Blyton by others: A guide to unnecessary retellings of Blyton’s work

Posted on February 19, 2020 by Fiona

I recently wrote a guide to continuations of Blyton’s series, whether they be prequels, sequels or gap-fillers.

While looking for all the possible things to feature I ruled out several books by other authors as they didn’t “continue” a story but rather, they rewrote or retold it.

So here is a look at novels which are retellings of the original works.

Books based on the TV series

There are two sets of novels which although they retain the original titles [with one exception, being The Woods of Adventure which replaced The Castle of Adventure on TV and in book], have entirely different contents. One set is The Adventure Series and the other The Secret Series, and both are stories written following the plots of the respective TV series made by Cloud 9 in New Zealand.

These feel wholly unnecessary as they are basically books based on a TV series which was based on some books!

I have reviewed all the TV episodes already, and found them to be quite ridiculous. They didn’t follow the books in large chunks and instead made up silly plotlines of their own. As they were set in the 90s they have worked in lots of technology (and evil monks…). You can read my reviews of the Adventure Series on TV here (scroll to the bottom of the list to start with Island, Castle at the top belongs to a different series) and the Secret Series on TV here.

There are two of the Adventure Series books – Island and Sea – in one of the branch libraries so of course I requested them to see what they are like. I haven’t had time to read either in full, but I will do at some point. I have flicked through, however, to get an idea of the content.

the-island-of-adventure-tv

The novelisation of Island seems pretty close to the TV series (when compared to what I wrote in my review) though it misses off the opening credits scene. Being a book it gives us a slightly better insight into the characters, including, for example, the detail that Lucy-Ann has come along to the summer camp because there is no-where else for her to go, she doesn’t really like it but would do anything to stay near Jack.

I will have to watch the episode again to refresh my memory and read the book in full then.

The Diary of the Naughtiest Girl by Jeanne Willis

This is set in the present day and, although it begins with Elizabeth about to be sent to Whyteleaf, the story is unrecognisable for the most part. Miss Scott’s role is taken by a woman called Kesi, and although Elizabeth still pins a stocking to her skirt she then goes to Tesco and it gets caught on someone else’s trolley in the cheese aisle. Hannah has fat cheeks and gets named Hamster, and other girls are Ellie, Joanna, Mei Ling, Melinda, Shauna (formerly Nora)… The head boy (William) has the surname Murricane and the head girl is Rebekah Shah. Apart from all that, it’s just full of super-modern slang (which will a) date very quickly and b) probably be embarrassing to any children because adults never get these things quite right).

It looks so bad from my quick dip into it that I have borrowed it with the intention of doing a full review.

The reason this is unnecessary? One, it’s absolutely dire and two, there is a perfectly good book called The Naughtiest Girl in The School already. which tells the exact same story but a hundred times more skilfully.

The Riddle series / Young Adventurers

Originally these books were published as stand-alone titles each featuring a different set of children. Now they all feature the same children and form a series. This seems unnecessary as there is nothing wrong with stand-alone books, and no reason that they would need to be edited to form a series.

The books were:

  • Holiday House
  • The Adventure that Never Was
  • Adventure of the Strange Ruby
  • Hollow Tree House
  • The Treasure Hunters
  • The Boy Next Door

In 1997 they then became:

  • The Riddle of Holiday House
  • The Riddle that Never Was
  • The Riddle of the Raja’s Ruby
  • The Riddle of The Hollow Tree
  • The Riddle of the Hidden Treasure
  • The Riddle of the Boy Next Door

And in 2004 they were published as:

  • The Young Adventurers at Holiday House
  • The Young Adventurers and the Mystery that Never Was
  • The Young Adventurers and the Raja’s Ruby
  • The Young Adventurers and the Hollow Tree
  • The Young Adventurers and the Hidden Treasure
  • The Young Adventurers and the Boy Next Door

I can sort of understand some of this. It has been a while since I read Holiday House, The Mystery that Never Was and The Mystery of the Strange Ruby but I can imagine that it wouldn’t have taken a huge amount of rewriting to rename the main children and make the stories form a series. Even The Treasure Hunters and The Boy Next Door, I can see being able to fit in. What I don’t understand is Hollow Tree House. It’s not a typical mystery/adventure story. There is no mystery or riddle, and it’s only as adventurous as two children running away from misery and abuse could be. I absolutely love Hollow Tree House and I hate to think of it being butchered.

The edits were done by Gillian Baverstock, Enid’s younger daughter and so I have hope that they were done with care and respect.

The Fabulous Four

This is another series formed from stand-alone titles. The books keep their original titles this time, though they were edited by Jenny Cooke.

  • Four in a Family
  • The Birthday Kitten
  • The Very Big Secret
  • The Four Cousins
  • The Hidey Hole

I have read all but The Birthday Kitten, and I suppose it wouldn’t be to too hard to make these form a series. I just wonder how much rewriting was required for The Very Big Secret which only had two child characters. Did they shoe-horn in the two extras to make the Fabulous Four, or were the cousins away on holiday at the time?

These are unnecessary for the same reasons as above.

Don’t you just wish they could leave Enid Blyton’s books alone? I would hate to think of a child picking up one of these and judging all her works based on what they’ve just read.

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Monday #359

Posted on February 17, 2020 by Fiona

A guide to unnecessary retellings of Blyton’s works

and

The Famous Five as you’ve never seen them before

The wind howled round and shook the tree violently. Something fell from the tree and hit the raging man full on the shoulder. He dropped down at once, shouting, clutching at his shoulder. Jack sped off into the wind. He  turned and looked back. Pepi was trying to get up, groaning. The wind howled again, and the big tree spat out something else that hit Pepi on the head. He fell back and did not move.

This is one of those little moments from The Valley of Adventure that I just love. The cases were put up earlier, to hide them, and now they’ve come back into the story in such a funny way.

Not a book by Enid Blyton this week but a book about her. Enid Blyton a Biography by Barbara Stoney is the most important biography. So many newer books purporting to be an authority on Blyton have consulted this book (and many just repeat what they have read amongst their new and entirely unsubstantiated claims).

Over three years Barbara Stoney talked with Gillian and Imogen, Blyton’s daughters, her brother Hanley and other relatives, Blyton’s friends and former staff, the people she worked with at different publishing houses and many more people to give a very detailed and wide-ranging biography. 

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The Naughtiest Girl in the School: How has Blyton’s original text fared in a modern edition? Part 6

Posted on February 14, 2020 by Fiona

There are only four chapters left so this should be the final part! Part one looked at chapters 1-4, part 2 chapters 5-8 here, part 3 chapters 9-12, part 4 chapters 13-16 and part 5 was chapters 17-20.

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 XXI  Joan’s Mother arrives / CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE JOAN’S MOTHER ARRIVES

This is a good example of why I hate title case. Why doesn’t arrives get a capital!?

Enid goes a bit queer mad in this chapter and naturally they are all changed. (They didn’t even miss one like in chapter 10). There are four queers and one queerly. Queerly becomes strangely, one queer becomes odd and the rest become strange (as in previous chapters). Again, not exactly widening the vocabulary which is one common criticism of Blyton’s frequent use of queer.

Italics are removed once, from She thought you had sent her those presents. The line makes almost so sense without the emphasis on you. It is all about how Joan thought her mother (the ‘you’ referred to) had sent the presents and was wrong.

The two strange little changes for no apparent reason (maybe the editor was bored). She’s asleep is changed to She is asleep, and I was so very sorry becomes I was so sorry. Neither change the meaning, though the loss of very removes a little of the original flavour.

Lastly one (or two depending on how you count it) corrections are made. In my copy Harry exclaims sin surprie which is amended to in surprise. I wonder how many editions/impressions that mistake appears in?

Despite various attempts to update this book the school still has maids.

CHAPTER XXII Rita talks to Elizabeth / CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO RITA TALKS TO ELIZABETH

I’m not a fan of all caps but it has to be better than random uncapitalized words like talks. If it’s always Five Go and Five Get why on earth isn’t it Rita Talks? (I’ll stop now).

Little of consequence is changed in this chapter.

The original has an usual partial italics of a word – exactly – which is changed to exactly. After all the italics they have removed it seems odd to see them adding some now.

