Monday #278

Posted on July 30, 2018 by Fiona

 

Noddy and the Case of the Toyland Mischief Maker

and

July Round Up

Enid Blyton’s Magazine Annual #1 has 15 stories and picture strips all specially written for the annual. It includes stories from famous series like the Famous Five (A Lazy Afternoon) and Noddy (Come Along, Little Noddy and Look Behind You, Little Noddy), plus Amelia Jane, Mr Meddle, Mr Twiddle, The Three Golliwogs, Brer Fox, Josie Click and Bun and The Secret Seven. There are also some riddles, puzzles and simple craft ideas scattered through the book, and the end papers feature a Famous Five board-game to keep you entertained after you’ve finished reading all the stories.

Mr Eppy is a curious fellow, with two different coloured eyes. He and his wife are taking a cruise in The Ship of Adventure with their nephew Lucian, and while he seems like a perfectly normal chap, the Mannering/Trent children have a bad feeling about him. Of course, it turns out that they are right and he is a cold, calculating man not above using his nephew as a spy and stealing a treasure map from four children. He is also evil enough to try to trap them underground so that he can be the one to recover the treasure.

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Blyton’s homeliest secret homes

Posted on July 27, 2018 by Fiona

There are many sorts of homes in Blyton’s books. Many of them are perfectly average (for the times they were set) rural or village cottages, farms, suburban houses, boarding schools and so on. There are also the slightly more unusual – caravans, narrow-boats – and the very unusual such as castles, palaces and the insides of mountains. And then there are the places that in ordinary view would never be classed as a home, and yet are turned into wonderfully comfortable places to live when the need arises.

There are also lots of temporary lodgings and camp-sites such as the cellar below Two Trees (Five on a Hike Together), the rooms in various farm-houses, bed and breakfast type establishments and relative’s homes and tents galore, but I want to look at the semi-permanent cosy little homes created out of what would not normally be considered a reasonable place to live.

CAVE-DWELLING

Caves often come in handy in Blyton books – they are the perfect place for a secret smuggling tunnel (The Secret of Spiggy Holes, Smuggler Ben, The Island of Adventure, Five Go Down to the Sea to name but a few), storing stolen goods (Five Go Off in a Caravan) and they can be a good place to hang out, or explore (Secret Seven Win Through, Five Go to Demon’s Rocks). They’re not really designed for living in (not these days anyway), yet a few groups of Blyton children make some remarkably comfortable homes in caves…

Five Run Away Together

As the title suggests, in the third Famous Five book they run away – from the Sticks at Kirrin Cottage but it’s not the whys we are looking out, it’s the wheres.

Well, of course they head to Kirrin Island, but then they have to find somewhere to live for however long it takes Aunt Fanny to get out of the hospital. They consider and veto the dungeons (too cold and dark), the only room in the ruined castle (but the roof has now fallen in) and even the old wreck (too rotten, dark, slimy and smelly) and they are stumped for a bit. George is adamant there is nowhere else, she knows every inch of the island, and yet, they then spot a dark hole in the cliff behind the wreck that looks suspiciously like a cave.

And a cave it is! So secret, even George had never set foot in it before. It has all the mod-cons for a cave – a soft sandy floor, a rocky ledge which makes a good shelf for their cans and things and a hole in the roof which is part skylight, part chimney and part doorway. It lets in light and fresh air, it lets smoke from the fire escape and with a rope tied to a gorse bush it provides a quicker way in and out than clambering over the slippery rocks and low tide. Best of all – nobody is ever going to spot it!

 

The Valley of Adventure

There are two cave-homes in this book. The first we see is the smaller of the two, known as Fern Cave. Fern cave is cool and mossy, located near the waterfall which provides the children with fresh drinking water. The large overhanging fern at the entrance keeps out the noise of the waterfall, and the misty spray as well as hiding them from view. The floor is softly mossy and there’s a handy rocky shelf just like in the Kirrin Island cave.

It doesn’t have a skylight, but it does have some other nifty features. At the back is a narrow tunnel which leads to the Cave of Echoes, and then on to a ledge behind the waterfall. It also leads to the other cave(s), but that’s discovered from the other end much later.

The other cave(s) are inhabited by glowing stalagmites and stalactites, statues wearing fine jewellery, old paintings, old books and maps, fine golden treasures and then finally a little old couple and Martha the hen.

This set of caves is well hidden, with the entrance a hole halfway up a rocky wall. There are doors between some of the caves, the first being an enormous studded thing, and the last being the little door which leads to the old couple’s kitchen. They have a whole little house in the caves, and they never leave but when it is fine weather they can go out another hole onto a large, sunny ledge.

The old couple’s cave is certainly the best furnished of all the cave-homes as it has a proper bed and a kitchen table and so on, so it is probably the homeliest if a bit oppressive being stuck inside so much!

Inside the fern cave

The Secret Island

The Arnold children and Jack have a few places to live on their secret island, but when winter comes it is the caves they turn to.

The first cave is a larger, open one which becomes the sitting room and bedroom, with a cheerful warming fire at the entrance. Then the little cave at the back, accessed through a narrow passage is the store-room and hiding-place should anyone come to the island. They make it comfortable by hanging a lantern from the roof and rigging up some wooden shelves for their books and games. Jack fashions wooden stools from bits of tree trunk and a wooden table too, while Peggy sews together rabbit skins to make a blanket they take turns having on their beds of bracken. They even bring up fine sand from the beach to spread on the floor.

TREE-DWELLING

Trees are mentioned in a few books as fun things to climb (Those Dreadful Children), useful for getting in windows (The Secret Room, The Secret of Cliff Castle) and as places to build a tree-house (Well Done Secret Seven). Some Blyton characters even live in trees.

The Secret Island

In addition to the caves, the children make their very own house out of some willow trees. They bend the trees over so they meet as a roof, then they plant cut pieces of willow into the ground for the walls. They stuff heather and bracken in the gaps to keep it weather-proof and even hang a door and make a partition wall in the middle. The best part of Willow House is that planted willow branches start growing again so the walls all sprout leaves!

Hollow Tree House

When Susan, Peter and Amanda found a huge and hollow tree in the middle of some woods, they visited it a lot to play as it was great to climb up into the branches and hide, pretending it was a ship etc. When Susan and Peter run away, though, they turn it into a little house. There’s a ridge in the trunk inside that forms a natural shelf for their clock and other small belongings, and it’s quite dry and warm inside. It gets a bit stuffy sometimes so they cut a hole in the most rotten part of the trunk to form a window, draping it with a curtain of leaves and moss.

The Enchanted Wood / The Magic Faraway Tree

Many people (none of them human, as far as I know!) live in the Faraway Tree. The Angry Pixie has a little house, as do Dame Washalot, Silky and Moonface to name a few. Moonface’s is one we see the most of, and is a round little house with the usual home comforts, and also a door leading to a slippery-slip which is a slide taking you right to the bottom of the tree very quickly. The children also visit Silky’s home quite often for google buns and pop biscuits.

The Little Tree-House (Josie, Click and Bun)

Josie (a doll), Click (a clockwork mouse) and Bun (a rabbit) live inside a tree too. It is a hollow oak tree in which they discover a door with a knocker which leads to a little hall.It has a round kitchen with a little window, and some tiny stairs leading to a round bedroom with another little window. They furnish it with furniture bought at a goblins’ market and Josie sews up curtains and bedding.

CELLAR-DWELLING

The six bad-boys of The Six Bad Boys initially use an old cellar as a meeting-place, and end up spending a lot of time there – escaping various unpleasant homes. Bob even ends up living there for a time when his mother goes away. Usually it is girls who spend time prettifying their surroundings in Blyton’s books but the boys do what they can to make it homely. They bring in candles and an oil-stove, and at Christmas there are decorations and food.

 

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Miss Grayling’s Girls – an introduction

Posted on July 25, 2018 by Fiona

Miss Grayling is the headmistress at Malory Towers. She is ultimately responsible for all the girls at her school, down to accepting their applications to be pupils and expelling them if they cannot be kept on. She is quiet, dignified and well-respected amongst the girls and teachers and for the most part she is a background figure, seen only at the start of term to welcome new girls, and on the rare occasion a girl has done something bad enough to be sent to the headmistresses’ office. This doesn’t happen too often, most transgressions are handled by the class teacher or the form mistress, and little is escalated to the top. There is a slight horror at the idea of being sent to the headmistress, although she is not a monster nor a terrifying figure, the girls know it would be a very serious matter and they could be in real trouble.

ARRIVING AT MALORY TOWERS

Girls who arrive at Malory Towers at the start of term (whether they arrive for first form or higher up the school) all get taken to the headmistresses’ office for what seems to be her standard inspiring speech. Darrell gets it in her first year, and in her last she takes some new pupils to Miss Grayling and hears the speech again, as a nice bookend to her time at Malory Towers. She remembers being a quaking first-former hearing those words and hoping to do her best to fulfil them, and by the last book she is a strapping sixth-former who hopes she has done the school proud.

After a few words to each girl asking them their names and so on, she says to them all:

One day you will leave school and go out into the world as young women. You should take with you eager minds, kind hearts and a will to help. You should take with you a good understanding of many things, and a willingness to accept responsibility and show yourselves as women to be loved and trusted. All these things you will be able to learn at Malory Towers – if you will. I do not count as our successes those who have won scholarships and passed exams, though those things are good things to do. I count as our successes those who learn to be good-hearted and kind, sensible and trustable, good, sound women the world can lean on. Our failures are those who do not learn these things in the years they are here. It is easy for some of you to learn these things, and hard for others. But easy or hard, they must be learnt if you are to be happy, after you leave here, and if you are to bring happiness to others. You will get a tremendous lot out of your time at Malory Towers. See that you give a lot back.

miss grayling malory towers

The feminist in me is cringing a little as I read between the lines there about women being sensible and dependable home-makers as more important than them gaining qualifications, but I will leave that aside, she’s not encouraging them to be vapid airheads as long as they get a good husband after all. I think she means that not everyone will be an academic genius in every subject, but as long as they work hard they will learn skills that will stand them in good stead. The ability to work hard and try when something is difficult is sometimes just as important as actually learning a language or to play an instrument.

