July 2019 round up

Posted on August 7, 2019 by Fiona

I had intended to do this last week, but got confused and did another post about my bookshelves instead. Whoops!

What I have read

I feel like I haven’t read so much the past month, but I’m still six books ahead of schedule so it’s all good. Instead I’ve been re-reading bits of fanfic that I’ve written and trying to finish off some stories and that’s taken up a lot of my reading time. What I have read is:

  • Seven Stones to Stand or Fall (Outlander short stories) – Diana Gabaldon
  • Absolutely Smashing It! – Kathryn Wallace
  • The Mystery of the Missing Masterpiece (Adventure Island #4) – Helen Moss
  • Sustainable Home – Christine Liu
  • St Andrews in the 20s, 30s and 40s – Hugh Oram
  • Russian Roulette (Mirabelle Bevan Mystery #6) – Sara Sheridan
  • Victory in My Hands – Harold Russell
  • Miss Carter’s War – Sheila Hancock

And I made progress on:

  • Outlander (Outlander #1) – Diana Gabaldon (audiobook)
  • The Mummy Lessons – Helen Wallen
  • Baby. Boom! – Helen Wallen

I’m almost finished the Outlander audiobook. At time of writing there’s just 1 hour 29 minutes to go!

I’m not reading both the Helen Wallens’ books at the same time, I bought the second one for my Kindle and got a chapter or so in before I realised it was the second in a series. So Naturally I bought the first book and started on that!

What I have watched

  • Hollyoaks
  • Murder She Wrote season 4
  • Series three of Stranger Things, which was probably the best one yet
  • ER season 12

What I have done

  • Gone Oor Wullie hunting, as there’s a new trail.
  • Replaced our kitchen sink and work surface – it’s amazing how much difference a little thing like that makes – and we managed to put up a blind in our bathroom with minimal help!
  • Been to the beach again
  • Made a few trips to play parks, but less than previous months as of course they are full of school kids now!
  • Visited the Botanic Gardens
  • Went to the Emergency Vehicles Day at our Transport Museum
  • Set up the paddling pool (only once, as carrying buckets of water down the stairs is a pain!)
  • Organised crisp packet recycling points at my work
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Monday #331

Posted on August 5, 2019 by Fiona

This Sunday is the 11th of August, and that’s the day I’m holding Brodie’s birthday party as he turns 2 this week! It is also Enid Blyton’s birthday so we will celebrate for her too.

July round up

and

Blyton on birthdays

Jack Trent is red-haired and freckled, earning him the nickname of Freckles from Philip. Jack is an orphan, who before the story starts in The Island of Adventure was living with his sister Lucy-Ann, a crusty old uncle and his uncle’s housekeeper.

Lucy-Ann simply adores Jack and although a few years younger, follows him around all the time. Jack hardly notices her, though he is very fond of her. His major passion in life is birds. He’s absolutely batty about birds. He wants to be an ornithologist when he grows up, and spends a great deal of time peering through field-glasses at anything with wings and feathers. He even has a pet bird, a parrot called Kiki.

She heard me yelling ‘Kiki! Kiki!’, broke her chain in her excitement and flew over – and by  a lucky chance she chose your very porthole!

You’d better tell Aunt Allie all that, it makes a very fine story – better than mine!

Jack more or less admits that he has arranged for Kiki to ‘accidentally’ end up on the cruise ship which she is banned from, in The Ship of Adventure.

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On my bookshelf part 2

Posted on August 2, 2019 by Fiona

I recently wrote a whole lot about what could be found on my top two Blyton bookshelves, both books, ornaments and random objects. Now I’m going to talk about the next two shelves, which are mostly just books because Brodie can reach these shelves and nothing on them is safe!

Shelf number three

This shelf has the last of what I consider the ‘adventurous’ books, plus some farm and circus titles.From left to right there are:

The three Willow/Cherry Tree Farm books. (These are at the left side mostly because they’re so big they’d look silly in the middle.)

My circus section, containing Three Galliano’s Circus books, The Circus Book, Three Boys and a Circus and Come to the Circus. Three Boys and a Circus is a Mary Pollock book, and sometimes I wonder if I shouldn’t unite the five I have of those, but they are all reprints with Blyton’s name and so I haven’t yet.

The two Six Cousins books and the six books of the Caravan Family series. (And yes it does annoy me that The Saucy Jane Family doesn’t match the rest!)

A few stand alone titles, namely The Adventures of the Secret Necklace, The Hidey-Hole, Adventures of the Secret Ruby, The Boy Next Door, The Mystery that Never Was, The Treasure Hunters, and The Fourth Brer Rabbit Book. Some of these are young adventure stories and some are young family so they sort of go together. The Brer Rabbit book is neither but there just happened to be enough room on that shelf when I bought it a few years ago.

The fifteen Secret Seven books, three with dustjackets.

Also, on top are a few of the Secret Seven books that came free with McDonald’s meals several years ago, and my pack of postcards I got for my Christmas last year.

The fourth shelf

This shelf is probably just as random. It is mostly short story collections featuring one character, but there are also some novels. These are on lower shelves as few of these fall into my favourites, either of genre or books.

Starting at the left again;

The Troublesome Three. This is one of the more recent additions to my collections, though I got it in 2017!

The Red Spotted Handkerchief and Other Stories. I bought this at an Enid Blyton day – the very last one in 2012 – and the seller told me it had once been part of Gillian Baverstock’s collection but I have no evidence that is true. The spine had been in decent condition but this is one part of my shelves that Brodie likes to attack and he’s damaged it.

Five of the twelve Brockhampton Picture Books with Eileen Soper covers and illustrations. Brodie also likes to yank at these.

All 24 Noddy books, some with dustjackets. A couple are reprints with the shinier cover and rainbow text and one is still in the smaller format paperback.

The Queer Adventure, The Three Golliwogs (a very scribbled on Dean edition as the original is just too expensive), Bimbo and Topsy (also Dean but it was a hand-me-down and not a purchase) and The Book of Fairies.

