Five on a Treasure Island – How has Blyton’s original text fared in a modern edition? part 6

Posted on February 14, 2014 by Fiona

So as promised here is the next two chapters of Five on a Treasure Island, compared to note any textual changes between them. (In case you’re just joining us, I’m comparing a 1965 17th impression to a 1997 paperback.)

Earlier posts can be found here, here, here, here and here.

The 1997 paperback, with the illustration from the first edition
The dustjacket of the 1965 edition (which differs from the first edition)

CHAPTER ELEVEN: OFF TO KIRRIN ISLAND

I’ll start with the sort of changes we’ve seen a lot of already.

There’s only one use of queer in this chapter and it becomes odd instead. Three whilsts become whiles, and Julian’s clean shorts become clean jeans. Also, hie Tim! is now hi Tim! (last time it was changed to hey Tim!)

The first new alteration I spotted is in George’s long internal monologue. She thinks I wish I was like them. Or in the modern copy, she wishes she were like them. Quite a petty little change, I’m not sure if one is technically more correct than the other but I didn’t see much wrong with was in the first place.

Another petty change is made later to one of Julian’s pieces of dialogue. Originally he says we must find out exactly under what spot the entrances to the dungeons are, but by 1997 it has become under which spot. Again it seems pointless to change one little word in the sentence like that when it still says the same thing.

The last change I spotted is clearly a typing error (at least I hope so.) I can’t imagine what that is, said Julian, puzzled, has become I can imagine, which makes no sense.

CHAPTER TWELVE: EXCITING DISCOVERIES

Again, starting with familiar alterations the three queers become funny, strange and peculiar in that order, and queerest becomes strangest.

After three hours hard work gets an apostrophe added, so it becomes three hours’. I see that written a lot – in fact if you write it in Word without the apostrophe you get the blue squiggly line under it that implies it might be a grammatical error (on that note, how does the blue differentiate from the green in Word? Red is misspellings, green is grammar, so what’s blue exactly?) Not that I trust Word implicitly, it keeps wanting me to write “Its fine,” in dialogue and other foolish things. Anyway, I actually don’t like the apostrophe in those uses. It implies the work belongs to the three hours, when really it’s saying three hours of work. Unless it signifies the missing of, as it would signify the missing o in don’t.Either way it seems to be grammatically correct these days so I probably should just accept it.

I’m not sure about the next alteration. Rings are only let into stones that need to be moved seems like an all right sentence to me. You let a bucket down into water, so in the same way you could probably let a ring into a stone. Anyway, it’s now been changed to set into stones which might make more sense. Maybe.

Tim no longer loses his foot-hold, instead he loses his footing. Foot-hold seems fine and quite clear in meaning to me.

Finally, there’s a bit of editing to the various echoes that occur in the dungeons. I’m not going to type the whole lines out but essentially Blyton uses a mix of capitals and small letters in her echoes (along the lines of “it’s an echo, it’s an ECHO, IT’S AN ECHO etc) but in the paperback all echoes are all in caps. I think Blyton gives a better impression of an echo, as they do change slightly as they bounce around.

On a side note, referring back to the last post (I think) I made where I commented on weird being used, it’s actually in this chapter. And it still looks odd and distinctly un-Blytonish to me despite the fact I’ve read this book countless times. I suppose before I’ve always gotten so swept away in the excitement of reading that I haven’t taken the time to notice every little word.

So that’s another seventeen changes, and if my counting is about right, we’re up to 95 alterations. Nearly at the one hundred mark! (I’m aware my count is in not very accurate as I’ve counted every instance of queer being changed but only the first time to-morrow became tomorrow etc.)

The story’s getting to a quite thrilling part now, and I’ll have chapters 13 and 14 done over the next two weeks.

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The Rosewood Mystery by Cathy, chapter 3

Posted on February 12, 2014 by worldofblyton

OFF TO ROSEWOOD!

Miss Pepper came to collect the children two days later. Mrs Lynton was pleased to see her old governess, and gave her a hug and kiss when she came up the front path.

“It’s so kind of you to invite the children to stay with you,” she said. “They’re all looking forward to it, I know.”

“They’ll enjoy it I think,” Miss Pepper smiled. “It’s a beautiful place, and there will be plenty for them to do.”

The two women then disappeared to have some tea and talk about the holiday.

“Mummy – shall we put the trunks into the car?” called Diana.

“Yes, you can do!” called back her mother.

The four children proceeded to load their cases and trunks into Miss Pepper’s car. Soon they were ready to go, and when Miss Pepper had finished having tea and cake with Mrs Lynton, everyone assembled in the drive to say their goodbyes.

“Goodbye Mummy, we’ll see you soon!” Diana called.

“Enjoy your peace and quiet!” called Roger.

“Goodbye Cookie, I’m going to miss your cakes!” Snubby grabbed Cook round the waist.

“Go on with you!” Cook pushed him away. “Shoo!”

“Goodbye Mrs Lynton.” Barney shook hands, and then gave Mrs Lynton an unexpected hug. She was surprised, and smiled.

“Bye Daddy!” Roger and Diana yelled.

“Goodbye Uncle Richard.” Snubby held out his hand most politely. Mr Lynton looked sharply at him, as if wondering what mischief he was planning now. He had learnt by now that the more innocent Snubby looked, the more likely it was that he had done, or was about to do, something he shouldn’t.

“Goodbye,” he shook Snubby’s hand. “Behave yourself for Miss Pepper.”

“Oh, Uncle Richard!” Snubby looked most put-out. “Of course we will!”

“I meant you,” Mr Lynton said, his eyes twinkling a little. “I know the others will. Go on – be off with you!”

It was a fun car journey to Rosewood. The countryside was beautiful, and they passed through many pretty little villages on their way. They stopped at one that had a couple of shops, and had ice creams.

“These are jolly good ices,” said Snubby approvingly. “Makes me want to order a second lot.”

“No you don’t!” said Miss Pepper, her eyes twinkling. “Back in the car with you all – we’ve got to get going.”

Barney had sat in front so far, but Miranda had been so fidgety that Miss Pepper insisted they go in the back and that Diana should sit in the front. So poor Roger was squashed in the middle of Barney and Miranda on one side, and Snubby and Loony on the other.

“What pretty names all the villages have!” said Diana, looking at the signposts as they drove along. “Little Finchley – makes me think of finches, Ashe-On-The-Water, Lower Honeywell and Upper Honeywell, and ours is called Rosewood!”

“It’s a very pretty part of the country,” Miss Pepper said. “Lower Honeywell is the closest village to us – about two or three miles away from Rosewood. It’s a pretty village, you could walk there if it’s a nice day.”

“Oh yes, we shall!” Diana said.

Eventually they reached Rosewood village.

“Here we are – Rosewood,” said Miss Pepper.

Everyone craned their necks to see out of the car windows as they drove through the pretty little main street. It was like a village from a picture on a chocolate box. It had a small main street with a post office and a general store. The houses were all either tiny whitewashed cottages or larger, thatched ones with timbers. There was a village green with a clear pond. Several small lanes led in various directions from the main street, some sloping hills, each one lined with more tiny, pretty cottages.

