The Marsh of Adventure by Poppy, chapter 4

Posted on August 7, 2013 by worldofblyton

Chapter four:

Off to see Alf

They played a merry game of snap and then retired to bed. What a lovely day it had been, and Bill was going to be back the day after tomorrow  – lovely! The next morning the children were to set off to see Alf in his little hut as early as they could so that they would not miss him, for he would have to go out and shepherd his sheep ; Mrs Jordans had explained all this to them. Jack had a great big slab of ginger bread in his bag to give to Alf, which would maybe make Alf forgiving them a little easier! The children were rather disappointed to have to use their whole day to go and see Alf and apologise but Mrs Jordans insisted. She sent them all off straight after breakfast and waved them off. She felt sure that they would not disobey her and wander off into the hills, she was very fond of the children and trusted them greatly. So off they all marched, up Lowfell Hill.

They stopped as they had done yesterday, half way up and drunk from the spring. Lucy-Ann wasn’t looking forward to facing Alf and telling him she was sorry for peeping into his shed but she knew she must because she too had been peeping.

It was another pleasant day and the sun blazed down onto the children as they made their way steadily up the hill. They were tempted to have a nap but Philip objected. “Come on. We’ll never get to Alf’s if we have a nap – remember what happened yesterday. We don’t want to be late for tea.” So off they set again and soon arrived at Alf’s hut. They did not dare to peep in today but instead Jack knocked sharply on the front door.

“Who’s there?” came a gruff voice. Jack nudged Philip.

“We have come to say sorry for yesterday, we are the four children you saw peeping into your shed.” Philip explained. There was a pause.

“Come on in then.” was the reply. Philip pushed open the door and they all trooped in. They saw an old man sitting awkwardly in a large oyster coloured chair with a pipe sticking out of his mouth. He wore grey flannel clothes and a smart grey jumper and his face was rather stern and wrinkled. His mouth was a line and his eyes were harsh, but kind. He had a beard that covered his chin and his eye brows were thick and shaggy. He had a dog which was lay across his feet. When he saw the children, he left his master’s feet and went and sniffed the children’s ankles. Philip stroked him and at once, the dog fell under his spell and licked his hand. Alf watched in amusement.

“We’re very sorry to have upset you Alf. We brought you this, so you might forgive us.” Philip said standing up straight again and handing him the ginger bread.

Alf looked down at it and then back at the children, his eyes twinkling. “Thank you.” he said awkwardly. “And, I’m sorry I scolded you, I thought you were some of them ‘orrid kids that go about prying and poking their noses into things they shouldn’t, but you’re quite decent.”

The children looked pleased and Lucy-Ann thought Alf was marvellous. Then she did a very surprising thing which made the children gape! She actually went right up to Alf and gave him one of her bear hugs! These were Lucy-Ann’s great hugs which kept mainly for Bill, but today here was somebody else, she thought deserved one! “Oh, thank you for forgiving us!” she exclaimed, “I thought you mightn’t. But you have, and I do think you’re kind!”

The others watched in astonishment and Alf listened in even more surprise. “Steady on now!” he said kindly, “Now why shouldn’t I forgive you?” He pushed her off gently and she rejoined the other who were stood in a row before Alf, chuckling.

“Sit down” Alf said, “There’s not much room, but there’s space over there.” The children sat themselves down on the few chairs or perched on the edge of one of the arms.

The dog followed Philip at once and flopped down onto his feet now instead of his master’s. He was a black and white collie, rather fat. Philip stroked his soft fur and the dog licked him in return, as if in encouragement!

“ ‘Is name’s Scamp. ‘E is one as well!” Alf said looking at Scamp in surprise. “Not often ‘e takes a liking to someone though, especially kids. He barks at anyone that goes by this hut.” The children listened in interest and fondled Scamp who was pleased at the attention, but not very interested in it either. He had found a new master now – Philip, who he would do anything and everything for!

Alf was puzzled by his loyal dog’s behaviour and rather hurt too, though he did not show it. He became rather suspicious of Philip. Philip saw this look and quickly explained himself.

Continue reading →

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First Monday in August

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Fiona

I’m not sure how or when but apparently it is now August and the year’s rapidly slipping away from us!

Things are as disorganised as ever this week behind the scenes on the blog, shame on us! We’re still waiting on contributions to trickle in, so our Wednesday post this week will be the next chapter of Poppy’s Adventure Series fanfic, which I’m sure you’re eagerly waiting for.

Stef is going to give us her review of Last Term at Malory Towers, and I will either do another crafting how-to or review a biography, I haven’t decided yet.

Our other news is that we reached  24,000 views this week, so thank you to everyone who’s dropped by to see what we’ve written lately.

Note from Stef: I would just like to wish Paul Child (who will not like me for bringing this up! 😉 ) who played Dick in the 1990s Famous Five TV series) a very happy birthday as today is his birthday! So many happy returns Paul, from us here at Word of Blyton! Have a lovely day!

[For any news about Paul, follow his band’s Facebook page here and check out his music at paulchildband.com– and trust me, the music is quite special!]

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer, even if it has been a bit rainy lately here in the UK. I’ll leave you all with a few photos I took at the Crags of Lundie in Angus, Scotland.

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Poppy Dresses – A poem by Enid Blyton

Posted on August 4, 2013 by Fiona

Poor Stef’s not been very well for the past few days and on top of that she’s had some computer problems. Unfortunately that means she’s not been able to finish her blog for this week. Instead here’s another of Blyton’s lovely little poems.

When the poppies drop their petals
Gay and bright,
Fairy folk run up to get them
Every night.

All their dresses, coats and bonnets
They can make
Of the fallen poppy petals
That they take!

See them in their party dresses,
Aren’t they grand?
They are off to dance all night
In Fairyland!

First published in Sunny Stories No.132 July 21, 1939. Copied from The Eleventh Holiday Book published 1956 by Sampson Low.

An array of poppy pictures by Stef and Fiona

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The Ship of Adventure

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Fiona

First published in 1950 this is the sixth book in the series.

THE LOCATION

This time the Mannering/Trent clan are off on a Mediterranean cruise, so the ship The Viking Star hosts much of the excitement. They visit quite a few exotic places like Madeira and French Morocco, but in the end their main adventure is on a mysterious Greek island.

The Viking Star

The Viking Star

THE CHARACTERS

Normally these books have an obvious baddie or baddies from early on (Jo-Jo is clearly a bad guy even if we later discover he’s bad for a different reason, while in Castle, Valley, Sea and Mountain we meet individuals who are immediately given bad-guy status,) but the enemy in this book is more of a devious, smooth individual. We know he’s not nice from the outset but there’s a bit of an is-he-isn’t-he feeling about him. I’m talking about Mr Eppy, of course, Lucian’s uncle. He brings along a few brawny types to help him at the end, he obviously is the brains of the operation even if he needs children to stumble onto treasure so he can steal the glory.

Lucian or, as the children call him, Lucy-Ann, is a boy of roughly similar age to Jack and Philip whom they meet on the cruise ship. Jack immediately dubs him Brer Rabbit, as in addition to being tall and gangly he has the mouth of a rabbit. He has sticky-out front teeth and a sloping chin (a bit like Maureen Little from Malory Towers by the sound of it.)

Lucy-Ann and Lucian

Lucy-Ann and Lucian

He’s a friendly boy and he immediately latches on to the four children rather to their dismay, as he’s a bit of a cry-baby in their opinion. He has his uses, he speaks various local languages and so can interpret for them when they take trips off the ship, but he does have a habit of running his mouth off to his aunt and uncle.

The adventure starts after Lucy-Ann buys Philip a ship in a bottle for his birthday and they find a tiny treasure map inside. It’s in Greek, though, and they have to be rather clever about getting people to translate it. Unfortunately Mr Eppy’s also rather clever and manages to find out rather too much about the map for their liking before he disappears from the ship. Mrs Mannering is then called away to look after Aunt Polly who has fallen ill and good old Bill joins them in her place. When the ship has engine trouble the children manage to persuade Bill to take them treasure-hunting using their map. Being the bright sort of children they are they of course have no trouble finding the treasure, at least not until Mr Eppy and his associates appear.