The one instance of queer becomes odd.

References to the pound and that pound become the ten pounds and that ten pounds respectively.

An arm-chair becomes an armchair.

And lastly the construction of one sentence is changed. I have to admit the original is a little odd. It reads Rita and I are the judges of what can be told the Meeting. I have seen similar structures where you feel like a word is missing but that’s usually in local dialects. It could have been altered to read what can be told at/to the meeting, but the editor has made it Rita and I are the judges of what the Meeting can be told.

The last illustration is in this chapter, and here’s how it compares to the scene in the original.

CHAPTER XXIII Elizabeth fights with Herself/ CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE ELIZABETH FIGHTS WITH HERSELF

Ok, so fights, not Fights?

The only changes this chapter are more removal of italics. They go from Oh yes I do and I will change my mind.

That second one comes after

But am I really so silly? Am I really so feeble? Can I really spoil my happiness here… No I can’t! I’m stronger than I thought. I can change my mind.

So I will change my mind fitted perfectly. I have no idea why they removed the italics there.

CHAPTER XXIV A Surprise for the School / CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR A SURPRISE FOR THE SCHOOL

Again some italics are removed, this time from: What are you doing?, Mrs Allen was very much astonished and she will be the best girl in the school.

And lastly, Elizabeth’s dorm which she says is number 6 becomes number six.

BONUS BLYTON

That was the last chapter but the paperback doesn’t end there.

There is a timeline of Blyton’s life, though as it only runs to two pages it isn’t very detailed or comprehensive, and a few photos. Then there is a couple of ‘chapters’ about Enid as a writer, followed by an extract of What they did at Miss Brown’s school, which appears in 12 parts in Enid Blyton’s Book of the Year.

Apparently the next book in the series, The Naughtiest Girl Again also contains information about Enid’s writing career and more of Miss Brown’s school.

The count

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
Two shillings = two pounds

Queer to odd/strange

Unique changes:

Sin surprie to in surprise
She’s to she is
So very sorry to so sorry
What can be told the meeting

Total this post: 4

Over all total: 45

Where does that place in the updating ranks?

I have written a comparison of all the books I had done before this one, so here’s how this book would fit in.

By total changes:

  • The Naughtiest Girl in the School 45
  • The Secret Island  59
  • The Twins at St Clare’s  83
  • Five on a Treasure Island  117
  • The Island of Adventure 128
  • First Term at Malory Towers 133
  • The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage 187

Per chapter:

  • The Naughtiest Girl in the School 1.8
  • The Secret Island 3
  • The Twins at St Clare’s 4
  • The Island of Adventure 4.5
  • First Term at Malory Towers 6
  • Five on a Treasure Island 7
  • The Mystery of The Burnt Cottage 10

And based on word count:

  • The Naughtiest Girl in the School 55,000 words and an edit per 1,214 words.
  • The Secret Island 63,000 words and an edit per 1,062 words.
  • The Twins at St Clare’s 55,000 words and an edit per 662 words.
  • The Island of Adventure 68,000 words and an edit per 531 words.
  • Five on a Treasure Island 51,000 words and an edit per 435 words.
  • First Term at Malory Towers retains 49,500 words and an edit per 372 words.
  • The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage 43,500 words and an edit per 232 words.

The numbers aren’t the only factor

I would like to applaud this book for being so lightly edited. However the edits that are there are equal parts baffling and frustrating.

The money, as you will have guessed from my lengthy rants, is idiotic. Firstly there was no real need to decimalise it. Secondly, if decimalisation was deemed absolutely necessary then it has to be both sensible and consistent. It was neither.

One shilling has been equal to twenty pence, forty pence, fifty pence, one pound, two pounds fifty and goodness knows how many other amounts depending on the whims of the editor.

One pound has bought a present for someone’s gran, two pounds has bought a red handbag and five pounds is wanted for an expensive spade.

Ten pounds is far too much money to spend in one afternoon and a huge waste.

It’s completely idiotic, the whole lot of it. And so I can’t be particularly pleased that they’ve left most of the book alone when they have mangled the bits they did touch.

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Cunningham and Petrov: The Mystery of the Missing Aeroplane chapter 2

Posted on February 12, 2020 by Fiona

Two weeks ago we posted the first chapter of our new fanfiction which takes a look at what happened to Bill, and Anatoly, once the children boarded the wrong aeroplane.

Chapter 2

Anatoly thought better than to answer the comment as he leant against the radio hut wall in exhaustion. “What do we do now, boss?” he asked eventually when no one else said anything.

Bill shrugged and fumbled in his pockets for his pipe, his jaw set in a determined manner, as if he was guarding his words. “I shouldn’t have brought them,” he muttered to himself. “I suppose I must start by calling their mother,” he added more clearly, striking a match to light his pipe.

Anatoly winced inwardly. He did not relish the thought of telling a woman that her children, grown as they were, had vanished into the night with two gun-toting criminals.

He removed a rather crushed packet of Woodbines from his own pocket and, hastily checking they were a safe distance from the spilled fuel, eased out a precious cigarette and lit it. Most of the other agents were lighting up too, glad of the comfort and respite of a quick fag break.

He could tell the others were thinking of their beds, and he couldn’t blame them. He was about dead on his feet after a full day of work and a night of it too. However, he wouldn’t go until he had done whatever he could to help Bill out of this situation. He owed him that much and more.

Bill went to the phone and furiously demanded the operator connected him to Allie Mannering’s home number. Knowing the sound of an angry superior on the phone, the operator connected him as quickly as he could. Bill waited impatiently as the phone rang, for Allie to answer.

“Bill?” Allie sounded pleased to hear from him at first, but then her tone changed. “It’s barely half-past seven, has something happened for you to call me this early? Have the children managed to get themselves into some sort of trouble?”

Bill rubbed his face. “Well I’m not entirely sure if it was them or me this time,” he admitted slightly bashfully. He then bravely went on to explain about the gunfight the previous night. When he finished he steeled himself for Allie’s reaction.

There was a long pause first. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure I understand, Bill. The children are on an aeroplane, somewhere, piloted by two criminals that had just been shooting guns around the airbase? Is that what you said?”

“More or less,” he said cautiously, still waiting for an explosion from her.

“Then what are you doing on the telephone to me?” she demanded. “Why aren’t you out there, looking for them?”

“We have been searching all night and trying to find any clue as to where they have been taken,” hedged Bill. “Every airport, base and landing strip in the country is on alert for the plane and the children. We’ve even contacted several European authorities so they will be on the lookout too.” He waved an arm, beckoning to any of his agents to come to him.

The moment Bill did that Anatoly rushed over, eager to be of any assistance. Even he could hear Allie’s reply, though he couldn’t quite make out the words. Just the fact she was clearly very unhappy.

“We are in constant contact with all the likely airports, Allie. The minute they land, we’ll hear about it.” He looked at Anatoly and mouthed “Get me updates, now”.

“Yes, sir,” Anatoly said softly, and went to each agent who was stationed at a radio or telephone, checking for any news, any hint of news, but the answer each time was negative. No trace of the plane anywhere. He trotted back to Bill and shook his head demonstratively. “Nothing,” he mouthed, just to be doubly clear.

Bill’s shoulders slumped. “So far we haven’t turned up much, but you know I won’t rest until the children are back, Allie,” he reassured her. “I need to go and get some more things moving, I’ll be in contact at lunch time,” he said, before hanging up. He looked sideways at Anatoly. “How are your languages, Petrov? I think you might be good for advanced field work,” he said grimly.

“I have been given a pass on French and German, and I am working on my Italian, Polish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Czechoslovakian…” he trailed off, realising too late that it had probably been a rhetorical question, his mind had been too busy repeating the phrase advanced field work.

Bill nodded. “Good, get back to base, Petrov, I need you all out there as soon as possible, especially if we get a lead on the aeroplane’s direction.”

“Yes, sir,” he replied respectfully, his feelings conflicted. He was thrilled by the prospect of getting out there, to show off his newly acquired skills, and of course to help Bill in any way he could. He saw Bill as a sort of father-figure now, though he could never replace his own father. Perhaps he was more of an uncle. Either way, he was dismayed to see Bill so worried and wished that this new mission wasn’t necessary for his sake.

