My third Noddy Book: Noddy and His Car

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Fiona

Serendipitously, my third Noddy book is actually the third book of the series; Noddy and His Car. (My first Noddy book was #2 and my second was #8.)

A BARGAIN BUY

As I mentioned in a recent Monday post, I found a paperback of Noddy and His Car in a charity shop in Inverness, Save the Children to be precise, for the princely sum of 25p. I don’t normally buy reprints but at that price I decided to. I think it’s a great bargain when you see it cost 35p when new!

It’s undated, and curiously isn’t listed in the cave of books. I’m not going to make a fool of myself and guess a date for it, I really have no idea when a book would have cost 35p.

Anyway, it’s got the same cover illustration as the hardback and also the full colour endpapers, and it’s fully illustrated inside with the original Beek drawings. As far as I can tell, then, it’s identical to the original hardback except for its format.

THE STORY

This story picks up not long after the last one finished, though you needn’t have read the previous one as the events are neatly summed up in a short conversation between Noddy and the milkman. He’s not had his little car long at all, and so we join him at the start of him becoming the little man with the red-and-yellow car, as the TV series song goes.

Unfortunately things don’t go very well for Noddy. His passengers have back luck, one loses a tail and another a hat and then the next her bag – and despite it not being Noddy’s fault they demand he pays them sixpence each. This shows the text hasn’t been updated at least as Mrs Tubby Bear explains to Noddy that two sixpences make a whole shilling.

Again it’s Big Ears to the rescue, as despite being a nice little toy, Noddy’s really not very bright. I wonder he’s able to live alone really!

In the end Noddy winds up with six sixpences (three whole shillings) after he finds and returns the items to their owners which is enough to be able to build a little garage for his car.

CAUTION: MORE GOLLIWOGS AND BED-SHARING!

I spotted a couple of potential controversies in the book, ones I’m sure someone somewhere will have complained about. Firstly, the first naughty toy to have misappropriated one of the lost items is a golliwog and it’s said of him what a BAD golliwog to find someone’s new hat and wear it. The other equally naughty toys are a mouse and a doll, so really I see nothing wrong there but to others it’s probably fodder for the Enid Blyton was a racist campaign.

And secondly, at the end Big Ears says I’ll spend the night with you. Ooh-er. That must be an inappropriate come-on and not an innocent sleepover.

[Much sarcasm and tongue-in-cheekness applies to the last two paragraphs.]

So yes, another nice little story about the little nodding man who I’m growing rather fond of. I will have to look out for more Noddy books when I’m out book shopping! I have seen a fair few hardback (90s-200os) reprints of late but I believe they’ve been chopped at by the editors and are therefore a waste of a few quid.

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The Marsh of Adventure by Poppy, chapter 16

Posted on April 23, 2014 by worldofblyton

Chapter sixteen:

Look out

The children soon settled down round the fire with the board game; Monopoly, and the great big tin of toffee. It had not yet been cut into pieces, except the pieces the children had already eaten, and it was one long, thick slab. Jack cut into it with a sharp knife and separated it into large pieces. The children had purposely lit the fire beside the girls’ tent that night, so then, as they were snuggled up in the bush, there would be a little bit of warmth coming from the fire.

The children had a cosy night round the fire. They didn’t stay up very long, for they were all tired after their walk up and down the hill. Everyone said goodnight to Dinah, who wrapped a rug around herself and crept cautiously into the bush. All but Dinah retired to bed. She had a bar of chocolate or two in her pocket and planned to nibble them so that they would last her the whole two hours.

She shivered slightly in the cold night, and pulled the rug around herself tighter. Kiki watched her for a while from her usual perch, and then, bored, put her head in her wing and fell asleep. Suddenly, there came a noise. Dinah stiffened. Then, a small hedgehog crawled by, hardly relieving Dinah, who let out the loudest scream you ever heard! The others rushed out their tents, immediately, expecting to see a party of large, burly men standing over the tents, but no, all they saw was a harmless little hedgehog scuttle under a bush, a little way ahead.

Everyone laughed, as they saw Dinah’s scared face peering out the bush. None of them had been asleep and had been slightly puzzled at Dinah’s early exclamation. They crept back into their tents and Dinah sat back in her place. Nothing much happened on Dinah’s watch, except a few bats flew by, making the girl jump tremendously.

A few owls hooted in the silence, and Dinah wondered if that could possibly be the enemies secret signal to each other, but shook her head and dismissed the idea when two large owls flew by. She very nearly fell asleep and hurriedly began nibbling her second bar of chocolate, to try and keep herself awake. She was relieved when ten o’clock came and she could gently wake Philip, whisper a few words to him and then crawl safely into the tent.

Philip crawled out his and into the watch place, where Dina had sat for the last two hours. He looked around the camp, which was clearly lit by the flare of the camp fire, throwing flames about wildly. Dormy the mouse was restless and crawled out of Philip’s sleeve, wondering where they were. Philip tickled him and gave him a tomato. His bad leg was healing nicely now, and soon Philip would let him go free. Dormy nibbled at the tomato softly, making a funny grating sound in the quietness of the night.

Philip watched and watched, but nothing came of it. There wasn’t a noise, nor a movement. It was Lucy-Ann’s turn next. The others lay asleep, snuggled up in the warmth of their sleeping bags. Poor Lucy-Ann shivered softly. She was very nervous about her watch, and hoped, unlike the others, that she would not see or hear a thing. But very soon, she did hear something. It sounded like the owls, at first, hooting comfortingly to their babies, but then, as it came closer, Lucy-Ann realised, it was not the nest of owls she imagined, it was a group of men, talking in low voices. Lucy-Ann’s little heart began to beat faster and faster, and at last, she crawled out of her place and shook the boys tent gently.

“Who’s there?” came Jack’s voice. Kiki came sailing out the tent and landed neatly on Lucy-Ann’s shoulder. “It’s me, Lucy-Ann” said the girl desperately, “Jack, the enemies are here, and I’m too scared,” she said, crawling into the boys’ tent.

Continue reading →

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Bank Holiday Monday

Posted on April 21, 2014 by pippastef

Happy Easter to one and all for yesterday, and today is a bank holiday. Usual British weather seemingly dictates that it shall rain. Is it raining where you are?

