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Original poster

to feel uneasy about my son reading Enid Blyton books

767 replies

frances5 · 22/06/2007 22:10

My son wants me to read him a book called the "Wishing Chair", I have read two chapters of it and it has a pixie in it called "Chinky". To make it worst the drawing of "Chinky" shows an elf like creature with slitted eyes. However I think my son is totally and utter oblivous to this.

Admitally Enid Blyton lived 50 years ago when people didn't know better. But do you think I am making a mistake letting my son enjoy this book? He is even trying to read it himself that he is so desperate to know what happens next.

When my son chose this book I had no idea that it had a pixie in it called "Chinky" other wise I would have diverted him towards something like Ronald Dahl.

OP posts:
Kathyis6incheshigh · 24/06/2007 21:01

"I find the Felicity Wishes books much more offensive for their view that all girls should have long hair, be concerned with fashion and not have one ounce of intelligence"

LOL. me too.

Rhubarb · 24/06/2007 20:59

dd loves Enid Blyton, as I did when I was a child. I do change some of the words though as I don't want dd using them and people taking the piss, so I change words like "queer" to "odd".

But for me they are full of magical things such as wishing chairs and pixies and enchanted trees etc. It opens up a child's imagination! I find the Felicity Wishes books much more offensive for their view that all girls should have long hair, be concerned with fashion and not have one ounce of intelligence.

Balls · 24/06/2007 20:52

Pedant that I am, I shall correct you elasticwoman. ...I have just finished reading "Smugglers' Top" to my dd1 and was iritated by a grammatical error therein:
"Marybelle pawed at him in delight, just as if she was a dog!"

Elasticwoman · 24/06/2007 20:37

Do you know that when Enid Blyton had difficulty conceiving when she was newly married, so had some investigation done and they found that her reproductive organs had stopped developing when she was 13!

Can't remember whether she had any fertility treatment (such as it was in those days) but she did have 2 daughters in due course.

Yes her books are racist and snobby, her plots curiously predictable and her prose style sometimes cliched and humourless to the point of nausea. But at least her grammar, syntax and spelling are always correct. I read her voraciously as a child, with the enthusiasm I now reserve for Su Do-ku.

Balls · 24/06/2007 19:30

Hey Lentils, go gently eh?

Lentils · 24/06/2007 17:20

Hmmm...probably too late for me to respond to veraducksworth. But anyway, isn't it funny how sometimes when a poster responds to your post, they validate the exact point you were making? Vera, obviously reading comprehension is not your forte if you couldn't see I was being sarcastic. EB is just your speed.

UCM · 24/06/2007 16:12

My DD is called 'Mallory' just like the books. Can you tell I am a fan

Highlander · 24/06/2007 13:16

I just loved the Enid Blyton/Mallory Towers/Pullien-Thompson books.

Even as a small child (8?) I was very aware of the class references, and that by her criteria I was 'rough'. It really started to bother me as I grew older and I felt that I was somehow having a deprived childhood because my life did not parallel that of the Famous Five. Never stopped me saving my pocket-money for another EB book though, and I always asked for them at Christmas

pointydog · 24/06/2007 12:54

hello, awen

yes, no one said anything bad about Morpurgo. Gor blimey, let's nip that one in the bud

dinosaur · 24/06/2007 12:01

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

edam · 24/06/2007 11:49

LOL Custy, I've got a CLBB you can have for your pyre...

MamaMaiasaura · 24/06/2007 11:44

morning pointydog. Best friends bah

No one said anything bad about MM.

pointydog · 24/06/2007 09:34

I just knew you'd all end up bestest friends.

Tortington · 24/06/2007 00:50

BAN HER! BURN BOOKS

Quattrocento · 24/06/2007 00:41

Spider this is a very long boring fighty thread but I have read it all and I do want to reassure you that no-one but no-one has suggested that EB should be banned. Boiled yes, but not banned. I did say I was glad she wasn't in my dc's school library. Perhaps that is what is causing the confusion.

No-one suggested that Morpurgo should be banned or boiled. Someone did make a jokey reference to MM - a joke which sailed over most people's heads because everyone was too busy getting very very het up.

Spider · 24/06/2007 00:32

I'm with Rosa. I want to know what on earth people deem could possibly be wrong with Micheal Morpurgo. Micheal Morpurgo FGS! Now I've heard it all.

BTW for the record my ds started reading the Famous Five after buying one of the books at a boot fair with his own money. It was the first proper chapter book he read and he was so proud of himself. He went on to read another couple then got bored and moved on to Lemony Snickett.

Whatever gets them reading is OK by me and I have better things to do with my time than banning Enid bloody Blyton. Talk about control freaks.

kimi · 24/06/2007 00:17

Well I am off to bed, My bed time reading tonight is a book about Tourettes

kimi · 24/06/2007 00:14

God I am all dizzy from thread hopping, so Quatto can I say here like Dan brown, [good read on the tube].

Quattrocento · 24/06/2007 00:06

Now Michael Morpurgo CAN write.

And before anyone pounces on me asking who am I to judge, I am not alone in this view ...

stleger · 24/06/2007 00:05

I heard that tune on the radio a couple of days ago - somebody requested it. oh Meggie, Meggie...

kimi · 24/06/2007 00:04

Ham roll or cheese roll????

Oh I loved lace......

RosaLuxembourg · 24/06/2007 00:03

I have only skimmed the thread as too scary for me but can somebody please tell me
What's wrong with Michael Morpurgo.
Or St Michael of Murpurgo as he is known in this house.

veraducksworthshandbag · 24/06/2007 00:02

I'm on a roll......

binkleandflip · 24/06/2007 00:01

You've just put the thorn birds theme tune in my head and now I will never get rid of it!

stleger · 24/06/2007 00:00

I think my mother was probably uneasy when I read Thorn Birds when I was 15. And I was uneasy when she read my copy of Lace a few years later!

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