PHILIP’S PETS

Philip picks up a monkey on one of their trips off the boat, and they call him Micky as that’s the sound he makes when he chatters away. Micky latches on to Philip when he saves him from a cruel group of local children who are throwing stones at him.Unfortunately we don’t find out what happens to Micky after the adventure, he doesn’t come home with Philip anyway.

Micky and Kiki

Micky and Kiki

MY REVIEW

This isn’t one of my favourite books in the series, but I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s the fact it’s not set in one place; in the other books so far we’ve had a good time to settle into a location and get to know it. The cruise ship doesn’t have the same appeal as say Craggy Tops or Puffin Island. I do like the whole thing of finding a treasure map in the ship in a bottle, and the underground treasure-hunting part of the story is good, though it hasn’t stuck in my mind like some other stories with underground tunnels and treasures have. My favourite part of the story is probably them finding the map and then figuring out what to do with it; trying to translate it and yet keep it hidden too.

The pattern changes again here; rather than Bill turning up to save the children he turns up half-way through and walks them right into the danger.

Apart from Lucian’s similarity to Maureen Little, the whole treasure map portion reminds me of The Treasure Hunters. In both books they can’t make head nor tail of the map at first. In Ship that’s because it’s faded and in Greek, while in The Treasure Hunters it’s because the writing’s so old it looks like JREAFURE not TREASURE. The Treasure Hunters’ map gets torn in two, and they stick it on one of the ceilings in the dollhouse in Susan’s room. In Ship, they cut the map into four pieces, and each child finds a clever place to hide it; like sticking it to the back of a drawer.

The hunt for the treasure

The hunt for the treasure

Another big change for the family situation comes about at the end of this book. Lucy-Ann pipes up that Bill and Allie should get married so that Allie can keep an eye on him and the children (and stop them getting into adventures.) Bill laughs at first, and then asks Allie if she thinks it’s a good idea. She says yes, and Bob’s your uncle, they’re getting married. As a child it never struck me as odd at all. As an adult I can see it’s unusual, but it doesn’t feel unnatural still, as you get the impression Bill and Allie are already more than friends, and perhaps have talked about it before, despite Allie saying “I’m surprised we’ve never thought of it before.” But anyway, the book was written for children, so my adult opinion of it isn’t worth much!

Next review – The Circus of Adventure

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Julian’s News, chapter 8

Posted on July 31, 2013 by pippastef

So it’s been a few weeks since the seventh part of Julian’s news, and now I present you with the finale to tie up the loose ends!

If you need to refresh your memories parts one to seven can be found below;

Prequel – The way you make me feel
Part One: Telling Dick
Part Two: Back at Kirrin
Part Three: The first day 
Part Four: George
Part Five: George again
Part Six: A walk and some trouble
Part Seven: The rescue

So, that is everything up to date, and with this makes the story complete! I hope you’ve enjoyed my short Famous Five Adventure, if I can think of any more ideas; you’ll be sure to get them here first!

For now; enjoy!

THE FINALE

When they got back to Kirrin Cottage, things happened quickly. Aunt Fanny ordered Julian to take a bath and to give her his clothes to wash to get rid of the seaweed smell he was carrying around with him, while George was carried into the living room and laid on the sofa. The Doctor had another look at her foot and checked her for a concussion.

Once he had declared her to be free of any head injury and announced himself convinced that her ankle was no more than badly sprained, but that she should probably have an x-ray just in case it was anything worse, he gave Aunt Fanny some painkillers to give George who had fallen asleep on the sofa under some blankets.

“She’s incredibly lucky,” Julian heard the Doctor say as he made his way downstairs after his bath. “It could have been a lot worse. I’ll pop round in the morning to see if anything else has cropped up in the night.”

“Thank you Doctor,” Aunt Fanny said.

“Don’t thank me, Mrs Kirrin. I’d thank this young chap for being so foolhardy as to go down into that hole himself. I don’t think I would have the nerve to do it,” The Doctor teased, nodding at Julian on the stairs.

Continue reading →

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Prize Giving Monday!

Posted on July 29, 2013 by pippastef

So after last week’s competition, which I’m sure you’ve been eagerly waiting all week for (despite only having three comments!) I’m sure you’re desperate to know who the winner is!

I shall keep you in suspense no longer and can tell you that our winner is…. (drum roll)

Sandra Keeley!

So Sandra, if you email us with your book choice, and your address, we shall get that sent to you ASAP!

Sorry to Francis and Laura; Hope we can send you a prize next time!

Back to blog matters!

This week we should have Fiona’s next review from the Adventure series. This time it should be the Ship of Adventure! (I don’t know about you but I’m wondering what she’ll review when she’s finished!)

As for me, well this week instead of the contributor, I’m posting the last piece of Julian’s News on Wednesday and possibly my Last Term at Malory Towers review!

Quite an important plea: Please Please PLEASE if you have any Blyton ideas, please email us and let us know! The email address can be found above, and if you want to write for us, but don’t know what, check out our Want to Write for World of Blyton page Here.

Another exciting this to happen this week is that The Index of Blog Posts has been updated! So if you want to find anything, check in there!

Next Sunday (4th August) some of the Enid Blyton Society forumites are meeting at Old Thatch for some food and a wonder, so check out the thread on the forum, and drop us a line if you’d like to come along to! The gardens open at 2pm!

To end I shall share with you some pictures of my most recent trip to St Andrews with Fiona last week (gosh it seems so long ago!) and you may be able to get an idea why I chose to base my fan fiction in St Andrews. It’s the perfect place for adventures! Enjoy!

Blackfriars Chapel
The flowers we sat near at lunchtime
A secluded allyway
Market Street
The fountain on Market Street by
St Salvators College Chapel Tower as seen down College Street
The quieter end of Market Street cornered with Union Street and one of the three main fish and chip shops
Market Street being invaded by Fiona
The end of Market Street
A gorgeous house on Castle Street (I seriously want to own one of these!)
The castle tower down Castle Street
St Salvator’s Chapel Tower as seen from the top of North Street
One of the ruined towers in the cathedral
The ruined cathedral
The tower against a dramatic blue sky
Under the arch
The arches
St Rules Tower under the arch
Three Towers
The view from the top of St Rules Tower, overlooking the town
The view from St Rules Tower looking out to the West Sands and the castle
A close up on the town; North Street and St Salvator’s Chapel
The pier out by the East Sands (that is a Blyton sea if ever I saw one!)
A close up on the castle’s beach
A hidey hole in the cathedral graveyard
Fishing boats all lined up by the East Sands
The East Sand
The cathedral ruins from the beach
A close up of St Salvator’s chapel as we drove by on the way home
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July Flowers

Posted on July 28, 2013 by pippastef

I know, I’m a little late once again for these flowers, but you would be surprised at what gets pushed back and back when you have lots more good ideas. Anyway, here we are: July Flowers from Enid Blyton’s Nature Lovers Book.

Note from the Author:

Many of the flowers quoted this month may also be found in June, and most of the June Flowers may also be found this month.

  • Yellow Bedstraw: The Yellow Bedstraw carpets banks and field corners with its golden flowers all the summer. The tiny flowers grow in pretty clusters up the rather weak stem. Look for the white bedstraw as well.
    Yellow Bedstraw from www.cotswoldseeds.com

    Yellow Bedstraw from http://www.cotswoldseeds.com

     

  • Heather or Ling: There is no need to describe the heather or ling that covers miles of common and moorland now with it’s rosy-purple bells. Notice the woody stem, and the tiny, narrow leaves, tightly pressed against it.

     

  • Bell Heather: You will often finr this blossoming before the ling, and you will know it by its crimson bells which are larger, deeper in colour, and more rounded than those of the ling.

