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Enid Blyton

Enter here to talk about books, art, literature, film, TV and anything else to do with popular culture.
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Moonraker
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Enid Blyton

#1 Post by Moonraker » October 14th, 2008, 10:38 pm

How many still read the occassional Blyton? Having written over 700 stories, she is still in great demand in bookshops. How many adults still read her books, yearning for their childhood days of times gone by?

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Alan C.
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Re: Enid Blyton

#2 Post by Alan C. » October 14th, 2008, 11:38 pm

Sorry to Rain on your parade Moonraker, but at 57 years old, I have never read an Enid Blyton story, nor a lord of the rings. nor a harry Potter :shrug: Call me what you will :smile:
Abstinence Makes the Church Grow Fondlers.

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Alan H
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Re: Enid Blyton

#3 Post by Alan H » October 15th, 2008, 12:27 am

I certainly read my fair share when I was a kid, but nothing as an adult (I may have read some bits to my kids). What do you still find interesting in them, Moonraker?
Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
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Re: Enid Blyton

#4 Post by Maria Mac » October 15th, 2008, 11:37 am

I haven't read one since I was a child but I certainly read plenty then. I particularly loved the Mallory Towers books and the Mystery books. Also Mr Pinkwhistle.

By the time my children were of Primary School age, they had totally fallen out of favour so although my son devoured them voraciously and at a very young age to be reading whole books by himself, his teacher was scathing about them and didn't encourage him at all.

I happily read other children's books as an adult - mainly because I enjoyed writing for my children as a hobby - but Blyton wasn't among them. These were the books I particularly loved:

Charlotte Sometimes - Penelope Farmer
Stig of the Dump - Clive King
Tom's Midnight Garden - Phillipa Pearce
The Snow Spider - Jenny Nimmo

I think a time-slip theme was common to most of the books I chose, which appealed more to me as an adult than midnight feasts at posh girls schools and gangs of kids solving implausible mysteries.

Which Blyton books do you like best, Moonraker?

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Re: Enid Blyton

#5 Post by Felicia » October 15th, 2008, 3:07 pm

I also used to love the Mallory Towers sequence, Maria. And the Island/River etc of Adventure series. I devoured Enid Blyton books obsessively but have felt no call to go back to them, even though I now quite regularly read children's books (particularly Anne Fine (Flour Babies and Bill's New Flock are wonderfully funny and moving), Diana Wynne Jones, also very funny.... I loved the Northern Lights trilogy of Philip Pullman, but found the Potter books a bit tedious. This thread has made me think, perhaps I should give Blyton a try again. I'll let you know....

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Re: Enid Blyton

#6 Post by jaywhat » October 15th, 2008, 4:46 pm

I have read H Potter as an adult and other 'cross-over books'. They can be a good read IMO.

Not everything one reads by famous writers is by them, of course. Many moons ago I knew a teacher (mid 1960's) who was told by a publisher they would accept his stories (about a boy making a rocket and shooting off to the moon etc) if he would agree to have them under the name of, I think, Enid Blyton. Now I have said that it does not sound like her genre, does it.

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Re: Enid Blyton

#7 Post by Nick » October 15th, 2008, 8:23 pm

In early adult life, my mother told me that, though Enid Blyton was frowned upon by the educational mafia, (why was that?) it was her books which most encouraged me to read, and, as such, she treated their views with the irrelevance that they deserved.

Like others, I have felt no need to return to her books, but I can acknowledge her part in forming my continuing reading habit. Children's authors I do (very occasionally) re-read? Kenneth Graham and Arthur Ransome.

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Re: Enid Blyton

#8 Post by Maria Mac » October 16th, 2008, 1:22 pm

Felicia wrote:I also used to love the Mallory Towers sequence, Maria. And the Island/River etc of Adventure series. I devoured Enid Blyton books obsessively but have felt no call to go back to them, even though I now quite regularly read children's books (particularly Anne Fine (Flour Babies and Bill's New Flock are wonderfully funny and moving), Diana Wynne Jones, also very funny.... I loved the Northern Lights trilogy of Philip Pullman, but found the Potter books a bit tedious. This thread has made me think, perhaps I should give Blyton a try again. I'll let you know....
Gosh - how did I forget to mention Anne Fine and Diana Wynne Jones! Loved them. But I've never yet picked up a Harry Potter and fell asleep when one of the films was shown on TV. The Pullmans are on my 'to read' list.