Then there are several short sets of books – Mr Meddle, Amelia Jane, Josie Click and Bun – Dame Slap and Her School, as far as I know is part of the same universe if not the actual series. Plus it has the same illustrator and spine style so that’s why I shelved it here – The Wishing Chair series, Mr Twiddle, Mr Pink-Whistle and then the Faraway Tree series.

Some of these are in the wrong order, probably. I can never remember the order even if most of them only have three books! Once upon a time they were all organised more neatly (really, the Meddle, Amelia Jane, Twiddle and Pink-Whistle books should all be together) but when I did my series on inscriptions in books literally every book got taken off and these ones got a hastily shoved back on. This shelf is not quite hidden by my sofa, but I don’t have any visitors who would be able to correct me on the series order, so I get away with it!

The only things on top here are my two notebooks. On top is a book journal for logging books you’ve lent to others and your reviews of books. I tend to use it to keep track of my to-read lists. Under that is my literary listography which has lots of pages with headings like ‘books that made me cry’ and ‘my favourite authors’. I haven’t filled much of it in as I felt I was repeating myself a lot – the books I’ve read probably fall into a couple of narrow genres. Having picked it up today to get examples of the headings I’ve found myself scribbling more things in it though!

 

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Letters to Enid 10: From volume 1 issue 19

Posted on July 31, 2019 by Fiona

Previous letters pages can be found here.

Letters page from Volume 1, issue 19. November 25th – December 8th 1953

OUR

LETTER PAGE

 1. A letter from Patricia Offen, 78 Sheridan Terrace, Hove, 3.
Dear Enid Blyton,
I am sending you 7/6 for the Sunbeam Society. When our friends come to watch our Television, see a box there labelled “Sunbeam Society for the Blind Babies. Viewers please spare a penny. Thank you.” Television makes me feel grateful that I have eyes to see with.
Love from,
Patricia Offen.

(What a WONDERFUL idea, Patricia! Let’s all do the same, children.)

2. A letter from Mary and Sarah Targett, Eley’s, Porton, Salisbury.
Dear Enid Blyton,
A little while ago we decided to pick mushrooms on our farm and sell them in the town to earn some money for the blind children. So we all picked mushrooms after school, and we worked hard for a week. Mummy and Daddy helped us and we earned the enclosed Ten Pounds for the Blind Children.
Yours truly,
Mary and Sarah Targett.

(Well! Another marvellous idea. Thank you for your very hard work, my dears.)

3. A letter from Mary String, The Ferns, Great Hale, Lincs.
Dear Enid Blyton,
My Mummy gave me an apple tree in the garden and said I could sell apples for your Sunbeam Society. So on two Saturday afternoons I had a stall on the front lawn. I borrowed Mummy’s scales and wrote a notice saying I was selling apples at 3d. per pound for your Blind Children’s Home. I am pleased to enclose £2/2/0 for the Blind Children and I hope it will help to make them happy.
All my love,
Mary String

(Television money, mushroom money – and now apple money! Whatever next? Well done, Mary – I am proud of you and your tree.)

 

Interesting this week that all three letters were enclosing money, and money for the same charity. Almost looks as if they bought their inclusion on the letters page, though I am sure that’s just me being terribly cynical!

I also found it a bit tactless for Blyton to suggest that all children do the same and charge their friends to watch their TVs. TV ownership increased dramatically in 1953 when lots of people rented or bought a television to watch the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, but a huge number of people – clearly including Patricia’s friends – didn’t have a TV to charge for!

Anyway, I really do hope that they money raised did help the poor children who, purely because of some illness or disability, have missed out on a loving family life and instead have been brought up in a home. It hardly bears thinking about.

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Monday #330

Posted on July 29, 2019 by Fiona

Letters to Enid volume 10

and

On my bookcase part 2

The Isle of Gloom is an island off the coast near Craggy Tops – the home of Aunt Polly and Uncle Jocelyn. It is a mysterious and deserted place, almost constantly shrouded in mist so that it can barely be seen from the mainland. Of course it is teaming with bird-life so the children end up visiting it, and find tumbledown huts and old mine shafts. The most interesting things about the Isle of Gloom are found underground, however. A network of mine tunnels that contain some dodgy characters, and lead to an undersea tunnel.

island of adventure. jack looks at the isle of gloom

The Treasure Hunters is a shortish but satisfying story about three children who go to stay with Granny and Grandpa during the hols. They are close to losing Greyling’s Manor, the family’s ancestral home, and wish they could find the mythical Greyling’s Treasure to pay off their debts. The house has at least one secret passage, and huge grounds to explore. The children discover an old summer-house and inside, a hidden box containing a map. All that’s left for them to do is decipher the map, find the treasure and save the day. But Mr Potts who wants to buy the manor keeps popping up, jovial on the outside but sinister underneath.

 

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On my bookshelf

Posted on July 26, 2019 by Fiona

I love looking at other people’s bookcases, both in person and in photographs. I love seeing what books they’ve got, how they’ve organised them and what else they put on the shelves. I’ve been known to zoom in to read book titles, even when the bookcase is only an accidental background to something else…

So I thought I would give you a tour of what’s on my bookcases.

I have three bookcases (plus a load of books on the shelves in my wardrobe, and some more books on the bookcase in Brodie’s room but who’s counting??), and two of them are almost all children’s books.

If you pull my sofa away from the bookcases this is what they look like. My grown up books are on the left (apart from the bottom shelf which is Ewan’s), there are childrens’ books including Blytons in the middle (again apart from the bottom shelf which is Ewan’s) and the right is all Blytons, and all mine!

I actually took this photo a few weeks ago and I’ve moved a few bits and pieces around since then but it’s a reasonable representation still! Click on any of the photographs to see them bigger. (If you’re still wondering what that is on the top right, it’s a wooden bus with a broken wheel axle on top. Of course.)

Here is how they look today – after I’d cleared off the inevitable rubbish that builds up as I try to keep things like TV remotes out of Brodie’s reach.