     

  • Honeysuckle: Everyone knows this fragrant flower also. It often grows in our gardens, and can be found wild on the hedges, and in thickets, all of the summer.  Notice the honeysuckle’s curiously shaped flowers- they are like clusters of long trumpets, opening out into unequal lips. They are yellow-pink in colour and smell delicious. Look for the deep-red berries later. Notice the blue-green leaves, oval-shaped, growing in pairs. See also the tough woody steam that twists itself around other plants in order to climb upwards.
    Honeysuckle from http://i1.treknature.com

    Honeysuckle from http://i1.treknature.com

     

  • Bramble or Blackberry: Most children know the pink or white blackberry flowers, that come before the berries they like so much. Notice the prickly stems of the bramble, thrown into big curving sprays. Leaflets in groups of three or five grow along the stem, and they too have prickles on their under surface.
    Blackberry Bramble flowers from http://urbanbutterflygarden.co.uk

    Blackberry Bramble flowers from http://urbanbutterflygarden.co.uk

     

  • Herb Robert: This flower is a little like its cousin, the dove’s foot crane’s-bill. The five-petalled pink flowers grow in pairs. It has the same beak-like seed-vessels. The leaves are shaped like a small hand, cut up into fingers. They turn a beautiful red.

     

  • Bird’s Foot Terfoil: The pretty bird’s foot trefoil, with its golden clusters of sweet-pea-shapred flowers can be found anywhere. Notice the red streaks in the flowers, and later on see the claw-like cluster of pods that look strangely like a bird’s foot. Notice the leave– “trefoil” or tree-leaved is not really a very good name for this flower, as the leaflets are in fives, though two of them are some way from the group of three.
    Bird's Foot Trefoil by Stephanie Woods

    Bird’s Foot Trefoil by Stephanie Woods

     

  • Silverweed:  Look for this plant in meadows, and on ditch-banks. The flowers have five golden petals, opening out flat. Notice the leaves, which give the flower its name- they grow in pairs, and are dark green above, and silvery below.

     

  • Cinquefoil: You will think this flower is very like the silverweed. It has five golden yellow petals, smaller than those of the silverweed. Notice the creeping stalks of the cinquefoil. The plant gets its name from the pretty leaves, which are cut up into five saw-edged leaflets- five- leafed, or cinque (five) foil (leaf).
    Cinquefoil from livingwilderness.com

    Cinquefoil from livingwilderness.com

     

  • Rosebay Willow-Herb, or Fireweed: You will find this flower growing in tall masses in open woods and copses. The spires are a lovely rosy purple, and the flowers open from the bottom upwards. The leaves are lance shaped.
    Rosebay Willow-Herb or Fireweed by Fiona Brough

    Rosebay Willow-Herb or Fireweed by Fiona Brough

     

  • Enchanter’s Nightshade or Bittersweet: This is a common plant in the hedges now. The purple and yellow flowers will remind you of the potato flower in your kitchen garden. Notice the yellow stamens in the centre if the flower. The leaves are divided into three lobes. Notice the read egg-shaped berries later.
    Enchanter's Nightshade or Bittersweet from http://www.flowers.goodpages.co.uk

    Enchanter’s Nightshade or Bittersweet from http://www.flowers.goodpages.co.uk

     

So there are your July flowers! Sorry they were so late, but happy hunting all!

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Blyton Related Crafts – How to make a canvas book bag

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Fiona

Stef and I have developed a bit of a habit in that we often make each other gifts for birthdays and Christmas. Generally, they’re Blyton-themed too. For Christmas last year I decorated a bag for her, and I’m going to try and walk you through how I did it. This is my first how-to, so go easy on me?

The finished bag (the flash makes the colour look slightly patchier than it really is)

You will need:

A fabric bag. I got a canvas one from Hobbycraft.

Fabric paints. Again, I went to Hobbycraft where I picked up an inexpensive set of fabric paints. You can buy individual pots (useful for picking and choosing specific colours) but I got a pack of six (blue, green, red, yellow, white and black). I used Pebeo Setacolor Opaque (I didn’t want a transparent effect from the paint.)

Black Fabric Pen. I picked one fine enough for writing with but thick enough to make bold lines.

Paintbrushes. I bought a cheap pack of brushes in varying sizes.

A ruler, a pencil and rubber, a tea-plate or other circular object, some paper, kitchen roll, an iron and a cup of water.

The whole lot set me back less than £20, and I still have plenty of fabric paint left over for future projects.

STAGE ONE: THE TEMPLATE

I taped two sheets of A4 paper together and trimmed them down to give me the approximate size of the bag. I then roughly sketched out the layout of books I wanted. I chose to have one lying on its side, three upright and two leaning to the side, but you could have several in a neat row or all stacked up if you prefer. The books don’t have to look exactly like their real-life counterparts at this stage as you can use colour and text to identify them later.

Once I was happy with the general layout I used the ruler to get straight lines in the drawing, and to mark out rectangular text spaces on the books, in a variety of dimensions. I used the saucer to round off the tops and bottoms of the spines and to draw striped bands on a couple of books.

Next, I cut it all out. I admit now, I’m dreadful at free-handing, so I used it as a template and drew around it onto the bag, in pencil.

(Note, it’s worth testing whether or not your pencil marks will rub out well on an inconspicuous part of the bag – mine was fine, thankfully.)

Sorry for how poor this picture is, I hadn’t planned to use it for a blog! You might be to see where my original plans differ from the finished product.

STAGE TWO: THE PAINTING

Once the lines are in place, it’s time to crack out the paints!

I already knew which book was which, so I picked my colours accordingly. The Famous Five book had to be bright red like the Hodder & Stoughton Hardbacks. For the Malory Towers books I chose yellow with green details, and green with yellow details, to give a sense of them belonging to the same series without being identical. For the others I picked colours that just seemed to suit; though of course you could match your paints to the colours of actual copies.

Before painting I lined the bag with kitchen roll, to mop up any paint that went through the fabric.

I found that brushing the paint on didn’t work too well thanks to the texture of the canvass, a gentle stippling technique worked better.

I left the paints to dry overnight before tackling the next part (though with hindsight, I could have done the lettering and then the painting…)

I found that after drying overnight a few paint areas needed touched up, as there was the odd cream dot showing through.

A closer view of the painted books

STAGE THREE: THE DETAILS

Using the cut outs from the text boxes I mapped out how I was going to fit the book titles in. Up and down? Sideways? How many words per line? I tried them out a few ways before deciding for each book, and worked out the size and spacing for the letters too.

I faintly drew pencil lines onto the bag to help keep the writing even and then pencilled on the lettering.

Again, I’m rubbish at free-handing so I didn’t dare draw directly with the fabric pen without guidelines. I tried to use different fonts; some in an attempt to match the real-life book.

I did use the pen eventually, though, to go over the pencil lines. I then used it to outline the books, the striped bands and the text boxes.

Finally, after a bit of practice, I forged Blyton’s signature on her books!

One of my forged signatures
Twilight done in a twilighty font

STAGE FOUR: THE QUOTE

I picked a booky quote for the back, you could use a few lines from a favourite story or something general about books and reading.

Again, I used paper to map out the space I had to work with and measured out how many lines and how many words per line.

With my mock-up on paper as a guide, I drew faint pencil lines on the back of the bag and then wrote the quote on in pencil. I had to rub out a few letters I didn’t like the look of and re-do them.

Once I was happy I carefully went over the pencil marks with my fabric pen, and let it dry before rubbing out any remaining pencil marks.

Lastly, I turned the bag inside out and ran a warm iron over it. The paints came with instructions as to the temperature and time it would take to make ‘fix’ the paint so it was waterproof.

And that’s it! I think it turned out not too badly considering it was the first time I’d ever attempted such a thing, and I’m atrocious at drawing. I think if I did it again I wouldn’t put text boxes on the books, I’d just paint the whole spine and write on top.

I hope to do another of these some day, I just need a book loving friend to give it to!

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The Marsh of Adventure by Poppy, chapter 3

Posted on July 24, 2013 by worldofblyton

Chapter three:

A terrible shock and a lovely day

The children slept like logs that night and didn’t awake until the first rays of sunlight broke across the sky. Each of them stared at the slanted ceiling for a few moments trying to work out where they could be, but in a flash it all came back and each child sat up in excitement. Of course! They were at Lowfell, in the lovely little inn! And today they were going to climb Lowfell Hill – how fine! Jack was the first to get out of bed and he flung open the curtains and let the wonderful weather flood into the room. Philip rubbed his eyes and Jack shook him. “Wake up lazy bones, we’re off to Lowfell Hill today – to watch the birds!”