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Re: Enid Blyton

#9 Post by Maria Mac » October 16th, 2008, 8:41 pm

Nick wrote: Enid Blyton was frowned upon by the educational mafia, (why was that?)
Was it something to do with the fact that the books' main characters are all white middle class children from the south of England who converse in a way that hasn't been heard since the 1930s? Perhaps not quite the ticket in the late 20th century.

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Re: Enid Blyton

#10 Post by Alan H » October 16th, 2008, 11:03 pm

I think I also read something about a limited vocabulary.
Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

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Re: Enid Blyton

#11 Post by Moonraker » October 17th, 2008, 1:33 pm

Alan H wrote:I certainly read my fair share when I was a kid, but nothing as an adult (I may have read some bits to my kids). What do you still find interesting in them, Moonraker?
Hmm, that's a difficult one, Alan! Probably it's a nolstalgia trip. The memories come flooding back from reading them as a child. My favourite series was the Mystery Series (Five Find-Outers and Dog). Since re-discovering Blyton about ten years ago, I have made many friends through the authoress.

If you're interested, take a look at the Enid Blyton Society website. I can strongly recommend it!

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Re: Enid Blyton

#12 Post by jaywhat » October 17th, 2008, 4:30 pm

Alan H wrote:I think I also read something about a limited vocabulary.
You mean a bit like J K Rowling?

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Re: Enid Blyton

#13 Post by Nick » October 17th, 2008, 6:58 pm

Maria wrote:
Nick wrote: Enid Blyton was frowned upon by the educational mafia, (why was that?)
Was it something to do with the fact that the books' main characters are all white middle class children from the south of England who converse in a way that hasn't been heard since the 1930s? Perhaps not quite the ticket in the late 20th century.
Possibly, especially now, but in my day, I remember reading "Little Black Sambo" and actually rather liked it. In an age where that was possible, I don't think being 'middle class' would upset them that much.

I can, of course, understand why a black kid would hate being called Sambo, but was the book racist? I don't remember. Would the name Nick be unacceptable if the book had been called Little Black Nick? Dunno. We had a black lad in my year at school called Sam, who was generally known as Sambo. He was a very popular lad (and could run like the clappers) and never seemed to mind, but maybe he did, though I hope not. It was always well meant.

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Re: Enid Blyton

#14 Post by LilacHamster » October 17th, 2008, 7:54 pm

I did enjoy some of the Adventure books, The Circus of Adventure, etc, although these days I have to admit to rather liking my daughter's Jacqueline Wilson books. Never read any Harry Potter, and hopeless at getting through any long books.

Lesley

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Re: Enid Blyton

#15 Post by Maria Mac » October 19th, 2008, 1:53 pm

Nick wrote: Possibly, especially now, but in my day, I remember reading "Little Black Sambo" and actually rather liked it. In an age where that was possible, I don't think being 'middle class' would upset them that much.

I can, of course, understand why a black kid would hate being called Sambo, but was the book racist? I don't remember. Would the name Nick be unacceptable if the book had been called Little Black Nick? Dunno. We had a black lad in my year at school called Sam, who was generally known as Sambo. He was a very popular lad (and could run like the clappers) and never seemed to mind, but maybe he did, though I hope not. It was always well meant.
I never read that particular book but I think my headmaster at Primary School did. He called every white child by his or her real name. Every black or Asian male child (black and Asian kids were probably 10% of the school roll back then) he addressed as "Sambo". A group of, say, three Indian kids standing together would be "Sambos" or even "little black Sambos" e.g. "Would you three little black Sambos go and sit down."

It never occurred to me that there was anything wrong with this.

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Re: Enid Blyton

#16 Post by Thomas » October 23rd, 2008, 10:26 am

Maria wrote: I never read that particular book but I think my headmaster at Primary School did. He called every white child by his or her real name. Every black or Asian male child (black and Asian kids were probably 10% of the school roll back then) he addressed as "Sambo". A group of, say, three Indian kids standing together would be "Sambos" or even "little black Sambos" e.g. "Would you three little black Sambos go and sit down."

It never occurred to me that there was anything wrong with this.
:shock: There weren't any black kids at my school so I never witnessed anything like that. The only Enid Blyton books I recall were about Noddy and Toytown. But I'm not sure if that memory is from my own childhood or my children's childhood.