Top shelf material

I will start with my all-Blyton bookcase, as that’s what you’re probably most interested in. It’s more or less organised in order of favourites, my most favourites at the top.

The top shelf has 21 Famous Fives and eight Adventure Series books. This is the same layout as I had on my old bookshelves at my parents’ house as the 29 books fit a standard bookshelf perfectly. There are just over half the Famous Fives in dust jackets, though I think one or two are facsimiles, and my Adventure series are not only tatty but entirely dust-jacket-less.

But as you can see there are a few more things on the shelf too! On top of the Famous Fives is my Famous Five party game and and my old copy of Five Run Away Together, as I replaced it with a better one this year, and haven’t got around to selling/giving it away/putting it away yet.

In front left to right are:

Some interesting rocks I’ve picked up (most end up in the bathroom, but these two got put on the bookshelf for some reason).

My 70s Famous Five card game. I did have my 50s one there too, but it went missing ages ago and I have a horrible feeling it might have fallen off and landed in the bin.

A Sindy plastic dog (passed down to me by my older cousins) which I always think of as Timmy. He has stood faithful guard over my Famous Fives for years now. The only problem is that Brodie has taken a serious liking to him and keeps standing on the back of the sofa to grab him!

A tiny clock (that doesn’t work) that I chose as a memento from Ewan’s Gran’s house after she died.

A small box from the Literary Gift Company that used to contain a book badge but now holds some collectible coins.

I am trying to collect the 26 letters of the alphabet on 10ps, and so far have C, D, U and Y, and a long way to go! There’s also a random Commonwealth Games 50p and a Charles Darwin two pound coin. I did have two or three Florence Nightingale two pound coins once upon a time but I’ve no idea where they went. I am in no way a serious coin collector, but I do check the tills at work to see what I can find!

And the next shelf

This one has a bit more variety, but not a single dust jacket to be seen.

Bookwise we have:

The two Adventurous Fours.

Three ‘Enid Blyton’ branded reprints of her Mary Pollock books – The Children of Kidillin, Smuggler Ben and The Secret of Cliff Castle, as this is an adventurous shelf. The other two I have are Mischief at St Rollo’s which is on my school shelf and Three Boys and a Circus which sits beside other circus books.

The six Barney Mysteries, with its one yellow book that doesn’t match the rest.

The fifteen Five-Find Outers books including my hard-won copy of Banshee Towers.

And lastly a rather motley and mis-matched set of the five Secret Series books.

I did say earlier that my shelves were organised by favourite but I suppose it would be more accurate to say by favourite genres and then by favourite series within that. The Mary Pollocks are not amongst my top-rated series but belong in that genre. I imagine a lot of people might put all six Mary Pollocks together as a little series, though?

Anyway, also on this shelf are:

A little vintage calendar where you rotate the tall bit to flip the days (yes I know it’s not Monday today but I generally only remember to change it on Mondays as that’s my day to dust the living room as dictated by The Organised Mum Method.) This was another little memento from Ewan’s Gran’s house.

A little box containing more collectible 50 pence pieces, mostly Beatrix Potter ones – Jeremy Fisher, Benjamin Bunny, Tom Kitten, Mrs Tittlemouse, Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter and a random Sherlock Holmes one. There are still quite a few Beatrix Potter ones I don’t have – yet I keep finding more Benjamin Bunnies and Jeremy Fishers!

My ‘quiet please I’m reading’ sign that my mum made me one Christmas.

A piece of bismuth I bought at Treasures of the Earth.

There aren’t many more adventure books left, and those that are, are on the next shelf along with hodgepodge of other stuff which I will leave for another week. I hope you’ve enjoyed nosying at these two shelves, and I apologise for the quality of the photography! I had fully intended to do this in daylight but the week entirely got away from me and I ended up doing it at 8pm lit by my reading lamp.

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The St Clare’s covers through the years, 1990s – now

Posted on July 24, 2019 by Fiona

Continuing on from my previous post which looked at covers from the 1940s originals through to those in the 1980s.

Familiar and unfamiliar Deans

The first set of Deans, from 1990, are much like several other sets for other series. They use Hilda Offen illustrations from the Methuen hardbacks, but cropped into a square with ‘bits’ escaping around the edges. Strangely some of the girls’ heads and feet are awkwardly cropped off! The Cave of Books doesn’t have the Methuen covers for the last three books of the series but we can get a good idea of what they looked like from this set. So some of them are a bit garish but I suspect the originals were a little less so.

All Dean 1990

The second set of Deans, from 1997, are also an illustration in a box, cropped from the previous Mammoth editions (see below) with a rather garish orange border. The original illustrations are by Button Design Co who did some titles for the Malory Towers series too.

All Dean 1997

And the final Deans, published in 2013, also use the Mammoth image cropped into an oval this time.

All Dean 2013

Going back and forward a bit

Going back in time again, here are the original 1996 Mammoths by Button Design Co that Dean nicked. Some of these are not that bad. The first and third books are fairly timeless, though the drawing style reminds me of other 90s paperbacks of the time. And then Fifth Formers at St Clare’s looks like there’s a strange supernatural ritual going on in the dormitory!

All Mammoth 1996

And jumping forward, Mammoth also published a set in 2000. These covers, by Paul Catherall have brightly coloured backgrounds and an object, or objects, important to the storyline but no people.

The other featured objects are a lacrosse net and ball, a key (I assume signifying the tale of Mam’zelle locking up all the ‘burglars’ one night) and a violin. I don’t think these are too awful. They are bright without being garish and at least look reasonably skilful.

The worst

As is often the case the more modern we go the worse the covers get. Starting with an Egmont set in 2005, the same illustrations – by David Roberts – were then also used by Hodder in 2016, and in the case of The Twins at St Clare’s, again in 2018.

All Egmont 2005

These look like covers for a some sort of supernatural boarding school. Evil twins, a vampire mistress (with the strangest bosom ever!) and headless horsemen by night.