Philip laughed at Jack. “Hey, easy. Let me have ten more minutes, it is the holidays. You remind me of my form master at school who always comes into our dormy on a morning to shake me because I never get out of bed when the bell goes! Alright, alright, I’m getting up now!”

The boys pulled on some clothes and then marched into the girls room. “Oh, you’re awake. Mother and Bill must be having a lie in, there’s no sign of them. We’ll just go down to breakfast shall we? And if they are still not up when we want to be setting off for Lowfell Hill, we’ll leave a message with Mrs Jordans,” Philip announced.

Everyone stumbled down the crooked stair case, looking with interest at the paintings hung on the walls. They knew their way around the inn now and headed for the dining room where they expected a huge meal to be served to them. And they were right – bacon, eggs, fried bread, sausages – what a heavenly meal! There were a few guests up, but not many. Just the children, the two old friends who the children knew were leaving today and the business man who was working out some sort of sum on his note pad. He was always up early writing down some kind of sum. The children listened to his muffled groans and sighs as they tucked into their meal.

“Some difficult sum, he must be working out,” Dinah said in a low voice. She showed an alarmed expression as Kiki echoed her in a much louder, cheekier voice. She looked feebly over her shoulder to beg the gentleman’s pardon, but he didn’t seem to have noticed at all. She sighed in relief.

But someone had heard, and that was Mrs Jordans. She came up and tapped Kiki on the beak. “Naughty bird!” she exclaimed with a twinkle in her eye. She turned to the children and smiled at them. “Good morning children!” she said in a merry voice. “I’m afraid I’ve a little bit of bad news to tell you Continue reading →

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Prize Give-Away Monday

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Fiona

Well we’ve reached the magic number of one hundred followers on the blog, so as promised we’re going to give away an Enid Blyton book to one lucky follower. I’ll get to the details in a moment, but first what’s coming up on the blog this week.

On Wednesday we’ll be putting on chapter three of Poppy’s Adventure Series fan fiction, The Marsh of Adventure. I think things are about to start hotting up in the story, as they’re off to the marsh for the first time. You’ll have to come back on Wednesday to see exactly what happens!

I will possibly review the next Adventure Series book, The Ship of Adventure, or if I find myself with lots of time I might review another biography.

As for Stef, she’s still got a load of possibilities, but I think she may do July flowers for us, before August sneaks up!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, with that out of the way on to the give-away!

First, the prize. The winner will get one of four Enid Blyton hardbacks that I have set aside (don’t worry I have other copies of the titles, and no room to store duplicates!)

They are: Three Cheers Secret Seven (Brockhampton Press, 1956, first edition), Puzzle for the Secret Seven (Brockhampton Press, 1961, second impression), The Mystery That Never Was (Collins, 1976, second edition) and The Adventure of the Secret Necklace (Lutterworth Press, 1954, first edition.)

Here they are in all their glory:

And now, to the boring bit with all the rules!

1. You must be a follower of the blog through either email or wordpress. You can find the follow by email button at the bottom of the right hand column on the home page and at the top left if you’re a WordPress user.

2. You must live in the United Kingdom as unfortunately we simply cannot afford the postage to the rest of the word.

3. You must comment on this post and tell us which of the four books you would like to win. Please make sure the name on your comment matches the name you use when you followed us so we can match them up!

4. One entry per follower (if you follow us by email and by wordpress it still only counts once.)

5. Once we declare a winner, that person has a further seven days (until Sunday the 4th of August) to get in touch to claim the prize, emailing us at our blog email address would be best.

Phew! The winner will be picked at random on Sunday the 28th of July and we will announced it on Monday the 29th. That means you’ve got a week to decide which book you want!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And finally, a plea from Stef and I! We’re very short of contributors at the moment (must be all the sunshine!), so if you think you’ve got an interesting story or a favourite book to review drop us a line! We’ve got some suggestions on the blog here, so do check it out!

 Good luck with the give-away and have a great week!

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A review of Humpty Dumpty and Belinda

Posted on July 21, 2013 by Fiona

I’ve been promising this review for years, well, OK since April, and I’ve finally beaten my writer’s block and finished it, hooray!

Humpty Dumpty and Belinda is one of two Collins Colour Camera Books where the story is written by Enid Blyton. (The other is Father Christmas and Belinda.) There are actually other Collins Colour Camera books about Belinda, but those are not written by Blyton.

As Tony Summerfield kindly explained:

It would seem that Belinda and Father Christmas by Hugh and Sally Gee was published in America by Chanticleer Press in 1948. Obviously Enid Blyton saw this book and fancied writing her own version of the story and it was published by Collins in 1951 as Father Christmas and Belinda. This would not be the first time that Enid saw illustrations from another book and wrote her own story to fit the original illustrations as she did exactly that with Let’s Pretend.

It seems that Hugh and Sally Gee did write other books about Belinda [such as] Belinda and the Magic Journey, but Enid just rewrote the two of them.

As some of you may remember Humpty Dumpty and Belinda is the book I bought in Leakey’s bookstore in Inverness, while I was on holiday in April.

It’s a slightly unusual book, in that it has 14 full-page colour photographs illustrating the story as well as 21 line drawings by Sally Gee.

One of the colour plates featuring Belinda, Tod and Humpty meeting the king.

One of the colour plates featuring Belinda, Tod and Humpty meeting the king.

The title page explains the story was created by Hugh Gee (Daddy), and Sally Gee (Mummy) for Jane (in the book as Jane.)

The story starts with Jane discovering that Humpty Dumpty (a toy made by her Daddy in his workshop) has fallen off the wall, and has broken into many little bits. She goes and looks at a story-book featuring Humpty, alongside her dolls Belinda and Tod. When Jane goes to bed Belinda and Tod go to see poor Humpty and use some of Daddy’s glue to put him back together. They stick everything in place, but when they’re done they realise he’s not quite right. He’s got an arm where a leg should be, and a leg for an arm and his mouth and one of his eyes is upside down. This means he talks a bit like Yoda – everything backwards comes out a bit, and he walks rather awkwardly too. Using Jane’s storybook as a doorway, the three toys walk into the King’s castle. The King is in his counting house, counting out his money just as he is in the nursery rhyme Sing a Song of Sixpence. The King says all his men and horses can’t fix Humpty, but he does have a spell for magic glue.

Here is a really magic glue
That makes all broken things quite new.
Go find the things that here you read:-
A pocket full of rye you’ll need,
Some water from a magic well,
A tinkle from a silver bell,
A crooked sixpence, almost round,
A sheep’s tail that’s been lost and found,
A pie from off a pieman’s tray,
A bit of wool, not white or grey;
Mix all these things together well
And you will have a magic spell,
To mend all broken things – a glue
To make them whole again for you.

All of these things come from well-known nursery rhymes. A pocket full of rye is from Sing a Song of Sixpence, the magic well is from Jack and Jill, the silver bell from Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, the crooked sixpence is from There Was a Crooked Man, the sheep’s tail is from Little Bo Peep, the Pieman from Simple Simon and the wool is from Baa Baa Black Sheep.

In order to gather all these items Tod and Belinda must leave the castle and head out into nursery-rhyme world. Before that, they meet some more characters in the castle – the Queen  who’s eating bread and honey while complaining about all the blackbird pies she’s served and the maid who’s hanging out the washing and trying to protect her nose from a blackbird.

Out in nursery-rhyme land they meet the characters of all the nursery rhymes above, and must persuade, or in some cases trick, them into giving up an item for the magic glue. When they get back with all their ingredients in a bucket, Humpty is less than pleased that he will have to be broken-up before he can be fixed. He runs away, but ends up tripping and smashing himself anyway. The magic glue is just as magic as its name and once it is brushed on each broken piece a thick mist rises up. It clears away after a loud bang to reveal a completely repaired Humpty.