So Darrell and most of the other girls who start at Malory Towers get that speech, and Darrell immediately longs to be a Malory Towers’ success. She, of course, does become a success, along with Mary-Lou and Sally. In her sixth year she hears the exact same speech given to some new girls, and at the end Miss Grayling adds:

Six years ago I said those words to Darrell. She is one who has got a great deal out of her time here – and there is no one who has given more back than Darrell has.

Beyond this, it seems that Miss Grayling has some input into all the girl’s schooling. Most pass through without her having to make any big decisions or even speaking to her again but I think she follows them all carefully and is ready to step in if necessary.

A VARIETY OF GIRLS

Not every girl at Malory Towers is a Darrell (or a Mary-Lou or Sally). Others are successes in a more modest way, and some could only be described as disasters.

Being a private boarding school Malory Towers – and Miss Grayling – can be somewhat picky about its intake. Most girls, I assume, simply apply and are accepted based on their school records and a character reference or letter from their parents etc. There are some more special cases at Malory Towers, though, where Miss Grayling intimates she has taken on girls she otherwise wouldn’t have, to give them a chance at making something of themselves, to turn their life around, or because they have nowhere else to go.

Even out of the ‘normal girls’ not all of them want to be a Darrell, though. I’m sure some don’t care, and others already believe themselves so fabulous that they don’t think Malory Towers can offer them much. Either Miss Grayling couldn’t judge them fully based on their applications, or she decided to give these girls a change too.

I will look at some of Malory Towers successes, failures and the in-betweens in my next few posts.

Next post: Miss Grayling’s Girls part 2: the failures

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Monday #277

Posted on July 23, 2018 by Fiona

Miss Grayling’s Girls

and

Blyton’s homeliest secret homes

Just at that moment the old man came into the room again with a jug of water. How he stared! But, before he could do anything, the chest-of-drawers rose up in the air,  knocked the water out of his hand, almost pushed him over, and squeezed itself out of the door.

Just another normal day in the life of the Wishing Chair!

 

Five Go Down to the Sea is the 12th Famous Five adventure. It takes place around Tremmanon Farm in cornwall, where the Five are politely regarded as furriners. It has all the usual elements of a good mystery/adventure – a suspicious man sneaking around in the night, tales of old wreckers, a secret passage, travelling performers and a pantomime horse. Well, the last one might be specific to just this book, but old Clopper adds a lot of amusement, and is tied up in the solving of the mystery too.

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If you like Blyton: The Borrowers by Mary Norton

Posted on July 20, 2018 by Fiona

There are five books about the Borrowers (and one short story) all written by Mary Norton between 1952 and 1982, but this post will focus mostly on the first in the series.

    • The Borrowers (1952)
    • The Borrowers Afield (1954)
    • The Borrowers Afloat (1959)
    • The Borrowers Aloft (1961)
    • Poor Stainless (short story, 1966)
    • The Borrowers Avenged (1982)

BORROWERS

Borrowers are creatures that look just like humans – if humans were only a few inches tall, that is. They live in human’s houses, under floorboards, behind walls. They ‘borrow’ all sorts of things from the ‘human beans’ (whose sole purpose is to provide for Borrowers’, in their minds) like blotting paper for their carpets and thimbles for their cups.

Borrowers are a rare breed by the time the first story starts. The Borrowers the books are about is the Clock family – so named because they live under the clock in the hall. There used to be a huge number of borrowers before that, though. The Overmantles who lived over the mantle in the morning-room (they left because the morning-room stopped being used and otherwise they would have gone cold and hungry), the Rain-Pipes from the stables, the Harpsicords (originally the Linen-Presses before they moved to the drawing room) and so on. But times had changed in the big house – less people, less parties, and less borrowings. Now only the Clocks are left, and even though it’s just the three of them, Pod, Homily and Arrietty, there’s still the risk of being seen, which is the worst thing that could ever happen to a Borrower.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A BORROWER IS SEEN?

When Uncle Hendreary was seen (on the drawing-room mantlepiece, by a maid) he and his family of Borrowers leave the big house for a badger-set across the field.

This is revealed to us near the start of the book when Homily and Pod are explaining more about ‘upstairs’ to Arrietty, who’s a teenage borrower and has never been out of their home. Pod, as it happens, has also been seen. There’s an unexpected boy upstairs, and he caught Pod one night as he went to fetch a cup from the dolls’ house in the nursery.

The Boy is a friendly sort, though, and he starts supplying the Clocks with all sorts of trinkets and dolls’ house items that they would never manage otherwise. Homily isn’t best impressed when he starts yanking up her ceilings but when she sees the treasures he brings, she accepts it.

Unfortunately, Mrs Driver, the formidable housekeeper, finds out what is going on and the Clocks have to flee the house, just like Uncle Hendreary’s lot.

There is at least one other Borrower out there – a wild teen by the name of Dreadful Spiller and he helps them navigate their first days out in the open.

LIKE BLYTON?

If you look closely it’s quite different to anything Blyton wrote but there are familiar elements. To the Borrowers The Boy is almost a mythical creature, as are Mrs Driver and Crampfurl the gardener. And to the human beans the Borrowers are equally fantastical characters, so in a way, it’s not that far off from The Adventures of the Wishing Chair or The Faraway Tree – though it’s more serious than whimsical. There’s a real fear for the Borrowers – given the tale of Cousin Eggletina who was presumably eaten by a cat, I’m not surprised. The grown ups are pretty scared of the Borrowers too, likening them to rats or mice and tearing up half the house to get at them.

The second likeness you could make is one of survival akin to something like The Secret Island or The Hollow Tree House. The Borrowers have to survive in secret without help, without getting caught. Everything has to be planned, all borrowing missions are done with the utmost care – like Jack and Mike fetching the cow and items from Jack’s granddad’s farm.

Although written in the early 50s, contemporary to much of Blyton’s most famous outputs, The Borrowers is set earlier. Uncle Hendreary was seen in eighteen-ninety-something, so it must be the turn of the century. Still, it is a sort of period novel in the way Blyton’s are too, a window to the times with the talk of drawing rooms, blotting paper, parquet floors, a world of big houses with housekeepers and gardeners.

I think, like Blyton, Mary Norton knew what children would like. And so she gives us a thrilling tale of the Borrowers’ survival under the floorboards and beyond the house. The could either imagine ourselves as the resourceful, if quirky, Borrowers or the lucky Boy who discovers them. Who hasn’t had an imaginary friend or creature as a child?

The Borrowers’ home is something out of many children’s dreams – a tiny wonderland of objects. Postage stamp portraits, miniature books, thimbles, safety pins, playing cards, little tins, all repurposed for tiny folk. I used to love making ‘pony houses*’ when I was little, shoe-boxes or photo-album boxes turned into tiny houses with all sorts of little objects forming furniture and belongings. The Borrowers are also very amusing creatures, it is said even their names are borrowed from the human beans. Arriety is probably from Harriet, but I’m not so sure about Pod, Homily or Eggletina!

The characterisation is good, we have three very different personalities amongst the Clocks – Pod is sensible but weary, Homily is frazzled and frightened and Arriety is brave, naive and a dreamer. Arriety’s determination to borrow and make friends with The Boy is a big part of their undoing, but you can understand why she would be beyond fed up of living life in the semi-darkness with only a grating to view the outside world from. She’s not like Homily who would be content to never feel grass under her feet or see anything but the same four walls for the rest of her life.

ADAPTATIONS

Like some of Blyton’s books, The Borrowers has been adapted for TV and Film. The BBC did a brilliant two season series in the 90s, featuring Ian Holm (Bilbo Baggins, The Lord of the Rings) as Pod. There has also been an Americanized film with Jim Broadbent as Pod, Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter) as the added Pea-Green, Arriety’s little brother, and John Goodman as a crazed real estate developer Ocious P Potter. The film doesn’t capture the quaintness of the originals, but it has good acting and some very clever miniature ideas. The main idea of the story is also used for the Anime adaption, called The Secret World of Arrietty. That wouldn’t normally be my cup of tea but I have watched it and I quite liked it, despite it being quite different to the original.

*They were called pony houses because my first one was made for a My Little Pony. Later Cupcake/Jam Pot Dolls and Aladdin and Jasmine Figurines were lucky enough to get cardboard homes, but the name stuck.

 

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Top 11 Famous Five moments

Posted on July 18, 2018 by Fiona

I’ve written plenty about the Famous Five, including putting the whole series into order from my most favourite to least favourite. And now I’ve decided to list my ten favourite moments from the series.

Being 21 books long I can’t mention something from every book, some great titles are strong throughout and I can’t pick out a single ‘moment’. Others are also great all the way through but have standout scenes that stick in my mind. Some are funny, some are frightening and others are simply thrilling. Here’s what I chose (and no I couldn’t narrow it down to 10, again!) Can you guess what I have put in first place?

11

Uncle Quentin can’t get Berta’s name right

Five Have Plenty of Fun

Quentin is often absent-minded and easily confused by anything that isn’t to do with his scientific research. When Berta comes to stay he manages that just fine. But then, due to the threat of kidnap, she changes her name to Leslie and dresses like a boy. This confuses Quentin rather a lot, even though he has been told about it and he continues to call her Berta-er-Leslie. Not long after that Leslie reverts back to being a girl and is then called Jane. Poor Quentin, trying his best, has remembered the name Leslie a bit too late and ends up still getting it wrong.