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Re: Enid Blyton

#17 Post by Firebrand » October 29th, 2008, 6:19 pm

My sister and I devoured Blyton and so did my girls. Malory Towers was my favourite series. A boarding school by the sea and midnight feasts - heavenly! I so wanted to be Alicia.

*Jings - I still remember the characters names. I'm mortified!*
:redface:

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Re: Enid Blyton

#18 Post by Alan H » November 17th, 2008, 10:04 am

In today's Herald:
********************************************************************************
Noddy To Get A New Book On His 60th Birthday (from The Herald )
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/focus/d ... rthday.php
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Noddy to get a new book on his 60th birthday

A new Noddy book is to be written to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the popular children's character, it was announced yesterday.

The picture book will be written by the late Enid Blyton's granddaughter, nursery teacher Sophie Smallwood, and aims to bring Noddy and the other characters of Toytown back to life for a new generation of children.

Noddy will be joined by friends including Big Ears, Tessie Bear and Mr Plod in a new adventure to be released in November next year, exactly 60 years since the first book in the series, Noddy Goes to Toyland, was published.
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The book, which carries the working title of Noddy's Birthday Surprise, will be in the same visual style of the original Noddy books, with illustrations by Robert Tyndall, who has drawn the characters since 1953.

Ms Smallwood who, like her grandmother before her, will use her experience of working with young children to write the story, said she hoped to pay a fitting tribute to Blyton in writing it.

She said: "It is a great honour, if a little daunting, to pick up the pen and take over from my grandmother.

"In Noddy she created such a wonderful character, a character who has been loved by children for many generations.

"I can think of no better way to celebrate Noddy's 60th Birthday and to pay tribute to my grandmother's marvellous achievements."

Mr Tyndall said: "Noddy has been a part of my life for so long and I am delighted to be able to draw him again.

"I have very fond memories of working with Enid Blyton and I am very excited to be able to work with her granddaughter Sophie who I've known for many years."

Jeff Norton, director of brand development at Chorion, owners of the Enid Blyton Literary Estate, said: "Noddy is one of the world's most famous children's characters, so we had to create something really special to celebrate his 60th year.

"Noddy began his life on the page of a story book and this was our inspiration. What makes this project so exciting is the collaboration between Sophie and Robert to create a true contemporary-classic Noddy book - a book that can be enjoyed by Noddy fans both young and old."

Other events to celebrate Noddy's 60th anniversary include a live stage show and an art exhibition at The Animation Art Gallery in London's County Hall, which will feature original Robert Tyndall drawings as well as digitally re-mastered prints of both Tyndall and Harmsen Van der Beek's illustrations.

There has also been a new Noddy television show commissioned to be broadcast in 2009.

[Retrieved: Mon Nov 17 2008 10:03:56 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time)]

###################
Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

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Re: Enid Blyton

#19 Post by Alan H » November 28th, 2008, 12:56 am

In today's Times:
********************************************************************************
Five remain deservedly famous as Blyton is forgiven | Valerie Grove - Times Online
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/commen ... 246351.ece
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Five remain deservedly famous as Blyton is forgiven
The stories that enchanted children are still among the nation's best loved, despite concerns about their 1950s values
Valerie Grove

Enid Blyton is back, and all is forgiven. This summer she was voted the nation's favourite author. And yesterday the author Anne Fine, the former Children's Laureate, winner of every possible prize for her books, came out powerfully on the side of the Faraway Tree and the Five Find-Outers and Dog series, with a Radio 4 programme called A Fine Defence of Enid Blyton.

Blyton's reputation, despite her 500 million sales worldwide, has been loftily disdained since the 1960s by high-minded parents, teachers and librarians. “Miss Blyton does not present enough of a challenge to children,” her detractors said. Eleanor Graham (the first editor of Puffin Books) spoke of Blyton's “intense mediocrity”, and the children's reading expert Eileen Colwell referred to her “linguistically impoverished style.”

I remember the mother of a university friend saying that she had never allowed Enid Blyton books in their house: “So snobbish,” she said, “and all that smacking.” Well, really. At that time the nation was wringing its hands about how to get children reading at all.