This week we have more smashing blogs for you, Poppy’s next chapter of the Marsh of Adventure. Fiona isn’t sure what she’s doing this week but it might be a review of the Noddy paperback she bought recently.

I don’t know what I shall be blogging about. It might be the next chapter of The Missing Papers, as we’re getting so near the end.  If not, I hope it won’t disappoint.

To celebrate Easter, here is one of Blyton’s own Easter poems from the Enid Blyton Poetry Book.

A Happy Easter

A happy Easter, birds and bees,
A happy Easter, laughing trees,
Happy Easter, daffodils,
Whose golden cups the sunshine fills.
A happy Easter, lambkins white,
And little rabbits, skipping light,
A happy Easter, skylark gay,
And cuckoo speeding on your way,
A happy Easter, one and all,
Whether you are big or small,
Little snail or mighty tree,
A happy Eastertide from me!

And with that, I shall leave you with some of my random pictures!

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Making Blyton’s Food: Jammy buns

Posted on April 20, 2014 by pippastef

After one of Fiona’s marvelous re-blogs about jammy buns, I knew I had to have a go. I have the same book that Helen at Novelicious has, Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer by Jane Brocket, as you know so I decided to give it a bash!

Ingredients 

(To make 18 buns)

  • 15g or 1 dessert spoon dried yeast
  • 1 teaspoon of runny honey or caster sugar
  • 430 ml of milk
  • 680g of strong white flour
  • 15g sea salt
  • 110 g butter
  • Oil for greasing
  • Icing sugar, for  dusting
  • Strawberry or raspberry jam for filling
  • Whipped cream for filling (optional)

Method

  1. Measure the milk and honey or sugar into a saucepan and heat until the mixture is lukewarm.
  2. Add the sugar and yeast.
  3. Let the mix sit, and see if the yeast starts to froth or bubble: if this doesn’t occur, the yeast is not alive and you need to start again.
  4. Sift flower and salt into a mixing bowl, add butter and mix into breadcrumbs.
  5. Pour milk mixture over it and mix. It will be slightly sticky.
  6. Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead for 5 – 10 minutes. It’ll become smooth.
  7. Turn back into the bowl and cover the bowl in clingfilm. Place somewhere warm and leave for one hour. It should double in size.
  8. Knock the dough back to deflate and pull pieces, it should make about eighteen.
  9. Roll into balls and place on a greased baking sheet, well apart from each other.
  10. Cover again with clingfilm (only loosely) and allow to rise again for about 15 minutes.
  11. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees or 180 fan.
  12. Scatter some flour over the buns then place in oven for 10-15 minutes.
  13. Allow to cool slightly then serve with lashings of your preferred choice of jam, and a dollop of smashing whipped cream if you want.
  14. Enjoy!

So after all that, what else could I do but share them around? First of all, my parents tasted them and gave them the thumbs up. When I shared them at work, they were gobbled up happily, though it was remarked they were more like sweet bread rolls rather than cakes. However these buns are a tasty treat for a nice afternoon tea.

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First Term at Malory Towers – How has Blyton’s original text fared in a modern edition? part 2

Posted on April 18, 2014 by Fiona

So, continuing with comparing an early edition (1948) to a more recent paperback (2000). You can see my comments on the first two chapters here.

2000 Mammoth edition
First Term at Malory Towers dustjacket by Stanley Lloyd 1946

CHAPTER THREE: FIRST NIGHT AND MORNING

The first change in chapter three is that the girls’ eiderdowns become quilts, possibly a more modern term, but eiderdown is probably not so antiquated that it can’t be used now.

Alicia’s threat of spanking Gwendoline becomes shall I throw away her brush? And shortly after that it’s said she had no intention of doing any such thing, instead of the original line of spanking Gwendoline. Perhaps they thought repeating throw(ing) away her brush was unnecessary? In both versions Gwendoline squeals and practically leaps into bed, a slight over-reaction if Alicia’s just threatening to bin a hairbrush really.

Talking of leaping, Darrell originally leapt into bed, now it reads that she leaped into bed. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with leapt, in fact if I’m talking I would say leapt (lep-t) not leaped (lee-pd). Nightie also becomes nighty again.

One change I like is they’ve made her brown orange belt into her brown-orange belt. With a hyphen it implies a browny/orangy, somewhere-in-between colour. Without it sounds like a contradiction.

I also prefer the word prayers without a capital p. For some reason Blyton has the girls do things like attend Prayers in the mornings, (not actual wording), which to me is unnecessary capitalisation. She also capitalises a lot of nicknames given to the girls like Old Thing etc, something I’m not sure about really, but those are also capitalised in the paperback anyway.

The last changes are minor, and in-keeping with previous chapters, some full stops are removed after abbreviations such as san (sanitorium) and exams (examinations.)

CHAPTER FOUR: MISS POTTS’ FORM

One thing I would have almost liked to be changed is the S at the end of Potts’s. Potts’ would be so much neater! Anyway.

Very little is altered here. Mam’zelle Dupont wears pince-nez glasses, and the wording isn’t changed, though in the paperback it is italicized for some reason.

A couple of phrases are de-hyphenated, easy-going and hymn-book, and the capital from prayers continues to be removed, and the full stop after exams also. (Though at the very start of the chapter Blyton doesn’t capitalise one instance of prayers anyway.)

CHAPTER FIVE: THE FIRST WEEK GOES BY

Blyton capitalises break (as in at Break the girls went outside – not actual wording), which I think is unnecessary and that’s missed out in the paperback. As is the full stop after maths (mathematics) which is in-keeping with the other chapters, along with lab and gym. Prayers also continues to lose its capital.

More hyphens are lost, in singing-lesson and boot-cupboard.

Queer (a word which seems to be used a lot less than in the Famous Five books so far) is altered to odd.

I should want to slap her becomes shake her, which is a little surprising to me. Shaking still suggested a level of violence, I thought it would become something like snap at her.

The other difference is that in the original, the characters’ internal thoughts are put in single quotation marks (the same as speech is). This is slightly confusing as sometimes you read something and are surprised a character would say such a thing, then you read thought Darrell at the end and it makes sense. In the paperback, thoughts have no speech marks at all, making them a part of the narrative which is potentially worse in my opinion.