10

George and Timmy deal with Junior

Five On Finniston Farm

Junior Henning is a very annoying and rude American boy staying with the Philpots at Finniston Farm. He demands breakfast in bed and doesn’t lift a finger to clear up his own mess. Mrs Philpot is desperate for the money Junior’s father is paying so she can’t upset anyone, so George takes matters into her own hands. She and Timmy take up Junior’s breakfast one morning and lets Timmy drag him out of bed, meaning he comes down to the kitchen for his breakfast after that and saves Mrs Philpot at least one job. It’s always good when someone horrible gets their comeuppance, isn’t it?

9

Sooty pretends to have bitten Block

Five Go to Smuggler’s Top

Timmy isn’t allowed at Smuggler’s Top as Mr Lenoir hates dogs, but George just couldn’t leave him behind. This leads to him being smuggled around the big house, and when Block interferes, Timmy bites him. In order to continue the charade that there is no dog at Smuggler’s Top Sooty insists that he must have bitten Block, and that he has a rather nasty taste in his mouth. Sooty goes off to brush his teeth, while Block examines his leg and doubts that the marks were made by human teeth.

8

The Five line up the clues on Gloomy Water

Five on a Hike Together

Having received the mysterious message in the night, the Five of course have to puzzle out the meaning. On a raft, in the middle of Gloomy Water, they must try to align Tall Chimney, Steeple, Tock Hill and Standing Stone. Even with four of them it’s not easy (Timmy, useful as he is, isn’t designed for steering a raft or staring at distant landmarks). Unfortunately for the Five, Dirty Dick and Maggie are on the water too, in a rowing boat, also trying to line up the landmarks. With only two pairs of eyes it’s proving very difficult for them, and there’s a bit of an accidental-on-purpose crash between the two crafts as the Five are exactly where the other two want to be – they just figured out the clues and got there first!

7

A storm throws up the old wreck

Five on a Treasure Island

Against her better judgement George has taken her cousins to Kirrin Island for the first time, and as she had worried it might, a storm blows up. It is an incredible, fierce summer storm and the waves crashing on the island are enormous. In the midst of it Julian goes outside for a look, and the rest follow when he spots a ship lurching towards the rocks. They are horrified as it crashes onto the jagged rocks with a sound of splintering wood, but then as the storm clears and they can see better there’s something very odd about the ship. It’s George who works it out first, recognising the strange ship for what is is, her very own wreck.

6

Julian and Dick get stuck in Clopper

Five Go Down to the Sea

Clopper is the name of the pantomime horse that performs in the Barnies’ shows. Normally containing Mr Binks and Sid, the costume is in three parts and the head is guarded jealously on orders of the guv’nor (because it contains smuggled drugs). At the end of the Barnies’ stay at Tremannon Farm the costume is left unguarded and Julian and Dick decide to have a go. Hearing the Guv’nor returning, they realise they are stuck inside the costume and awkwardly stagger off to seek help. Much to everyone’s surprise, a somewhat unsteady Clopper peeps in at the window while everyone else is eating, and although hot and uncomfortable inside, Julian and Dick leg it when they realise everyone has seen them, with Mr Penruthlan in hot pursuit, thinking it’s a farm horse. Running is too difficult for them, however, and the collapse only to be rescued by a guffawing Mr Penruthlan. The farmer even gives them the costume at the end of the book – making a joke about his two friends who can wear the costume but the only thing they can’t do is work the zip.

5

Julian faces off against the Sticks

Five Run Away Together

In one of his best moments, Julian stands up to the awful Sticks who have invaded Kirrin Cottage. Mrs Stick is the cook (and a good one at that), while her husband is lazing about on leave from his ship. Despite cooking wonderful food, Mrs Stick isn’t feeding the Five well, so Julian goes down to sort it out. He helps himself to all the tastiest morsels from the fridge and flummoxes the tongue-tied Mr Stick with a few deft words. (I have included a few of those words in my post about favourite quotes.)

julian mr stick five run away together

4

 Julian and Dick ring the lighthouse bell

Five Go to Demon’s Rocks

Near the end of this book the Five plus Tinker and Mischief are trapped inside the lighthouse, and the weather is fairly terrible. They have no phone so in order to seek help Julian and Dick decide to try to get the lighthouse working again. The great lamp is lit and  they lift the heavy bell out onto the balcony -Julian nearly going over the railing in the process – and take turns at striking the bell. The whole village hears it, and are very surprised as it has been over 40 since the lighthouse has been in use, since it was replaced by a bigger, more modern one along the coast.

3

Morgan calls his dogs

Five Get Into a Fix

Morgan, the son of Mrs Jones at Magga Farm is rather dour and taciturn, and the Five even suspect he might be up to something. However, come the end of the book the Five, plus Aily and Morgan are trapped underground by the real baddies, and only Morgan’s tremendous voice can save them. He shouts on the dogs once, and Llewellyn Thomas mocks him, saying that the dogs couldn’t possibly hear him from so far underground. Morgan shouts again, giving it his all and his voice cracks at the end. Lewellyn Thomas is not smug for long though, as soon they can hear the sound of seven dogs coming to rescue their master.

 

2

 Dick gets a secret message in the middle of the night

Five on a Hike Together

Dick is sleeping in an old shed at what he thinks is Blue Pond Farmhouse (spoiler, it isn’t!) when he’s woken by a tapping at the window. A bullet-headed man whispers his name and a baffling message to him – repeating it to make sure he’s got it – and then disappears.

Two Trees. Gloomy Water. Saucy Jane. And Maggie knows too.

He knows it isn’t a dream as a little bit of paper is pushed through a crack in the window, bearing the same message. The fact that the man called Dick’s name makes this all the more puzzling.

dick five on a hike together

1

The ash tree falls on Kirrin Cottage

Five Go to Smuggler’s Top

This is my all-time favourite. There’s a terrible storm blowing around Kirrin Cottage and Julian hears some terrible creaking in the middle of the night – the enormous ash tree in the garden is about to come down. He then has to wake the household up, and they only just get downstairs in time before there is an almighty crash. The girls room is destroyed and they would most likely have been killed had Julian not acted.

 

What would your favourites be?

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Monday #276

Posted on July 16, 2018 by Fiona

My top Famous Five moments

and

If you like Blyton: The Borrowers by Mary Norton

Cliff Castle, from the book The Secret of Cliff Castle, is (hardly surprisingly) a castle on a cliff. Well it’s not a real castle, more a big building built by one of those mysterious old men who likes their privacy but also has more money than sense and thinks building a great hulking castle with towers and slit-windows is an excellent idea. Luckily this old man includes a tiny door in the back, perfect for children involving themselves in an adventure, and also a handy secret passage down to the bottom of the (non-seaside) cliff.

Josephine, often known as Jo, Jones is one of Malory Towers ‘failed experiments’. Mrs Greyling likes taking on troublesome girls and trying to turn them around. Sometimes it works, but not in Jo’s case. Jo’s parents are nouveaux riche (a terrible sin) and they are loud and gaudy with it, and always telling Jo how wonderful she is. Her father in particular thinks that school is just a laugh and that Jo is there to have a good time. Jo ends up being expelled when she takes her own money (three whole pounds!) back from Matron, plus a few more by accident and then runs away with a first former.

I feel sorry for Jo, as although she is rather annoying and full of herself, she hasn’t had much of a chance thanks to her father. She remonstrates with him in the end, telling him that he always said things like being bottom of the form and breaking rules don’t matter, but they do.

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10 facts about Malory Towers and me

Posted on July 13, 2018 by Fiona

1. I didn’t own the full series as a child, but I’m not sure exactly what I did have. Fifth Form I had bought from the library for 20p, and Second Form I bought an Armada paperback somewhere eventually. I think most of the times I read Malory Towers it was books borrowed from the library.

2. My favourite was always Second Form, perhaps because I read it less often and therefore there was more anticipation of that thrilling finale with Mary-Lou and Daphne on the cliffs.

Second Form at Malory Towers dust jacket 1957 reprint by Lilian Buchanan
3. I always pronounced Alicia wrongly in my head as a child and have to correct myself now. It could either be Ah-leesh-ah or Ah-lissy-ah but I thought it was literally the name Alice, followed by an ‘ah’ sound. It was a friend who kindly corrected me one day.

4. I’ve always thought the brown and orange Malory Towers uniform sounded quite ugly, and wonder how Darrell could have liked it so much.

5. Despite loving the books I never had the desire to go to boarding school, sharing a dormitory with five other girls you might hate? No thanks. However, the rocky swimming-pool I would have loved, as I love sea-swimming and swimming in general.

6. I (shock, horror!) often prefer Jenny Chapple’s illustrations to the originals by Stanley Lloyd. Lloyd’s are more detailed and more skilled, but they are so grey and dreary-looking. Jenny Chapple’s are perhaps a touch ‘wibbly-lined’ but they have more character and despite being done some twenty years later for the Armada paperbacks, they are quite in-keeping with the time they are set.

Irene brandishing her hairbrush so fiercely she nearly hits Belinda in the face in “In the Fifth at Malory Towers” illustrated by Stanley Lloyd.

7. I sometimes have cried at both the end of the series and at the end of the pantomime in the fifth book.

8. I have never read the continuation books by Pamela Cox, though I would like to. I have them for my Kindle already, so some day I will read and review them.

9. I always picture Deirdre the first-former in the last book as a tiny version of Deirdre from Coronation St. That hair, those glasses, just the size and age of a petite 11 year old. I think back then that was the only other Deirdre I’d heard of, so that’s how she looked to me.