All Hodder 2016

Shrinking and reframing doesn’t help – the girls still look demonic and evil. I know some of them aren’t very nice but these do not reflect the contents of the books AT ALL.

And then here’s the one off. Like the first Malory Towers book it got childish multicoloured writing, but the rest is just lifted straight from other books. It’s the first book of the series yet the characters above the title come from covers of the other books in the series.

Saving the best until last

Well, these are not the best of all the covers but I think they are the best since the originals. Ruth Palmer’s covers for this 2018 Hodder set are fabulously forties in style. She has done a similar set for Malory Towers (including those by Pamela Cox) and also apes Eileen Soper’s style quite well for the Famous Five for Grown Ups books.

All Hodder 2018

As far as I know these are only available as a box set that includes the Pamela Cox books as well (though they have nice covers too, at least) but they have individual ISBNs and could well come out as single books at some point. I think they’re lovely and if I was in the market for any paperbacks I would probably get these.

Which covers are your favourites?

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Monday #329

Posted on July 22, 2019 by Fiona

St Clare’s covers through the years part 2

and

On my bookshelf

I’m afraid of living alone, with my thoughts and memories, Lizzie. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my like, and I remember them when I’m alone. I’m a lonely old woman, and I want life and friends around me – yes, even if people don’t want me, I still want to be with them!

Aunt Grace pours her heart out a bit to Lizzie at the start of House-at-the-Corner.

house at the corner

The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage is where the Five Find-Outers begin, when Fatty (and Buster) meets Larry, Daisy, Pip and Bets and they form their find-outing group. Their first mystery is trying to work out who set fire to Mr Hick’s workroom, not an easy task seeing as he has several people who are quite angry with him. And of course they are up against the magnificent Mr Goon, the local policeman. Unfortunately for him, he is magnificently rude and foolish and absolutely useless at mysteries for the most part, and is royally shown up by the children when they point the finger at the right culprit.

the-mystery-of-the-burnt-cottage

 

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The St Clare’s covers through the years, 1940s – 1980s

Posted on July 20, 2019 by Fiona

Having already done The Famous Five, Adventure Series, Barney Mysteries, Malory Towers, the Secret Series and Mr Galliano’s Circus, I’m now going to tackle St Clare’s.

There are six books in the St Clare’s Series (if you don’t include the filler books by Pamela Cox – and I don’t!).

A 1940s boarding school by W. Lindsay Cable

I’ll admit one thing first – I get Stanley Lloyd and W. Lindsay Cable a bit muddled up sometimes. Lloyd did the covers and illustrations for the original Malory Towers editions, while Cable did the original St Clare’s. Most of their covers are quite unalike, but I think their internal illustrations are similar.

Anyway, It’s Cable we’re going to be looking at just now, and I will try not to accidentally write Lloyd.

The six original St Clare’s books were published by Methuen between 1941 and 1945, one a year except for 1944 when there were two (Second Form at St Clare’s and Claudine at St Clare’s).

What’s interesting is how different the first four books are to the last two. The first four are by no means identical, but all are pencil sketches with only a few parts picked out in colour. Then the final two look more like the covers we’ve seen for Malory Towers – full colour, full cover illustrations.

Methuen 1941 / Methuen 1942 / Methuen 1943 / Methuen 1944
Methuen 1944 / Methuen 1945

I wonder what prompted the change?

W. Lindsay Cable then re-did the first four books in the style of the last two, two coming out in 1945 and two in 1947.

Methuen 1945 / Methuen 1945 / Methuen 1947 / Methuen 1947

If you were to put the first editions of the last two books alongside the second editions of the first four they look like a complete series, despite three having dark yellow/green colour palettes and the others being more beige with blue/red/green.

Armada

Armada must have published hundreds of Enid Blyton titles in the sixties! Yet again they are the first paperback edition for a series.

This time they are a mix of Dorothy Brooks and Mary Gernat. They all have the typical Armada look, though, with bright colours and a real sense of movement and action.

Mary Gernat did books 1, 5 and 6, while Dorothy Brooks did 2, 3 and 4. They are not too dissimilar though Brooks’ characters look a little more modern and slender!

Armada 1963 / Armada 1964 / Armada 1964 / Armada 1963 / Armada 1963 / Armada / 1963

Armada also did a second set in 1988, in a style I don’t recall seeing on any other of Blyton’s books. Each has the illustration contained in a box, but with some of the girls’ belongings arranged outside as if they are bursting out from the world within.

Armada 1988 / Armada 1988 / Armada 1988

The O’Sullivan Twins at St Clare’s is the only one of the six to have the first part of the title in the larger font and St Clare’s at the bottom.

Dragons and Polaroids

In another familiar move, there was a 1960s full set of Dragons with their recognizable ‘upside down’ Polaroid style. These were all done by Mary Gernat, with new illustrations.

All Dragon 1967

Dragon then reused some of these for their next set. They skipped the first and fourth books, but reissued the second, third, fifth and sixth books with the same Gernat illustration as a full cover in the early 70s.

Dragon 1967 / Dragon 1970 / Dragon 1967 / Dragon 1973

Then in 1972 they did a new upside down polaroid cover with a Paul Wright illustration for the second, fourth and sixth books. How very, very confusing! I can only assume that they were selling out of some titles faster than others, and rights to covers/artwork had run out in the meantime.

All Dragon 1972

The final set of Dragons came in 1982, with covers by Michael Johnson. I had a couple of these and they did absolutely nothing to encourage me to read the St Clare’s series. The girls all look about 18, and look a bit like air-hostesses at times. That or they’re all French? as the blue, red and white banner at the top has been repeated in their clothing on all but one cover. I had Claudine at St Clare’s which looked so serious, and grown-up that I never read it. The Twins at St Clare’s is a bit better but I was still never moved to open it.

All Dragon 1982

Modern Methuen

The first Methuen appears to be a one-off, an edition of The Second Form at St Clare’s from 1973, reusing the same Paul Wright cover from the previous year’s Dragon edition. Something about it makes it look like it could be a hardback, that doesn’t make it any less random in my eyes.