The three toys return to the workshop through the book again, and Belinda and Tod sneak off to bed where they whisper their story to a sleeping Jane.

DSCN0186

One of Sally Gee’s illustrations featuring the queen.

– – – – – – – – – –

This is such a charming story, which I think is even lovelier thanks to all the ‘cameos’ from all the iconic nursery rhyme characters.

The colour photos are lovely too, the ones of nursery rhyme land remind me of the work of Walter Wick – he does all the images for the Scholastic I Spy Picture Riddle books. These books feature beautiful double-page photographs, and a list of objects to find described in riddles written by Jean Marzollo. There are different types of images in the books, but Wick often creates miniature sets (using proper miniature items as well as things like thread spools and toy items). I’ve added a couple of images below to give you an idea of his work.

Walter Wick fairytale castle scene
Walter Wick banquet scene

I like Sally Gee’s line drawings and they closely resemble what’s seen in the colour pictures.

I’m really glad I bought this book when I saw it, I genuinely enjoyed reading it. Yes, I am twenty six and I enjoyed a nursery rhyme story probably aimed at five year olds. Am I ashamed? No. But I recommend you track down a copy and spend a lovely half hour pretending you’re five again too.

 

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The Adventure Series: My first impressions

Posted on July 19, 2013 by pippastef

Sometime ago now, I wrote about my eBay of Adventure, in which I brought the entire Adventure series without having read them before, and spent a fairly substantial amount of money on early editions.

Well now, I’ve read them all. In approximately a month I have read all eight of the Adventure books, and LOVED every second of it.

In this blog, I shall attempt to tell you why I enjoyed them, which were my favourite, and my favourite character. I shall also point out links I noticed to Blyton’s Famous Five.

I think I didn’t read these books when I was younger because I was worried that I would like them more than I liked the Famous Five and I didn’t want to like any book or characters more than I liked them, but that doesn’t make me regret not waiting until now to read the Adventure books.

I was speaking to a good friend of mine about reading the Adventure Series as an adult over reading them as a child. She wished that she had read these books as a child, whereas I said;

“I’m glad I didn’t read them as a child, I think I have a greater appreciation of them as a adult.”

And it’s true. And odd. In fact its a very odd concept for most Enid Blyton fans. Usually  when we (the fans on the Enid Blyton Society Forums) read a book as an adult, the most common phrase I hear is that they wish they hadn’t had waited so long before reading that particular book.

Whereas I am more than happy to read her books as an adult, because I feel I can appreciate the language, imagery and storyline more. In fact the Adventure Series has so much to enjoy that as a child I wouldn’t have taken it all in.

Nowadays I still find new things to consider in the books I’ve read all my life (namely the Famous Five and the Malory Towers books).

The Adventure series is certainly a series for the older end of her spectrum of fans; there are more references to the war for one, or at least some sort of conflict. This idea is very clear in Valley of Adventure where there has been a war (the first edition for Valley was published in 1947 – two years after the Second World War) which is what makes the plot for Valley a fairly believable story because missing arts and treasures were still being looked for.

You can see the differences between the Adventure Series and the Famous Five and the Secret Seven for example. These three series seem to work through three different ages, and follow one another.

The Secret Seven is for younger children, there is danger but they are never far from home, they are never really in huge danger although they manage to get into some sticky situations.

As I see it the next series in the progression is the Famous Five; older characters – who do age a little in the novels, and get to leave Kirrin, have more varied adventures and get into a reasonable amount of danger. People get kidnapped, papers go missing, and there are some really unpleasant villains about. However with the Famous Five we do not get to see any effects of the war or anything too heavy about their adventures. Mostly they include hidden tunnels and missing treasure or stolen secrets.

The Adventure Series is the shorter of the three series but the children deal with some very dangerous men, getting themselves into tricky situations and always finding themselves at the end other end of some very dodgy characters.

We get to see characters who are a little older in age, there is more sharing of the tasks, and even though Lucy-Ann still is the “girly girl” she is sometimes very much the centre of the good ideas and sensible suggestions on how to get out of trouble.  The leadership of the four adventurers is more shared between Jack and Philip, they are quite balanced and equally matched. There is a suggestion that Jack older than Philip, but unlike the Famous Five and the boys’ struggle for leading, Jack and Philip tend to take in turns in being in control and leading  the adventure.

The feeling of the adventure series is one of full of excitement, there is always something happening and they are highly charged books, longer as well, so you get more detail and more to sink your teeth into.

The Adventure Series is one of Blyton’s best and this sentiment is echoed by many of Enid Blyton’s fans. I am glad that I finally managed to read this series and convince myself that however good they were that nothing would replace the Famous Five in my life. Although I have to say, that there is now a very strong contender for the my favourite series as the Adventure series is certainly one of Blyton’s best.

I think if I had to pick a favourite book it would be possibly Circus of Adventure because it is such a different type of adventure and there are lots of interesting factors; the change in country, the fact that the children become so involved with the circus and the way they outwit their enemy. I feel its certainly different to any of the Famous Five stories containing circuses because of the children’s involvement with the animals and travelling with the circus folk.

The Circus of Adventure Dustjacket

For me, it was harder to pick a favourite character out of the four children, Kiki the parrot (such a change from a dog!) and the adults- Mrs Mannering a.k.a Aunt Allie and Bill Smugs a.k.a. Bill Cunningham. I do like ALL the characters but I find myself favouring Jack mostly because he seems to have a lot more to do than the others at times, and especially in Circus of Adventure, given the nature of the book, he does have a lot of time as the main Character. I’m not so much of a Kiki fan, she’s funny yes, but she just doesn’t have the same appeal to me.

On the other hand I do find Mrs Mannering and Bill Cunningham pushing close to being favourite characters as well. Its nice to have two very different Blyton adults, and actually a little romance in the air. Its a nice change to have two adults who are happy to be with the children during the holidays instead of packing them off without fail to some relative or on their own. The children still manage to have adventures but its nice that the adults are close at hand.

Overall the Adventure series lives up to its name. It is adventurous, the tales are more daring and there is a realism to them. All in all, a really good read, and I read through them as quickly as I could because I was eager to know more about their adventures and characters.  I’m still not sorry that I didn’t read them in my childhood because I think I appreciate them much more as stories now. So if, like me, you have not read these fabulous books, then you really should find yourself a copy and get reading!

Up next: Stef’s first review – The Island of Adventure

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By the Sea – A poem by Enid Blyton

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Fiona

As we didn’t have a contributor post for today, here is one of Blyton’s poems. It’s rather apt as we were at the beach yesterday, and Stef did a fair bit of paddling.

The waves lift up their heads to see
How far off is the shore,
Then over they curl and run to me
With a thundery splash and roar!
They tickle my feet and they cover my toes
With a thousand bubbles of foam,
And I say “I won’t let you wet my clothes,
Go home, you waves, go home!”
So back they run to the sea in fright,
With a chattering, gurgling noise,
They’re gone in a moment out of sight,
Like mischievous girls and boys!
But then in a trice they are back once more,
They’re much, much bigger than ever before,
Oh, don’t knock me over, please!

I’m running away, I’m running away,
And the waves are chasing me fast,
I’m jumping up on a rock, hurray,
I’m safe – I’m SAFE, at last!

Specially written for the Twelfth Holiday Book, published 1957 by Sampson Low.

Foam on the sea
More waves
The waves at Broughty Ferry beach.
Stef on the beach
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Melting Monday

Posted on July 15, 2013 by pippastef

Blimey it’s a teeny bit hot isn’t it? We’re heading right for a Blyton summer if we’re not too careful! I shall feel like the Famous Five on their train down to Cornwall tomorrow I’m sure, as I’m taking the six hour train journey to go and visit Fiona in Scotland!

Last week, we reached 22,000 views on the blog, for which we are very grateful. Its lovely to know that we’re reaching so many people!

In that same theme, we are just ONE FOLLOWER AWAY from 100 followers on the blog! Don’t forget to click “Follow” when you visit us and you could be in for a smashing prize!