10. I was struggling to come up with a tenth so I am going to put a totally random thing here, yes, more random than tiny Deirdre Barlow/Rashid. I read a 1980’s Methuen edition of Upper Fourth many times, and the cover always made me think the girls were going out at night in very ‘American’ clothes – it’s actually their pyjamas!

American going-out clothes, in my young mind,

So that is my hodge-podge of Malory Towers facts. What would yours be?

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Another load of search terms (#6)

Posted on July 12, 2018 by Fiona

Every time I look at our search terms there is something interesting, strange, or just completely baffling. Here’s the latest collection! (As usual all capitals are mine, and this is done is gentle jest meaning no malice to whoever is unfortunate enough to have had their search(es) land here.)

MORE MIXED UP TITLES

Review of Secret of Lost of Necklace novel, that’s a lot of ofs. I wasn’t sure what book this referred to – it’s closest to The Adventure of the Secret Necklace, but it turns out that there’s an omnibus edition of that story plus Mischief at St Rollo’s and The Children of Kidillin. The title (with or without the extra of) makes no sense unless the first story is also renamed inside.

Famous Five on Kirron Island review. I’ve seen Karin Cottage, Kitten Island and Kirren Island (the official 70s annuals made the Kirren mistake, and the font made it look like Kitten, which some people then put into eBay listings etc), and my phone wants it to say Kieron when I type it but I’ve never seen Kirron until now.

The Dreadful Children by Enid Blyton. I feel bad including this as it’s so close, but it’s just not right. 

The Famous Five Movie in the Whispering Island. This one’s also really close, there is a Children’s Film Foundation ‘film’, a serialised one, of Five Have a Mystery to Solve and it’s set on Whispering Island.

STRANGE QUESTIONS AND REQUESTS

What is the average yearly mileage driven by an RSPCA inspector?I have absolutely no idea, and I have no idea why this would land anyone on this blog!

Change the end of the Noddy and His Car story. To what? And why? What’s wrong with the real ending? Or is this referring to the fact that golliwogs are changed to goblins even though it happens throughout?

How do Noddy keep himself neat and clean? and the similar yet more specific What steps do Noddy and Big Ears take to became beat and clean in Noddy in the Toyland? can surely only be answered with ‘they wash’? I mean there is running water and soap in Toyland.

How old are Uncle Quentin and Aunt Sally? Who is Aunt Sally? (There is one typo in Five Have Plenty of Fun where Aunt Fanny is called Aunt Sally [Sally being Berta’s poodle] but she’s called Fanny every other time). And to attempt to answer I would assume that they are in their early to mid thirties at the start of the Famous Five series, given that George is 11. I don’t imagine they had her in their teens certainly, but they could be as old as 40 in Five on a Treasure Island. It’s very hard to tell as they aren’t described in terms of age or lack thereof.

CLOSE BUT NOT QUITE

My dog found a mysterious necklace The Five Find-Outers and Dog found a missing necklace, and that sounds a bit like something that could happen in a Blyton book but as far as I know, it isn’t.

An exciting adventure with mountain drawings I suppose the Mountain of Adventure or The Secret Mountain would fit the bill, though there are only a few illustrations showing the mountains in full.

CURIOUS FRAGMENTS

Not eat your story. No, well, I don’t think that books are all that tasty.

Amous Five style stationery and Famous 5 stationary both appear. I’m not sure who the Amous (Amorous?) Five are, but I know that the Famous Five wouldn’t have solved so many mysteries had they stayed stationary.

Well done Enid Blyton ending. Is that supposed to be about the ending of Well Done Secret Seven, or is it a congratulations for the ending of something else?

EVEN FATTY WOULD BE BAFFLED

The strings of incomprehensible nonsense have continued: dhn7hirgef5bxbat1jpotfccea7y3yggz1zyeufzenyvowoqn… etc, and afcrcxew_6ksw4w47yud0arf7eajwrpz5wph1p4dhcbrkfg0hokextwrnnsqcqzqos-zww…etc plus several more.

Corrector of Five on a Treasure Island any one corrector, who or what is a corrector?

Caillou taught my child terrible behavior, well Caillou is a TV programme for children and many people do say that his tantrums and bad behaviour are negatively influencing their children, but how that links to our blog I do not know.

DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK

In the Adventures Series of Enid Blyton, Dinah, why did you like this character of favourite and what is the best thing you like about this character. Why I like Dinah is irrelevant, it should be about why YOU like her.

Four words to describe the character Saucepan Man in Magic Faraway Tree. He isn’t a cheater.

Why I liked book Enchanted Wood. We’re not psychic, we don’t know why you liked (or didn’t like) it!

IT’S BLYTON. BLYTON. BLYTON!

The summary of Enid Blition’s, the name is wrong not to mention that the request isn’t finished!

Poems of Enith Blyron kids, both names are wrong here!

THE RARE SENSIBLE AND INTERESTING ONES

Authors like Enid Blyton, we have a whole section (two infact!) for authors you might like if you like Enid Blyton or if you want a grown-up Blytonian read.

Enid Blyton’s Fatty gets a 21st-century makeover. I’m always interested in moving characters into different times, especially seeing how 1940s/50s characters would work in the modern day. Bill Cunningham would have a mobile phone instead of a wireless to keep in touch with his work, and the Famous Five could Google map their route for their Hike to Two Trees and Gloomy Water. What would Fatty be like in the present day? Well I think he would be fairly similar, though better equipped, ordering disguises and things from Amazon Prime. He would take photographs on his smart phone of things like footprints and there would probably not be a single local bobby in a police house in Peterswood.

Famous Five books from best to worst – I can help you with that, or my opinion on that anyway.

Where is Kirrin Village located? We never know, really. On the coast somewhere in the south of England, of which my geographical knowledge is sorely lacking.

And that’s all, until next time!

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Monday #275

Posted on July 9, 2018 by Fiona

Blyton search terms

and

10 facts about Malory Towers and me

I’M THE BOLD BAD GIRL! BEWARE! I BARK! I BITE! I HATE EVERYBODY!

This is what is pinned to Elizabeth Allen’s back in The Naughtiest Girl in the School, as she has already earned the nickname of The Bold, Bad Girl with her behaviour.

Mr Galliano is the owner of a fine circus, and on the whole he is a good person to work for. He treats the circus animals well, and fires anyone who doesn’t. He has a temper though – and his mood is indicated by his hat. If it’s straight up on his head you should avoid him at all costs, but the more it tilts the happier he is.

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June 2018 round up

Posted on July 7, 2018 by Fiona

WHAT I HAVE READ

This was a really good month, even if you don’t count the two children’s picture books I still managed 8 books. Next month might not be so great as Outlander is an 800+ page beast of a book!

  • Prophecies (Lost Slayer #1) – Christopher Golden
  • Dark Times (Lost Slayer #2)  – Christopher Golden
  • King of the Dead (Lost Slayer #3)  – Christopher Golden
  • Original Sins (Lost Slayer #4)  – Christopher Golden
  • The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman
  • Dead as a Doornail (Sookie Stackhouse #5) – Charlaine Harris
  • The Giving Tree – Shel Silverstein
  • Get Lost, Laura! – Jenny Northway
  • Definitely Dead (Sookie Stackhouse #6) – Charlaine Harris
  • The Princess Bride – William Goldman

I’m still reading:

  • All Together Dead (Sookie Stackhouse #7)
  • Outlander (Outlander #1) – Diana Gabaldon

WHAT I HAVE WATCHED

  • Started Outlander series 2 (and ordered the first book from the library)
  • Taskmaster, both the new series and some repeats)
  • Murder She Wrote, as it was on at 6am on a Sunday and it reminded me I was having a re-watch, so I picked up again at the end of season 2.
  • And of course, still Hollyoaks
  • I have been subjected to the World Cup though I can’t say I’ve actually watched much, and I’ve watched more of Hey Duggee than I probably should, given it’s aimed at babies!

WHAT I HAVE DONE

  • Returned to work! It has been fine, very little changed while I was off and Brodie has been having fun with his grandparents.
  • Taken Brodie to his first soft play centre and to the beach for the first time too.
  • Had a father’s day barbecue at my parents’ house
  • Enjoyed more sunshine than we usually get in the summer
  • Saw Steps (and also Blue and Bjorn Again) live in my own city, having my first night out since before Brodie was born.
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My top 11 Adventure Series moments

Posted on July 5, 2018 by Fiona

The Adventure Series is one of Blyton’s best, and is full of exciting moments but also plenty of funny ones too. Here are my top 10, 11. It was going to be 10, as I said on Monday but as I was writing up descriptions for the moments I had chosen, I thought of another one that I couldn’t leave out!

11

Pepi is knocked out by a suitcase

The Valley of Adventure

In the middle of some very bad weather Jack is fighting of Pepi in the middle of the valley. He’s at a disadvantage being a teenage boy against a well-built and desperate man, but luck aligns for him and one of the children’s suitcases which has been tied up a tree out of the way is blown out and lands of Pepi’s head. This stuns him enough that Jack is able to tie him to the tree (using the rope he always has tied around his waist, of course) and flee back to the caves. I love this because it’s just such a surprise as you’re wondering how on earth Jack is going to get out of this and them bam! suitcase to the head. Pepi absolutely deserved it as well, being the baddie!

10

Kiki ‘falling’ off the castle

The Castle of Adventure

This is just a tiny moment but it always makes me laugh. Kiki is wandering about the battlements of the castle while the children are sitting eating, and she suddenly squawks and ‘falls’ off. The funny part is that you as a reader think ‘oh!’ and the children also have a sudden panic, before you and they all sit back down feeling stupid. Because Kiki being a bird, and having wings, was in no danger at all!

She went exploring along the stone coping at the edge of the tower, climbing upside-down now and again.

The children watched her, eating their cake. Suddenly Kiki gave an alarming screech, lost her balance and fell right off the tower! She disappeared below, and the children leapt up in horror. Then they sat down again, smiling and feeling rather foolish – for, of course, as soon as she fell, Kiki spread out her wings and soared into the air!