That’s all the textual changes, adding eighteen to the thirteen already noted. I’m going to try hard to only count the first time a change is made – ie if nighty becomes nightie every time I won’t count it with each change, though I may make comment on whether an alteration like that is consistent though the book.

I know this series is meant to the about the text but I can’t help but pass comment on the other big change – the illustrations.

Often paperback titles have less illustrations than their original hardbacks did, but so far this isn’t really the case. There is only one illustration in the first five chapters in both of these copies, though unusually they are of different scenes (when comparing, say Betty Maxey and Eileen Soper [Famous Five) or Rene Cloke and Sylvia I Venus (Amelia Jane), often it is the same scene illustrated.

Anyway. Stanley Lloyd drew the scene in Miss Grayling’s study, when she gives her little speech. Jenny Chapple instead illustrated Darrell and Sally by the tree outside as Darrell is trying to make conversation.

I like both just fine, they’re both good illustrations. I probably prefer Chapple’s though as I had mostly hers growing up. She doesn’t attempt to modernise the illustrations, the uniforms and hair are still in-keeping with the time they come from. Lloyd’s are perhaps a little more period-looking with their details but I think Chapple captures Sally’s closed face brilliantly.

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Making Blyton’s Food: Homemade Toffee from The O’Sullivan Twins of Enid Blyton’s St. Clare’s by Helen at Novelicious

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Fiona

I’ve found another smashing recipe on the Novelicious blog

There is something very special about making a food from one of your childhood favourite books. When I made jammy buns from Malory Towers, I was incredibly excited as finally, something I’d read about and wondered about for years (just what were jammy buns exactly?), was coming to life. And I could taste it! The very treat enjoyed by Darrell, Sally and Alicia – the characters I’d grown up with – during one of their many match teas. Oh, it was such a great day.

Perhaps it is little surprise, therefore, that I’ve found another childhood favourite this week. Another Enid Blyton story with yet another boarding school (they did tend to eat delicious food at boarding school, no wonder we all wanted to go ourselves).

Photo credit: jazzijava / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

Photo credit: jazzijava / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

So head on over to Novelicious using the link above and read the rest of it, and maybe have a go at making your own toffee?

the-o-sullivan-twins-1

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Monday

Posted on April 14, 2014 by Fiona

So it’s back to the real world for me today, the April holidays are officially over.

Unsurprisingly, I did some book buying while I was away! Only one Blyton though, a paperback Noddy which cost me all of 25p. I did get some other children’s books though, mostly vintage, to add to my growing collection.

The School at the Chalet – Elinor M. Brent-Dyer, The Mystery of the Midnight Ghost – Helen Moss, A Mystery for Ninepence – Phyllis Gegan, The School on the Moor – Angela Brazil and Noddy and his Car – Enid Blyton.

I’ve never read any Brent-Dyers or Angela Brazils but those names pop up a fair bit amongst Enid Blyton fans so I thought I’d give them a go when I spotted these books for £7 each.

I couldn’t resist A Mystery for Ninepence as the dustjacket looked so good, I’ve got a few more titles from the Collins Seagull Library (which did a fair few Blytons too) and this one was only £3.

The Mystery of the Midnight Ghost is the third book in the Adventure Island series, I have the second title too but I’m lacking the first which Stef reviewed for the blog a while back.

And of course, then there’s Noddy who I couldn’t resist despite not normally buying paperback reprints. For 25p though, it was just too much of  a bargain to leave behind.

I also saw this brilliant selection of Blyton’s in Fort William, though I didn’t buy any as they’re mostly reprints and I have most of them anyway.

DSCN4372

Anyway, I’ve rambled on too long already I think, so on to what’s coming up on the blog this week.

Wednesday I plan to find something good on the web to reblog for you, Friday I will be posting my next Malory Towers blog comparing an old and new edition and then on Sunday, Stef is hoping to finally get her jammy bun blog up (third time is the charm after all!)

And as usual, some photos. Quite a lot of photos really, as I took an awful lot while I was away!

Sheep, Spean Bridge
Glenfinnan Viaduct
Hooded crow, Spean Bridge
Old viaduct pillar, Spean Bridge
Oyster Catcher, Fort William
Glow in the dark rocks, Treasures of the Earth, Corpach
Lionfish, Scottish Sealife Sanctuary, Oban
Fungi, Spean Bridge
Purple Quartz, Treasures of the Earth, Corpach
Bismuth under a magnifying glass, Treasures of the Earth, Corpach
The commando monument, Spean Bridge
Glenfinnan viaduct
Zebra moray eels, Scottish Sealife Sanctuary, Oban
Loch Shiel
Glenfinnan Viaduct
Leopard moray eel, Scottish Sealife Sanctuary, Oban
Atlantic wolffish, Scottish Sealife Sanctuary, Oban
Glenfinnan viaduct
Baby seahorses, Scottish Sealife Sanctuary, Oban
Inverlochy Castle, Fort William
Seahorses, Scottish Sealife Sanctuary, Oban
Waterfall, Glen Nevis
Otter, Scottish Sealife Sanctuary, Oban
Inverlochy Castle, Fort William
Otter, Scottish Sealife Sanctuary, Oban
Lampost and lights, Ness Islands, Inverness
Otter, Scottish Sealife Sanctuary, Oban
Seal, Scottish Sealife Sanctuary, Oban
The Nevis Range from Spean Bridge
Inverness Castle
Dipper, Inverness
Jellyfish, Scottish Sealife Sanctuary, Oban
Lower Steall Falls, Glen Nevis
Daffodils, Inverness
Waterfall, Glen Nevis
Laggan Dam
Steall Waterfall, Glen Nevis
Stepping stones, Glen Nevis
Chaffinch on a rope bridge, Glen Nevis
Rainbow in a valley, Creag Meagaidh
Lower Steall Falls, Glen Nevis
Boats on the Caledonian Canal
Lower Steall Falls, Glen Nevis
Steall Waterfall, Glen Nevis
Laggan Dam
Rainbow, Creag Meagaidh
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The Missing Papers: A St Andrews Adventure, chapter 18

Posted on April 13, 2014 by pippastef

Chapter 18

Sally let Julian walk her back to the entrance of her halls. She stood on the step in front of the door and looked at him. She smiled wanly.