“Where’s your cottage, Miss Pepper?” asked Roger, trying to see out but having his view blocked by Snubby and Loony, and Miranda on the other side.

“Down this lane here,” Miss Pepper said, turning the car into a small quiet lane with one or two cottages here and there. “Look up there on the hill – that’s Rosewood Manor.”

The children looked up the lane to where it sloped into a hill. Perched on the hill was the most beautiful old manor house they had ever seen. It was a huge old place, built of soft grey stone, and was covered with little leaded windows, jutting gables, timbers, and large chimneys on the roof. Green plants climbed all over the walls and across some of the windows, giving it a very mysterious, romantic look.

“What an amazing place!” Diana exclaimed. “Is it very old, Miss Pepper?”

“It was built in the 1500s, so I’m told,” Miss Pepper said. “It has beautiful gardens too, lovely big lawns, a fountain, and there used to be some topiary, but I’m not sure if that is still there.”

“Topi…what?” asked Snubby.

“Topiary, ass!” Roger laughed. “You know – trees and hedges cut into the shapes of animals and other fancy designs.”

“Who owns the manor?” asked Barney.

“I don’t really know,” said Miss Pepper. “No-one has lived in it for over a hundred years. I have a feeling that it is still owned by the original family, but for some reason they don’t want to live there. There is someone employed to come and keep the gardens, though goodness knows why, if no-one ever goes there. Perhaps they intend to come and live here in the future, and are keeping the gardens in good order for when they eventually move in.”

“They should open it and let people see over it,” said Diana. “I bet it’s beautiful inside.”

Miss Pepper pulled in to the little drive of Rosewood Cottage and the children jumped out, thrilled. It was a beautiful little cottage, with a thatched roof. The walls were painted a very pale pink, the windows were leaded with a diamond pattern, and pretty window-boxes full of flowers adorned every windowledge. A gravel path led up to a strong-looking wooden door, and continued round the cottage to a very pretty garden with a small green lawn and numerous bright flower-beds.

“Oh, it’s beautiful!” said Diana, thrilled. “Oh Miss Pepper, what a lovelyl little cottage!”

“I thought you’d like it,” Miss Pepper said. “Come on – let’s get the trunks in and then I’ll make us some tea. I have no maid or help here yet, so you will have to help me with the cooking and things.”

“Of course we will!” said Diana. “It’ll be fun!”

The boys brought in all the luggage, while Diana helped Miss Pepper to prepare some scones and cake, and make a pot of tea.

“Shall we have tea in the garden?” asked Miss Pepper. “There’s a little table and chairs out there on the lawn, and it’s a lovely evening.”

“Oh, yes, let’s!” Diana said. “Wonderful!”

While they had tea Miss Pepper told them about the village. There were beautiful walks along the river, she said, and she knew of someone who kept horses, who might let the children take them out for rides.

“It’s not a proper riding stables,” she said. “But the lady is very nice and knows me quite well now, so I am sure she wouldn’t mind you taking the horses out for a ride sometime.”

There was also a man who lived down by the river who owned several small rowing boats, and who let people hire them to row down the gentle little river. The children couldn’t wait to do this.

“Where is the river?” asked Roger, munching his scone.

“It runs south from the other side of the village,” Miss Pepper explained. “Behind the village green is a row of cottages that back onto a kind-of field, or area of rough long grass, and the river runs through that field.”

“It sounds delightful.” said Barney, handing Miranda a small piece of cake. She began to eat it prettily. “I can’t wait to go out in a boat.”

“It’s very pretty down there,” Miss Pepper said. “The water flows quite slowly so it’s safe to row and even swim, and it’s the most beautiful clear green colour, you can see all the fish, and the stony river bed.”

“Well go there tomorrow!” said Diana at once. “If it’s as hot as today we’ll have a bathe. Can we take a picnic, Miss Pepper?”

“If you make it!” laughed Miss Pepper.

 

 

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Looks like it’s Monday Again

Posted on February 10, 2014 by Fiona

Yes it’s Monday again, and February is whizzing by, and there  does not seem to be an end in sight to this horrible wet windy weather we seem to be having!

Never mind, at least we can all curl up at home with our Blytons and escape the world for a few hours? Which Blyton are you reading now? Comment below and let us know which one you’re lost in at the moment. I’m itching to start either Five Go Off to Camp or Five Go Down to the Sea for all that glorious weather and the descriptions of food!

Anyway this week, Wednesday in fact, we shall be posting our 300th post! So just after our first birthday (November) we have reached a staggering 300 blogs, and I know we’ve enjoyed writing them, even though there has been some (metaphorical) blood, sweat and tears along the way!

So thank you to all our contributors, you all treat us to fabulous work and I hope you will continue to do so!

And on that note, I can confirm that we have the next chapter of Cathy’s Barney Mystery Story, which will be smashing!

Fiona has told me that she intends to do the next part of her Five on a Treasure Island comparison.

Which just leaves me. Uhoh. I’m afraid that it will be another chapter of The Missing Papers: A St Andrews Mystery. I hope you don’t mind. If I think of anything else, I promise I shall scribble it down quickly!

Anyway, as usual, I shall leave you with some of my pictures from the last couple of weeks in what I’m beginning to think should be called our Photography Corner! Hope you enjoy!

Roses and wine glasses
Tea light candle
Wine (glasses) and rose
Wall decoration
Pink lily
White rose
Reeds
Red berries
Through the gate
Rusted metal
Catkins
Hanging statement
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Bourne End under water

Posted on February 9, 2014 by pippastef

Last Sunday, when we had some nice sunny weather (and a break from all this rain) I thought I would go for a walk, and well for some reason, I thought that it would be nice to go to Bourne End. And it wouldn’t be too flooded, maybe just a bit muddy.

Gosh was I wrong!

Luckily our favourite house, Old Thatch seemed to be far enough away from the pesky water, but I thought I would share with you the pictures I took on Sunday.

I’m hoping that the water levels go down before May, as there are plans for the Enid Blyton Society to meet there for the day!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my pictures!

The field across from the Spade Oak
The entrance to Old Thatch
The field opposite Old Thatch
The walk up to the riverside
The River Thames burst banks
Crochet snowflakes hanging from a willow tree.
The flooded fields heading towards Marlow
Sunken benches
The path towards Cockmarsh
My paddle
The crochet snowflake
Moored boat
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Looking at The Famous Five Annual 2014 part 2

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Fiona

I did exactly half the book last time so here are my thoughts on the second half.

The annual's cover

The annual’s cover

THE FIVE’S FRIENDS

A list of the friendly people the five run into on their adventures from Aggie at Owl’s Dene to Berta Wright the daughter of the scientist Elbur Wright. It even includes a character from one of the short stories.

The list goes on for five pages, and each character gets a decent paragraph usually describing their appearance, how the Five come to know them, their involvement in any adventurous happenings and often a random fact or two about their personality or preferences. Saying that, it does have a few entries like ‘Fair Folk’ which covers several people in one go.

Jenny (21): The long-suffering maid of Professor Hayling at Big Hollow House. Jenny is a wonderful cook, with a character similar to Joan the cook at Kirrin cottage. She had sharp ears ad hears the quiet noises made the night Professor Hayling’s secret papers are stolen. She feels the cold and does not like swimming.