He headed towards the aerodrome exit, and upon showing his ID badge was allowed to take a car back to HQ. Driving still made him feel a bit giddy, especially when it was such a sleek car. It wasn’t one of the best ones, those were kept for the top brass like Bill, and those had a driver. Still, it was a very nice car and he enjoyed the drive back to the centre of London.

There would be a debriefing when he arrived, perhaps he would even get to do part of the briefing as he had been present at the aerodrome. He hoped there would also be time for something to eat – even the canteen food sounded appealing to him at that very moment.

To be continued…

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Monday #358

Posted on February 10, 2020 by Fiona

It’s Valentine’s day on Friday! Romance didn’t often feature in Enid Blyton’s books (just look at Bill’s ‘proposal’ to Allie, below), but we’ve written a few romantic stories featuring some of her characters once they’ve grown up.

They are:

First Valentines (A St Andrews story)
Darrell and Anatoly’s first date (A St Andrews Story)
If the Kirrins and the Mannering/Trents went on dates

Chapter two of Cunningham and Petrov: The Mystery of the Missing Aeroplane

and

The Naughtiest Girl updated part 6

“Well, Allie? Do you think it’s a good idea too?”

“Yes, it’s really a very good idea, Bill. I’m surprised we’ve never thought of it before!”

“That’s settled, then. I’ll take these four kids on – and you’ll see to it I don’t lead them into any more adventures.”

After Lucy-Ann suggests they get married, and Philip says what a good idea it is, Bill “proposes” and Allie “accepts”. This is probably the most romantic part of any of the books!

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Macaroons

Posted on February 7, 2020 by Fiona

Somehow when I think of macaroons I still picture the little round French macaroons or macarons. I’ve actually made the kind of macaroons that the Find-Outers devoured by the dozen, with Stef when she visited a few years ago. When she said ‘let’s make macaroons’ I insisted on getting food colouring because I was thinking of those pretty pastel circles. We did add food colouring but it didn’t really have much of an effect. Saying that they were really good and everyone enjoyed them when we took them to our family fun day. I don’t have any photos of the ones we made but Stef did write about her first time making macaroons before.

The macaroons we made and the ones in Blyton’s books are quite different to macarons but still delicious (I’ve never tasted a macaron, so I have no idea what they are actually like.)

In Aldi the other weekend I spotted macaroons on the shelf and decided to try them. For 85p it seemed silly not to. Well, I had forgotten just how good macaroons were! I got the coconut ones as I love coconut but they do chocolate ones too.

I thought about doing a blog post on macaroons but I had no self control and ate all the macaroons before I had a chance to take photographs in daylight. Oops. Never fear, because Tesco also sell macaroons. I added two packets – coconut and chocolate – to my online order. These are slightly dearer, £1.20 a pack but they were on offer for £1 when I bought them.

I honestly can’t tell the difference between the Tesco and Aldi ones so I definitely recommend the Aldi ones seeing as they are much cheaper. You get six in all the packs, which if you were a Find-Outer would only last one sitting, but one or two at a time is fine for me.

As eaten by

Macaroons are probably most associated with the Find-Outers, as they are forever at the dairy/cafe in Peterswood, though curiously, I can only find references to macaroons in the later books, ten and on.

They go in towards the end of The Mystery of the Strange Bundle and order hot chocolate and macaroons. The shop woman says five macaroons?  and Fatty answers Gosh, no – ten to start with, just so we won’t look too greedy. 

There’s no mention of them ordering any more macaroons but as they leave Pip remarks that there is one left, does anyone want it. Nobody does – as they’ve had a rather sobering conversation with Mr Goon in the meantime, so it goes to Buster. Larry does say that Fatty had had four or five, already though. So either they ordered more or the shop woman brought them ten each to begin with!

After the mystery is solved Fatty invites Mr Goon to stay to tea and they serve macaroons which Mr Goon has four of as well as three slices of chocolate cake.

They also eat rather a lot of macaroons in The Mystery of Holly Lane. In chapter 11 they have tea at Pip’s and have brought back an array of goods from the baker’s.

Look at those macaroons – all gooey and luscious. What a frightful temptation, says Daisy. There’s no mention of exactly how many – but enough that Buster has been apparently having a good lick at one.

After solving the mystery Superintendent Jenks takes them out for a treat.

Isn’t there some place here that sells ice-creams and macaroons?

…

Ah here is the place I mean. Yes. Best macaroons I ever had in my life came from here.

“Er, twenty-one macaroons, please. Oh I beg your pardon, Buster, twenty-four, I mean.”

That’s three each, as there are the Five Find-Outers, Jenks and Marian (plus Buster).

The Famous Five also indulge in macaroons, but only in two books – Five on Finniston Farm and Five Go to Demon’s Rocks. In Finniston Farm the little shop in the village makes marvellous ones – even Junior raves about them saying he buys thirty a week!

When the Five enter the shop the girl there – Janie – tells them that Mum’s made some macaroons this morning. See – all gooey and fresh.

Now how did you guess that we are all very partial to macaroons? Dick replies, then orders a plateful.

What a whole plateful? But there’s about twenty on a plate! Janie exclaims.

Timmy gets one but as with so many things it’s a waste as he eats it in one bite. They then buy six macaroons for Bill who has given them a Land-Rover tour. He likes macaroons, as Janie says, Everyone likes mum’s macaroons. 

Janie’s mother is amazed that twenty-four macaroons have gone since she last looked. But Julian says they were most delicious and she’s quite pleased with that.

In Demon’s Rocks the macaroons have been made by Joanna and referred to as home-made, Joanna’s speciality. Strange that has never been mentioned before, though!

As an added note; Brodie likes macaroons. He came through to the kitchen and found me sitting on the floor taking photos (it was the only place with decent light at 3pm). First he laughed, then he wanted me to take photos of him and then he ran off with a chocolate macaroon which he professed to be ‘Mmmmm’.

I’m hungry just writing this. How many macaroon fans are reading?

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January 2020 round up

Posted on February 5, 2020 by Fiona

It’s the first round up of 2020. I’m always glad when January is over as it can be quite a depressing month once the Christmas decorations come down and everyone’s back at work. It has been particularly cold this year as well. February isn’t much better, usually, but at least it’s that bit closer to spring!

What I have read

It’s a new year and a new reading target. Last year I aimed for 100 and read 119. This year I will stick with 100. It’s a good number and will keep me picking up books without putting too much pressure on me! I read 11 in January which puts me 3 ahead already.

January’s books:

  • Hocus Pocus and the All New Sequel – A.W. Jantha
  • Burglar Bill – Janet Allberg
  • Nightingale Wedding Bells (Nightingale Nurses #11) – Donna Douglas
  • Fiend in Need (Undead #4.5) – MaryJanice Davidson
  • Undead and Unpopular (Undead #5) – MaryJanice Davidson
  • Undead and Uneasy (Undead #6) – MaryJanice Davidson
  • The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Muriel Spark
  • The Dark – Lemony Snicket
  • What Pet Should I Get? – Dr Seuss
  • The Midnight Library – Kazuno Kohara
  • Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men – Caroline Criado-Perez

As always I’ve got some on the go that I haven’t finished

  • The Naughtiest Girl in the School – I’m doing a text comparison on this one
  • Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
  • Sapphire Battersea (Hetty Feather #2) – Jacqueline Wilson

As before I do not recommend the Hocus Pocus book. It was no better by the end. I also didn’t love The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Having read Miss Carter’s War I thought it might be similarly thought-provoking but I just didn’t like it much.

I did love Invisible Women, however, and urge everyone to read it! Some of the information in it is simply unbelievable.

What I have watched

  • Hollyoaks
  • Only Connect
  • Murder She Wrote, season 8
  • Buffy season 1, as that’s now on Prime and it has been ages since I’ve watched it. I still know almost all the dialogue off by heart, though.
  • The latest series of Call the Midwife.
  • That Mitchell and Webb Look series 4, I didn’t even know there was a series 4. We’ve watched the first three twice and only now has Netflix added the final series. It was funny but not as good as the previous ones and I missed the old favourites like Numberwang, Sir Chicken Digby Caesar, and Angel Summoner and BMX Bandit etc.