9

Bill is the pedlar-man

The Circus of Adventure

After a long and tense adventure already, the children are rather on edge when the two peddlars arrive at the circus and one of them seems rather too interested in Kiki and Lucy-Ann. Worse, even, one of them crawls under the caravan where the boys are sleeping in the night. But just as you think disaster is going to strike, Kiki flies to him and croons Silly-Billy and the peddlar-man pulls off his wig to reveal that it’s just Bill after all. And they are very glad to see him!

8 

Hiding in the circus

The Circus of Adventure

After the escape from Borken castle, the children have to hide. Jack is already established as the circus-type with his talking parrot, and so Lucy-Ann and Dinah pretend to be from Jabberwocky and talk a load of nonsense. The best parts though are from Gussy and Philip. Having sorted out the escaped bears drama, the best way for him to hide is back in with the bears. The soldiers are completely convinced that any young man who climbs into a cage of bears and quietens them down must be a bona fide circus worker and not an escaped prisoner. And then, Gussy. Well. Poor Gussy with his long hair gets dressed up as Old Ma’s granddaughter, Anna-Maria, complete with a dress and hair-ribbons. His great embarrassment helps, as Old Ma paints him her as awfully sweet and shy, so much so that a soldier hands over a coins and says he has a little girl just the same at home.

7

The aeroplane seats are the wrong colour

The Valley of Adventure

This is another tiny moment, a culmination of several other ones. The children have boarded what they think is Bill’s plane, and laid low after they heard gunshots. They are growing concerned when neither Bill nor his co-pilot speak to them, and more so when they realise that neither man is actually Bill. And then they notice the seat colours. They are red, and not green. They’re not in Bill’s plane after all, and that’d when they realise that they are in very big trouble indeed.

6

Philip and the Alsatians

The Mountain of Adventure

Although by this point in the book the children have established that the pack of snarling, howling creatures are dogs and not wolves, this doesn’t greatly diminish the danger. Mier and Erlick have released the pack of Alsatians to capture the children and Bill. Even if that doesn’t involve any biting it is still not a pleasant prospect, so when the dogs head into the stream tunnel and find the hidden group, we naturally fear the worst. But then Philip works his magic and all of a sudden this pack of menacing dogs becomes a big group of doggy friends. They’re so taken with Philip that he is able to set them on their handlers in a nice piece of justice.

5

Tricking Jo-Jo with the secret passage

The Island of Adventure

Jo-Jo is one of those baddie that we love to hate – and I guess most of us will have marked him as a baddie before we even know he’s involved in illegal dealing over on the Isle of Gloom. He’s a baddie purely down to his nasty attitude and bad treatment of the children. So when the children find a passage that leads to Craggy Tops’ cellars from a cave on the beach, it’s quite fitting that they get Jo-Jo back. They go into the caves in view of Jo-Jo who sits and waits for them, not intending to let them out of his sight. They simply slip up the passage and into the house and are at their own leisure, then. Jo-Jo waits for hours, and then he goes to Aunt Polly to tell her that the children are most likely lost in the caves. Seeing as they’ve had an early lunch then taken a picnic-tea out, Aunt Polly accuses him of lying and of having lazed around all afternoon and come up with the story to cover himself. Jo-Jo’s reaction is priceless when he realises he’s been had, and he just can’t work out how.

Jo-Jo’s mouth dropped open. He simply could not believe his ears. Hadn’t he been on the beach by the caves all the morning?  He would have seen the children as soon as they came out.

“Don’t pretend to be so surprised,” said Aunt Polly sharply. “Just stir yourself and do a few jobs quickly. You will have to do this afternoon all the things you didn’t do this morning.”

4

 The walking suits of armour

The Castle of Adventure

Down in the secret room of the castle there are half a dozen suits of armour standing on pedestals, which could be quite creepy at the best of times. Now imagine there’s a storm raging overhead, you’re desperately plotting the last bits of your dastardly plan to steal the secrets of a military machine, and the suits of armour suddenly creak and clank their way down to join you. Well that’s exactly what happens, Bill, a few of his men plus Philip are inside the suits, spying on the proceedings and then (a little awkwardly) do their best to apprehend the baddies.

 

3 

The bears escape

The Circus of Adventure

The circus which Jack is travelling with has several animals including three bears. Fank, their owner and trainer, has been taken ill and the bears are restless. The last time Fank was ill he managed to get out of his bed to sort things out but according to Pedro it nearly killed him. So this time Jack arranges the rescuing of Philip and the others, sure that Philip can help. By this point the bears have broken the sides of their wooden cage, and two have escaped. Little Madam Fifi, the chimp owner, is brave enough to hook a lamp over the broken area to keep the last bear in, but it’s down to Philip and a jar of treacle to tempt the two other bears back inside.

 

2

The girls’ waterfall antics

The Valley of Adventure

Before Pepi is knocked out by a suitcase, he and Juan follow the boys along the river towards their cave. Meanwhile, Lucy-Ann and Dinah have found a little tunnel leading out of the back of their cave. It goes through a cave of echoes and then comes out on a completely otherwise inaccessible ledge behind the waterfall. From Dinah tries to warn the boys, but just attracts the men’s attention, which is good as it allows the boys to get into the cave without being seen. The men then spend a good long time risking life and limb clambering around the rocks trying to get behind the waterfall, which is completely impossible. Then later, after Otto Engler has arrived, the boys want to go check on him, but Pepi is watching the waterfall area. The girls head behind the waterfall and do an energetic dance, complete with sweater waving, to keep his attention from the boys.

1

Don’t forget Bill Smugs

The Mountain of Adventure

When a helicopter comes to drop supplies at the top of the mountain, it also takes away Philip who has the king of the mountain’s crazy flying wings on. He’s supposed to jump out to test them. But just as the helicopter leaves, they hear the shout of ‘Don’t forget Bill Smugs’…

The helicopter rose straight up into the air. The pilot leaned forward and shouted something loudly.”Don’t forget Bill Smugs!” he called, and his voice was no longer the same as it had sounded before. It was quite different. It was somebody else’s.

In fact – it was BILL’S VOICE!

So we then know that not only is Philip safe but the others will surely be rescued by Bill too.

So those are my top 11. There were a few other things I could have chosen, like the children’s capture of Horace Tipperlong in The Sea of Adventure or one of many of Kiki’s clever remarks but 11 is a nice, round(ish) number so let’s leave it there.

What are your favourite moments from the Adventure Series?

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Monday #274

Posted on July 2, 2018 by Fiona

My top ten Adventure Series moments

and

June round up

“Ock-ock-oo.” – Mr Penruthlan

Mr Penruthlan is a giant of a man but most of the time he lacks an important element of speech – his false teeth! Thus most of his sentences are about as clear as mud, though Mrs Penruthlan seems to be able to translate them without any difficulty!

The castle of The Castle of Adventure is a huge, rather sinister building. The only way in (unless you have a key to one of the doors) is across a plank and through a narrow window, or by getting soaked wriggling through an underground stream. Once inside it is full of fusty, musty, dusty rooms and mouldering furniture. There is  a courtyard complete with an eagles’ nest, though, and a secret underground room where the suits of armour may or may not clank to life. Unfortunately it is half destroyed in a storm near the end of the book, making it even more inaccessible! By now it would probably be largely ruined I would think.

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Summer reads

Posted on June 30, 2018 by Fiona

After a glorious May, and a bit of a cloudy June, summer seems to have arrived in earnest in Scotland. We spent an afternoon at the beach and Brodie paddled in the sea for the first time, and I started to wonder which books feature the best Blytonian summers. Plenty of books are set during the seemingly endless summer hols, but not all of them focus on the things we think of as summery – sunshine, heat, sunbathing, dips in the sea, ice creams and so on.

THE FAMOUS FIVE SUMMERS

Of 21 adventures, eight of them happen during the summer holidays.

Five on a Treasure Island, Five Fall Into Adventure, Five Run Away Together and Five Have Plenty of Fun all take place at Kirrin and so there’s plenty of bathing, boating and ice-creams when the Five aren’t too busy embroiled in adventures.

It was lovely to wake up the next morning at Kirrin Cottage and see the sun shining in at the windows, and to hear the far-off plash-plash-plash of the sea. It was gorgeous to leap out of bed and rush to see how blue the sea was, and how lovely Kirrin Island looked at the entrance to the bay.

“I’m going for a bathe before breakfast,” said Julian, and snatched up his bathing-drawers. “Coming, Dick?”

“You bet!” said Dick. “Call the girls. We’ll all go.”

  • Five Run Away Together (before Aunt Fanny is taken ill and they do the actual running away).

“Let’s go down and have a bathe,” said Dick. “If I’m going to have six bathes a day, I’d better hurry up and have my first one.”

“I’ll get some ripe plums,” said Anne. “We can take those down with us. And I expect the ice-cream man will come along to the beach too. We shan’t starve.”

Soon they were all down on the sands in their bathing-suits. The boys wore bathing-trunks and their bodies were as brown as their faces. They found a good place on the sand and scraped out comfortable holes to sit in.

  • – Five Fall Into Adventure
  •  Text: where they meet Jo for the first time. Illustration: later at the beach when Jo is spitting damson stones.

They choose caravans in Five Go Off in a Caravan as it’s far too hot to go on a walking tour like Julian suggests:

“What! In this weather? You’re mad!”
“We shouldn’t be allowed to.”
“How awful to walk for miles in this heat.”

And they end up going to Merran Lake which is just as good for a cooling-off bathe as the sea.

In Five Go Down to the Sea, the Cornish sea is very welcome for that purpose too, as it’s a very hot summer.

