, Barry, Edward, Brian and Susan. (Sunbeams.)

(What a splendid little band! I am proud of each of you.)

2. A letter from Freda Whale, 53 Clifton Road, Weston-super-Mare.
Dear Enid Blyton,
One day my Uncle Fred found an old sun hat. He put it on and said, “What would people say if I went on the sea-front with this on my head?” And Jimmy, my budgie, said, “Pretty boy!”
Love from,
Freda Whale.

(Your budgie is clever enough to put into a story, Freda!)

3. A letter from Patricia English, Melbur House School, Fore Street, Tregony.
Dear Miss Blyton,
Thank you for our Sunbeam badges. The school is now shining with badges. We are delighted with them and our teacher says she is quite dazzled. All the pupils in our school are now Sunbeams.
Yours sincerely,
Patricia English.

(Yours is the first school in which everyone is a Sunbeam, Patricia. My warm congratulations.)

4. A letter from Doreen Burton, Hole Farm Bungalow, Wareside, Ware.
Dear Enid Blyton,
One day when Mummy was out shopping she bought me one of your magazines. She didn’t know it, but it was the first one out! I liked it so much that she ordered it for me, and I have had it ever since.
Lots of love from, Doreen Burton.

(What a good thing your mother saw it, Doreen! You are one of our oldest readers.)

Four letters this week, and some boys again, even if they didn’t write the letter.

 

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