Now, I rarely like covers past the 1950s, though I have a soft spot for the early 60s Armada’s, I suppose. I do like these 1981 Methuen hardbacks by Hilda Offen, though. She did a matching set for Malory Towers the same year. They are all brightly-coloured but retain a nice 1940s look. Saying that, the third book here has edged over to twee. Still, they are amongst some of the better covers for later books. These may be quite rare as the Cave of books only has these three – but the artwork is reused for other editions and you can see that in my next post.

All Methuen 1981.

I will stop there for now, and resume with the 90s editions next time. Modern Blytons can have some atrocious covers but there are some modern gems too.

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Letters to Enid 9: From volume 1 issue 18

Posted on July 17, 2019 by Fiona

Previous letters pages can be found here.

Letters page from Volume 1, issue 18. November 11th – 24th 1953

OUR

LETTER PAGE

 1. A letter from a child in Northumberland, whose name I am not printing – but my prize goes to her this week.
Dear Enid Blyton,
I would like to become a Busy Bee because I love all animals. I want to tell you something. I have lost the thumb on my right hand, and in my Junior School like, I have been mocked and laughed at about it. Please could you possibly, in your magazine, as the children on behalf of any child who has lost any part of his body, not to mock or laugh at them. It does make them feel so unhappy.
Your faithful friend
E. R.

(I felt sad when I read this letter. I know that my readers will do what this child asks.)

2. A letter from Joy Meree Slader-Brown, 62 Wellington Road, Exeter
Please, I want to be a Sunbeam. I have put in three shillings, one shilling for the badge, and a shilling each for my two eyes, because I can see out of both of them. I went without some of my sweets to save it up.
With love from
Joy.

(A shilling each for her two eyes – what a lovely idea!)

3. A letter from Maureen Harper, 1 Rudham Road, Syderstone, Norfolk
Dear Enid Blyton,
Will you please make me a Sunbeam, as I feel sorry for all the little blind children. I had an operation on my eyes in hospital, and had to have them covered up for eleven days. I am going to hospital again for the same thing, so I am sure I shall think of the little blind children when I have my eyes covered up again. I hope I shall get my badge in time to wear it in hospital.
From your most faithful reader
Maureen Harper

(Good luck to you, Maureen, from all of us.)

 

Three very worthy letters this week, from kind-hearted children. All girls again, though! I love how children feel they can confide in Enid Blyton, just from reading her books.

 

 

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Monday #328

Posted on July 15, 2019 by Fiona

St Clare’s covers through the years

and

Letters to Enid volume 9

I’ve been very useful to Inspector Jenks. You know I have. And you know I’m going to be the finest detective in the world when I’m grown up. I’m sure if you ring up the Inspector, Mother, he will tell you not to forbid me to do anything I want to. He trusts me.

Modesty is not one of Fatty’s skills in The Mystery of the Hidden House.

The Secret Seven nearly becomes the Secret Six in Shock for the Secret Seven, when Jack threatens to leave over a falling-out with Peter. He reunited with his friends after making a key discovering in a mystery about some missing dogs.

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Malory Towers on TV

Posted on July 12, 2019 by Fiona

I’ve thought before about the possibility of Malory Towers being adapted for screen, small or big! It’s something that appears in our search terms now and again, and I’ve written about various adaptations that could be made, which included Malory Towers.

And now it seems that it’s actually going to happen!

Really going to happen?

Well, I can’t guarantee anything. A Faraway Tree movie has been in the works for about the past five years, apparently, but with no sign of anything actually happening. This could, obviously, go the same way, but I’m hoping it doesn’t!

Me falling out of my chair in shock at the news.

So what do we know?

So far, not an awful lot.

  • It has been commissioned by the BBC for CBBC.
  • It will have thirteen episodes.
  • Production begins in Canada this month before it moves to the UK.
  • It should be shown at some point next year.

Perhaps most importantly, it is going to be set in the 1940s!

Me at the news it’ll have a 1940s setting

What do I think?

I think that is absolutely the right decision to set the show in the 1940s. While I think the 70s Famous Five series doesn’t suffer too much from being modernised, a Malory Towers full of mobile phones, selfies and the Kardashians would just be horrific.

Interestingly, there is supposedly going to be a “contemporary twist”. I cannot think what that’s going to be, but I hope it doesn’t detract from the period setting.

The focus is said to be on bullying, peer pressure, self-doubt and shifting cliques. That sounds like Malory Towers, all right. Though crushes are also mentioned, which isn’t something that crops up at Malory Towers. It will be interesting to see how they handle these sorts of storylines for children with modern sensibilities. The Malory Towers girls sort out an awful lot of their issues themselves, doling out their own sorts of punishments. Sending girls to Coventry wouldn’t be a popular move nowadays – even I think it’s a pretty awful way of dealing with someone to have their whole class blank them.

The head of content for CBBC, Cheryl Taylor, has said:

Malory Towers set the template for popular British boarding school stories and we’re delighted to bring this classic title to CBBC. Darrell Rivers is a truly iconic character – sparky, independent and a fierce warrior against injustice. She shone a bright light on the potential of all girls at a time when expectations were very limited. The books have inspired generations of young readers and we can’t wait for our audience to meet Darrell and her friends.

Statements like that always give me a lot of hope, but I’ve been let down many times before by self-professed Blyton fans who claim to have brought us something new which is also respectful to the original.

I’m slightly concerned about only thirteen episodes. That’s only two (and a bit) per book – unless it’s going to cover the Pamela Cox books too. Then it’s only one, probably half hour, per book! So much is going to get cut!

Then there’s the question of the cast! I’m sure it will (quite rightly) be more multicultural than Malory Towers was. It would be nice to see a famous face or two, as well.

We will have to wait and see if this adaptation delivers!

What do I want to see?