This on the whole is a much, much better look at Famous Five characters than the one we get in Eva Rice’s book . I couldn’t spot any obvious mistakes but it seems a bit odd that the biggest friend of the Five, namely Jo, is not mentioned except in passing. Possibly for space reasons Martin Curton isn’t there either, nor is the coastguard or Alf/James the fisher boy.

FIVE ON A TREASURE ISLAND

This, at first, appears to be an excerpt from chapter fourteen of the book, but it didn’t seem right to me. Comparing it to the original text showed me exactly why. The whole thing has been massively rewritten. Some parts are so changed it’s hard to find exactly which part of the original they are from.

‘Who’s there’ the threatening voice boomed out again. Timmy growled louder and louder. He’d protect George and Julian if he could. Yes! And the ingots, too!

Compares possibly to:

“Who is here? Who is down here?”

George clutched Julian in fright. Tim went on growling, all the hairs on his neck standing up straight.

To be simple, it’s a quite atrocious version of the story and worse, it ends with Now read on! Find a copy of Five on a Treasure Island today! Pretty daft if you ask me, considering even a modern copy won’t be anything like what they’ve just read!

The illustrations are the same style as those from the comic version of George’s Hair is Too Long from earlier in the book.

Five on a Treasure Island

Five on a Treasure Island

TANGLED TITLES

A fairly fiendish code breaking puzzle that took me a minute or two to figure out the clue to!

MEET DICK

Another short but good bio.

THE FIVE THROUGH THE YEARS

An intriguing puzzle, eleven covers from different editions of the books. The challenge is to put them in order they came out! I did not badly, I just got a couple the wrong way around – and I didn’t cheat by looking in the cave!

MEET ENID BLYTON

A two page spread detailing essentially her whole life, though obviously the details are selective as there wouldn’t be room to include everything. Nothing new to me in it, but for child readers it’s a good insight into her life.

QUICK ON THE DRAW

A game rather like ‘beetle drive’. The goal is to draw a picture of Timmy by rolling the dice (each number represents a body part). For some reason there are counters representing the four human members of the Five plus Sooty and Marybelle, though I can’t see why you need them, especially as they want you to cut them out to play! Think I’ll give the game a miss, I can’t draw and the picture example of Timmy is nothing like any illustration I’ve seen of him before!

"Timmy"

“Timmy”

RACE TO PACK

Another game, not sure I fully understand the instruction about ‘moving clockwise’ but at least they’re not asking you to mutilate the book to play!

GOOD OLD TIMMY

This is one of the eight short stories, and it seems to be printed in full which is nice (though it’s not one of the strongest short stories in my opinion.) The illustrations aren’t terrible but the bathing suits are a bit off putting.

Swimsuit catalogue ahoy!

Swimsuit catalogue ahoy!

FIVE HAVE PLENTY OF FUN

Another puzzle. This one’s unusual as it looks like you have to actually have a copy of the book to solve it, as it requires you to put words from chapter titles into the grid. I think I’ll have a go at it later.

MEET TIMOTHY

A bio for the canine member of the Five. Amusingly it says

George gave Alf/James, a local fisherboy, all of her pocket money to look after him for her.

WHAT’S HAPPENING?

A lovely Soper-illustration based puzzle, using illustrations from the coloured in millennium edition. The task is to fill in the blanks from eight sentences and then match the sentences to the illustrations from Five Get Into Trouble.

MEET ANNE

Poor Anne, coming last! After Timmy, even!

AROUND THE WORLD WITH THE FAMOUS FIVE

A selection of six foreign versions of the Famous Five books, and a little puzzle to match them to the countries they come from. Interesting as the Finnish language doesn’t look like I thought it would!

THE FIENDISH FAMOUS FIVE QUIZ PART 2

Twenty four questions this time, I managed 21 right answers, the other three I just couldn’t remember! Again, good questions which are hard enough without being too hard.

THE ANSWERS

Thank goodness for these, nothing worse than quizzes and puzzles with no answers! No cheating allowed though!

And that’s us at the end of the annual. Over-all it’s a good book, though it’s let down in a couple of places by overly modern versions of the stories. Its strong points are the decent puzzles, Soper Illustrations and the fact that the information within is all well written and without the common mistakes people tend to make when writing about Blyton or her works.

It’s certainly worth buying especially when it’s available in supermarkets and online for much less than a fiver.

Next post: Famous Five Annual 2015

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The Marsh of Adventure by Poppy, chapter 12

Posted on February 5, 2014 by worldofblyton

Chapter twelve:

Alf Again

The boys were rather alarmed. ‘Who were those men, they held captive?’ ‘Where were they taking them?’ ‘Why did they hold them captive?’ Questions raced through the children’s heads.

“They might come back this way, might they?” Jack whispered.

“Shouldn’t think so after they disturbed us. They probably try and keep a good distance from our tents!” Philip laughed. “I think it’s time we got some sleep, don’t you think?” he suggested. Jack nodded. They both settled down and laced their sleeping bags up to the necks. They had a few extra rugs which they piled on top of themselves. This way it was very warm and snug! The girls were still asleep, of course. None of that night’s strange happenings had awoken them. The boys were rather glad. They didn’t want the girls worrying over things whilst they were trying to enjoy their camping holiday.

“All the same, I think we might try and distract the girls tomorrow. We might let something slip, just by accident,” Jack said in a low voice.

“Well, what about going and seeing Alf again? Then we could have a peep down the hill and explore that hole in the hill a bit more. We were in a bit of a rush yesterday and we didn’t get to have long in there.”

“Right,” Jack said. It sounded a good plan but the children did not know of the shock that was to await them the next day.

The sun and sky were beautifully washed that next day, when the children crawled out of their tent. It was another wonderful day, everything fresh and sweet.  The children heaved all their rugs and wet clothes out and hung them on the washing line. The tents had stopped dripping and all the water had been dried up by the early morning rays of sunlight. Philip and Jack then pulled the tables and chairs out their own tent and arranged them in the middle of the little camp, in their usual place. Meanwhile the girls got ready a good breakfast of eggs, bacon, fried bread, and sausages. The children ate their meal much more cheerfully than their meal in the tent the last night finishing every single scrap. Kiki had a piece of fried bread to herself, she did like it so. Suddenly, a little face popped out of Philip sleeve. It was Dormy. Philip did not see him peeping out of his sleeve, eyeing Kiki nibbling at her fired bread, feeling rather envious, but someone else did.

“Philip, you are a beast. That beastly mouse is peeping out of your sleeve. You didn’t let him go after all, did you? Look, it’s coming out! It’ll steal the tomatoes! Philip, you do make me angry. Quick, get it!”

Continue reading →

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First Monday of February

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Fiona

I can hardly believe it but we are into the second month of 2014 already! We celebrated that fact with a lovely Blyton poem yesterday though.

This week I am hoping to finish my review of the Famous Five Annual, we will be posting another chapter of Poppy’s Adventure Series fanfic and Stef is planning to tell us all about her latest (and very wet) visit to Bourne End.