“I would ask you up for a cup of tea or cocoa but Darrell’s probably hard at work and we would probably just disturb her,” she said carefully.

“It’s all right,” Julian said with a smile. “I should hate to interrupt Darrell while she’s working. I should probably go and do some prep anyway.”

He handed Sally her jacket back, and gave her hand a squeeze when she reached for it. Sally shrugged off Julian’s jacket and passed it back to him.

“Thank you for the loan, it really did keep me nice and toasty warm,” she said softly. She pulled her own coat back on and smiled at him again.

“As long as it kept you warm,” Julian said with a smile. He pulled his coat back on and leant forward to give her a kiss on the cheek.

“See you tomorrow, after lectures?” he asked her.

“Of course,” Sally said, resting a hand on his shoulder as she gave him a kiss on the cheek back. “How about we all meet in café about one?”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Julian said softly. He gave her shoulder a squeeze before heading back the way he had come. He raised his arm a little way down the street to wave back at Sally.

Sally waited until he was out of site before she moved away from the door to her halls and headed down the other pathway to the main town.

Continue reading →

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My second Noddy book: Noddy Gets Into Trouble

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Fiona

My first Noddy book was the second in the series (Hurrah for Little Noddy), and my second Noddy book is Noddy Gets Into Trouble, the eighth book. That’s what I get for buying a random pair from eBay because they were cheap.

The dustjacket for Noddy Gets Into Trouble is in better condition than the one on Hurrah for Little Noddy, it’s all in one piece though it has a couple of tears and looks a bit more grey than green. It’s not a first edition, I’ve compared the inner flaps of he dustjacket to those in the cave, but it’s from the original series which is fine by me.

The dustjacket

The dustjacket

 

The cover reads All aboard for Toyland, in the trains steam trail, as opposed to Pictures by Beek. This is because Beek had passed away by 1953, the year before this title was published. Mary Brooks illustrated this one, so it will be interesting for me to compare the pictures.

Comparing the covers I can see a bit of a difference. Brooks’ are a touch more cartoony and have slightly heavier outlines but both illustrators are good. Brooks keeps all the characters instantly recognisable and the difference doesn’t look so extreme that you couldn’t believe it was the same illustrator whose style had evolved.

THE STORY

It starts with Noddy waking up certain he’s going to have a very good day. His egg doesn’t taste good at breakfast though, and his car has a flat tyre, then worst of all Mr Plod accuses him of stealing food from Miss Fluffy Cat who heard a jingling noise in the night.

His day turns into a very bad one then, as Miss Fluffy Cat has told everyone he is a thief and nobody will talk to him or ride in his car. That night there’s another theft and Noddy finds Mr Plod standing accusingly on his doorstep again.

Noddy starts feeling terribly sad and unloved, which is even worse when he goes to see Big-Ears and discovers he has gone off to look after his brother Little-Ears who is ill. He gets a bit selfish then, saying ‘bother Little-Ears! Why did he get ill just when I wanted Big-Ears?” but he’s so ostracised by this point you just have to feel sorry for him.

All’s not lost though, as Tessie Bear is visiting her aunt who happens to be out and she stumbled across Noddy in tears and turns out to be a very good friend to him indeed.

She has the marvellous idea of how to find out who the real thief is, and so they embark on some pretty good detective work, the story turning into a very junior Two Find-Outers sort of tale.

I shan’t give the ending away but Noddy does get his happy day at last after the mystery is neatly solved in a brave midnight adventure.

I think I enjoyed this more than the first book actually, maybe because the mystery element was more prominent. I found Noddy mostly likeable in the story and it was a good little story, I can imagine children liking it a lot.

The book itself

The book itself

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The Rosewood Mystery by Cathy, chapter 6

Posted on April 9, 2014 by worldofblyton

A LOVELY DAY – AND SOMETHING STRANGE

The next few days at Rosewood were lovely. The four children lazed about, swam in the river every day, and went for nice long walks along the water. They also explored the forest behind the river. The trees were laden with rich glossy green leaves which cast a beautiful dim green light over the earthy paths that meandered between the old gnarled trunks. It was lovely and cool and quiet in the forest after the blazing heat of the July sun, and the children had a few picnics under the green canopy.

Miss Pepper accompanied them on a couple of their riverside walks, and she agreed that it was indeed a beautiful place. She even took her shoes off and paddled in the shallow water while the children swam.

“Miss Pepper’s good fun isn’t she?” grinned Snubby, watching her swish her feet in the water.

The lady that Miss Pepper knew who kept the horses was more than happy for the children to take them out riding. The children were all good at horse riding and took the horses out several times, sometimes round the lanes, sometimes along the river, where they stopped for lunch, and the horses waded into the river to drink and splash their feet.

Mr King was as good as his word and turned up outside the cottage a few days later. It was another glorious day and the children were sat on the lawn, having not long finished breakfast. Barney was doing a bit of weeding for Miss Pepper in a nearby flowerbed, Snubby was brushing Loony, who kept reaching round to try and grab the brush, and Diana and Roger were leaning back on their elbows on the grass, relaxing. Diana saw Mr King at the gate and shouted to him.

“Mr King! Hallo! Come on in!”

Continue reading →

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Monday Rainday

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Fiona

It looks like there’s a lot of rain in the UK today, which is a little depressing as the weather has been getting steadily nicer since all that rain over Christmas.

Anyway I hope that this week’s blogs will cheer everyone up no end. This week’s contributor’s post will be from Cathy with her Rosewood Mystery on Wednesday. Fiona has told me, that despite her being on holiday this week, she will be treating us to another Noddy review.

I will be treating you to the jammy buns blog I promised you this week, but never managed to write.

So I hope that will whet your appetites for this week and I hope you enjoy my pictures  from my visit to Brentwood a few weeks ago.

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The Missing Papers: A St Andrews Adventure, chapter 17

Posted on April 6, 2014 by pippastef

If you need to refresh your memory as to what has been going on in St Andrews, click here.

For those of you who don’t need a refresh, here is chapter seventeen.