What I have done

  • Done some walking and exploring with Brodie
  • Been very cold while he has played at the park
  • Added another 17 games to my board game library
  • Visited the Wildlife Park again
  • Picked up a form for Brodie to start nursery in August (!)
  • Been to the library 
  • Eaten a lot of macaroons (for blogging purposes, honestly.)
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Monday #357

Posted on February 3, 2020 by Fiona

January round up

and

Macaroons

It was a waterfall – but what a big one! It fell from a great height, almost sheerly down the mountainside, and cascaded far below them, fine spray rising high in the air. It wetted their faces as they stood there, and yet they were quite a good way from the mass of water.

The children find the waterfall in The Valley of Adventure.

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The Naughtiest Girl in the School: How has Blyton’s original text fared in a modern edition? Part 5

Posted on January 31, 2020 by Fiona

Part one looked at chapters 1-4, part 2 chapters 5-8 here, part 3 chapters 9-12 and part 4 was chapters 13-16.

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 XVII Elizabeth has a Secret / CHAPTER SEVENTEEN ELIZABETH HAS A SECRET

Whew, lots of money is mentioned in this chapter. If you are already tired of my lengthy rants about converting shillings to pounds then I suggest you skip to the next chapter!

Elizabeth gets a pound-note from her Uncle Rupert, and that becomes a ten-pound note. 

“Twenty shillings !” said Elizabeth, in surprise. “Two hundred and forty pence! Ooooh! is obviously changed too. It’s now “Ten pounds!” said Elizabeth, in surprise. “Ooooh!” Well, it would have seemed odd for her to say “Ten pounds! A thousand pence!”, wouldn’t it?

Twice the original says A whole pound! and both times it becomes A whole ten-pound note! The whole seems a bit much for just £10.

A pound then would have been ten times the weekly school pocket money of two shillings – a whole terms’ worth of money. Ten pounds is five times her weekly pocket money, so essentially she gets half as much in the new book.

When Elizabeth asks for prices on the cakes in the bakery she is told “They are two shillings and sixpence, five shillings, or for the very big one with candles on, and the name, ten shillings.” This is changed to “One pound fifty, two pounds or… five pounds.”

I think that should really be two pounds fifty, five pounds and ten pounds. But as they’ve only given her ten pounds they’ve had to make the pricing structure really odd. I freely admit I’m not well-versed in the prices of cakes (or much else) in the 1940s, but as Blyton wrote them at the time I’m assuming they are reasonably accurate. They may be prices she was paying in the posh parts of town, or she may have been aware and reduced them to reflect a more average price, I don’t know. I just know that £5 for a cake to feed a whole school – even a small school like Whyteleaf – is pure and utter nonsense. It wouldn’t even cover the ingredients.

Elizabeth gets ten shillings change in the bakery which is now five pounds change, so at least they can count.

Later five shillings is swapped for one pound. Yet again if two shillings pocket money is two pounds, how is a five shilling book now one pound? And how can twenty shillings equal ten pounds? Not to mention how anyone could go to a bookshop and order in a brand-new book for one pound in 2012.

They are a little more consistent later; with four shillings left being four pounds left and sixpence becoming fifty pence.

However that four pounds buys a red bag, red comb, and handkerchief fand leaves the fifty pence left over to put inside. And no, she didn’t shop in a charity shop or Poundland.

Further consistency in Elizabeth’s pound being ten pounds means they really over-egg the ‘whole’ ten pounds and how much ten pounds is. Apparently it’s an awful lot to spend all at once (it’s really not) and whatever could you have spent ten pounds on in such a little time? It’s a real waste of money (a book? a DVD? a game? there are many things that ten pounds could buy and would not be a waste of money) Whole ten pounds is also used again, but the reference to twenty shillings isn’t replaced.

It’s not just a straightforward problem with the numerical value of the money. Yes, a pound in the early 40s could have bought two Famous Five hardbacks with five shillings left over while ten pounds in 2012 would have bought one novel with perhaps £3-4 left. However, it’s the fact that so many children would have had to save and save to buy one Famous Five book. They weren’t an insignificant purchase for working class families. A pound would have been worth even more than twenty pounds in 2012.

CHAPTER XVIII Joan’s Wonderful Birthday / CHAPTER EIGHTEEN JOAN’S WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY

Very little in this chapter. Uncle Rupert’s pound is again his ten-pound note.

Italics are removed from two phrases – she was so surprised and I can see how happy you are, but are left in all the other instances.

There is an illustration in this chapter, though! Here’s how it compares to the original.

CHAPTER XIV Joan gets a Shock/ CHAPTER NINETEEN JOAN GETS A SHOCK

Again very little changed here.

A whole pound is still being overdone as a whole ten pounds, and the italics are removed from I couldn’t eat anything. 

CHAPTER XX More Trouble! / CHAPTER TWENTY MORE TROUBLE!

Only two changes here. A pound! Twenty shillings – spent in one afternoon becomes Ten pounds! Ten pounds – spent in one afternoon. If there was anywhere italics should have been removed it would have been on the pounds there. Ten pounds, makes no sense. What would she have spent? Ten pence?

I think the editor is trying to make as few changes as possible, with the result that it actually makes less sense than a few judicious extra changes.

Something else that wasn’t changed was that Elizabeth smudged her letter every time she stopped. That’s not so common now with ball points and biros, but you had to be very careful with a fountain pen.

The count

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
Two shillings = two pounds

Unique changes:

A pound = a ten pound note (slightly different from previous chapter where a pound was just ten pounds).
Two hundred and forty pence removed
Two shillings sixpence = one pound fifty
Five shillings = two pounds
Ten shillings = five pounds
Twenty shillings removed

I haven’t counted any money changes that match the basic 1 shilling = 1 pound. So sixpence = 50p etc.

Total this post: 6

Over all total: 41

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Cunningham and Petrov: The Mystery of the Missing Aeroplane

Posted on January 29, 2020 by Fiona

Here we have a brand-new fan fiction story for you. We all know the book The Valley of Adventure. We’ve read about what happened to the children once they boarded the wrong plane, and their adventures in the valley. But Bill is absent until Phillip lands in Gairdon and he is summoned to rescue the rest of the children.

This story covers what Bill – and his eighteen-year-old trainee agent Anatoly Petrov – got up to while hunting for the missing children.

It works on the premise that Bill Cunningham has been an agent of the SIS (Secret Intelligence Service now known as MI6 and previously the SOE [Special Operations Executive]) all along, and his title of Detective Inspector as used in Valley is part of a false identity.

Chapter 1

As Bill Cunningham ambled over to the group of SIS agents in the aerodrome for the new plane’s test run, Anatoly Petrov couldn’t help notice the four children that seemed to have been left standing by the entrance of the airfield, with a vague comment of “Wait for me by the aeroplane” from his boss. Being the most junior in the group tonight, and a trainee to boot, Anatoly didn’t dare ask Bill why he had brought four children with him. He wondered if it had something to do with the woman Bill seemed to be getting sweet on recently.

After orders from his boss and a last-minute run through of procedure, Anatoly positioned himself at the huge radio set and set about preparing everything up for the take-off, zoning out on what else was happening around him, which was his first mistake of the night.

Gun shots rang out around the dark aerodrome. Anatoly jumped from his position at the radio station, drawing his gun from the holster inside his jacket and moved to cover his fellow agents who were rushing towards the sound of gunfire. He released the safety catch from his weapon and tried to figure out where the rapid shots were coming from. He flinched as his colleagues started firing from behind whatever safe spaces they had found, and towards the new plane that Bill was about to take out. He had had plenty of practice with guns during his National Service, but having started that after the war had ended there had been few opportunities for him to experience enemy fire.

Steadying himself he watched the direction of the dark shadows moving across the space towards a second plane, a similar model to Bill’s which had been parked a few spaces down. Moving quickly, Anatoly rushed towards the second plane, firing his revolver at the shapes just before the huge engines started up. He stopped and aimed, the gun wavering as he tried to work out where to shoot to best hinder the aeroplane’s take off.