I definitely want to see things that have been cut from the latest paperbacks – like Darrell slapping Gwen. I’d also love to see them playing lacrosse. My favourite characters after Darrell are Belinda and Irene so I hope they appear with all their forgetful ways (and Belinda’s scowl notebook) but I imagine they might amalgamate them into one forgetful character. I suspect they may only have one Mam’zelle, too.

Story-line wise Mary-Lou rescuing Daphne from the cliffs is an absolute must as it’s probably the most thrilling bit of the book. That and June’s rescue of Amanda from the sea.

I’m sure they will include some tricks on the mistresses, but which ones? The hair-pin stealing magnet? The pinging bubbles? The sneezing powder? I’d like to see the pink chalk OY, myself.

P.S. thank you to Rebecca Lewis who brought this to my attention by sending me a link to her article.

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June 2019 round up

Posted on July 10, 2019 by Fiona

I completely forgot about doing a round-up for June last week!

What I have read

Last month I got through:

  • Can You Keep a Secret? – Sophie Kinsella
  • Five Go Off to Camp – reviewed here and here
  • Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (Outlander #8) – Diana Gabaldon
  • Hope for the Best (Chronicles of St Mary’s #10) – Jodi Taylor
  • Noddy and the Farmyard Muddle – Sophie Smallwood (reviewed here)
  • J is for Judgement (Kinsey Millhone #10) – Sue Grafton
  • The Ghost Train (Funny Bones) – Allan Ahlberg
  • Old Broughty Ferry – Alan Walter Brotchie

And I made progress on:

  • Seven Stones to Stand or Fall (Outlander short stories) – Diana Gabaldon
  • Russian Roulette (Mirabelle Bevan #) – Sara Sheridan
  • Spark Joy – Marie Kondo
  • Sustainable Home – Christine Liu
  • Outlander (Outlander #1) – Diana Gabaldon (audiobook)

I have run out of new Outlander books and the next one probably won’t be out until next year so I’ve ended up going back to the start on audiobook, though the first one is 32 hours! There also won’t be another Jodi Taylor book for a year or so, though there’s a short story due in September. I hate waiting for new books in a series, which is why I often wait until one is finished before starting it. I guess I’m just used to binge reading Famous Fives!

What I have watched

  • Hollyoaks
  • Murder She Wrote season 4
  • The latest series of Taskmaster
  • Outlander series 4

What I have done

  • We have had some decent weather at last and have made the most of it.
  • We’ve been to the beach three times to paddle, build sandcastles and examine interesting-looking rocks and stones.
  • We’ve been to dozens of parks, spotting some Oor Wullie statues along the way, visited the wildlife centre, transport museum and science centre.
  • We’ve also had day trips to a few children’s ‘play farms‘.
  • I wasted several hours on different days waiting around for jury service only to be sent home and dismissed along with everyone else because our service was over despite none of us actually sitting on a jury.

 

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Monday #327

Posted on July 8, 2019 by Fiona

June round up

and

Malory Towers on TV

Hey, Timmy – you look like Queen Elizabeth the First in a fine big ruff!

Uncle Quentin makes fun of Timmy and offends George so much that she goes off to camp by Kirrin Common and stumbles into another adventure.

 

Eunice Tolling is the daughter of a coleopterist, in town for a beetle conference. She and her father are staying with the Trottevilles in The Mystery of the Missing Man. Eunice is a most forceful young lady who speaks her mind and leaves Fatty hardly able to get a word in edgeways. He’s used to being the smartest one around but Eunice manages to make him look quite silly rather too often for his liking.

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Miss Grayling’s Girls 6 – her best teachers

Posted on July 5, 2019 by Fiona

This should really be titled Miss Grayling’s Ladies, I suppose, but as all the other parts have girls in the title I stuck with consistency and not accuracy! Previous parts, about the various girls that attend Malory Towers, can be found here.

Miss Potts

First form mistress, and head of North Tower, Miss Potts has to be Miss Grayling’s most helpful staff member.

She is always in charge of the new girls when they get the train to Malory Towers.

A keen-faced mistress. This must be Miss Potts. Her eyes twinkled – but there was something determined about her mouth. It wouldn’t do to get into her bad books.

Although named Potty by the girls she is anything but. She sizes up all the girls that pass through her care very quickly, and she’s almost always right about them.

She had already sized [Gwendoline] up and knew her to be a spoilt, only child, selfish and difficult to handle at first.

A nice, straightforward, trustable girl. [Darrell] can be a bit of a monkey, I should think. She looks as if she has good brains, I’ll see that she uses them.

She sees through malingerers like Gwendoline, suck-ups like Daphne, and as she knows the girls better, often discusses their progress with Miss Grayling and offers sound opinions.

She has wise advice for her students too,

Work hard this term, and you’ll find the exams easy. But slack this term, and I can promise you I shall hear some groans and grumbles next term!

When Darrell goes to her at the end of her first term, she has some very good advice;

You have come to ask me how it is that you are nearer the bottom than the top when you could so easily be among the top ones? There are people like Alicia who can play the fool in class and waste their time and everyone else’s, and yet still come out well in their work. And there are people like you, who can also play the fool and waste their time – but unfortunately it affects their work and they slide down to the bottom…

I shouldn’t copy Alicia and Betty too much if I were you, Darrell. You will be a finer character if you go along on your own, than if you copy other people. You see, what you do, you do whole heartedly – so if you play the fool, naturally other things will suffer. Alicia is able to do two or three things quite well at one and the same time. That certainly has its points – but the best people in this world are the whole-hearted ones, if they can only make for the right things.

Later she makes the hard decision to demote Darrell as head of the Upper Fourth, after she shakes June in a rage. While she knows that June’s owning up to being at the midnight feast is most likely not out of any sense of moral obligation (I am inclined to take your ‘owning up’ with a pinch of salt), she knows that Darrell cannot remain in position.

If you can’t control yourself, Darrell, you certainly can’t control others.

Continue reading →

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Letters to Enid 8: From volume 1 issue 17

Posted on July 3, 2019 by Fiona

Previous letters pages can be found here.