We haven’t done ‘blog news’ for a while, except to say we’d beaten our record for visits in a day when we published our interview with Jemima Rooper, so here’s where we stand now.

We have now had over 45,500 views and more than 700 comments. I’m amazed every time I look at the figures!

Browsing twitter on Saturday night I found this brilliant article about a library in New Jersey getting its first stock of Blyton books. I hope the children of Edison enjoy them!

I’ve hardly taken any pictures in the last fortnight as the weather has been truly awful. I’ve added a few, some from my mum’s birthday party and a couple I took on my phone in the brief times it wasn’t raining when I was out.

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February – A poem by Enid Blyton

Posted on February 2, 2014 by pippastef

A bit of a change of plan, but favouring you with Blyton’s poem about February as the month has just changed! Hope you like it!

Oh, I saw February sweet,
Heard her elfin laughter,
Saw her little twinkling feet
Dance where spring and winter meet,
And I followed after

And here she dropped an aconite
With head of gleaming yellow,
There a snowdrop, wan and white,
And a crocus golden bright.
Oh, a bonny fellow!

She taught the thrush a song so gay,
She whistled to the starling,
Kissed the blackbird on her way,
Now they sing the livelong day
‘Isn’t she a darling!’

Anyway, there we are, a nice little February poem for you all! With one of my snowdrop pictures! Have a nice day!

Snowdrops by Stephanie Woods

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Five on a Treasure Island – How has Blyton’s original text fared in a modern edition? part 5

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Fiona

I’m sure by now these posts don’t need any real introduction. This one looks at chapters nine and ten, and continues to suggest that more action equals more editing!

Earlier posts can be found here, here, here and here.

The 1997 paperback, with the illustration from the first edition
The dustjacket of the 1965 edition (which differs from the first edition)

CHAPTER NINE: THE BOX FROM THE WRECK

The first change is a tiny one, more of a correction than anything. In the original we have the windows at the house referred to several times, specifically as french window twice and then french windows once and windows once.

The paperback makes it a bit more consistent with three uses of french window. I think though, all the references should be plural as french windows are, as far as I know, traditionally used in pairs or more (the illustrations certainly show a pair). I had been wondering if the first word should have been capitalised but it would seem not according to most sources I’ve checked.

Spanking is removed twice, both times becoming a much less threatening telling off. It’s interesting that though the course of the book no violence ever occurs; all the uses of spanking are purely threats or the children worrying about consequences.

Some of the charm of the original is lost next, when Julian’s excited cry, Hie, he yelled. Hie! I’ve got it! becomes plain of hi! The two aren’t even the same. Hi is a short greeting, hie is much more of an exclamation (often used when telling Tim off “hie Tim, get down!” etc.)

Very oddly Tim, don’t nibble my bathing-suit  had been changed to don’t lick me. I cannot fathom why!

Blyton has used a capital letter for the ingots, presumably to make them sound more important, but the updated version does away with these capitals. I personally don’t like the use of Capitals to make words sound Important except in a few well-done stylistic cases, so I can’t decide if I feel this one should have been left alone or not.

Another strange change, while the four children are examining the map Tim is trying to but in and see what’s going on. The narrative says but for once in a way not one of them paid attention to him originally, but that gets edited to remove the in a way. Those three words are possibly superfluous, they don’t add a great deal to our understanding of the situation, but at the same time they are utterly inoffensive that I can’t see why someone deliberately went to the trouble of removing them.

Not long after, George remarks he [Tim] can’t understand our excitement. Which in the paperback has become your excitement, which to me rather changes the meaning of her words. Until that point George had been ignoring him too, yet in the modern edition it sounds like she is shifting blame to the others alone.

CHAPTER TEN : AN ASTONISHING OFFER

Less happens in this chapter; it’s mostly talk and following my theory nicely, there are less changes, and those that are made are incredibly minor (aka petty.)

First is one that just HAS to be a mistake. Uncle Quentin originally says he gets more [money] even than I could expect for the writing of my book. In the modern edition he says more even that I could expect. I can’t see any way that could have been intentional. Than compares, more than I thought. That makes no sense to me in the context.

Again Ingots becomes ingots, and at this moment I realised something else I had failed to notice so far. Bear in mind I’m at least a hundred pages in by now and I’ve just realised that the original has used double quotation marks for speech, thoughts and highlights, whereas the paperback uses single ones for everything. Have to say I prefer the doubles, especially for speech.

A few more very minor alterations: week-end becomes weekend (can’t say I ever noticed that word ever had a hyphen before!) business man changes to businessman, and an hotel becomes a hotel.

A mixed bag there. I understand taking away the hyphen, as nobody uses that any more, it’s as obsolete as to-day and to-morrow. On saying that I’m not sure it’s necessary to remove it. I think it’s interesting to know we used to use hyphens then, like it’s interesting to see people say ‘plane ‘phone etc as they tell use these shortenings were new to them, much like the full words must have been not so long before.

Possibly going against the grain but I prefer business man to businessman, same for businesswoman and I despise businessperson/businesspeople (they look bad and they’re harder to say clearly). Honestly, who thought ramming two words like that together was a goodidea?

I do prefer a hotel to an hotel though, as the h in hotel is pronounced as a consonant. I feel the same about when the person on the news says ‘an historic’. Just NO!

And (grammar rants over now I promise!) lastly, we’ve got another in a way, this time removed from for once in a way George didn’t push it [Julian’s arm] away. 

So that was eight changes in chapter nine and six in chapter ten, bringing us to a total of, I think, 78 alterations. How many more before the end?

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Hunting for Blytons in Hull

Posted on January 28, 2014 by worldofblyton

I remember reading an article in a newspaper not long ago, can’t quite remember the title, the exact words, or even the newspaper itself, but the article read something like ‘Enid Blyton falls from top 10 children’s books.’

This got me thinking, just how popular are the works of Blyton within a local area? Does her decline in popularity indicate that the Famous Five or the Secret Seven just don’t deserve shelf space any more in book shops?

I decided to go a-hunting in Hull to see whether or not Blyton really has fallen out of fashion, to the point where her books just cannot be found. And I didn’t get off to a very promising start.

My first port of call was the Waterstone’s on the uni campus. I went straight for the children’s section, where Roald Dhal and Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) reigned supreme,  and Enid’s books adorned only a quarter of one shelf.

Now one reason for this is obvious. Blyton’s books most probably aren’t highly sought after texts on a university’s curriculum. But the books that were there were intriguing. Only one Famous Five and one Secret Seven, and all manners of modern editions of Malory Towers, the Naughtiest Girl, the Wishing-Chair, Brer Rabbit and the Magic Faraway Tree.

I’ll admit it, these are the exact titles of Enid’s which I haven’t read, but it was still a slight surprise to find that her more famous titles were barely there at all.

Anywho, onto my next location, Newland Avenue. This street is littered with independent shops of all kinds, and thus, plenty of charity shops as well. Most of my Blyton hunting, when I was younger, came from scavenging every charity shop I could find. But here, I came up nearly completely dry yet again.

Only the odd 10p paperback could be found beneath all the worn-out copies of The Full Monty, Rod Stewart LPs, and The da Vinci Code. Even the Oxfam bookshop, a goldmine of a bookshop if there ever was one, had no Blytons at all.