One of his colleagues seemed to realise what he was thinking and forced the gun down. “Don’t do that, you idiot,” he snapped. “You’ll cause a massive explosion that we can’t cover up!”

Anatoly put the safety back on his gun, shame-faced. He knew that he still had a lot to learn, and moments like that just proved it. All he had been thinking about was stopping the men from taking off, he hadn’t considered the consequences of shooting at a moving aeroplane with its tank full of fuel.

The plane taxied down the runway past them and with a deep rumble that threatened to shake the earth, it took off into the night sky. Anatoly watched it go, and turned to the man who had stopped him from making a grievous error. “What do we do now?”

“We find Cunningham, get fresh orders,” his colleague replied curtly.

Anatoly grimaced. He should have known that. What a night this was turning out to be.

“I’m over here, by the plane,” Bill’s loud voice called out as they approached. “A plane we can’t take,” he added in frustration.

“How come, boss?” asked one of the others. “This plane is brand new!”

“It might be brand new,” snapped Bill, his temper fraying. “But the bullet holes in the tank mean it’s grounded!”

Anatoly shuffled a little and looked around. “Are the children all right? You did tell them to get into the plane did you not, boss?”

“I did,” Bill replied through clenched teeth. He was angry, but also shaken. A bullet had zipped by his leg earlier, so close it had cut a gash in his trouser leg. There was also the matter of the four children he had taken responsibility for. “But they’re not on the plane.”

An agent appeared at the top of the steps, framed in the doorway by the cockpit lights “There’s no suitcases, or belongings of any kind, sir,” he called before he made his way down.

“They’re sensible children,” Bill forced himself to say. “They’ll have got their heads down as soon as they heard the shots. Philip and Jack wouldn’t have let anything happen to Lucy-Ann or Dinah, so they’d have all moved away from the danger if they could.” He hoped to god that was true. “I want them found. NOW!” he barked.

After a brief discussion on how to divide the large base, the agents scattered, beginning to spread out and search for the children. They looked under the bellies of other planes, behind crates and equipment, in and around the cars parked here and there, anywhere a child might conceal his or herself. Personally, Anatoly doubted that the supposedly sensible children would have moved far when they heard the gun fire start. They would have stayed where they were in the hope that they wouldn’t get caught in the cross fire. If they were supposed to by Bill’s plane, then they should still be there.

The hours dragged on and Bill became more and more resigned to the inevitable conclusion that the children were no longer in the sealed aerodrome. As daylight began to break the exhausted agents and a worried and exhausted Bill admitted defeat and acknowledged that the children must have been on the only plane that had left.

“What on earth possessed them to get on that aeroplane?” Bill demanded of nobody in particular, banging his fist on a packing crate. Mechanics were still working on his damaged plane. They had siphoned out what fuel hadn’t already trickled onto the tarmac and had then begun repairing the leak, but it was far too late to be of any use now. They hadn’t the faintest clue where the plane had been heading to.

To be continued…

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Monday #356

Posted on January 27, 2020 by Fiona

Cunningham and Petrov: The Mystery of the Missing Aeroplane (a new fanfic story!)

and

The Naughtiest Girl updated part 5

Jack undid a rope from round his waist. He nearly always had one there.

Jack is always prepared (and perhaps a little uncomfortable?) in The Valley of Adventure.

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My 2019 in books and Blyton

Posted on January 24, 2020 by Fiona

I love stats and looking back on things so I thought I would do a little round up of my year in books. Obviously I’ve listed all my books month-by-month in my monthly round ups but I thought it would be interesting to see how many Blytons I read and how many children’s books vs grown up ones.

I have goals every year beyond the total number of books I want to read. There aren’t hard-and-fast numbers but I generally aim to:

  • Read more new books than ones I’ve read before
  • Read some books I’ve always meant to but never got around to, especially if they appear on lots of ‘must-read’ lists
  • Read at least one classic
  • Read a good balance of grown up books and children’s books

So let’s see how I did!

I re-read 23 books and the rest (95) were new, so I can tick off the first goal.

I read Jurassic Park and The Lost World by Michael Crichton, and Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding so I feel like I’ve achieved the second goal too. I also read several often-recommended picture books including a few by Dr Seuss.

I only half achieved the goal of reading a classic as I got through half of Jane Eyre, and I hope to finish it at some point this year. 

I read 36 children’s books which means I also read 82 grown-up books, so I’m very happy with that split.

Newly discovered books and authors

I love nothing better than discovering a new author or series, especially if there are several books then waiting to be devoured one after the other, with none of that pesky wait for a new one to be written and published.

In 2018 I discovered (27 years after it was first published…) the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.

Last year, I found Jasper Fforde and the Thursday Next series. When I say ‘found’, what I mean is ‘finally picked up’ as I had actually heard of them before then. (In fact, I’m sure at least one person had told me I would like them but I hate when people say that and almost always ignore it, only sometimes to my detriment.)

Unfortunately both these series are waiting on a new book; Outlander should have one at some point this year but there is no news on Thursday Next. Fforde has a couple of other series, though, so if I don’t discover anything new soon I can give those a try.

The Blytons

I actually only read five Blyton books last year; all of them Famous Fives. I read:

Which are books five to nine of the series. I remember when I could read the whole series in a matter of weeks!

I also read some of The Naughtiest Girl in the School to compare the text between editions.

Somehow I thought I would have read more Blytons, though! Of course I read several books that related to Blyton in one way or another. 

There are four with her name on the cover even though she had nothing to do with them:

And another which everywhere I looked has the author as Enid Blyton despite being published nearly 40 years after her death:

Plus I read a few books that I would recommend for Blyton fans:

Not to forget Five Go Feasting, the recipe book based on the food of the Famous Five books.

What did your year in books look like?

 

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Blyton by others: A guide to prequels, sequels and continuations

Posted on January 22, 2020 by Fiona

While writing a guide to our recommended authors if you like Blyton, I had jotted down some other names. These names were of people who had written books featuring Blyton’s own characters, and in the end I decided that these really belonged to a separate category.

Most of the books as sequels, set after the events of Blyton’s own books, but there are a few prequels and some which are set in between the original novels.

Adventurous Four Trapped! by Clive Dickinson (1998)

Given the title this one’s obviously a continuation of the Adventurous Four series. It’s actually only a partial continuation, though. The first four chapters form the short story Off With the Adventurous Four, first published in Enid Blyton’s Omnibus (1951). Clive Dickinson has then added another seven chapters to extend the story.

This is now on my very long list of books to get ahold of as I am intrigued as to how Clive Dickinson has extended a story that had a resolution already written.

Enid Blyton’s Enchanted World by Elise Allen (2008-9)

This is a continuation of the Faraway Tree series with seven books.

  • Silky and the Rainbow Feather
  • Melody and the Enchanted Harp
  • Petal and the Eternal Bloom
  • Pinx and the Ring of Midnight
  • Bizzy and the Bedtime Bear
  • Silky and the Everlasting Candle
  • Melody and the Gemini Locket

These have obviously been written to appeal to young girls, as the covers all feature the female fairies that are the main characters.  I found Bizzy and the Bedtime Bear at work and having flicked through it can be fairly sure that Jo/Joe, Bessie/Beth and Fanny/Frannie don’t appear, and it doesn’t seem like Moonface, the Angry Pixie, Dame Washalot or any other main character (except Silky of course) appear, though I could have missed a brief cameo.

It would seem that these stories have a single storyline rather than the Faraway Tree’s multiple stories, often one per chapter. They are around 160 pages, which doesn’t sound a lot less than the original books 190 pages but the text is much larger as are the spaces between the lines so the stories are in fact much shorter.

I hope to review Bizzy and the Bedtime Bear at some point, I will add a link here when I do.

Famous Five for Grown-ups by Bruno Vincent (2016-17)

Fifteen of these have been written and they are slightly more of a parody than a straight continuation. Each is very short, set when the Five are all adults. I’ve only read one, Five Go on a Strategy Away Day, so I’m not sure what, if any, continuity there is between the 15 books. They are, however, all set in the present day!

The titles are:

The best thing about these are the covers by Ruth Palmer as she mimics Eileen Soper’s style so well.