Chapter 17

Julian sat on the beach, on the same rock that he and Sally had sat on a few weeks ago when they had all been exploring the rocks on the beach, the same rock that they had observed one of the strange exchanges between Thomas Ainsworth and Anthony Pilkington. He had just come out of an appointment with the university’s sister who had removed his shoulder strap. She had warned him not to do anything strenuous otherwise he would injure his shoulder even more. Julian had frowned at her for that. He frowned now as he realised that if he and his friends were right, that it was possible that Ainsworth had been trying to get information of the paper’s whereabouts from Pilkington. It was safe to say that the missing papers were playing heavily on Julian’s mind. He had never taken so long to solve a mystery before and the time it was taking him to track down the papers was worrying him. However that wasn’t all that was on his mind.

Julian hadn’t had much contact with women while he had been at school apart from his sister and his cousin, and they did seem a bit alien to him. Julian was learning however that some seemed more sensible than others; Darrell and Sally were two of the girls that Julian had met who seemed incredibly sensible.

There was just one problem however; Sally was beginning to mean more to him than he would have ever imagined. If Julian had mentioned these feelings to anyone, the word they would have used to describe his situation would have been smitten. He was completely smitten with this blonde woman who seemed to alternate between treating him as some silly school boy and then seemed quite interested in impressing him and asking his opinions. He found it thoroughly confusing.

Julian frowned at his thoughts, wishing that there was some way he could sort them out like his previous adventures; methodically, with a clear answer at the end that left him in no doubt what the right answer was, like everything falling into place like a jigsaw puzzle. Julian was beginning to realise that women, and indeed life, was not like that. He had no idea that the object of his thoughts was walking along the beach behind him and had spotted him.

Sally stood where she was for a moment, having a fight with herself in going over and joining Julian on the rock. She was confused enough as it was by her feelings for Julian and she had no idea whether to approach him now.  She was beginning to wish that she had put on her thicker jacket as the clouds sculled across the sky bringing with them a strong cold breeze from the sea.

After a moment of internal conflict Sally decided to join Julian on the rock, and started to walk over. She could feel her heart race and there were butterflies in her stomach. She scrambled over the seaweed covered rocks towards the tall rock that Julian was sitting on. She took a deep steadying breathe as she walked around so she was standing in front of him, before calling up to him, above the roar of the waves;

“Ahoy up there!”

Her smile was as natural as she could make it. She had to cup her hands around her mouth to make sure he heard her.

“Permission to come aboard, Skipper?” she added teasingly to Julian.

Julian jerked out of his thoughts at Sally’s shout and looked down at her on the sand between the huge boulders on the beach. He smiled brightly down at her.

“Of course you can come aboard!” he called back with a grin. “Do you need any help?” he added, making to get up to help her.

“No! I should be all right,” Sally called up to him, the wind whipping her hair over her face. “I’ll just make my way around! Be there in a moment!”

She moved out of Julian’s sight, around the back of the rock he was sitting on and scrambled up, using handy nooks in the stone as foot holes and handholds.

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First Term at Malory Towers – How has Blyton’s original text fared in a modern edition?

Posted on April 4, 2014 by Fiona

I thought my series on Five on a Treasure Island was quite a success, at least it generated a fair few comments and a bit of discussion so I was keen to do another comparison of original and modern editions. I thought we’d take a break from the Famous Five, and Stef has been kind enough to send me a copy of the first Malory Towers book, so that was the obvious choice!

DSCN4228

I will be comparing the third impression from 1948 (first published 1946), published by Methuen and illustrated by Stanley Lloyd with a 2000 paperback by Egmont.Oddly this exact edition doesn’t appear in the cave, there is a 2000 Mammoth edition with the same cover in a different colour and I know Mammoth and Egmont are somehow connected (one is the imprint of the other?) so I believe the illustrator should be the same, and that is Jenny Chapple.

2000 Mammoth edition

It would have been much easier if the poor illustrator had been credited somewhere in the book of course. I’m quite fond of Jenny Chapple’s work as her illustrations appeared in the Dragon editions I had as a child – in fact, I may prefer them to Stanley Lloyd’s but I’m starting to ramble. Let’s get on!

Before I get into a chapter by chapter comparison of the text I wanted to point out the paperback lacks the lovely end paper illustrations of the school and the map which is a shame, though of course paperbacks don’t tend to have endpapers. Also missing is the illustration of the girls arriving at the school which appears before the title page.

One final alteration is the change from Roman numerals for each chapter to plain old numbers.

CHAPTER ONE: OFF TO BOARDING SCHOOL

I had been discussing various editions with Stef and she’d warned me this one, being fourteen years old already, might not have as many alterations as a more recent one. I was faintly worried, I admit. Then I noticed the very first line was altered and, well, let’s just say there’s enough for me to be getting on with.

Darrell Rivers looked at herself in the glass, is how the first line used to read. Now it reads that she looked at herself in the mirror. I look forward to reading Through the Mirror by Lewis Carroll next.

Originally she packs her nighty, this is changed to nightie. To be fair I spell it with an ie as well, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the y spelling, it’s certainly not going to bamboozle the reader (even if my spell checker doesn’t like it.)

In 1946 Darrell was given a ten shilling note which her mother warns her is to last the whole term as nobody is allowed more pocket money than that. In 2000 she gets a five pound note.

I was thirteen in 2000, while Darrell is twelve at the time she starts school. I got about £5 a week in pocket money then. £5 to last a term just seems silly. That’s about 50p a week, assuming there’s only ten weeks to the term. That’s roughly enough for one chocolate bar a week and not much else.

A shilling in modern money is worth about 50p, so on the surface that seems logical. Only, it’s not. Because ten shillings would have bought you a lot more in the forties and even in the fifties and sixties than five pounds would get you in the noughties.

According to MeasuringWorth.com, ten shillings in 1946 would be worth between £12.32 and £48.87 depending on which variables you are calculating it on. I think £20 would probably have been a more sensible amount to update it to.

Unsurprisingly the word gay has been removed and the girls’ gay voices become happy ones instead.

The last couple of changes in this chapter are pretty minor. Platform 7 is changed to platform seven, full stop after hols (denoting it is short for holidays) has been removed. The stop after Mrs remains though, something you don’t see so often now, but I noticed it is missing in at least one mention of Mrs Rivers’ name.

CHAPTER TWO: MALORY TOWERS

In chapter two motor coaches have been modernised to plain old coaches, presumably as there are no other sort of coaches these day the word motor becomes redundant.