They walked a little way round the cliffs, and came to a great pool lying in a rocky hollow. “Just the thing!” cried George and plunged in. “Gosh – it’s cold!”

Five on Finniston Farm also occurs during a very hot summer, though there’s no sea OR lake to bathe in on the farm.

“Phew,” said Julian, mopping his wet forehead. “What a day! Let’s go live at the Equator, – it would be cool compared to this!”

(Just before Julian falls asleep sitting against a gate!)

Five Go Off to Camp is technically another summer one, but at the start they remark that the moors are awfully high and so may be jolly windy and cold. Thus the Five pack sweaters for their holiday. I don’t suppose this one really counts as a summer read as there’s no bathing or sunning themselves, but then that makes it more like the average British summer!

And lastly there is the short story –  A Lazy Afternoon. It’s so hot that the Five seek shade (and a nice cool stream) in the woods to laze about, and of course get caught up in an little adventure. (You can read this in Enid Blyton’s Magazine Annual #1, 1954, or the Red Fox collection called Five Have a Puzzling Time and Other Stories, 1990).

Illustration by Eileen Soper

THE ADVENTURE SUMMERS

Summer is perhaps a little subdued in The Island of Adventure thanks to the Isle of Gloom and all the mist around it though there is some bathing, sailing and swimming as the weather is generally better around the coast of Craggy Tops. In fact it’s hot enough for clothes to steam dry on the rocks.

I’m not sure what time of year The Ship of Adventure or The River of Adventure are set, but the children are off abroad in both, in the sunny Mediterranean and Middle-East respectively. It may not have been true summer in either location but for the children and readers it is surely hot and sunny enough in both to count.

SUMMER HOLIDAY STORIES

In the past few years several themed short story collections have been published. We’ve looked at the Christmas Stories and Christmas Treats and there have been four that contain summery stories. Details of all the Hodder short story collections can be found here.

Holiday Stories (2015) has 26 stories from sandcastles at the beach to enchanted ice-creams, while Summer Stories (2016) has 27 stories. Summer Holiday Stories (2017) has 22 sunny tales and Summertime Stories has a whopping 30 more stories of summer picnics and the like.

THE SECRET SUMMERS

The second story in the Secret Series, The Secret of Spiggy Holes, takes place in the summer holidays and before the mystery/adventure starts there is plenty of time for beach-exploring and bathing. Jack is particularly excited as he has never seen the sea before.

The Secret Mountain is set in an un-named African country, and it is a very hot one during the day. As is often the case, though, it becomes very cold when the sun sets. The Secret of Killimooin is set in the fictional country of Baronia, and it is so hot there that the royal family – and the Arnold children as their guests – travel up to the mountain palace for cooler air and, inadvertently, their adventure.

THE CARAVAN FAMILY SUMMERS

The initial book in the series – The Caravan Family – takes us through a few seasons, but the Seaside Family is set firmly in summer. As the name suggests the family take their caravans to the seaside – the east coast, as the west is not warm enough – and the children enjoy bathing in the sea. They enjoy it so much, in fact, they have their picnic lunch sitting in the shallows!

They went and sat down in the edge of the sea – all except Benjy, who thought it was a horrid idea. They ate their ham sandwiches and nibbled their tomatoes happily, while tiny waves ran up their legs and all round their bodies.

The Saucy Jane Family, in which they live on a canal-boat, is also set in summer and they glide up and down the canal under the sun, and even do some swimming. They also enjoy good weather in The Pole Star Family, as they are off on a Mediterranean cruise then.

THE MYSTERY OF SUMMERS

The Mystery of the Missing Necklace is set during a heat-wave, in fact it’s so hot the children almost don’t go to see the waxworks which turn out to be involved in the mystery.

Pip and Bets sat in their garden, in the very coolest place they could find. They had on sun-suits and nothing else, for the August sun was blazing hot.

The Mystery of the Invisible Thief is set the following summer, which is also having a heat-wave. Blyton sets the scene well:

“Gosh this sun is hot. Buster, don’t pant so violently – you’re making me feel even hotter!”

…

“Oh dear – it’s too hot even to laugh,” said Daisy.

….

“Though even if we had a mystery I think I’d be too hot to think about Clues and Suspects and what-nots.”

The Five children lay on their backs on the grass. The sun poured down on them. They all wore as little as possible, but even so they were all hot. Nobody could bear poor Buster near them for more than two seconds, because he absolutely radiated heat.

And that’s all just on the first page! Next there’s iced lemonade and Mrs Hilton demanding that Pip put on his sunhat so he doesn’t get heatstroke again.

The next summer is just as hot it seems – at the start of The Mystery of the Vanished Prince Pip is complaining that “I’m too hot for words. We’ve had five weeks of hot sun and I’m tired of it. The worst of our weather is that it never stops when it makes up its mind to do something.” I think that pretty much sums up the British’s ability to complain about the weather no matter what!

The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat is also set in summer but a quick skim didn’t find much in the way of references to heat or sunshine.

A FEW MORE SUMMERS FOR GOOD MEASURE

The Adventurous Four is a summer-book with bathing and boating, and the wearing of bathing-suits almost all the time, though it features a raging summer storm too, and proper clothes are needed for a time.

There is also the non-fiction book, Round the Year with Enid Blyton, Summer. This is a guide to all things summer in nature, such as what crops and flowers grow, which animals are active and so on.

So there you go, if you’re in the mood for a summer read one hot day, there’s plenty of choice. Unless of course you’re the type who likes to read about cold wintry days when it’s hot! (For that you can check out our other seasonal reads posts).

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Five On a Treasure Island

Posted on June 27, 2018 by Fiona

Five on a Treasure Island is an important book. It’s the first book of what is probably Enid Blyton’s most famous series, The Famous Five. It’s so important we have more than a dozen posts dedicated to it already, and it’s mentioned in many others. We have reviewed the TV series episodes, analysed the text for changes made in modern editions, reviewed the abridged and unabridged audiobooks and yet we have never reviewed the book itself. Until now.

WHEN I HAD TIME TO READ, READ, READ

When I was a child (longer ago than I like to remember!) I used to read tons. I would read and re-read my favourites over and over. I loved to pick a series and devour it over a week or two. I must have read the Famous Five start to finish dozens of times or more. And of course, that always started with Five On a Treasure Island. It’s one of my favourite Fives (in fact it’s my third favourite, if you want to be precise).

According to Goodreads I last read it in December 2016 but that was the unabridged (but slightly edited) audiobook, and before that it was when I compared the texts in 2013/14. So I haven’t properly read it since before 2012 which is when I started using Goodreads.

Reading a book for a review is always a different beast than just reading for fun, and reading it to assess for updates is barely like reading it at all. If I was just reading it I would get lost and stop really seeing the words, I would zone out and just see the pictures in my head for a good while. Reading for a review means stopping every so often and staring into space while I come up with clever and witty comments for a blog, which I inevitably forget by the time I sit down to write.

Anyway, I have read it. And now I will review it.

WHERE DO I START?

I thought reviewing an old favourite would be easy. It’s not. As I said I’ve read it countless times. I know bits of it off by heart – though funnily I perhaps paid more attention this time and there were small bits that surprised me with their unfamiliarity. Perhaps I have always skimmed those bits to get to my favourite lines! Apart from those little anomalies it’s incredibly familiar and comforting and I think it’s fair to say that I take it entirely for granted. It’s Five On a Treasure Island. It’s that chunky red hardback with the old-book smell that I used to think was the smell of adventure. Its pages are full of old friends that I love to spend time with. Julian is smart, capable and sensible, George is fiery, brave and independent, Anne is sweet, cheerful and find the joy in everything. Dick is witty, optimistic and usually hungry, and Timmy is faithful, brave and loyal.

The children don’t change all that much through the series. Some corners are knocked off, Anne gets a little braver and George a little less prickly, but we are introduced to them all at the start of this book. In fact George and Timmy are introduced to the others too, as despite being cousins they’ve never met. Let’s start there.

MYSTERIOUS COUSINS

Imagine having cousins you’ve never met, for no apparent reason. Well that’s what the Kirrins suddenly discover, one morning in the school holidays. It only comes up because they’re looking for somewhere to go on holiday, and Daddy suggests that his brother’s wife would he happy to take them for some extra money.

The children comment how odd it is that they have a cousin they’ve never seen, and have to ask her name and age. Even the adults have to think about it a bit. Georgina is 11, the same age as Dick, a little older than Anne and a little younger than Julian. And as a girl, she’ll balance out the group.

Their idea of her is that she will be a little odd, as an only child, and they feel sorry for her perceived loneliness. They also think she will fit in perfectly with them as she balances out the boy/girl ratio and is the right age.

As it turns out they are both completely right and rather wrong at the same time.

George is certainly ‘odd’ at first view. She doesn’t turn up to meet her cousins at first, and one of the first things she says to Anne is:

I’m not Georgina… I shall only answer if you call me George. I hate being a girl.

That may be unrelated to being an only child, but the loneliness is not. I don’t think she garners much sympathy in person, mind you. She is quite rude and abrupt (perhaps just trying to protect a more sensitive nature than she lets on) to her cousins, and the impression is she is the same to any local children. She believes she is better off on her own, or at least just her and Timmy. With Timmy keeping her company she isn’t quite as lonely as you’d think, and in good weather she must keep busy out with him in her boat and on her island (it’s not clear but I presume she goes to a local day-school, as after this book Uncle Quentin says he can finally send her to a good school).

In the end she does fit in perfectly with the other three but it is a bit of a rocky start. Being nice and friendly children the other three start to break down George’s walls. They tell her she can go off on her own and they won’t tell tales and they praise her mother which starts her softening to them. Quickly she learns that she does have things to share – Timmy, her island and wreck – so she can accept ice-creams and things from her cousins and a much more amicable relationship begins.