The Famous Five by Claude Voilier (1972-75)

Claude Voilier translated some of the later Famous Five books into French, and then later wrote 24 continuation books to the series. 18 of these have been translated into English by Anthea Bell (in the mid 80s). The English 18 were not published in the same order as the French ones.

1. Les Cinq sont les plus forts /The Famous Five and the Mystery of the Emeralds
2. Les Cinq au bal des espions / The Famous Five in Fancy Dress
3. Le Marquis appelle les Cinq / The Famous Five and the Stately Homes Gang
4. Les Cinq au Cap des tempêtes / The Famous Five and the Missing Cheetah
5. Les Cinq à la Télévision / The Famous Five Go on Television
6. Les Cinq et les pirates du ciel / The Famous Five and the Hijackers
7. Les Cinq contre le masque noir / The Famous Five Versus the Black Mask
8. Les Cinq et le galion d’or / The Famous Five and the Golden Galleon
9. Les Cinq font de la brocante /: The Famous Five and the Inca God
10. Les Cinq se mettent en quatre / The Famous Five and the Pink Pearls
11. Les Cinq dans la cité secrète / The Famous Five and the Secret of the Caves
12. La fortune sourit aux Cinq / The Famous Five and the Cavalier’s Treasure
13. Les Cinq et le rayon Z  / The Famous Five and the Z-Rays
14. Les Cinq vendent la peau de l’ours / The Famous Five and the Blue Bear Mystery
15. Les Cinq aux rendez-vous du diable / The Famous Five in Deadly Danger
16. Du neuf pour les Cinq / The Famous Five and the Strange Legacy
17. Les Cinq et le trésor de Roquépine / The Famous Five and the Knights’ Treasure
18. Les Cinq et le diamant bleu
19. Les Cinq jouent serré / The Famous Five and the Strange Scientist
20. Les Cinq en croisière
21. Les Cinq contre les fantômes
22. Les Cinq en Amazonie
23. Les Cinq et le trésor du pirate
24. Les Cinq contre le loup-garou

The English books in order are 3, 1, 4, 5, 8, 7, 2, 14, 9, 12, 16, 11, 6, 19, 15, 17, 13, and 10. As above titles 18 and 20-24 were not translated.

From the titles it seems that the Five have become more well-travelled as well as making a jump into the technology and sci-fi filled 1970s. The only one I’ve read is The Famous Five Go on Television and I remember very little about it other than being quite disappointed that it was not, in fact, a real Enid Blyton book that I’d just discovered.

This isn’t a post about cover art, but this series went certainly through several different styles!

(Famous Five) Return to Kirrin by Neil and Suzy Howlett (2018)

This is an unofficial novel, but it has been properly published in both paperback and ebook format. Set in 1979 it follows the four human members of the Five as they reunite after a long time apart.

Return to Kirrin

Just George by Sue Welford (2000)

This is a prequel to the Famous Five, with six books featuring a 9 year old George and Timmy her puppy.

We interviewed Sue Welford about writing this prequel series a while back, and you can read that here.

Five on a Great Western Adventure by Mandy Archer (2019)

This is a tie-in to the marketing campaign for Great Western Railway. It is a 54 page story about the Five chasing a jewel thief (presumably by rail!). It was given away free for World Book Day in March 2019, and I’m not sure how easy it would be to find a copy though I’d very much like to.

Malory Towers by Pamela Cox (2009)

Adding to the six original Malory Towers books, Pamela Cox has written another six. They pick up the year after Darrell has left the school, with Felicity moving into the third form. There are two books in the third form, one each one each for the fourth and fifth and then two for the sixth.

The books are:

I have read the first two, and although they are not bad books they don’t capture Blyton’s style or stand up to the originals.

New Class at Malory Towers by various authors (2019)

This contains four stories by Patrice Lawrence, Lucy Mangan, Narinder Dhami and Rebecca Westcott and it set during Darrell’s time at Malory Towers. There are plenty of terms not written about by Blyton so it should be easy to slot in a story to one of them.

The Naughtiest Girl by Anne Digby (1999-2000)

There are more Naughtiest Girl books by Anne Digby (author of the Trebizon series of boarding school books) than there are by Enid Blyton! Blyton wrote three novels and one story (Here’s the Naughtiest Girl) which was published in Enid Blyton’s Omnibus and then published as a separate book in 1997.

Anne Digby has then written another six:

I have found all six of these in my library (I was briefly confused by the numbering, as I was calculating 3 original books + 6 continuations = 9, but it is 10 if you include Here’s the Naughtiest Girl as #4, which the latest publishing run has) and I couldn’t resist borrowing them all and I have so far reviewed the first three.

New Adventures of the Wishing Chair by Narinder Dhami (2009)

There are also more Wishing Chair books by Narinder Dhami, than there are by Blyton. Dhami has written six (rather short) titles while there are only two by Blyton. They are not a continuation of Peter and Mollie’s stories but the Wishing Chair is found (presumably a very long time later) by Jessica and Jack who also have adventures with it.

The books are:

  • The Island of Surprises
  • The Land of Mythical Creatures
  • Spellworld
  • Giantland
  • The Land of Fairytales
  • Winter Wonderland

Noddy and the Farmyard Muddle by Sophie Smallwood (2009)

Sophie Smallwood is Enid Blyton’s granddaughter (by her daughter Imogen), and she wrote the 25th Noddy book, which I thought was very good if not a seamless entry to the series.

Secret Seven by Evelyne Lallemand (1976-82)

Lallemand wrote 12 new Secret Seven books in French, nine of which have been translated into English – by Anthea Bell again.

The ones in English are:

  • The Seven and the Lion Hunt
  • The Seven Go Haunting
  • The Seven and the Magician
  • The Seven Strike Gold
  • The Seven to the Rescue
  • The Seven on Screen
  • The Seven and the UFOs
  • The Seven and Father Christmas
  • The Seven and the Racing Driver

Despite the rather wild titles it would appear that the Seven don’t stray from their little town in these books and the plotlines don’t sound that far from the originals either.

Secret Seven by Pamela Butchart (2018-19)

Two books continuing the Secret Seven books have also come out in the past few years.

I gave Mystery of the Skull a fairly bad review but acknowledge that if it was a children’s mystery with new characters I would have rated it more highly.

St Clare’s by Pamela Cox (2000-8)

As we know, the St Clare’s series follows an odd format. There are three books set in Pat and Isabel’s first year at St Clare’s, one in the second form, one in the fourth form and one in the fifth form.

Pamela Cox the gives us some gap-fillers, a books for the third and sixth forms, and another which isn’t clear.

They are:

  • The Third Form at St Clare’s
  • The Sixth Form at St Clare’s
  • Kitty at St Clare’s

The description of Kitty at St Clare’s says she joins the third form, but as it is published after all the others I assume that Pat and Isabel are in the sixth form and we haven’t jumped back in time.

This list does not include every book written by other authors and based on Blyton’s works. There are other continuations in other languages but as they have not been translated into English I haven’t included them.

Then there are other books like the Adventure series books based on the TV episodes, or The Diary of the Naughtiest Girl but I feel these are alternative tellings of existing stories and not books continuing a series. I’ll cover these in a separate post which I plan to call Unnecessary retellings of Blyton’s Work.

I will update this post in the future if new books come out (I suspect Pamela Butchart will write more for a start) or if I get around to reviewing anything else already listed.

Has anyone read any of these books? If so, what did you think of them, did they meet your expectations?

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Monday #355

Posted on January 20, 2020 by Fiona

A guide to Blyton’s sequels, prequels and continuations

and

My 2019 in books and Blyton

He climbed higher still. When he next looked down he gave a cry of surprise. He could see right down into the hollow trunk of the great tree! It had rotted away through many long years, and now the great tree was really nothing but a dying shell, still putting out leaves on its many great boughs – but fewer and fewer each year.

Peter finds the Hollow Tree that they turn into a house in Hollow Tree House.

 

 

 

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The Naughtiest Girl in the School: How has Blyton’s original text fared in a modern edition? Part 4

Posted on January 17, 2020 by Fiona

You can find part one, chapters 1-4, here, part two with chapters 5-8 here and part 3 which has chapters 9-12 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 XIII The Third Meeting / CHAPTER THIRTEEN THE THIRD MEETING

The first two changes are to do with money (I think we will see that every time there is a Meeting!).