Letters page from Volume 1, issue 17. October 28th – November 10th, 1953

 

OUR

LETTER PAGE

 1. A letter from Gillian Broadhurst, 270 Kings Road, Kingstanding, Birmingham, 22c
Dear Enid Blyton,
I am sending you some pictures from your magazine. I drew them – well, I did in a way. I will tell you how to do them. Get a candle and rub it over a piece of paper. Then put the paper, waxed-wide downwards, on to the picture which you want to take the drawing from. Get a pencil or a spoon and rub over the paper. Take the paper off and you will see you have a nice picture on the waxed side.
Love from,
Gillian Broadhurst.

(What a good idea, Gillian! We’ll try it!)

2. A letter from Jean Whitter, 30, Snape Street, Radcliffe, Lancs.
Dear Enid Blyton,
I have been getting your magazine ever since it came out, and I enjoy every single page of it. I have got nearly all the Five Books. I want to tell you that lat Christmas my uncle gave me a Bible made of olive wood from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, and I wonder if any of your readers have a Bible like mine?
Yours sincerely,
Jean Whitter.

(If any reader has an unusual Bible perhaps he or she would like to write to Jean.)

3. A letter from Christine Harrington, Mole Hill Green, Felstead, Essex.
Dear Enid Blyton,
My sister and I read your magazine. I am nearly six. When I went to Clacton-on-Sea, I went in the life-boat house and saw the life boat. It is very large. The blackberries on the hedges near our house are ripe. I go to school and Sunday-school.
With love from
Christine Harrington

(I do think this is a very good letter from someone who was not six when it was written. The writing is just as good as the letter! Well done, Christine!)

 

Another warning from Enid Blyton!

I forgot to include this last time, but this message was in the newsletter at the back of issue 16.

Don’t forget that I never choose a letter sent specially in for this – I only choose from the ordinary letters you send me, because that is the fairest way. If you try to write a letter for the letter-page your letter is often no longer natural. Nobody ever knows when he or she will find their letter, or part of it, on that page, and if they do see it, they can be quite proud! To be able to write a good, natural letter, as most of you do, is an admirable thing.

It makes me wonder what children were writing. Dear Enid Blyton, please choose my letter for your letter page, I do love your books… 

Is it just me or do the ‘instructional’ letters come across a little bit rude? I thought that about the letter from Jilly Peters about the match stick puzzle too. It’s probably just a mix of formal writing style and childish exuberance!

It’s funny how children exclaim over long-term loyalty that is actually not very long at all. I have been getting your magazine ever since it came out, that’s seventeen issues over 7 months. Then again, if Jean is only 7 or 8 that’s at least a tenth of her life so far. Everything seems to take longer to children, I think. Nearly all the Five Books made me smile as well. There were only 12 at the time.

It’s nice that Enid featured Christine’s letter, as although very good for a five year old, is not as good as many of the other letters she must have recieved.

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Monday #326

Posted on July 1, 2019 by Fiona

I didn’t end up doing jury duty last week, but I’ve got to attend again today at 10 – on my day off no less! Thankfully three of Enid’s fans have done the bulk of the work for Wednesday’s post already, some sixty six years ago no less. All that’s left for me to do is transcribe the letters and organise the photos!

Letters to Enid volume 8

and

Miss Grayling’s Girls part 6

It was a good thing he had no more money to spend or he would have bought a black dow a white cat, two mice and a parrot that would say “Pass the salt, please,” and then cackle loudly just like a hen that has laid an egg. Meddle thought it was wonderful.

Mr Meddle does some window shopping before getting lost in the fog in Meddle in a Fog, found in Merry Mister Meddle.

Peep-Hole is the home of Miss Dimity – or Dimmy as she’s often known – who often takes care of the Arnold Children during the school holidays. It is a funny, crooked sort of house with a tower on one side. It looks out to sea from a hollow in the hills, and that’s why it’s called peep-hole as it peeps out to sea.

It’s said that smugglers used to signal from the tower of Peep-Hole to the tower of a big old house further back on the cliffs. The children discover a secret passage at Peep-Hole that leads not only to the big house, but also to the Spiggy caves that give the book – The Secret of Spiggy Holes – its name.

 

 

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Letters to Enid 7: From volume 1 issue 16

Posted on June 28, 2019 by Fiona

Previous letters pages can be found here.

Letters page from Volume 1, issue 16. October 14th – 27th, 1953

 

OUR

LETTER PAGE

 1. A letter from Busy-Bee Geraldine Ann Wall, 99 Bloomfield Road, Blackwood, Mon.
Dear Enid Blyton,
I have something to tell you that thrilled me very much. I was walking down a street in Weston-Super-Mare when I saw a white van across the street. I saw that it had the letters P.D.S.A. on it (People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals). I was so excited to see a van that had to do with the work of the Busy Bees that I ran to take a look. The door was open so  I stole a look. Inside there was a bull-dog with a cut on his head, and beside him a man was tending him. It was lovely to see the man’s gentle hands at work.
All my love,
Geraldine.

(How many more of my readers have seen one of these wonderful vans?)

2. A letter from Ella Maunder, Lower Kilcott Farm, Meshaw.
Dear Enid Blyton,
I want to tell you how much all my family enjoy your magazine and book. My sister had your magazine, and when I am away at school she sends it to me and I pass it around my dormitory. My father likes reading your Brer Rabbit and Twiddle stories, and my grandfather is reading a Twiddle book. My grandmother likes reading Amelia Jane. Will there be any more Five books?
Yours sincerely,
Ella Maunder.

(Yes, Ella there will be plenty more!)

3. A letter from Carole Fitch, Sheriffmuir, East Horsley.
Dear Miss Enid Blyton,
On Saturday we organised a small show. We acted a play I had written, sang songs and did a dance. Brumas, my little poodle,  wore a little hat and carried a small box for collecting the enclosed ten shillings for your Sunbeams.
Yours affectionately,
Carole Fitch

(Please give Brumas a grateful pat for me, Carole!)

 

Another three letters from girls but it’s interesting that Enid has now started adding little replies to the letters.