Unfortunately I can’t offer you any more wonderful statistics after last week’s record breaking number of views.

This week is going to be one of those strange ones, because we have no Wednesday contributor this week, and we want to keep you waiting for the next installment of Poppy’s Marsh of Adventure. We shall be putting forward a poem by Enid Blyton about “The Sea” for our Wednesday post instead.

As for what’s coming from Fiona and myself, well, that’s a good question! Fiona isn’t sure what she will favour us will, perhaps another review of an Enid Blyton biography, or a stand alone review? Well you and I, dear readers, shall have to keep guessing until she posts!

As for me, well I’ve got a lot of half written blogs. I may find time this week to finish a Old Thatch blog I had been working on, or start anew and review the last book in the Malory Towers series.

I think the heat as rendered us a little higgledy piggledy this week, because apart from the Wednesday post you have a LOT of surprises!

In the meantime I shall leave you with some pictures that I took of some of the flowers in my garden after getting my camera back this week.

Enjoy!

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Making Blyton’s Food: Barley sugar

Posted on July 14, 2013 by pippastef

It’s been a while since I gave you a recipe, from my ever expanding Blyton cook book, and unfortunately I can’t offer you a recipe for simply smashing ices or cooling ginger beer. However this recipe for barley sugar is great as a home made sweet – possibly better for the winter month and presents. Surprisingly easy to make and soon you too can be sucking on a home made sweet as good as Joanna’s!

And don’t worry, peppermints are on my list of cooking- to-dos!

This recipe is  taken and adapted from the Radiation New World Cookery Book. A rather old book which is certainly my mother’s, possibly even my grandmother’s. It’s held together with parcel tape but has some smashing recipes in. The sweets section is very interesting, and even comes with little instructions on how to do all the tricky techniques. For around a fiver you can purchase your own copy from Amazon.

You will need:

1 lb of loaf of granulated sugar – I used loose granulated sugar, and that is fine. Whatever you do, it has to be GRANULATED sugar because the mixture has to be brought to the right temperature and it can only get there with granulated sugar.
3/4 of a pint of water
Pinch of cream of tartar or 1 tablespoonful of glucose – I used the glucose, which worked fine. It is just something to bind the mixture together really.
A few drops of lemon juice
A few drops of vanilla essence – I actually used vanilla extract

Method: 

  • Soak the sugar and water in a pan for 1 hour (Catherine and I only soaked the sugar for 10 minutes which seemed to work just as well.)
  • Then stir over a low flame until the sugar has dissolved (without bringing it to boiling point!)
  • Add the glucose (or cream of tartar if that’s your choice) and bring sugar to boiling point.
  • Using a [sugar] thermometer, boil until the temperature reaches 245Farenheit (F).
  • Add lemon juice and boil to 312F.
  • Remove the saucepan from the heat at once.
  • Add a few drops of vanilla essence (or extract) and allow to stand  until the all the bubbles have disappeared.
  • Pour into an greased tin or onto a greased slab.
  • While the barley sugar is cooling, mark it into squares or cut into strips with a greased knife  and twist with damp hands.
  • When quite cool, pack into airtight jars or tins.

I would suggest having clear counters and an afternoon to give this a go. It does take a while for the sugar to dissolve and then for the mixture to cool enough to cut and twist (if you’re adventurous like that). However, once it has hardened it makes a very nice sweet, perfect for sharing!

So give it a go and let us know how you get on! And don’t forget to suggest any recipes for us to try!

I’ll leave you with the pictures I took of making the sweets!

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The Mountain of Adventure

Posted on July 12, 2013 by Fiona

I’ve just realised I haven’t done an Adventure Series review since mid-May, oops! So now I bring you The Mountain of Adventure, the fifth in the series and originally published in 1949.

Cloth board cover

Cloth board cover

First edition dustjacket

First edition dustjacket

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE LOCATION

This time the Mannering/Trents are off to the mountains of Wales, to stay in a farmhouse with Mr and Mrs Evans. Bill says the farm is called “Doth-goth-oo-elli-othel-in,” but who knows if that’s even close to the real name!

The farm house

The farm house

THE CHARACTERS

There are some truly nasty bad people in this adventure, namely Mieir and Erlick (both names just conjure up nasty images, don’t they?). Mieir is described as ‘hawk-like’, while Erlick has an ‘ape-like face.

We see a fair bit of the Evans, or indeed the Effans as they pronounce it. Mrs Evans simply calls her husband Effans! Mrs Evans is the usual farmer’s wife, plump and red faced, bustling around and feeding everyone up, while Mr Evans is a jolly sort who finds Kiki utterly hilarious. There’s also the Trefor, the shepherd for the farm and his brother David who is rather useless. He doesn’t speak much English, he can’t read a simple map and he’s afraid of things in the night. Later in the book we meet Sam who, like Jo-Jo, gets lambasted by the PC brigade for being an offensive stereotype. Sam uses the N-word to refer to himself and perhaps comes across as not very clever, but he’s a kind person and brave too, he’s a paratrooper who escapes from the baddies of the book.

The pack

The pack

THE STORY

The plan is for everyone to go camping for a few days, but Mrs Mannering hurts her handand Bill stays with her so he can take her to the doctors, this means the children go off on the donkeys with David. As I said, he’s rather useless and they quickly find themselves lost. They make camp and that night see a pack of wolves roaming the valley.  David is terrified and runs off, taking all but one of the donkeys with him. The wolves turn out to be Alsations, and it’s only thanks to Philips skill with animals that the pack is friendly to them. Lucy-Ann spots Sam hiding, and he tells her there are bad men in the mountain, he is then caught by the Alsations and Philip is too.

The other children find their way into the mountain after seeing a helicopter landing on top of it and inside they find a bizarre world. They must find their way from a cave which seems to contain nothing but a black pool, through miles of passageways, caves, galleries, through a throne room, past a pit which exudes strange lights and smoke and a laboratory full of frightening glass, fires and wires.

The children end up getting caught, and are taken to meet the so-called King of the Mountain. He’s a rather mad old scientist who thinks he can create anti-gravity wings. Mieir and Erlick are working with him, organising groups of ex-paratroopers, like Sam, to test out the wings from the the helicopter.

Philip in the wings

Philip in the wings

They plan to use Philip next, as he’s nice and light. Bravely, Philip accepts his fate but when the helicopter takes him up the pilot shouts back “don’t forget Bill Smugs!”

With Bill on the case of course things end well, but it’s not easy and for a while it looks like it might not work out happily.

PHILIP’S PETS

Philip adopts a baby goat from the Evan’s farm, who Mrs Evans says is called Snowy. He’s a boisterous little thing, who likes to head-butt the children, and he’s very sure footed. Philip also finds a slow-worm which he calls Sally Slither. Unsurprisingly, Dinah much prefers Snowy to Sally!

Snowy

Snowy

MY REVIEW

I’m not sure what my favourite part of this book is. Perhaps the way Philip sets the Alsations on their master, which is a nice bit of justice for the way they’ve been treated. I quite like how sinister this book is too. It’s not explicitly stated but it’s obvious the other testers of the wings have jumped to their deaths, and that Philip could well be the next body sniffed out by the Alsations. Bill turning up at just the right moment is marvellous too, it’s been a long, long time since the first time I read this but it’s still so exciting to hear him yell out the name Bil Smugs.

Bill has come along this time, ostensibly to keep the children out of trouble. He clearly cares about Mrs Mannering though, as he stays with her while the children go off camping. As Philip says “Will Bill go if Mother’s hurt? He thinks the world of her.”

I know a lot of people hate the stereotypical Welshness of the book, but I never picked up on that as a child. I didn’t know any Welsh people, I’d probably heard a Welsh accent on TV but that’s it. There’s a lot of look-yous and whateffers, sometimes even both together, but I quite like it!

There are a few events and places here that remind me of other books. The most similar would have to be The Secret Mountain, which also has a group of children find a way inside a mountain, finding a strange community and getting trapped there.

The moment they hide in the tunnel from the dogs is a little like when the Five plus Pongo and Nobby hide in the underground caves in Five Go Off in a Caravan. 