The girls are no longer gay and chattery, they are just chattery (which isn’t even a word according to my spell checker.)

Something I’m sure is simply an error is the line except poor Darrell, regarding how everyone but her seems to know where to go when arriving at the school, becomes expect poor Darrell.

Some more full stops have been removed, after the gyms, and the labs in Alicia’s speech, and an apostrophe has been added to make five minutes time into five minutes’ time. I’ve already discussed this in the Famous Five series, my humble opinion being that I prefer it without the apostrophe but apparently I’m just wrong on that so I shan’t say any more!

And finally, Matron gets a fashion update. Instead of her hair being neatly tucked under a pretty cap, tied in a bow under her chin, her cap is now tied in a bow at the back. 

Surely the idea of a matron wearing a cap at all is quite out-dated and old fashioned, regardless of where she ties her bow?

So that’s the first two chapters, and round thirteen changes in all.

There are 22 chapters in the book, so I’m hoping to get through more than two chapters a post so I’m not doing this for the next twenty weeks! But by the time I introduced and went on about monetary changes I’ve not the space for a third chapter this time around.

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The Marsh of Adventure by Poppy, chapter 15

Posted on April 2, 2014 by worldofblyton

Chapter fifteen:

Deeper into the adventure

The children were soon on their way back to camp, the boys carrying two large baskets of food. They were extremely heavy and they began to wish they had asked an adult to come and help them carry them up.

“So, how about that, then?” Jack said once they were out of ear shot of the inn. “Ferton and Kennedy were the ones who got kidnapped, not the kidnappers… When they went past I was sure I saw Mr Ferton’s face, and I assumed that he was the kidnapper, not being kidnapped himself!”

“So, if he’s not the enemy, who is?” asked Lucy-Ann feeling a tremble of fear. “And why did they want us away from Lowfell Hill if they are not the enemies?”

“I don’t know,” said Philip, thoughtfully, “but we’re jolly well going to find out.”

“This is getting stranger and stranger,” Dinah said, “we’re in the middle of another adventure, again, aren’t we?” The others nodded and began talking things over and over.

The children were soon walking steadily up the hill, stopping continually for the boys to have a rest. It got to tea time and the girls suggested having tea next time they rested. So the girls began preparing a meal of meat paste sandwiches, ripe plums, fruit cake and biscuits. “Lucy-Ann, you run over to the stream and fill this jug with water. I don’t know about everyone else, but I just couldn’t drink ginger beer in this heat,” Dinah ordered.

Lucy-Ann did as she was told and ran over to the stream that had now swung round in the direction the children were walking. The others were sat under the trees in the shade. Lucy-Ann dipped her hand into the water as it rushed by and they pulled the jug through the water catching the beautiful crystal clear liquid. It soon filled the jug and she began to run back over to the others. On her way, her foot caught in a hole, in the ground and she tripped over, the jug was tossed up in the air, emptying the contents, and thudded on the ground. Poor Lucy-Ann began to cry bitterly and the others ran over to her. “Poor old Lucy-Ann,” Jack comforted his little sister, examining her hands and knees. She had scraped them a little bit but there was no blood.

“Come and bathe your hands and knees in the stream, Lucy-Ann, and the boys will block up the hole you fell through. No doubt it’s an old un-used rabbit hole,” Dinah said, helping Lucy-Ann up. She led her to the stream where Dinah wet her handkerchief and dabbed Lucy-Ann’s sore hands and knees.

The boys began looking for the hole. They soon found it a little way from the stream, quite big. It was big enough for a small dog to fit down. It was already stuffed with bits of heather and bracken. The boys pulled it all out and peered down the hole. “Why, it looks like this is the beginning a small passage.” Jack exclaimed. “Though it hasn’t been used for a while, for lots of dirt had gathered round the edges making the hole smaller.”

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Last Monday in March

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Fiona

March is almost over, which means we lost an hour of sleep at the weekend and that spring is finally here (supposedly).

For me it also means I’ve got two weeks holiday!

This week, if the post is agreeable, I am hoping to start a new comparison blog, this time looking at the first Malory Towers book which Stef is kindly sending me. I did scour the charity shops in Perth on Saturday (all dozen or so of them but I couldn’t find a single Blyton book of any kind!)

Stef is planning to have a go at making her own jammy buns, inspired by my impromptu panic-post on Wednesday.

And as billed last week, Poppy’s fanfic will go up this week instead. (Feel free to send my reminders by any method you can come up with on Tuesday night so I don’t forget again!)

And to finish, as aways, some photos! (The Perth ones were taken on Saturday, in not very spring-like conditions, I was wearing gloves!)

Pussy willow
Looking downriver in Perth
Pink flowers, Bridgefoot
Mallard, Rodney Gardens, Perth
Half a frame, Rodney Gardens, Perth
Blossom, Rodney Gardens, Perth
Rail bridge in Perth
Gorse, Bridgefoot
Old bridge seen under the new one in Perth
Pink flowers, Rodney Gardens, Perth
Starling Rodney Gardens, Perth
Pheasant in a field
Rail bridge in Perth
Sheep and lambs
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Five Go to Smuggler’s Top: An exciting dramatised adventure

Posted on March 30, 2014 by Fiona

Last year when Stef and I went to Seven Stories I bought a CD of Five Go to Smuggler’s Top and Five Get Into a Fix. Well, I haven’t yet listened to either of them yet (I have a bad habit of buying things and never getting around to watching/reading/listening to them) but I was lacking ideas for a blog this week and Stef suggested the CD, so here we are. It’s a bit of an odd pairing as those are titles 4 and 17 in the series, but they’re two of my favourites so it works well for me.

There are two CDs, each lasting around an hour, though there’s no leaflet or much in the way of information in the case. I’d like to have know the names of the voice actors and details like that.

Five Go to Smuggler's Top and Five Get Into a Fix

Five Go to Smuggler’s Top and Five Get Into a Fix

I have a couple of the Daily Telegraph free audio CDs, so I recognised the music at the start of the story, and the narrator’s voice though like I said I can’t see anywhere on the box who he is. Actually, I had a cassette tape (showing my age here) when I was young of Five Go Off to Camp, and I think that might have had the same music and voice(s). My sister and I still do impressions of Jock’s very Scottish accent (being Scottish ourselves I suppose it’s not so much of an impression really,) when he says “aye, ah’m a ninny!”