At this point I was at a slight loss. Neither a major retailer nor the independent shops had displayed a firm dedication to Enid’s works, which leaves only the town centre to be rootled through.

To be honest, I’d almost given up hope. The charity shops there fared no better, which left only the larger Waterstone’s to explore, or so I thought. Thankfully, Waterstone’s still seem to remember how popular and loved Enid’s works are.

The larger Waterstone’s sports two lengthy shelves worth of Enid Blyton, including a complete library of the 1997 Hodder editions of the Famous Five, scattered with several Secret Sevens, Adventure series, Five Find-Outers, and others.

By then, I thought my adventure was done and dusted, until I noticed a quaint little shop called Grannie’s Parlour. Looking in through the window, it looked like a simple little antique shop, the sort that Anne finds in Five on Finniston Farm.

But there were no horseshoes in here. If anything, it’s the one thing they didn’t have. This place was a mini Aladdin’s cave, the sort of shop where you want everything but don’t want to touch anything as it upsets the ambiance.

The shop was full of books, toys, annuals, memorabilia, furniture and kitchen-ware all from bygone days, which happily meant they had their own little treasure trove of Blytons. They had a huge wad of cheap paperbacks, but the real goldmine was the discovery of a large handful of classic, original hardbacks.

Famous Fives, Secret Sevens, Five Find-Outers and many one-off works, all in near mint condition, and all fairly priced as well. Sadly, if understandably, the lady shop owner requested I not take pictures of these, but it was still a lovely sight.

That one little shop made this adventure all worthwhile, and I can confirm that, in Hull at least, the works of Enid Blyton are very much alive and well, and well-read!

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Creative Kid Thursday – Wonder Reader Faith Jackson!

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Fiona

Had a link to this lovely little article sent to us by Faith’s mum, and we thought it so good we just had to share it.

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Last Monday in January

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Fiona

Gosh hasn’t January gone quickly? I can’t believe that by the end of this week we shall already be in February!

Anyway time waits for no man (or woman) as we well know and we are in to another week of blogs. If you’re wondering what we’re going to come up with this week, well so am I up to a point, but I’m happy to say that we have a lovely article from Fred on hunting for Blytons in Hull.

Fiona will be gracing us with her next lot of Famous Five changes, at least she tells me this is the plan! 😉

As for me? Its look suspiciously like I shall be treating you to another chapter of The Missing Papers this week. However if I pull my act together I may be able to treat you to a review of my favourite Blyton books!

And to finish this week, as I have no new pictures for you, I shall leave you with this lovely picture of Corfe Castle I found some time ago! As many of you know, Corfe Castle is thought to have been Blyton’s inspiration for Kirrin Castle, and was in fact used for Kirrin Castle in the 1957 BFI Five on a Treasure Island filming and again in the 1990’s for the two Famous Five series.

Corfe Castle, Dorset. Source Uknown

Corfe Castle, Dorset. Source unknown.

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The Island of Adventure

Posted on January 26, 2014 by pippastef

So I purchased and started reading the Adventure Series properly earlier this year. I collected a set of early editions  from ebay and set about reading them.

I know Fiona has already done reviews on the Adventure Series (the Island of Adventure review can be found here) but I thought I would give you my thoughts on this wonderful series.

Island of Adventure Millennium edition by Larry Ronstant

Island of Adventure millennium edition by Larry Ronstant

I have read the Island of Adventure before I got the early editions, but only a hardback naughties version I got from the school library. It took a thread on the Enid Blyton Society Forums for me to realise how extensive the changes to the text had been, and in fact what had been removed from the millennium copy.

The biggest change comes in the form of the baddie’s name being changed from Jo-Jo to simply Joe. As far as I am aware this change came about because the publishers, or those in charge of the manuscript at the time (Chorian) thought that Jo-Jo was politically insensitive and offence to those of black descent.

Anyway, the second time around, I enjoyed the book more. I enjoyed the original text and I went into it with a more open mind than I had years before.

I enjoyed the characters more, and they felt a little more real and rounded than my beloved Famous Five. It was nice as well to have adventurous children who were completely different to any other children I had read about before. Jack, Philip, Lucy-Ann and Dinah are a bit older than more of Blyton’s other characters (or so I feel) and have a bit more personality.

If I were to suggest an order for reading Blyton’s different adventure series (such as the Secret Seven) with ages in mind, I would put the Adventure Series as having the older readership.

On to the plot of the adventure, which I am sure we all know very well, but I shall outline for you. The children go to a fabulously thrilling place called Craggy Tops after spending the beginning of the summer hols, cooped up in a dusty old tutors house because the boys Jack and Philip have both been ill that term and need coaching.

The boys get on very well, and Philip, who is mad on animals is fascinated by Jack’s parrot Kiki, and together with Jack’s sister Lucy-Ann head off to Philip’s home Craggy Tops. There they meet up with Dinah and the Mannerings Aunt Polly and Uncle Jocelyn  and the handyman Jo-Jo.

The first thing the children really get drawn to is the misty island in the bay, The Isle of Gloom, where Jack wants to visit because it’s full of birds and he dreams of finding a great Auk.

Things in at this point seem to move quite steadily, each chapter has something akin to a mini adventure happening in it each time. Such as the children finding a secret passageway from the beach to the house, and them meeting Bill Smugs, who claims to be a bird enthusiast. Bill becomes a great friend, but at the same time, they are wary about him as he has an air of mystery surrounding him and as Jack points out, he doesn’t know his birds very well which strikes the boy as a bit odd.

The adventure builds steadily and not until the last third of the book do you really find yourself plunging head down into the mines on the Isle of Gloom, once they have managed to get onto the island. The bad guys that they come across are some of  Blyton’s best constructed baddies, they are really quite terrifying. There is a classic misunderstanding on the part of the children, at first, what these men are doing on the Island and down in the mines, and then there is the classic misunderstanding of who is the bad guy on the mainland!

In the end its a happy ending however and Bill turns out to be the good guy, which is nice because he is one of Blyton’s most popular adult characters and becomes a very important part of the Trents’ and Mannerings’ lives.

Over all, its a strong start for the Adventure Series, The Island of Adventure is the best book to draw you into this world. It’s light and easy to read and introduces you to the characters nicely, although there is no major character development. No one really gets a huge chance to shine, there are a few moments where the boys strike out on their own for a few chapters but there isn’t much individual development.

It’s not my favourite of the adventure series, that would be Castle or Circus, but Island is a good starter novel for this series. It gets you into the pace of the rest of the novels and with maybe the exception of The River of Adventure, the books get increasingly better (in my humble opinion). I recommend The Island of Adventure to anyone who’s starting out with this series, it’s the perfect beginning to a wonderful series!

First edition dustjacket by Stuart Tresilian

First edition dustjacket by Stuart Tresilian

Next review: The Castle of Adventure

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Looking at The Famous Five Annual 2014, part 1

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Fiona

As I mentioned before, I got this for my birthday. I’ve only briefly skimmed it until now, so I thought it was about time I actually read it, so I will share some of my thoughts on it as I go.