Next review – The Ship of Adventure

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The Marsh of Adventure by Poppy, chapter 2

Posted on July 10, 2013 by worldofblyton

Chapter two:

Lowfell at last

On the car purred, through the night which was as dark as pitch. The car ate up the miles but not very quickly it seemed. The children talked for a while, all four of them squashed up in the back. Then Mrs Cunningham threw them all rugs and they all snuggled down. “Try to get some sleep now” she told them. “We’ll have a long day tomorrow.” Lucy-Ann had been asleep long before then and the others listened to her contented breathing and soon they too were asleep dreaming of peculiar men trying to kidnap Bill. If only they the real reason why they were off to Lowfell, they would be surprised! But even Mrs Cunningham did not know this, she was just glad to be getting away for a lovely holiday. She and Bill talked in low voices for a while so as not to wake the children, until Bill suggested she got some sleep. She rested her head thankfully and soon Bill and Kiki were the only ones left awake. Kiki came and rested on Bill’s shoulder, and Bill, quite fond of the parrot, began to talk softly to her, Kiki adding the odd word. It would have been humorous to see burly Bill talking so solemnly to a parrot- don’t you think?

But no one ever did see this happen because Bill’s plan went smoothly. As the first rays of sunlight crept into the car, a sign for Lowfell appeared at the roadside and the children opened their eyes. Mrs Cunningham was already awake and handed them some chocolate to eat until they got to the inn where they were to stay; they would get a good breakfast there for sure. The children munched happily until a strange smell began to linger their noses. It is hard to explain what the smell was like, but it certainly was curious and the children asked Bill what it was.

“It’s the marsh of course. They always have a peculiar sort of smell to them I should think.”

“A marsh? There’s a marsh here?” Jack asked at once with gleaming eyes.

“Yes, didn’t I tell you? I think there is a story to it, which I don’t know but perhaps someone at Lowfell knows. You can ask.” Bill replied his eyes not leaving the road.

Continue reading →

Posted in Fan fiction | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Monday

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Fiona

We’re trying to get back to our usual routine here, so it’s back to my turn to write the Monday post.

We had a couple of exciting moments behind-the-scenes on the blog this week. We reached 21,000 views and we smashed our most views-per-day stat twice! Our previous best was 213 in a single day, so we were excited when we hit 251 on July 1st.

Our stats on July 1st

Our stats on July 1st

We couldn’t believe it then, when the very next day we had even more views! As you can see we reached 300! Actually we hit 301 but I took the screenshot at 300 because it’s a nice round number.

Three hundred views on July 2nd

Three hundred views on July 2nd

Ok, enough of the numbers and onto what we’ll be posting this week.

On Wednesday we will have the second chapter of Poppy’s fanfiction; The Marsh of Adventure.

Stef’s going to share her barley sugar recipe with us (if you make some don’t let Timmy have any, he just crunches them up and it’s such a waste!)

And I’m going to… write something, I promise! I have no idea what just yet.

Have a great week!

P.S. Well done Andy Murray, first British men’s singles winner of Wimbledon in 77 years! (He’s also the first Scot to win since 1896!)

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Gillian Baverstock Remembers Enid Blyton – a review

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Fiona

I’ve already reviewed one book by Gillian Baverstock about her mother, Tell Me About Enid Blyton, but I borrowed this one from Stef recently, as I planned to review as many biographies as I could get my hands on. It’s part of the Telling Tales series by Mammoth. I can’t see much information about the series after a quick Google but I’ve found there’s a book about Jacqueline Wilson in it.

The book itself is a slim paperback from 2000. In a way it is similar to Tell Me About Enid, in that it is written from the same viewpoint, using similar easy-to-understand language. I would say this book is aimed at a slightly older child, though, as the stories told go into slightly more detail, and some of the direct quotes from Enid contain a few more difficult words.

Front cover of "Gillian Baverstock Remembers Enid Blyton."

Front cover of “Gillian Baverstock Remembers Enid Blyton.”

Both books cover Enid’s father leaving when she was 12 but this one talks about it in a bit more detail, it also covers her difficult relationship with her mother slightly more. Gillian talks a little about her mother’s declining health in this book, and it’s quite sad where she mentions how Enid said she’d rather lose her physical abilities rather than her mental ones.

There are plenty of interesting details in the book, there were things I’d either not known or had forgotten about. I was interested to read about her Irish grandmother who told her about banshees, and how Enid considered some of her ‘gifts’ to come from the Irish side of her family. The reference to banshees made me think of The Mystery of Banshee Towers, actually.

My mother was sure that the talent for music that came out in the next three generations of the Blyton family, as well as her own gift for story-telling, was inherited from her Irish ancestors. (page 2)

The book is split into headings with short sections for things like animals, teaching, music, school, reading, etc. There are some pictures, but not as many as in Tell Me About. The pictures are all small black and white ones, but there are plenty that most people probably won’t have seen before.

Back cover

Back cover

What’s interesting is this book is really two books in one. Half of it is Gillian telling us her mother’s story and the other half is by Sheila Ray, the author of The Blyton Phenomenon which is a look at the various changing attitudes about Blyton and her works (a book I don’t have but would like to read). Ray’s part of the book is a brief look at some of Blyton’s main works, introducing us to the first book in each. She also discusses some issues like Blyton’s apparent racism, sexism and classism, and thankfully she explains how Blyton’s attitudes were a product of the times, as well as pointing out some ways she goes against them – like the the tomboyish George. Ray also covers the main genres she wrote in and her first forays into writing. It’s a good addition, and there are some interesting points raised, like the character development in the Barney Mysteries and the Adventure Series compared to the Famous Five etc.

One of the less commonly seen pictures of Enid.

One of the less commonly seen pictures of Enid.

Overall, this is an interesting book that I’m sure children will enjoy. It tells us enough about Enid, her life and her books without ever becoming dull or overly complicated.

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Julian’s News, chapter 7

Posted on July 5, 2013 by pippastef

So, part 7 of Julian’s News hits the blog, hot from the keyboard.

If you want to refresh your memory or catch up check out the links below:

Prequel – The way you make me feel
Part One: Telling Dick
Part Two: Back at Kirrin
Part Three: The first day
Part Four: George
Part Five: George again
Part Six: A walk and some trouble

And I’m sure you’ll forgive me but this one is a little longer than usual, but I couldn’t just cut you off in the middle of the action could I? 😉

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the next piece!

THE RESCUE

George had sat and sulked in the spot her cousins had left her in for a long while, until she decided to walk along the beach with Timmy.

She muttered to Timmy as she walked along a stretch of the beach that was covered in masses of seaweed and big rocks. She was as sure footed as Timmy, and managed the rocks easily.

“We don’t need them do we Timmy? We were just fine on our own before they arrived,” George muttered as she encountered a large stretch of seaweed-covered rocks. She began to work her way over them without a second thought.

Timmy trotted soberly alongside her, staying near to her because he knew that his mistress was upset. Occasionally Timmy wandered over to an interesting looking rock and had a sniff around, while George struggled on over the seaweed.

Unfortunately for George, she couldn’t see what was below the seaweed covered beach. She was looking around to see where Timmy had gotten to and not watching her feet.

Suddenly she felt herself falling and slipping through a hole in the rocks. As she fell her foot bashed against a jagged piece of rock and was hurt badly. Eventually, she landed with a thump on a fairly even piece of rock, her heart beating fast and blood singing in her ears.

Poor George felt suddenly very sick and afraid. She tried to stand, but found that the foot she had struck wouldn’t hold her weight. She sat back down on the floor, calling out to Timmy.

“Tim! Timmy! Good Boy,” George called when she saw his face through the hole a few feet above her head, but she couldn’t reach it, not on a hurt ankle. “Timmy, find Julian. Seek Timmy, seek. Find Julian,” she heard herself say. She heard his reassuring bark and then there was light in the hole again.

George lent back on the back on the rock around her and took some deep breaths to calm herself. Before she blacked out she wondered why she had sent Timmy to Julian.