KIRRIN

Kirrin is one of my favourite fictional locations ever. It has a lovely sandy beach with water you can swim in, and even better it has a private island complete with ruined castle. I love exploring ruins and having your own would be wonderful. In the height of summer, when the book is set, it’s such an idyllic place. Perfect for lounging on the beach, paddling, boating and picnics. The fact that no-one (or, at least very few people) can navigate the rocky sea to reach Kirrin Island just makes it that bit more secret and exciting.

THREE LEVELS OF ADVENTURE

To me, this book has three definite stages. They are all adventurous, just to different levels.

There is the early portion of the book where the excitement comes simply from the cousins meeting and Julian Dick and Anne exploring Kirrin. There’s enough friction between George and the others, plus the secret of Timmy which is nearly spilled, to keep it interesting above and beyond the simple pleasure of exploration.

Next the adventure ramps up, as George’s great-great-great-grandfather’s wreck is thrown up by a violent storm. This is exciting in itself, and becomes even more so when they explore it and find a treasure map. The promise of hunting for gold ingots on the island surely would be adventurous enough for a book, but no, there’s more.

The final level of adventure has the Five up against some nasty crooks who also want the gold. So instead of just a hurried treasure hunt (they need to find the gold before the island is sold) Julian and George are captured and held prisoner, Dick mounts a daring rescue and they have to foil the baddies’ plans.

George introduces the others to Timmy

INTERESTING POINTS

I’m not going to get into too much of what goes on in future books, I’ll leave that for when I’ve read them, but there are a few things that people always discuss when it comes to the Famous Five. One is the name Kirrin.

In this book we know that:

a) George, her mother and father are all Kirrins.

b) The house, island and farm are all called Kirrin

c) The above plus, previously, the surrounding land belonged to George’s mother’s family.

d) Julian and George’s fathers are brothers.

e) Julian’s father has only the vaguest recollections of Kirrin and presumably has not spent much time there.

This doesn’t instantly cause any problems as we must just assume that Quentin took his wife’s name to keep the connection with the area. However, later books seem to contradict this.

Uncle Quentin is an interesting character, and a bit of a contradiction. I know that everyone has flaws and can’t be clever all the time but he really isn’t very smart in this book. He is supposedly an extremely clever scientist, and I can overlook him not making much money as all he does is write books, and I can completely get the notion that he’s brilliant at his work but useless at remembering meal-times and so on. However, he is surely completely idiotic to sell the island all of a sudden, without ever having looked at what the children found on the wreck. Also the fact he takes an afternoon nap and sleeps through Julian nicking the box from the wreck just strikes me as quite un-Quentin like based on other books where he is more or less a work-aholic. But I suppose all that is important for the plot. If he had said ‘no’ to the sale, the children would have been in less of a rush to find the gold and perhaps the men would have carried it off before they found it. And that wouldn’t have been a Blytonian ending, now, would it?

So there you have it, my first proper Famous Five review.

Next post: Five Go Adventuring Again

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Monday #273

Posted on June 25, 2018 by Fiona

 

Five on a Treasure Island

and

Blyton’s Summer reads

The Mystery of the Missing Man is the thirteenth Five Find Outers mystery, and involves well, a missing man! The police are after him, and therefore so is Fatty and the other Find-Outers. This is complicated by the Trottevilles having guests: Eunice, who could literally give Fatty a run for his money, and her father who is a beetle-lover and in town for a beetle conference. Somehow all these elements collide and yet the mystery still gets solved.

 

Uncle Quentin is what you might call a stroppy scientist, if that was a common phrase. He’s not quite a mad scientist – he’s too serious and neatly turned out, and he doesn’t do wild experiments or anything. He does work very hard, though, and expect near silence and peace for his work. That’s a little hard to come by when you have four children and an excitable dog in the house, so he is prone to outbursts and door-slamming when he is interrupted. He isn’t all bad though, he is generous with what he has and only works so hard to provide for his family. If you can get past his hot temper, he is actually quite fair and reasonable most of the time.

 

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May 2018 round up

Posted on June 24, 2018 by Fiona

This is rather belated due to the laptop problems I had this month, but better late than never!

WHAT FIONA HAS READ

Not as good as last month, but not terrible!

  • The Magic Faraway Tree (reviewed here)
  • Mean Girls – Michael Ostow
  • Dead to the World (Sookie Stackhouse #4) – audiobook by Charlaine Harris
  • Five On a Treasure Island which I will be reviewing soon

I’m still reading:

  • Prophecies (Lost Slayer #1) – Christopher Golden

WHAT FIONA HAS WATCHED

  • Finished Outlander series one
  • Gone back and rewatched some of Mythbusters
  • The new series of Taskmaster
  • And of course, Hollyoaks

WHAT FIONA HAS DONE

  • More geocaching (this would be quite Famous Five-y if we weren’t using a smartphone app!
  • Enjoyed lots of very sunny weather by going to the park and having picnics (but not appreciated the 24 degree night times so much!). Brodie has loved going on the baby swings and having his first play in a paddling pool.
  • Had plenty of lunches out, including for my sister’s birthday. Brodie was treated to a baby buffet that day and stuffed his face. He had just turned 9 months then, how is that possible?
  • Been to our small local wildlife park, and saw otters, bears, a lynx, wolves, meerkats, lemurs and more.
  • Blog wise I finally got around to updating the indexes at the top of the page to include all the book reviews, tv related posts, recipes and random stuff we have written in the past year!
  • Started a (slow) re-read of the Famous Five series so I can review each book. I can’t believe that hasn’t been done on the blog before!
  • Gone more eco-friendly and started using washable wipes for meal times and nappy changes.
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Philip Mannering’s animals – an essential A-Z guide

Posted on June 20, 2018 by Fiona

Philip has a magic way with animals and can tame just about anything to want to live in his pockets. He never keeps anything as banal as a cat or dog, but it would not be unusual to see a mouse run out his collar or a caterpillar from his sleeve.

Here’s a guide to the various animals he meets and pets he collects in the 8 books of the Adventure Series.

A

Alsatians – Philip befriends an entire pack of Alsatians – which they previously had thought were wolves – in The Mountain of Adventure. This is unfortunate for Meir and Erlick who are using the dogs to round up run away paratroopers, as instead of finding the children the dogs turn on their masters at Philip’s instruction.

Philip faces the friendlier-than-they-look Alsatians

B

Badgers – Philip and Jack go badger-watching in The Circus of Adventure and see a family with playful cubs.

Bat – before The Island of Adventure Philip has kept a pet bat, Dinah warns him not to bring another one home in her letter to him.

Bargua – the only made-up animal in the books, a bargua is an extremely dangerous snake. It is green with red and yellow spots, and has a deadly venomous bite. Philip is gifted the snake by Oola, whom he rescued from his violent snake-charming uncle. It’s not a recipe for danger though as this bargua (which he never gave a name which is unusual for a ‘main’ pet) has had its ducts cut. This makes it safe, though shortens its life too. Nobody would know it isn’t dangerous any more which is a key point when it bites Raya Uma, the bad guy of The River of Adventure.

Philip uses the deadly-looking Bargua to scare off Raya Uma

Bears – Philip certainly never tries to keep anything as large as bears in his pocket, but he does befriend three circus bears in The Circus of Adventure. Their owner and trainer Fank is ill, and the bears are restless and escape their cage. Philip is able to lure them back with some syrup and his special animal voice.

Philip calms down the bears with syrup

Beetles – Philip is said to have put black beetles in Dinah’s shoes at some point before The Castle of Adventure. Then during that book he has four beetles he is training to obey certain commands.

Buttons the fox cub – Philip doesn’t find Buttons himself, rather the fox is a gift from wild-girl Tassie, when the children are on holiday in Scotland with Mrs Mannering. He takes an instant liking to Philip, though, and is happy to follow him like a dog. He is a playful (and smelly, according to Dinah) young cub who gets picked on by Kiki, because she is jealous of the attention that the children give him. He comes in useful though, as he finds a secret way in and out of the castle.

C

Caterpillars –  Although Philip does collect a huge number of bugs throughout the books, one of the first one mentioned is a very large and peculiarly coloured caterpillar. It crawls out from his sleeve when he’s being tutored by Mr Roy at the start of The Island of Adventure.

Crabs – briefly in The Island of Adventure he manages to keep a couple of friendly crabs in his bathing suit – before he sits on one and gets nipped and decides they’re better off in the water.

D

Donkeys – a group of donkeys are the children’s ride up into the mountains in The Mountain of Adventure. Unfortunately not even Philip’s influence is able to keep all but one of the donkeys from bolting when David, their guide, sees a face in a tree and runs off.

Donkey ride

E

Eagles – Although Jack is the one to camp out trying to get a photograph, Philip is still very interested in the two eagles which have built a nest in an old Scottish castle in The Castle of Adventure.

Earwigs – in The Island of Adventure Dinah warns Philip that she will throw a chair at his head if he tries to train earwigs again. Later she reveals he put them under her pillow and they crawled out in the middle of the night so you can understand her threat!

H

Hedgehogs – at the start of The Island of Adventure Philip has a baby hedgehog in his pocket, one whose prickles have not yet hardened. He has another baby one – which he is adamant doesn’t have fleas – at the start of The Castle of Adventure and Dinah implies the first hedgehog did have fleas. Philip agrees that once the hedgehog grows a bit and he’s sat on him a few times he will probably let him go.

Huffin – one half of a pair of puffins called Huffin and Puffin, from The Sea of Adventure. They are quite useful as they present Philip with fish for breakfast and help hide him when the children and Bill hide amongst sea birds in the water.