I wonder how much Ella’s family liked her revealing to the world that they all read children’s books?

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Enid Blyton, praise and criticism part 4: The World of Children’s Books

Posted on June 26, 2019 by Fiona

I brought this one (and all the other praise and criticism books) home from the staff library at my work. I just quickly skimmed the index to see if Enid Blyton was mentioned. She’s in this one four times but I fear it won’t be much of a blog as each mention is very brief.

The World of Children’s Books

The full title of this book is An Introduction to the World of Children’s Books, a bit of a mouthful and rather too long for a blog title.

Margaret Marshall the writing, publishing and selling of children’s books and analyses the various kinds – fiction and non fiction, textual and pictorial. Trends in the children’s book world, past and present, are described, and the criteria for selection of a particular book discussed.

It looks quite serious and in-depth despite the bright and cartoony cover, I hope I understand more of it than I have some others!

 

What does it say about Enid Blyton?

First, there are only around 20 authors listed in the index, many of which have only one page reference. However, I notice on skim reading that many other authors are name checked, if only when their book is given as an example of a genre.

Blyton features four times, no other author has more than that in the index. Maurice Sendak is the only other who equals her four.

Girls’ school stories are vast in quantity, ranging from the archetypal Angela Brazil books to the fifty-six titles in the Chalet School series by Elinor Brent-Dyer, and the numerous titles in the Abbey School series by Elsie Oxenham. Enid Blyton’s school stories were popular from their beginning in the 1940s and remains so today in three series, The Naughtiest Girl, the St Clare’s and the Malory Towers books.

It’s interesting that none of the other authors in that paragraph feature in the index, and I wonder what the criteria was for selecting index-worthy names. I actually recognise few of the chosen ones, yet I know of Brazil, Brent-Dyer and Oxenham.

Anyway, it’s not a very informative bit about Blyton but at least it’s not negative. Though shortly after this the book says of boarding school books in general:

Many of the plots are repetitive, the characters stereotyped, the slang outdated; there is little to do with real-life boarding school practice in the educational sense and almost no explicit boy/girl relationships; but the sometimes exotic settings, the evident privilege in the boarding school clientele and the basic relationships depicted in the schoolgirl or schoolboy world, continue to hold interest, particularly for girls.

I suppose when you have hundreds upon hundreds of boarding school books you would struggle not to see the same plots appearing, but don’t they say that there are only seven real stories (overcoming the monster; rags to riches; the quest; voyage and return; comedy; tragedy; rebirth) out there and everything else is a variation upon on of them? As for no real-life boarding school education, nobody reads a book determined to witness a full geography or maths lesson. I’m also intrigued as to whether explicit means clearly stated or sexual. I assume the former, but the lack of romance or dating isn’t surely limited to boarding school books? A lot of children’s books stick to platonic friendships, or family groups.

The next mention of Blyton is in the bit about Adventure books.

There are many such books for children and many that make from the ingredients an easily absorbed story in which the reader races along with the action. This is the appeal of the phenomenal Enid Blyton books, dozens of which are adventure stories concerning the Famous Five and the Secret Seven in books like Five on a Treasure Island, The Island of Adventure, Castle of Adventure and so on. Her books have been best-sellers since the 1940s and are read by children all over the world, despite the very English characters and settings.

I appreciate that there’s no negativity again, in the idea of the books racing along. Though I’m not sure what phenomenal here refers to. Is it Enid Blyton herself, or her books? Usually it is the word of choice to describe her vast output. I have to laugh when I see the examples given, though, where the Famous Five and Secret Seven suddenly inhabit the world of the Adventure Series.

Illustrations are up next for Blyton;

Some of the classic story books whether opular or esoteric are remembered for the way in which the illustrations complement and extend the story as in Shepard’s pictures for Winnie the Pooh…; the illustrations for Richmal Compton’s William books and those for Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books.

Shame Eileen Soper doesn’t get name-checked here. I would certainly not call Enid Blyton’s books esoteric, so that means that they must be classic! It’s a crying shame that she almost never gets that label despite so many of her contemporaries being lauded as classic.

And lastly Enid Blyton is mentioned because Sheila Ray’s The Blyton Phenomenon is listed as a bibliographical aid to children’s literature.

What isn’t said

Very little is said about any author or books, there just isn’t room. No biographical information appears, and little beyond a few words about any one book at a time.

There are several mentions of racism and sexism  in the book, thankfully none in conjunction with Enid Blyton.

A trend which is being strongly pursued by some people is the attempt to exclude, delete or ban from children’s books, references to what are considered to be sexist, racist, politically unfavourable, or religious themes, comments or characters.

This is more or less branded as a disturbing development especially the notion that books should be weeded for offensive material, or developing a code whereby these sorts of things are managed.

This I very much agree with.

So on the whole, the book casts Blyton in a positive light – though perhaps that’s just because it doesn’t say much negative about any author in particular.

 

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Monday #325

Posted on June 24, 2019 by Fiona

The second post of this week will depend on whether or not I am actually called for jury duty at the end of the week. If I am, on top of working and running around after a toddler, I may struggle for time and energy.

Enid Blyton in The World of Children’s Books

and

Letters to Enid vol 7

Miss Kennedy went pale. She guessed that some trick had been played, though she couldn’t imagine what. She stood up, looking unexpectedly dignified, though bits of straight hair fell rather wildly from two knots at the sides of her head.

“Girls,” she said. “There will be no history lesson this morning. I refuse to teach an unruly class like this.”

The St Clare’s girls give Alicia and June a run for their money in The Twins at St Clare’s.

janet and miss kennedy

The Valley in The Valley of Adventure is located somewhere in Austria, as far as we know. It was once just an ordinary if beautiful valley, with several homes in it. Then the pass was bombed during the war and the valley was lived in no more – except for two old people and their hen who moved into the caves to guard a secret treasure. The whole valley is a secret, really, the only way in or out is by air. There are the secret caves and many secret tunnels.

 

 

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