Someone is given a whole pound for their birthday and this becomes a whole ten pounds. Most of the money changes so far have worked on a one shilling = one pound. So one pound should be 20 pounds as there are 20 shillings to an old pound.

Also at the meeting someone asks for a shilling to get her watch mended and that’s changed to a pound. Could you get a watch mended for a pound in 2012?

The editor clearly can’t decide if gramophone is too old fashioned or not. It has been alternately edited and left alone in previous chapters. This time a beautiful gramophone recording becomes just a beautiful recording.

One use of italics is cut from my mother and father have taught me good manners, and perhaps by mistake a paragraph break is lost on page 99 of the paperback.

A boy is still told to buy some yellow distemper and cover over his scribblings on the wall, however. Google nowadays primarily links distemper to the illness in dogs and other animals, but if you search for distemper paint you can find out it is an early type of whitewash. It is described as ancient, traditional and historic, and I’m almost certain it is not something often used today! I doubt many children would even know the word, so if you are updating a book with the view that children are too stupid to find out what a word means I would think distemper would need changing.

CHAPTER XIV A Lovely Week / CHAPTER FOURTEEN A LOVELY WEEK

After being changed in the last chapter gramophone is left in this chapter twice.

The only change is one loss of italics where Elizabeth is thinking how nice it is that everyone is eating her cake.

Perhaps the editor fell asleep again.

CHAPTER XV  Two Tricks—and a Quarrel / CHAPTER FIFTEEN TWO TRICKS – AND A QUARREL

The editor was presumably still asleep in this chapter, or had sudden concerns that maybe all these edits to Enid Blyton’s books weren’t such a good idea. Anyway, they didn’t change a single thing.

Not even the little girl slapped Harry hard in the face or [he is] too much of a gentleman to slap you back are changed. Darrell no longer slaps Gwen in the first Malory Towers book instead references to slaps are replaced with scoldings or shoves. It’s interesting that Elizabeth still slaps Harry instead of shoving him or just scolding him.

CHAPTER XVI An Apology—and another Meeting / CHAPTER SIXTEEN AN APOLOGY AND ANOTHER MEETING

Another meeting and more money problems.

One swap is a straight one shilling for one pound. The other is half a crown to buy a little red handbag which becomes two pounds. Half a crown is two shillings and sixpence so should really be £2.50, if one shilling is one pound (which it isn’t always).

Neither £2 or £2.50 would be enough to buy a handbag in 2012, however, unless it came from a charity shop. Both editions state the handbag was seen in a draper’s shop, however. If you’re think a children’s book needs modernised surely draper’s shop would also need changing?

No other changes were made to this chapter, but I noticed that gramophone appeared twice in relation to a gramophone record and Mr Lewis’s fine gramophone.

The count

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

Unique changes:

Ten pounds
One shilling
Half a crown

Total this post: 3

Over all total: 35

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If you like Blyton, our guide to other great authors

Posted on January 15, 2020 by Fiona

Over the years we have reviewed lots of books by other authors, because we think that they’re the kind of thing other people might like if they like Enid Blyton books.

I thought I would pull together a list of our reviews, and add a little bit about each author and what else they have written.

There are some writers who were contemporaries of Blyton, writing during her lifetime. There are also lots of modern writers who write in the genres she excelled at, some set in her era and some set now.

I’ll not include books which are prequels, sequels or continuations of Blyton’s work. They have their own tag here and I plan to do a guide to them all in the future, too.

Brisley, Joyce Lankester

Recommended read: Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories

Joyce Lankester Brisley was an English writer, born in 1896. A contemporary of Blyton the first book of her famous Milly Molly Mandy series came out in 1928.

Milly-Molly-Mandy is a little girl in a pink and white striped dress, and each book contains several short stories about her life in a little village during her four-to-eight year old years. She finds joy in many simple games and activities, helps out when she can and explores her world in the way only a young child can.

milly molly mandy

Caldecott, Elen

Recommended reads: Diamonds and Daggers (book 1 of 5 in the Marsh Road Mysteries) and The Mystery of Wickworth Manor which is a stand-alone title.

Elen Caldecott has written several books for children, her debut novel How Kirsty Jenkins Stole The Elephant was published in 2009.

Dann, Colin

Recommended read: The Animals of Farthing Wood

Colin Dann (born 1943) has written many books for children, most of them about animals. His Animals of Farthing Wood series has eight books, the first published in 1979 and the last in 1994. The BBC made a cartoon series based on the Farthing Wood books in the 90s.

Day, Susie

Recommended read: Pea’s Book of Holidays

Susie Day describes herself as writing inclusive, diverse children’s books about the real world we live in. (Plus the occasional dragon.) Those include four books about Pea Llewellyn, three books in her Secrets series (not to be confused with the Secret Series), as well as a few stand alone young adult titles.

Gegan, Phyllis

Recommended reads: A Mystery for Ninepence and The Harveys See it Through

Born in 1903 Phyllis Gegan was a teacher at a convent school in Kent. These two books are the only ones she had published, though she wrote several short stories for magazines as well as some non-fiction pieces for The Lady. (My thanks go to her nephew, Philip Gegan, for this information about his aunt.)

Kerr, Esme

Recommended read: Mischief at Midnight from the Knight’s Haddon series.

Esme Kerr has written two boarding school books set at Knight’s Haddon. The Glass Bird Girl in 2014 and Mischief at Midnight in 2015. Although the books are set in the present say a technology ban at the school makes them seem more of Blyton’s time.

McGregor, R. J.

Recommended read: The Secret of Dead Man’s Cove

R. J. McGregor, a headmaster at a boys’ school, wrote both mystery and science fiction books for children from the 1930s through to the 1950s. The Secret of Dead Man’s Cove is a sequel to his 1934 book The Young Detectives.

Moss, Helen

Recommended reads: The Adventure Island Series

There are 14 books in the Adventure Island series, published between 2011 and 2013. The books are about three children; Scott, Jack and Emily, who, along with Emily’s dog drift, solve mysteries on Castle Key. Helen Moss has also written three Time Dogs books and three Secrets of the Tombs books.

Norton, Mary

Recommended read: The Borrowers series

Born in 1903 Mary Norton’s first book was The Magic Bedknob in 1945, followed by Bonfires and Broomsticks in 1947. The film Bedknobs and Broomsticks starring the wonderful Angela Lansbury is based on these books. Her Borrowers series (which has spawned a TV adaptation and several films) has five books and a short story, published between 1952 and 1982.

Pollock, Mary

Recommended read: The Secret of Cliff Castle

Author of six very familiar sounding stories in the adventure, animal and adventure genres, Mary Pollock is actually just Enid Blyton writing under another name.

 

Robinson, Julie

Recommended read: The Mysterious Boy

A life-long Blyton fan, Julie has written plenty of Blyton fan fiction, but The Mysterious Boy is her first published novel.

Saville, Malcolm

Recommended read: The Lone Pine series

Malcolm Saville was a prolific writer for children, writing books in eight different series, as well as many books about nature and the countryside and several travel guides. He was born in 1901 and his first book – Mystery at Witchend, the first Lone Pine title – was published in 1943. The series concluded in 1978, with the children having aged and developed somewhat, and each book reflecting the time it was published in. Saville’s books were primarily set in England, in Shropshire, Sussex, Dartmoor, and so on, and he included many real-life details to bring these locations to life.

malcolm saville

Scott, Will

Recommended reads: The Cherrys series

Born in 1893 Will Scott was an artist and a journalist before he began writing grown-up detective novels and plays. It wasn’t until 1952 that he began his Cherrys series which ran to fourteen books.

Sparkes, Ali

Recommended read: Frozen in Time

Ali Sparkes is children’s author with at least 40 books to her name. Many, like her 6 book Shapeshifter series or 5 book Unleashed series have a supernatural element, while others are more sci-fi. Frozen in Time is a stand-alone book which probably fits into the sci-fi genre.

St John, Lauren

Recommended read: Dead Man’s Cove

Dead Man’s Cove is the first of five books about Laura Marlin, a girl detective, published between 2010 and 2017. Lauren St John has written many other children’s books including five in her Animal Healers series.