I’ll start with the cover shall I? Well, it’s a Soper illustration (for me there’s no other possible choice,) so I’m happy. It’s the cover from Five go to Demon’s Rocks, which now I think about it, surprises me a little. I wonder they picked that book? Most fans will agree, the first twelve(ish) titles are the best, and then the rest of the series is generally weaker with a few highlights. I agree mostly, as for me there are a few weak books in the first half, and don’t always agree on the best book from the second half.

Anyway, I happen to love Demon’s Rocks, it’s somewhere on my (unordered) list of favourites. But as the nineteenth book in the series it’s maybe not the most iconic Five?

The annual's cover

The annual’s cover

So, now for inside the book.

The Soper cover’s already started the book off on good footing, and there are two more of  her illustrations, on the title page and the contents page. I feel like I should know which book this one comes from, but I’m not certain.

Which book?

Which book?

A few things jump out at me from the contents page – Where is Kirrin Island? [p15], Fiendish Famous Five Quiz [p 22 and 62], and Around the world with the Famous Five [p61] in particular, but I’m the sort of person who has to read annuals in order so I must be patient. There certainly seems to be a lot of variety in the book, even if some of the titles keep you guessing more than others.

Contents

Contents

I’m going to try to be brief, and just make a few comments on each section of the book to avoid being boring and giving away too much of the content.

TIMMY’S TIMELINE

All the important moments from the Famous Five, from 1942 to 2012.

Nice bite-sized facts about the books, TV series, toys and games. The 90s series mention is rather brief, (a measly thirteen words!) but most of it is interesting.

I particularly like the remark about the Disney TV series – Sometimes, the original characters and stories are referenced, but they bear little resemblance to Enid Blyton’s originals. I see it as faintly scathing, but then that’s because I think they’re a lot of tosh.

MEET JULIAN

A short-but-sweet look at my favourite member of the Famous Five. It’s a fair look too, as although they mention bossy they don’t give him too hard a time over it.

GEORGE’S HAIR IS TOO LONG

This is the same story from the Red Fox collection, originally found in the second magazine annual, though it’s told in comic book style. I’m not a fan of comic books, I find them hard to follow as the images aren’t always laid out in a clear order, it’s hard to know which speech bubble comes first and I find it really hard to work out which character is which visually. But anyway, the illustrations aren’t too bad, and the illustrator seems to have been influenced by the 90s series, George especially looks like Jemima Rooper and Timmy’s a smaller version of Connal. It runs for six pages, but as a lot of it is pictures I’m fairly sure it’s been well edited down to fit.

MEET GEORGE

Another single-page bio, and it covers George neatly. It’s obviously been written by someone, or several someones, who know the books and characters well.

WHERE IS KIRRIN ISLAND?
(…AND OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE FAMOUS FIVE BOOKS)

I’m pleased to say that although the focus is on Corfe here, the book makes it clear that it’s not as straight forward as Kirrin = Corfe. Also covered are Whispering Island, Finniston Farm and Castaway (Smuggler’s Top). Mostly information I knew already, but I imagine it would be hugely interesting to those who haven’t visited the Enid Blyton Society website on a near daily basis for several years. Also, it makes me want to visit Dorset, which unfortunately is very far away!

FIVE GO OFF TO CAMP

More comic-strip style stuff here, but it’s a puzzle this time. Not very attractive illustrations in my opinion!

Not the George and Anne we know and love!

Not the George and Anne we know and love!

RESCUE THE FAMOUS FIVE

Another game. Only this one wants you to potentially cut out the pieces to play. Yes, cut up your new book, or, copy the pictures onto paper like we’re all brilliant artists. I always hate that bit in an annual where they want you to chop it up – heedless of whatever’s on the other side of the page! Needless to say, I never did it. And I don’t think I even wrote the answers in as I was taught to always respect books.

FIENDISH FAMOUS FIVE QUIZ PART ONE

There are answers at the back, always a plus

Ten questions, so let’s see how I do. Pleased to say ten for ten, though I didn’t get all the first/surnames given in the answers. Difficult enough questions to be interesting without being impossible.

FIVE GO TO DEMON’S ROCKS

Another comic, this one with potentially unsettling illustrations and even more hideous text. Opening scene goes like this:

Dick: “D’you think [I nearly stopped reading at this point, it was almost too much for me…] that’s the lighthouse where we’re spending our holidays?”

Julian: “Well, as it’s he only lighthouse around here, it’s a good guess!”

Anne: “I think staying in a lighthouse will be fun!”

George: “Especially with Tinker Hayling. I haven’t seen him for years.”

Awful stuff!

Scary.

Scary.

I’ve read it all, and I’m… bemused? It bears no resemblance to the book apart from there being a lighthouse and the climax is them waking up Cap’n Boogle who’s napping in the ships chandlers (what ever that is!) and he tells them a watered-down tale of wreckers. And that’s it.

MORE FUN AND GAMES

A small selection of Famous Five merchandise from over the years.

FAMOUS FIVE FIND-A-WORD

AKA a wordsearch with Famous-Fivey words like farm, mystery and smugglers. Might, might use a pencil and find them at some point.

That’s me exactly halfway through the annual now, and I’m at more than a thousand words so I think I’ll leave the rest for another post.

Next post: 2014 annual part 2

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The Rosewood Mystery by Cathy, chapter 2

Posted on January 22, 2014 by worldofblyton

EXCITING PLANS!

Diana had a lovely talk with her mother on the phone. Mrs Lynton thought it was a lovely idea and was a lot more relieved than she let on to Diana. She had, of course, been looking forward to having all the children at home for the holidays, but she knew full well that Mr Lynton, as much as he loved all the children, would be driven mad by both Loony and Miranda, and the continual noise and laughter and running feet of all four lively children.

“Come home for a few days to pack and spend some time with Daddy and me,” she said to Diana. “At least then we’ll see something of you all for the holidays.”

“And then by that time Daddy will be driven mad and wanting some peace,” laughed Diana, who knew her father too well. “Alright Mummy, we’ll come home tomorrow and spend a week with you. Miss Pepper isn’t going to Rosewood til next week anyway.”

“Bye dear, see you tomorrow,” said Mrs Lynton. “I’ll ask Cook to bake some lovely cakes for you all!”

“It’s alright, it’s alright!” Diana ran back out into the garden. “Mummy says we can go!”

“Hoorah!” Snubby cheered, knocking over a cup of tea. “Ooh – sorry, Miss Pepper!”

They discussed their plans a little more before it was time for Miss Pepper to catch her train home. The children would go home the next day and spend some time with Mr and Mrs Lynton, and then a week later, Miss Pepper would come and fetch the children and they would spend the holidays with her at Rosewood Cottage. Everyone was very excited. Walks, boats, an old manor, trips to the seaside, it all sounded too good to be true!

Miss Pepper kissed them all goodbye and Mr Martin drove her to the station, leaving the four children sat in the garden.

“This is going to be an absolutely wizard holiday!” said Roger excitedly.

“It’s lovely of Miss Pepper to want us,” Barney said. “Especially as every holiday we go on with her, we seem to drag her into the most amazing adventure!”