Anyway. I’ve got my copy of Smugger’s Top beside me as I’m listening and it’s interesting to see how the text compares. The CD is only an hour long so naturally great chunks are missing, but much of the dialogue and some of the narrative is taken word from word from the book.

The dialogue is acted out by different voice actors, and it’s actually quite good. Though my favourite scene, the ash tree falling is cut down, so I didn’t hear my favourite lines:

“It’s the ash! It’s falling!” yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits…

“Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!” yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.

which I use as my signature on the Enid Blyton Society forums. Even if Julian had said his lines it wouldn’t have been the same as the narrator only speaks periodically, and the dialogue is generally delivered without any ‘he saids’ or anything.

There are plenty of sound effects though, so they give good clues as to what’s going on – doors opening, Timmy barking, footsteps down the hall. Also a good help is that the voice actors have reasonably distinct voices so you know who’s saying that for the most part.

Sooty’s voice is a little wooden at times, but it’s not too bad. And Block is rather good, he’s wooden as well but then again he’s supposed to be! Julian actually sounds quite like Marco Williamson but I’m fairly certain it’s not him! Incidentally, Mr Lenoir has a distinct French accent, as does Mrs Lenoir, which makes sense given their names though there’s no mention of it in the books.

I enjoyed listening to the dramatisation, it was the right length to listen to in one go without seeming like too much of the story was missing.

Just a little warning, from experience, if you’re listening on a computer just be aware it’s in seventeen chapters, so if you’ve got your player on shuffle you’ll have a very disjointed listening experience!

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The Twins at St Clare’s

Posted on March 28, 2014 by pippastef
Front cover 1967 Dragon editon of The Twins of St Clare's.

Front cover 1967 Dragon edition of The Twins of St Clare’s.

Now as you all know I am  a big Malory Towers  fan,  and I love the series quite dearly, but I have never read a St Clare’s book until now. I brought the 1967 Dragon paperback from the Barnardo’s Charity shop in St Andrews last October (or it may have been July – I forget which) when I was up in Scotland and staying with Fiona.  I already have several Dragon editions of the Malory Towers book, so knew that I was getting a good copy to read. Being aware that St Clare’s predates Malory Towers didn’t stop me being surprised when I noticed several plot points that appear as bigger, more developed stories in the Malory Towers books.

I suppose I should start with the characters first. The O’Sullivan twins are the first obvious characters to look at.  I must admit that I didn’t warm to the twins at all; personally they  didn’t grow on me.  They live up to their nick-name, the stuck-up twins, given to them when they arrive by the rest of their form. After their previous school, Red-Roofs, where the girls father feels they have been given too many airs and graces, St Clare’s is a down to earth school. The twins start the book by telling their parents that they won’t try at St Clare’s because they would rather go to Ringmere School with their friends Mary and Frances White.

Soon after they get to St Clare’s  the twins start getting into trouble; they don’t muck in with the rest of the class and the older girls and get put in their place time and time again. Even the head girl, Winifred James ticks them off for not doing their chores.

The girls then start to muck in a bit, after a word from Miss Theobold, the headmistress, and Winifred, and start to make some friends. However the girls don’t keep to the rules, disobeying another sixth former, Belinda Towers, by going into town when they have been told not to, just as Pat gets selected for the lacrosse team. In the end, she owns up to Belinda and for her honesty is allowed to play in the match.

Other people in the twins’ form include their head of dormitory Hilary, who tries to keep the twins in line, Joan who is the class comic – like Alicia in Malory Towers, Doris who is a bit like Irene and Kathleen who is a bit like Mary-Lou. Kathleen becomes a particular friend to the twins throughout the term, and in the end the three seems like firm friends, Pat even asking Kathleen for her address at the end of the term.

The teachers are interesting as well. Miss Theobold is more involved in the girls’ lives than Miss Grayling is in Malory Towers. The O’Sullivan twins’ form mistress, Miss Roberts, is a nice strong character, Miss Kennedy the history teacher comes in for a lot of tricks from the girls, but when the twins accidentally overhear some of Miss Kennedy’s problems they convince the rest of the forms to behave for her.

One teacher the twins really don’t like much, especially in the beginning, is their French mistress, Mam’zelle who gets nicknamed Mam’zelle Abominable by them because “abominable” is Mam’zelle’s favourite expression when something goes wrong. She forbids the twins to go to the cinema because they have written bad French essays and she wants them to do rewrites and bring them to her before bedtime. Pat gets upset by this and convinces Isabel that they should go to the cinema and then write their essays after bedtime. The twins do this, and when they go to hand their essays in, Mam’zelle is with Miss Theobold. After being told to go to bed by the headmistress, they worry about what will happen to them but Mam’zelle saves the day by offering to spend half an hour each day teaching the twins how to write properly in French. So she’s not all bad.

Back Cover of the 1967 Dragon edition, showing the key of the Dragon books.

Back Cover of the 1967 Dragon edition, showing the key of the Dragon books.

It’s a neat little story and according to the “key” on the back of the book, Blue Dragon is supposed to be “for young children.” So I am not surprised at the lightness of the story. The chapters are short and episodic, almost like they should have been published in Blyton’s magazines.

Overall, I can see the appeal of the books, but I’m afraid I wasn’t too overawed with St Clare’s. Maybe I’m too old for the books, or just too much of a Malory Towers fan to really enjoy the book. As with any of Blyton’s work, it is worth a read!

Next review: Summer Term at St Clare’s

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Feasting on Romantic Comedy – Simply Wizard Jammy Buns from Malory Towers by Helen at Novelicious

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Fiona

I know we promised the next chapter of Poppy’s fic for you today, but I had a Mr Twiddle moment last night and forgot to organise that. I’m blaming an impromptu day off yesterday which left me a bit lost as to where in the week we were. Anyway, I’ve only just realised my mistake and so I thought I’d better get something up quickly and I had this great article bookmarked for a future reblog, so here it is!

Originally posted on Novelicious

Who is for a game of lacrosse with a feast of jammy buns for match tea?