That was never a problem in our childhood. We revered Enid. An Enid Blyton heroine is what I and my little coterie all wanted to be: to go off with the dog at our heels, entirely unsupervised by adults, and have adventures, meet mysterious characters, find deserted castles, row out to secret islands, solve crimes and outsmart the local police by thwarting miscreants.

The monthly Enid Blyton Magazine in the 1950s always featured a picture of her in the garden of Green Hedges, Beaconsfield, Bucks, surrounded by her little girls Gillian and Imogen and their pets, typewriter on lap.

“Dear Enid Blyton,” I wrote at the age of 9. “My sister and I have just started a Pony Club...” We had no ponies, but we were obsessed by horses and riding. “Would Gillian and Imogen like to join? Membership costs one penny.” Miss Blyton replied, gently explaining that Gillian and Imogen were rather old for our club: Gillian had children of her own, and Imogen was at university! (Miss Blyton liked exclamation marks.) But we could become Busy Bees and raise money for the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals. Which of course we did.

Anne Fine addressed all the familiar caveats about Blyton: the three golliwogs named Golly, Woggy and Nigger have long been excised from new editions; academics have confronted and dismissed the accusations of sexism (“Proper little housewife, aren't you Anne?” said the patronising Julian in The Famous Five series) - and point out that Blyton's own favourite character was the stereotypical tomboy, George: “I'm George. I hate being a girl, I won't be. I hate doing the things that girls do.” Although George is hardly a cutting-edge feminist icon, she did speak for the rebellious female.

As Anne Fine said, we must accept that books written in the 1950s are of their time, and Blyton wrote in a different world. When she was voted the nation's favourite it was not a reflection of arrested development: we don't carry on reading her for ever. It simply represents a shared national memory of happy, uncomplicated reading, a collective appreciation of adventurous children.

Blyton was not writing literature. She wrote without depth or subtlety, but she had the clearest sense of character types (mean and spiteful, fat and jolly, kind and noble) and moral values. She was against boasting and selfishness, and in favour of bad characters getting their comeuppance.

Many years after outgrowing Blyton I met her daughters, Gillian Baverstock and Imogen Smallwood, and heard all about their life at Green Hedges: “We had to play jolly quietly in the garden or she'd be very annoyed indeed.” In Fine's programme, we heard Blyton's voice, telling listeners how she wrote a book in five days: “I think straight on to my typewriter. When I start on a book, I see it all so vividly in my mind's eye, so long as my fingers can keep up with the typing I can go on until it's finished.”

Yes - she thought and wrote as a child, but she struck extremely adult and businesslike deals with publishers, a 25,000 first print run and a 15 per cent royalty, that most authors today would envy. And she kept up a constant supply of new books for anyone from babyhood to the age of 13.

“By the time you were 13 Enid Blyton had finished writing for you,” Fine said. “But she created a world that so many children also like to share.” Last week, when Times columnists were asked to name their favourite childhood reading, Enid Blyton was boldly named by Carol Midgley alongside the classics of Kipling, Arthur Ransome and C.S.Lewis. Any books that get children into the reading habit are timeless. The ultimate argument in Blyton's favour, for Anne Fine, is that Blyton got her hooked on reading, and then did the same for Fine's younger daughter, Cordelia, a hitherto reluctant reader. With this imprimatur from the former Laureate, Blyton is happily reinstated.

[Retrieved: Fri Nov 28 2008 00:55:45 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time)]

###################
Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

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Re: Enid Blyton

#20 Post by getreal » November 28th, 2008, 6:44 pm

It would appear that Malory Towers books were very popular with the folks here!

I, too, read the Malory Towers books and I absolutly loved them I can honestly say that Enid Blyton (for all the aknowledged faults of her writing) introduced me to fiction and gave me a lifelong passion for books.
I have always felt that for children, it matters less what they read, more that they are actually reading.
My daughter has dyslexia and it was a struggle to get her to read anything, eventually she developed an interest in 'witchcraft' type books (the kind for girls, with recipies for bubble bath and love spells). I had to really hold my tounge, as I was just delighted that she was reading.

Happily, she gave all this up in favour of science based books (but not fiction) and has turned out to be a perfectly rational, questioning woman

I did buy some of the Malory Towers books for my daughter when she was young, and I actually found them impossible to re-read!
Daughter disliked them too.
"It's hard to put a leash on a dog once you've put a crown on his head"-Tyrion Lannister.

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