“I doubt there’ll be any amazing adventures in Rosewood,” Diana said. “It sounds a most peaceful place.”

“You never know!” Snubby said. “We can hope, anyway!”

Continue reading →

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Another Monday

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Fiona

So it’s Monday again, where did the weekend go? Well, wherever it went it’s now another week, and time for me to tell you what’s coming up on the blog.

We’ll have more fanfic for you this week, Wednesday will be chapter two of Kathy’s Barney Mysteries story: The Rosewood Mystery. If you missed chapter one, here it is so you can catch up.

I’ve got a few choices this week. I’ve recently read the first Lone Pine book Mystery at Witchend, by Malcolm Saville and I plan to compare and contrast it to the first Famous Five book. Whether I get around to doing something as in depth as that this week remains to be seen, so I might end up reviewing something instead. Maybe the Famous Five Annual or a Blyton biography, who knows.

Stef is hoping to finish a post looking at the Island of Adventure, which will be an interesting viewpoint as she didn’t read the Adventure Series as a child.

As has become tradition, I will end with some photos I took recently.

Sunset behind an old farmhouse
Frost
The moon during the day
A break in the clouds
Robin
Newtyle’s original railway station (1830s)
A room inside the derelict station.
Frosty leaves
Strange monument in Newtyle (Kinpurney Hill Tower in the background)
Bullfinch
Lone tree
Icy waterfall
Sun low behind the woods
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The Missing Papers: A St Andrew’s Adventure, chapter 10

Posted on January 19, 2014 by pippastef

I hope you enjoy this as much as the last couple of chapters. Don’t forget if you want to catch up, click the tag “The Missing Papers: A St Andrews Adventure” at the bottom of this post for more chapters!

Chapter 10

“Well are we assuming that Julian’s made that connection?” Darrell asked in a hushed tone, causing the others to lean forward to hear what she was saying.

“I think it’s a safe assumption, don’t you?” Sally asked David.

David nodded. “Naturally. No wonder he seemed to be looking for something!” he said looking wide eyed. He sat back in his chair and ran a hand through his hair. “I just wish he’d told us what he suspected.”

“Well he doesn’t know us that well, does he?” Sally pointed out sensibly. “How was he to know if he could trust us or not? I mean for all he knew we could have laughed at him.”

Darrell was just about to say something when a noise behind the bookcase made David hold up a hand to make her stop. He pressed a finger to his lips and got up from his chair to look behind the bookcase. His heart felt as though it was somewhere in the region of his mouth as he stepped out of the little study area and turned to look down the alley of books on the other side of the book case. Thomas Ainsworth was standing there, a book in his hands, apparently reading. He looked up when he heard David’s footstep and smiled a little, snapping the book shut.

“Oh hello Morton,” Ainsworth said in a hearty tone, taking a step towards David. “I was hoping I’d bump into you today. Was wondering if Kirrin was alright after that rugger tackle yesterday. He looked fairly pale as you two went off.”

“He’s fine. Dislocated his shoulder, that’s all,” David said carefully avoiding the detail that Julian had spent the night in the san. He wasn’t sure that Ainsworth needed to hear this detail. He hadn’t been lying to Julian when he had agreed that there was something a bit odd about Thomas Ainsworth. He didn’t like him very much.

“Oh jolly good,” Ainsworth said, giving a little half grin. “Glad to hear it. Terrible business about Old Dotty’s papers isn’t it? Probably one of the foreign students, I shouldn’t wonder. Most of them seem to come from the other side of the iron curtain,” he said casually as though he was trying to start a conversation. “I can’t see an Englishman doing such a treacherous thing!”

David resisted the urge to give him a non committal grunt in reply. “Yes, very bad business,” he said politely. He looked carefully at the book Thomas had in his hand and before the other boy could notice looked away. Thomas moved his hand over the title; David wasn’t sure whether this was on purpose or not.

He smiled vaguely at Thomas who seemed to take this as an excuse to keep talking. He got the impression that the other boy was possibly trying to convince him that he was not solely to blame for Julian’s dislocated shoulder. Thomas was asking David how far they’d got into their lectures. He explained as briefly as he could. He was itching to get away from Thomas and the girls were probably seconds from coming out from behind the book shelf to see what was going on. David didn’t want to be making small talk with Thomas any longer than strictly necessary.

Thomas smiled a little feeling that the conversation would go no further. He placed the book he had been looking at back on the shelf and stepped back.

“I should get going, plenty of work to do still,” he said nodding at David. “Thanks for the chat Morton,” he added as he turned on his heel and walked away from David.

David stood where he was for a moment and considered his next move. He had watched where Thomas had put the book back and considered checking on the title for a moment. He could hear Darrell and Sally’s low conversation on the other side of the bookcase. He waited a minute until he was sure that Thomas had indeed moved off. David checked the title of the book and frowned.

“Russian history?” David muttered to himself, before putting the book back and shrugging. There was no reason why Thomas shouldn’t be reading it, but David felt a little uneasy about the choice especially when Thomas hadn’t taken it away with him and stopped him looking at the title.

David went back to Darrell and Sally with a slight frown on his face.

“Who was it? Are there actually enemies sneaking around trying to get information from us?” Darrell asked in a mocking dramatic whisper.

David gave her a sarcastic smile. “It was Ainsworth,” he said sitting down in a chair and looking disgruntled. “Looking at a book on Russian history for some odd reason,” he added shrugging. He looked at the girls faces. Both of them were amused.

“Honestly,” Darrell said after a moment, her smile still on her face. “Thomas probably thinks that we’re all peculiar now because we stopped talking and you appeared to question him.”

“Not that there was a lot of questioning going on,” Sally teased. She smiled at David’s face and shook her head.

“I think we’ve got ourselves a couple of detectives, Darrell,” she added with a giggle.

David rolled his eyes. “Laugh all you want ladies, but I’m no detective,” he said standing up and pulling a teasing face at them. “If you ladies are after a qualified detective I’ll be more than happy to point you in the direction of a certified detective genius,” David mocked in a fake posh accent. Darrell and Sally were clutching their sides in silent mirth trying not to make too much noise in the library.

David chuckled and shook his head, the encounter with Thomas slipping to the back of his mind.

Julian woke the next morning feeling groggy. The painkillers he had taken for his shoulder had sent him to sleep as soon as he’d gotten back to his room the night before. He was aware of sleeping through tea and supper and waking in the middle of the night only to take some more. He sat up gingerly, his stomach rumbling. He hoped that there would be a good breakfast that morning, he was starving.

Gingerly he tried to move his bad shoulder to see if it was any better than the day before. It protested under the treatment. Julian had to grit his teeth at the pain to stop himself yelling out. He sighed a moment later and reached for the painkillers and glass of water on his bedside table. It took him a good few tries to get the little pill out of the bottle. He needed both hands to get the lid off and with his left arm almost useless because he couldn’t move his shoulder; it was quite tricky to unscrew the lid. He persevered however and soon managed to get the bottle open without spilling the pills everywhere. He took one and left the lid balancing on top of the bottle while he went about trying to get dressed. Just as he was pulling a blazer on over his shirt there was a knock at the door.