Before I ever enjoyed and salivated over the food described in a Freya North or a Jane Green novel, there was Enid Blyton. Her descriptions of simple and hearty food like a glistening pink ham would have me drooling as I read whilst tucking into a not-so-satisfying luncheon meat sandwich (luncheon meat was a big thing in the 1980s).

In the books, food would be piled high on tables that would also groan under the weight. So. Much. Food…

There’s more foody musings and a super recipe for those jammy buns in the post, taken from the same book Stef’s been using for her making Blyton’s food blogs.

Malory Towers Books

Poppy’s fanfic will appear next Wednesday, as long as Mrs Twiddle keeps me right!

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And We’re Back to Monday

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Fiona

Gosh its been a week already (since my birthday! – thank you all for your kind wishes!) and  the weather here in the UK seems to be getting colder not warmer, what a shame.

It wouldn’t have dared to do this in Blyton’s time!

So this week I may get chance to finish The Twins at St Clare’s and be able to review it for you, as I’m sure you’re all ready for a break from The Missing Papers, so fingers crossed, and you might have something new to read.

Our guest blogger this week, shall be Poppy with the Marsh of Adventure, another thrilling chapter awaits!

Now Fiona’s not sure what she’ll treat us with this week, I think we’ll just have to wait and see I’m afraid; but I know she’ll come up with a goodun.

Oh and don’t forget that if you have a Blyton blog you want to send us to put up, just click on the Want to Write for World of Blyton Page? and scroll down to find our email address!

So this week, I’ve taken lots of photos, but I shall share with you some of the pretty flowers I took when I was last at the garden centre. You could say I got a bit snap happy. Whoops! Anyway, enjoy!

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The Missing Papers: A St Andrews Adventure, chapter 16

Posted on March 23, 2014 by pippastef

Chapter 16

An hour later Julian and David walked out of their science lecture in near complete silence. It had not been a good lecture, Old Dotty was angry and muddled and Anthony had not turned up, leaving the boys worried that he had managed to get away from the university and get the papers somewhere safe after all the effort they had been putting in to find them. However they hit a stroke of luck because as they headed towards the exit, Anthony slipped through the door and headed up to their laboratory.

“So, he hasn’t left the country, at least,” David said, looking over his shoulder.

“No, but he’s had two hours where he could have done anything with those papers,” Julian said, grimly.

David shrugged and looked forward. “I don’t know, but I think we should try and find the girls and see if they have been able to come up with anything,” he said sensibly. “Did we say we would meet them anywhere?”

“No,” Julian said, shaking his head. “Although they’re probably in the cafe, so what do you say to dropping our bags off at our rooms and then heading over to find them?”

David agreed that this sounded like a good idea, and the boys headed off towards their halls. They said very little as they walked, occasionally mentioning the day’s experiment, but both too interested to know where Anthony had been to make much of a conversation of their lecture.

They were surprised to find Darrell and Sally sitting on the wall outside their halls, chatting quietly.

“Hello,” Julian said, walking over to them. “We didn’t expect to find you here.”

“We thought you would be in the nice warm cafe, or the library,” David finished Julian’s sentence.

“I suspect that in a less crazy mixed up world, we would have been waiting for you in the warm cafe,” Darrell said, slipping off of the wall and brushing down her skirt. “However we did decide to come and meet you after our little explorations on the coastal walk.” She smiled up at the boys as she finished speaking.

“Sally has some ideas,” Darrell added before anyone else could speak.

Julian turned his attention to Sally and smiled at her. “You do?”he asked, excitement in his voice. He slung his bag higher on his shoulder and as Sally was preparing to jump off of the wall, he put his hands on her waist and lifted her down with apparent ease. Sally tried to control the blush that came to her cheeks, by telling herself that it was only the cold wind off of the sea. She couldn’t ignore the feeling of Julian’s hands around her waist however and the way in which she ended up standing close to him as he set her on the ground. She rested a hand on his forearm to steady herself, carefully not looking at Darrell or David’s faces.

“Thank you,” she said quietly, before letting go of his arm and stepping back. She smiled a little at him as she continued,

“Yes, a few ideas, although Darrell seems to think I’ve gone quite mad.”

“I never said that you had gone mad,” Darrell protested with a laugh. She slipped her arm through Sally’s and looked at the boys.

“So are you going to let us in to have a chat about things or are we going to freeze to death out here first?”

Julian and David smiled at each other and then at the girls. David led the way into their halls, without a word they climbed the extra stairs up to Julian’s room.

“His room is tidier than mine,” was all David said, as they trudged up to Julian’s dorm room.

They made themselves comfortable, Julian sitting on the floor with his back to the wall under the window, David perched on Julian’s desk while Darrell took the desk chair and Sally perched on the corner of Julian’s bed.

“So Sally,” Julian said, when they were all settled. “Please tell us about these ideas of yours? And what you girls have been doing while we were in lectures!” he added with a smile.

“Where did you go?” David asked, arms folded across his chest. “And what did you deduce?”

Darrell began to talk about their walk down from the golf course, towards the old ruined cathedral, and down towards the east sands, the stretch of beach where holiday makers gravitated to and where fishing boats could get far enough inland to anchor safely. Sally described the idea they had had about the old stone pier being used to signal from as the map they had showed that it was the furthest point out into the sea, but was too low down for any long distance signalling.

“It would be all right for signalling if a boat was closer inland,” Sally said quietly. “But I wouldn’t like to say that if there was signalling that it came from there. It would be an ideal place, apart from the ice-cream hut and a few fisherman’s huts there’s nothing on that side of the coast, nothing overlooks the sands, properly at least except for the cathedral.”

“So that is effectively a dead end then?” David asked, shifting his position against the desk. He too, took up a sitting position on the floor opposite Julian.

“Well no,” Sally said, going bright red. “I do have another idea.”

Sally paused, unsure as whether she should go on, but then Darrell leant over and touched her friend’s arm gently, urging her on.

“Go on, Sally,” Darrell murmured.

“Well, all right. We were walking back up the pier and you can see the towers all the way from the end of the pier, and I suppose you can see them right the way out to sea, and if not at least the other side of the bay, where that holiday camp is. Anyway, I had an idea,” she paused and put her head in her hands for a moment. “Oh dear, this is going to sound terribly foolish I know it is!”

Julian moved to sit next to Sally on his bed. He put an arm around her shoulders and gave them a comforting little squeeze.

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