Dead-Mans-Cove Lauren St John

Stevens, Robin

Recommended reads: Murder Most Unladylike, Arsenic for Tea and Cream Buns and Crime.

Robin Stevens is the author of the Murder Most Unladylike books of which there are currently eight novels and a few short stories, with a new book expected in 2020. She has also written two books in her London Eye Mystery series.

Woodfine, Katherine

Recommended read: The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow

The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow is the first of four books in Katherine Woodfine’s Sinclair’s Mysteries series which began in 2005. She as also written two books in her Taylor and Rose Secret Agents series.

I will update this guide as and when I review any other authors’ books.

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Monday #354

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Fiona

If you like Blyton: A guide to other authors

and

The Naughtiest Girl updated part 4

If I do try hard to be good, and do everything I ought to, will you please ask Miss Belle and Miss Best to let me go home?

Elizabeth Allen asks Rita to help her escape from Whyteleaf School in The Naughtiest Girl in the School.

bold bad girl

I’ve decided that I’m already sick of winter so I’ll take a break from winter-themed posts! Instead we will have The Secret Island. This is actually quite a serious book; children escaping from poverty and abuse and having to fend for themselves. Despite that is is full of fun and excitement as Jack, Mike, Peggy and Nora set up a life for themselves on their Secret Island. They make a house, a farm yard complete with animals, grow their own fruits and vegetables and run it together splendidly, whilst fending off the odd intruder.

Of course they can’t live there all their lives but the reason they leave the island is a happy one for them all.

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Darrell and Anatoly’s First date: A St Andrews Story

Posted on January 10, 2020 by Fiona

This story is set after the events of The Missing Papers and before New Year’s Dip, First Valentines and Halloween Tricks.

It primarily features Darrell Rivers and Anatoly Petrov, who as a couple we call Dartoly. It also has a cameo from Bill Smugs, due to a recent request.

If you need a little help picturing these two I’ve included a picture of roughly how we see them. We use Michelle Dockery as inspiration for Darrell and Anton Yelchin for Anatoly.

Anyway, on with the story!

 

 

“Yes, sir,” Anatoly said into the small telephone receiver which was attached to his powerful wireless, issued to him by the SIS. He listened for several minutes, one eye on his watch. He knew he shouldn’t interrupt his boss, Bill Cunningham, when he was talking, but if he didn’t leave soon he would be late for his date with Darrell.

“Do you have somewhere else to be?” Bill asked him shortly after. He must have read the impatience in his replies.

“Well, yes, as a matter of fact,” Anatoly said, wondering how much to give away.

“I don’t have you down for anything this evening”, Bill said, and Anatoly could hear him shuffling papers.

“It is not work, sir. It is personal.”

“Oh. I see,” Bill said. Then there was a pause. “You’re meeting your new friends, then? Or… dare I ask-”

“You dare not,” Anatoly responded quickly, wishing he had never confided in Bill about Darrell.

“You have a date, then.” The grin was evident in Bill’s voice, even over the wireless.

“Petrov? Are you still there?”

“Petrov?”

“I am here, sir.”

“I expect a full briefing when I call you tomorrow.”

“I respectfully decline, sir.” Thankfully Bill wasn’t just his boss. He had been the one to bring Anatoly into the SIS, and had become a mentor and somewhat of a friend, too. He therefore got away with a lot more cheek than other agents.

“Do you want to be removed from St Andrews, Petrov? No, I thought not. Same time tomorrow. Smugs over and out.” The connection went dead. Anatoly glared at the receiver, banged it down, grabbed his suit jacket and then dashed from his room, pausing only long enough to lock it securely.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Darrell nervously pushed a hair pin into her dark hair and bit her lip. She leant forward over the chest of drawers and pulled her mascara out from the bag. Using as little as she could of the precious cosmetic, she applied it to the ends of her lashes.

Sally watched Darrell from her bed, where she was propped up, reading a book for her class and smiled at her friend.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Sally asked Darrell. “I mean he is four years older than you. I will admit that he is a bit of all right when it comes down to it, but I didn’t realise you were so interested in him.”

“Just because I haven’t verbalised anything, doesn’t mean that I wasn’t interested,” Darrell said, turning around, hands on her hips, making her best skirt swing out in a circle.

Continue reading →

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December 2019 round up

Posted on January 8, 2020 by Fiona

What I have read

I reached my target of 100 books in November and finished the year on 119.

December’s books:

  • The Cat in the Hat Comes Back – Dr Seuss
  • Christmas Shopaholic (Shopaholic #9) – Sophie Kinsella
  • The Day the Crayons Came Home – Drew Daywalt
  • Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type – Doreen Cronin
  • How the Grinch Stole Christmas – Dr Seuss
  • Undead and Unappreciated (Undead #3) – MaryJanice Davidson
  • Spark Joy – Marie Kondo
  • The Exile – Diana Gabaldon
  • Five Fall Into Adventure – reviewed here and here
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Slayer Stats – Steve O’Brien
  • Discovering Scotland’s Lost Railways – Julian Hollans
  • Undead and Unreturnable (Undead #4) – MaryJanice Davidson
  • Why is Nothing Ever Simple? (St Mary’s #10.5) – Jodi Taylor
  • The Making of Outlander: Official Guide to Seasons 1 & 2 – Tara Bennett
  • The Organised Mum Method – Gemma Bray

And I’ve ended the year with a few unfinished books:

  • 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

I’m finding both Hocus Pocus and Jane Eyre a slog, but for different reasons. The first part of Hocus Pocus is based on the film and was a decent writing of it, the second half, however, is a new story. It’s not great and worst of all it’s written in first person present tense. First person is fine, but present tense I hate with a passion. It just sounds so ‘me me me’ in a really shallow teenage way.

My problem with Jane Eyre is that I really can’t stand Rochester. I was enjoying it through her childhood and time at boarding school, but then Rochester showed up… and I find him rude and boring in equal measures. Even the mystery of the crazy woman in the attic hasn’t persuaded me to get past 52% read.

On the plus side I forced myself to finish Spark Joy (actually decent once I picked it up again) and The Exile (still dire) so they’re not hovering on my current read list any more.

What I have watched

  • Hollyoaks
  • Only Connect
  • Murder She Wrote, season 7 and I’m now onto 8
  • More of His Dark Materials
  • A few Christmas films including The Christmas Chronicles
  • I’ve also been rewatching the last series of Call the Midwife, to refresh my memory for the new series.

What I have done

  • It has been very cold that that didn’t stop us going out to several parks.
  • We went to the Transport Museum (again) and got an annual pass to save ourselves some money.
  • It was my birthday halfway through the month and of course Christmas at the end so a lot of food was eaten and presents opened. There was also the decorating, shopping, wrapping and general organising for Christmas.
  • I went to see Rock the Halls – a concert of Christmas songs – at my local theatre
  • I got back into doing jigsaws and did one that I got for Christmas the year before (!), and then I did the one I got this year as well.

It doesn’t sound like a lot but it was a very busy month!

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Monday #353

Posted on January 6, 2020 by Fiona

December 2019 round up

and

First Date: a St Andrews Story

It is likely that the Nature Charts for January will show snowy, frosty days, for as the proverb says, stronger cold comes with the longer days. Keep a list of the sunset times for this month, so that the children may see with interest how each day is a little longer than the one before. They will soon remark, too, how much longer light is there when the sky is clear and how quickly it gets dark when the sky is cloudy.

Enid’s first nature notes in her Book of the Year. I always console myself that, the shortest day of the year falls between the 20th and 23rd of December, and so once Christmas and New Year is over the days are already a bit longer and will just keep on getting longer. I’m already anticipating the days that it’s not dark before 5pm!

For a winter-themed book you can’t beat Round the Year with Enid Blyton – Winter Book. I have it as part of a combined volume titled Round the Year with Enid Blyton which has all four season’s books in it.

It is a guide to all things winter in nature; the whereabouts of all the creatures that are so plentiful in other seasons (and how we can help them), the formation of frost crystals, identifying footprints in the snow, feeding the birds, evergreen trees, and even a bit about astronomy and other things.

 

 

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