One of the puffins perches on Philip’s head, giving him a wonderful disguise

K

Kiki –  although strictly not Philip’s pet, she kind of belongs to all the children, even though she’s most definitely Jack’s. You cannot have an Adventure story without Kiki, she is a key character, even though she sometimes causes trouble instead of helping, but we wouldn’t be without this beautiful bird and her squawks of God Save the Queen.

Philip is baffled by the strange voice in the tree before he discovers Kiki

L

Lizzie the lizard – Philip finds a little lizard that he thinks looks like a small dragon in Austria in The Valley of Adventure. Kiki quickly christens her Busy Dizzy Lizzie and tries to peck her whenever she can see the lump she makes under Philip’s clothes.

Lizzie the lizard

M

Mice – Philip has a lot of mice and small furry creatures running up and down his person at any one time. The one we meet first is a small creature in the The Island of Adventure, but as far as I can work out, it doesn’t have a name. At some point before The Castle of Adventure he has had one which he trained to eat crumbs from between his teeth.

Philip’s mouse sits on his ear as the rest of his body is underwater

Micky the monkey – Philip rescues Micky from being stoned by children in French Morocco in The Ship of Adventure. He comes aboard and lives on the ship with them – winding Kiki up beautifully and having quite a few fights with her.

Philip comforts Micky after he has had stones thrown at him

P

Puffin, other half of Huffin and Puffin from sea. Arrrr.

Fish for breakfast

R

Rats – Philip has one young rat which escaped his sleeve in poor Mr Roy’s classroom at the beginning of The Island of Adventure and goes off exploring, ending in going up Mr Roy’s trouser leg.

Then he had a brown rat during the summer term before The Castle of Adventure, but left it at school much to Dinah’s relief.

He also has three young white rats in the early chapters of The Sea of Adventure used which he uses to scare off a governess that they don’t like the look of. These three are called Squeaker, Woffles and Nosey.

Philip’s rat climbs Mr Roy’s leg
Philip’s rats scare off Mrs Lawson

S

Sally Slither – Sally is a slow-worm, and not a snake as Dinah believes. She consents to living in Philip’s pocket during Mountain of Adventure, coming out now and again to warm herself in the sun and eat flies.

Dinah thinks Sally is a snake and is afraid

Snail – a very large snail shares Philip’s pocket with the baby hedgehog in The Island of Adventure, and is careful to keep inside his shell.

Snoozy the dormouse – this mouse is picked up by Philip on the top of Sugar-Loaf hill and lives in his pocket for the rest of The Circus of Adventure. Snoozy running around Borken Castle tells Jack he is in the right place to find Philip, once he has followed them to Tauri-Hessia.

Snoozy shows Jack that he is in the right place to find Philip and the girls

Snowy the goat kid – Philip makes friends with a young goat, which then follows him around the rest of his holiday in The Mountain of Adventure. Snowy even sleeps on his bed like a dog! He comes in useful when they are trapped in the mountain as Snowy’s sure feet let him climb down the nearly sheer sides to take messages and food between Philip and the others.

Snowy takes a flying leap at Philip

Stag beetles – Dinah mentions a pair of stag beetles Philip has had in The Sea of Adventure.

Starfish – Philip mostly picks up the giant starfish in The Island of Adventure to frighten Dinah, and he puts it back quite quickly as it’s not really designed for life in a pocket.

Squirrel – a young grey squirrel is living in his pocket at the start of The Island of Adventure. He meets another, but doesn’t take it as a pet, in The Mountain of Adventure.

Philip’s pocket-squirrel

T

Terence the toad – Terence the toad apparently has beautiful eyes, but Dinah objects to him hopping about Spring Cottage in The Castle of Adventure.

Terrence the toad

 

Looking for more posts about Blyton’s animal characters? Then try these.

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Monday #272

Posted on June 18, 2018 by Fiona

In case you were wondering if you had missed it, we skipped Monday #271. I didn’t have my laptop and wasn’t sure when I would get it back in order for me to write and publish anything (though I’d forgotten I had a father’s day post scheduled anyway). As it turns out I still don’t have my laptop back as it is unrepairable! I do however have a new one, and access to a computer at work now my maternity leave has ended. So we are back in business.

Philip Mannering’s animals

and

May round up

A real one this week – formerly known as Elfin Cottage, 83 Shortlands Road, Beckenham is up for sale. It was Enid Blyton who named it Elfin Cottage, back in 1926 when it was a new-build and in a more rural setting than it is now. It features a blue plaque with her name on it on the front and it could be yours for only a million pounds!

83 Shortlands Road, aka Elfin Cottage

quote of the week

 

“Next time you want to meddle in anything, Meddle, tell me before you start. It would save such a lot of trouble!”

Aunt Jemima has some sage advice for Mr Meddle, but unfortunately he never follows it!

 

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Blyton’s Fathers

Posted on June 13, 2018 by Fiona

A while back I wrote a post about Blyton’s mothers and then I had a sudden thought – what about Blyton’s fathers? Given that it’s Father’s Day this Sunday, it seemed like a good time to write about them.

Her own father – Thomas Blyton – was an important figure in Blyton’s early life. He fostered her love of nature and gardening as well as music and literature, and she was devastated when he left her mother and therefore the family when she was 12.

Divorce and fathers leaving is not a topic often featured in her books (it’s in The Six Bad Boys, but any other households without a father is due to his death, I think)  but there are plenty of fathers of different kinds to discuss. They take on very different roles to the mothers, though. While the mothers are generally at home providing the meals, the fathers are out at work and only home evenings and weekends.

THE TYPICALLY CROSS AND CROCHETY

Quentin Kirrin aka Uncle Quentin (The Famous Five)

Father to George and uncle to Julian, Dick and Anne, he has one of the worst tempers amongst Blyton’s fathers. He works from home as a scientist and during school holidays is often found stomping, roaring and slamming doors as the slightest sound sets him off. He’s also very absent-minded and often fails to see what’s right in front of him.

He’s not all bad, though, he genuinely cares for his wife and daughter and can be very kind too.

Above L-R
Quentin gets angry at a table being overturned with a crash (Five on a Treasure Island)
and again at a box being thrown from a window (also Five on a Treasure Island)
almost falling over Timmy (Five Get Into Trouble)
and falling over the children (Five Go to Billycock Hill)

Richard Lynton (The Barney Mysteries)

While Quentin’s temper is short and sharp, Mr Lynton (father of Dinah and Roger, and uncle to Snubby) seems to have a constant simmering rage going. The children are only home for school holidays, and yet he is heard asking how long do these holidays last? By the second day of the holidays in the Rilloby Fair Mystery he has been impatient, irritable, snappy and has stormed out of the room by breakfast time.

He has no patience for children’s noise and games, even though he must be out at work a lot of the time. Dinah calls him mouldy on at least one occasion, and while Snubby is terribly annoying, Mr Lynton’s grumpy, moaning face is probably worse as he is a grown-up and should cope better. He does redeem himself slightly when he warmly welcomes Barney into his house.

THE BOLD ADVENTURERS

Bill Cunningham aka Bill Smugs (The Adventure Series)

When we first meet Bill, he’s not actually a father. He’s a secret agent who befriends the Mannering and Trent children as part of his cover. He becomes an honorary father-figure to them, Philip and Dinah having lost their father and Jack and Lucy-Ann having lost both parents. He drops by to visit them when they are on holiday, he takes them off on holidays (which turn into adventures) too. He is interested in their interests and well-being and handles their squabbles easily. By the end of the series he becomes their father for real, when he marries Mrs Mannering/Aunt Allie.

bill in castle of adventure

Captain Arnold (The Secret Series)

Captain Arnold is an odd one. On the surface he seems like a good type of father to have. He’s clever, kind and sensible about raising children who stand on their own two feet. He and his wife take in Jack, who has no family of his own, after he helps the Arnold children, Nora, Mike and Peggy, escape from their abusive aunt and uncle. Unfortunately though being a pioneering aviator he’s rather too likely to disappear in a place crash, in fact it happens twice within a five book series. Having entirely misjudged the children’s guardians in the first book it turned into a doubly horrendous situation for his children. At least he left them with a decent adult the second time, but it seems foolish to abandon your children twice! The children end up going to rescue him the second time, and it’s his smarts that helps them all escape, but it was his bravado and foolishness that got them into that situation.

THE WORK DRIVEN

Mr Longfield and Mr Longfield (The Six Cousins)

Peter Longfield is a farmer with three children, Jack, Jane and Susan. David, his brother, also has three children, Cyril, Melisande and Roderick, but he works in the city. Peter has raised adventurous out-doorsy children who are mostly likeable, though they can been untidy, impetuous and taciturn. David, not helped by his weak and over-dramatic wife has raised somewhat spoiled, vain children. David’s neat city life is ruined when his uninsured house burns down, and needing to support his family he buys a farm near his brother’s. He works very hard (as does Peter), and recognises that his children have improved from their time at their uncle’s farm, becoming more down-to-earth and sensible.

Mr Rivers (Malory Towers)

Mr Rivers has two daughters, Darrell and Felicity. While he can be exasperated by waiting in the car for them (and his wife) to finally be ready to leave, he is far more genial and good-tempered than, say, Mr Lynton. He works very hard as he is a surgeon, and probably isn’t home an awful lot but he seems to have a very good relationship with his daughters. He strikes me as a firm, sensible father, but also one who values his family and enjoys spending time with them.

Mr Brown (Mr Galliano’s Circus)

Mr Brown has an unusual job – he is a handyman for a circus. Known as Brownie to the circus folk he runs around fixing benches, building cages and whatever else needs done. He has lost his more regular job at the start of the first book so when the circus job comes up he and his family give up their plain little house and move into a caravan to travel with the circus. Although being the ‘man of the house’ and the breadwinner, and a 1950s man to boot, he consults with his wife and their son Jimmy, and they are happy to go with him.

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