The brothers and sister were following Timmy at a run, back to where he had left George. When Julian saw Timmy standing by a hole in the seaweed he put his hand out to stop the others.

“Go carefully,” he warned them.

“I don’t think I want to try that, Ju. I’ll just stay here,” Anne said, as she stood by a big rock. Julian nodded at her.

“You and me then Dick,” he said.

“Be careful,” Anne called.

Dick nodded and the boys crept forward together, unsure at how many holes there were underneath their feet. Timmy barked at them encouragingly.

“I suppose that Old George has managed to fall down that hole,” Dick said as they moved closer.

“I think you’re right. She must have sent Timmy to find us. I hope she’s not hurt,” Julian said as they reached the hole and stood beside Timmy. Both boys knelt down carefully on the seaweed and pulled their torches from their pockets.

The strong beams of the torches shone down into the hole and they managed to pick out George six feet or so below them. She didn’t seem to be moving.

“Blow,” Julian said, clicking his torch off and looking at Dick. “Do you think we could get her out of there on our own?”

“There’s a chance we could. We’d need some thick rope.”

“In that case, you go back to Anne, send her home to tell Aunt Fanny and call the ambulance and possibly the coast guard or any of the fishermen just in case we can’t get George up by ourselves. I don’t want to get caught out by the tide,” Julian instructed.

“Goodness, no, neither do I,” Dick agreed, looking over his shoulder at the sea.

“While you’re telling Anne that, go to George’s boat and get the tarpaulin from the top and the thick rope she keeps in the bottom of the boat for mooring. That should be long enough to let one of us down and we can wrap her in the tarp’ to get her up.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll stay here and keep an eye on her, I don’t want her to be on her own when she wakes up,” Julian told him.

Dick had to suppress a smile; this was the Julian he knew. A man with a plan.

“Righto. Shan’t be long,” Dick said, scrambling to his feet and setting off back to Anne with the plan.

Julian watched them go for a moment and then looked at Timmy who was whining, and pawing at the ground. Timmy could just not understand why George didn’t come up from the hole.

Julian stroked Timmy’s head and said “don’t worry Tim. We’ll get her out.”

In no time at all, Dick was back with a couple of lengths of rope and the tarpaulin cover from George’s boat.

“We’ll fasten the rope to that rock over there,” Julian said, taking one of the lengths off his brother and motioning to a big craggy rock just in front of them. “I’ve had a look, it’s fixed deeply into the sand and should hold the rope well.”

Dick nodded and started to help Julian tie the longer, sturdier piece to the rock.

“I think I should go down,” Julian said when they had finished.

“But I’m lighter than you!” Dick protested.

Julian fixed his brother with a look that said ‘not now’. Dick sniffed indignantly.

“I’m not going to argue with you about this, Dick,” Julian said severely. “We don’t know what is down there, and it would be irresponsible for me to let you go down there with George already hurt.”

“Just as bossy as ever,” Dick muttered as Julian looped the end of the rope to his waist.

“Pass me the rest of the rope and the tarp’ will you Dick?” Julian asked as he tightened the knot around his waist.  He rolled the tarpaulin and lashed it to his back with the other piece of rope.

“Got a clean hanky?” Dick suddenly asked. “Just in case she’s bleeding anywhere?”

“I picked one up this morning,” Julian said, with a hint of a smile. He looked at the hole and then sat down on the edge of it.

“I’ll try and abseil down. Can you hold your torch over the side until I’ve got to the bottom of the hole?”

“Shall do,” Dick said, glancing at the sea again. Was it his imagination or was the sea a lot closer than it had been when he had left Julian? Dick shook his head and looked at his brother.

“Be careful, Ju, and hurry!”

“Will do,” Julian said, half lowering himself into the hole. He took a moment to find the wall with his feet.

“Got it! I shan’t be long if I can help it, Dick,” said Julian, before he disappeared inside the dark hole.

Julian didn’t like the smell of the cave when he got inside. It smelt like rotting seaweed. He pressed on however and less than a minute later, he was safely on the rocky floor. Dick holding his torch into the hole had been a great help.

“I’m down, Dick. I’m going to untie the rope from my waist now, so don’t worry when it goes slack!” Julian called.

“Hurry up then Ju!” Dick called back, his torch flooding the cave with light. When Julian was clear of the rope he moved to George’s side. He clicked on his own torch and stood it, beam up, next to him. He took her pulse, glad that his health and safety training hadn’t deserted him. He was relieved when he felt her strong pulse.

“George!” He called, taking her head between his hands gently. “George, wake up!”

Very slowly, George’s eyelids fluttered open and she blinked groggily.

“Hello Julian,” George said, her sulk forgotten in the moment. She almost seemed to have forgotten where she was.

She looked around and then frowned.

“I was hoping it had all been a bad dream,” she muttered when her eyes grew accustomed to the torch light.

“’Fraid not, old thing,” Julian said, untying the tarpaulin from his back. “Now I need you tell me where you’re hurt, if you are.”

“My foot and ankle,” George told him, realising that she had never been so glad to see Julian. “I think I hit it against some rock as I fell.”

“Which foot?”

“My right.”

“I’m going to have a look at it, George. I’ll try not to hurt it,” Julian said. His voice sounded grimmer than he meant it to, but he was trying to keep himself calm and make sure that he did things correctly.

He gently pulled George’s shoe from her foot and examined the foot. George took a sharp breath of pain.

“Sorry, sorry,” Julian said, gently feeling the foot. It felt very swollen. “I’m no doctor, but I would say you’ve got quite a bad sprain at least George, old thing. Now is there pain anywhere else before I try and get you out of here?”

“Well I feel a bit bruised,” George told him. “But I nothing hurts as much as my foot.”

Julian nodded. “Good, although I don’t want to move you too much if I can help it,” he said. “Do you think if I helped you, you could balance while I got you wrapped in the tarpaulin and attached to the rope?”

“I think so,” George said, with a brave nod. Julian noticed how her face was very white.

Julian smiled at her.

“We’d better get a move on then.”

How they ever managed to get George wrapped in the tarpaulin and the rope knotted around her in a makeshift seat, they never knew. Julian said that he was running purely on adrenaline.

“Dick! George is already to come up, can you pull her up?” Julian called to his brother.

“I think so! Hold on tightly George!” Dick called down.

After a few seconds George began to ascend slowly and in little jerks, but soon she reached the top and felt herself being helped out of the hole by a couple of strong men who had just arrived with Anne. Timmy rushed at George as they set her down on a rock, and licked her with delight while he whined his welcome. George managed to put her arms around Timmy to hug him.

While the Doctor, who had come as part of the party, was seeing to George, the fishermen let the rope back down for Julian. He emerged tired and smelling strongly of rotten seaweed.

“Hello all,” he said, sitting down on the side of the hole and grinning up at them.

“You stink of seaweed,” Dick told him.

“I’m not surprised. That cave is full of it,” Julian said, chuckling a piece at his brother as Anne hurried over and flung her arms around both her brothers.

“How’s George?” Julian asked when Anne let go.

“I don’t know, the Doctor won’t let me near her, and I’ve got a flask of warm soup for her,” Anne said. She pulled the knapsack that she had on, off her back and undid it. She handed Julian one of the two flasks in there.

“Share that between you, it should warm you up,” Anne said.

“You’re a peach Anne,” Dick said with a warm smile. His sister blushed as one of the fishermen came over to them.

“Are you two fit to walk? We can carry you if you like?” he asked. “We’re carrying Master George. The Doctor reckons that her ankle is pretty bashed up.”

“No, I’m alright thank you. Are you Dick?”

“Perfectly thank you,” Dick agreed. The fisherman nodded and headed back to the others.

“Poor George,” Anne said as Julian and Dick got to their feet.

“Let’s hope that it’s nothing more serious than a sprain,” Julian said grimly as he brushed his trousers down. “Lead the way home, Anne. I’m coming over tired all of a sudden.”

“Well for goodness sake, watch where you put your feet. We don’t need you going down a hole like George,” Dick warned him.

Julian had to laugh.

Continued in chapter 8

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