“It’s open!” Julian called as he managed to get his injured arm into the sleeve without causing himself too much pain. He looked up as the door opened and David looked in.

“You’re up I see,” David said with a grin. “I knocked for you last night at tea and supper but you must have been sleeping like a log!” Julian grinned as he pulled his other sleeve around and managed to shake his blazer on.

Continue reading →

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Five on a Treasure Island – How has Blyton’s original text fared in a modern edition? part 4

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Fiona

Having read chapters seven and eight a line at a time I can now say I found thirteen changes between them (again, not including random adding and removing of hyphens or I’d be here for a week.) Apologies in advance, there’s a bit of a grammar rant in here. It was one in the morning and I was tired.

A reminder of parts one, two and three in case you missed them.

The 1997 paperback, with the illustration from the first edition

CHAPTER SEVEN: BACK TO KIRRIN COTTAGE

I rather stand by my theory that the more action a chapter sees, the more changes it receives. Chapter six was pretty action packed and I noted twelve alterations, whereas chapter seven, which features much more talk and planning only has six. (Out of interest I did a page count, chapter six is only one page longer than chapter seven, as obviously a substantially longer chapter would have a lot more words that could possibly be altered. One page’s worth doesn’t seem significant to me. Not to double the alterations anyway.)

The first change I found is that whilst has become while. Whilst might be a little old-fashioned, but it’s still a perfectly good word, isn’t it?

Next, the line he [Timmy] didn’t seem to like the wreck at all, but growled deeply at it, has been changed. The but has become an and. They both mean the same thing, so why was it changed? Whether he didn’t like it, but growled instead, or didn’t like it and growled… it’s the same, and really doesn’t warrant an edit in my opinion.

Uncle Quentin’s threats are then watered down. In the original he announces he will keep [them] all in bed tomorrow. Nowadays he just threatens to keep [them] in. Likewise when the children say they’ll find themselves in bed, it instead becomes inside. Not sure about this change either. Keeping children in bed as a punishment probably seems old-fashioned, but it’s not exactly a crime of child cruelty. I imagine they would be allowed out to use the bathroom! It’s later said that they worry they might be sent to bed, so clearly not all punishments involving limiting them to bed are banned.

The last change is equally ridiculous. Dick lay back in a chair becomes on a chair.  There’s only one word for that, and it’s why? There’s a difference between being in a chair and on it, even if it’s very slight. Likewise being in your bed and on it are different, but both are acceptable! In the chair implies comfort, a certain cosiness which is lacking if you’re just on a chair.

This chapter makes me feel like the editor read it, couldn’t find anything to change, or not enough anyway, and so felt he wasn’t earning his money. So he went back and made a half-dozen petty changes to justify his job.

CHAPTER EIGHT: EXPLORING THE WRECK

Slightly more action = slightly more changes.

Another whilst becomes while,  and like in several other places shorts become jeans so I’ll spare you my now-usual rant about weather-appropriate clothing and just point out they left the rubber-soled shoes alone, surely trainers would go better with the jeans?

That means I can save my ranting for these sorts of changes. The original talks about the rocks on which the great wreck rested. Seems perfectly reasonable, doesn’t it? Apparently it’s not, as the later editions reads the rocks in which the great wreck rested. It’s a boat, boats get stuck on rocks, not in them. The updated version can’t seem to make up its mind, as it later has a reference to the wreck being on the rocks.

Finally, a change that might be a positive one. Isn’t it strange to see bunks the sailors have slept in – and look at that old wooden chair, is how the original text reads. The paperback reads isn’t it strange to see bunks the sailors have slept in? – and look at that old wooden chair. The first part of the sentence is rather questioning. Sentences begging isn’t it or aren’t they etc usually are, though in this case it seems almost a statement. But a question mark followed by a dash? – I’m not so sure about that. Just doesn’t look right in either the text or this blog. A full stop, whether at the bottom of a question or exclamation mark, or on its own, denotes the end of a sentence. A dash is for joining two parts together. (Let’s not get into the difference between hyphens, m-dashes and n-dashes though.) How can you join a sentence fragment onto a finished sentence? If they’d wanted to put a question mark in, to me they should then have altered the start of the next sentence to “Oh, and look,” or something to that effect, assuming they care about the ‘don’t start a sentence with a conjunction’ rule.

The rest of the alterations are to do with the editor’s least favourite word: queer. A queer smell becomes a funny one, a queer sight becomes strange, instead of feeling queer the children feel uneasy (which to me isn’t the same thing at all!) and, slightly incongruously a queer trip becomes a weird one. I can’t remember weird appearing in any original famous five texts, though I could be wrong. It’s certainly in The Valley of Adventure, when the girls go into the cave of echoes, but it’s not a word used very often by Blyton I don’t think.

And that’s it for these chapters. Please do comment if a) you can point out multiple uses of weird in Blyton’s works, or b) think question marks and dashes of any kind go well together. Or if you have anything to say about any of these changes!

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The Marsh of Adventure by Poppy, chapter 11

Posted on January 15, 2014 by worldofblyton

Chapter eleven:

Noises in the night

Four subdued children sat in the boys’ tent as thunder rolled, lightning flashed and rain lashed down. By now they were rather damp, and had given up their game of cards. They were rather hungry, for they had not yet had their tea.

“Did we leave any sandwiches over at lunch?” Lucy-Ann half shouted, battling to be heard in the noisy storm.

“Not a scrap…” Philip replied dolefully, but equally loudly.

“I’m starving!” Dinah moaned, huddling up into a ball under a few rugs. “Won’t somebody rush over to the hidey hole and bring something?”

Philip and Jack looked at each other. “I’ll go,” Jack said reluctantly. “Anything specific?”

“Just food!” Dinah said impatiently. “I don’t care what it is, I could eat anything! Do hurry, Jack.” Jack lifted the flap of the tent and looked out doubtfully. After a roll of thunder, he dashed out hurriedly. Kiki, not at all wanting to return to the storm, did not follow her master for once and sat firmly on Lucy-Ann’s shoulder as Philip buttoned the tent up again.

Jack raced through the storm to the hidey hole, where they stored all the food they had. The sky was very dark and grey by now. The lightning lighted things up for a moment when it flashed, but that was all the light there was. Jack could hardly see where he was going through the rain and thunder, and fought his way along. And then he realised he was going down the hill! “I must be going the wrong way,” he hissed to himself.

Continue reading →

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Monday Monday Monday!

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Fiona

Another week into the New Year, where is it going?! It seems to be heading by so fast already!

Anyway, this last week, we reached a tremendous new score for our most viewed day. We went up from 298 to 319 with our wonderful interview with Jemima Rooper. We are so glad that you all liked it!

So this week, well we have Chapter Eleven of Poppy’s Marsh of Adventure, and Fiona will be doing her next instalment of textual changes for  Five on a Treasure Island. 

And I have no idea I’m afraid. Mostly likely it’ll be a double Fan fiction week and I’ll post the next chapter of my The Missing Papers, however if I think of anything else, I shall let you know!

I shall leave you with a set of pictures I took on an early morning walk yesterday while the frost was still thick on the ground. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did taking them!

Posted in Blog talk | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments