when the posh children in Enid Blyton have an "ice", I always thought it meant "ice lolly"...

[sadpapercourtesan]

...but I was reading "Five Go To Billycock Hill" last night, and they talked about having an "ice" in a tub with a little wooden spoon...surely that's an ice cream?!

Yes, I have too much time on my hands. I should be doing stuff

And all said ‘wunnerful.’

So Sadie says.

I remember that one! It was a short story. The boy was a scout and his neighbour had left money and sweets in places like the chicken coop, some old sacks and the top shelf of the shed. Lazy little git

Yes! Do you remember what book it was in?
Sure there was one about having a pet squirrel as well. Probably one with some naughty gnomes too.

I’ve not tried to attach a picture before so may not work - I’ve just found it in a book called Tales at Bedtime

The squirrel one

The pixies story?

There’s an awesome one called ‘Junket through the Window’ where two children lobbed their pudding out of the window then got sweets for being good and eating all their dinner. Only one day the gardener is under the window and gets covered in pudding. And their mother says ‘How simply disgusting of you. I can’t tell you how ashamed I am of having children who would do that. Please go away from me. Go down into the garden and stay there all the afternoon’

Mummy takes no prisoners 😂

@itssquidstella yes, I remember that about the map, which was printed at the front of the book. I’d forgotten about Mr Potts, but now you come to mention him: wasn’t he in a race to find the treasure before the children? They won, of course. Possibly to save the owner of the house & land it was on from having to sell up?

@SerenDippitty I just googled a picture of AJ and I see exactly what you mean!

Like Silky the fairy in FT

Ahhhh thanks so much keiren! That's the copy I had, even those pictures are nostalgic! Junket out the window...

@cheapskatemum yes, he was sleazing on the children's mum with the intention of buying her out of her inheritance or something. I'd love to re-read it!

When I was small, I wasn’t entirely sure what junket was, which made the story even more intriguing...

OK, While I'm on a roll, I don't actually think this was Enid Blyton but I swear I had a book/story about a tiny little boy/baby found inside a peach stone... ? I just have a memory of the picture of it but not really about the story. Google insists I'm looking for James & the Giant Peach, but that's not it at all. It might have been an apricot!

There was a really weird EB short story about a boy that wakes up at new year and meets old Father Time and he shows him his past year like a moving tapestry between his hands and all the black bits are where he had behaved badly. Very moralistic and a bit trippy too

Some more forgotten titles, under the pen name Mary Pollock. I definitely read Mischief at St Rollo's, and now wondering if I've confused it all with St Clares/Malory Towers... www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book-groups.php?pick=cat&value=marypollock

I’m impressed so many of you have managed to plough through the EB books. I refuse to even talk about them with my kids, there’s a world of brilliant kids books now and all they want to do is read about posh twats doing fuck all.

@Vulgarlady I remember that!

I remember one where the boys teacher insists on him having a clean handkerchief in his pocket and he keeps forgetting. Then one day he remembers but on the way to school he falls and cuts his knee and uses his hanky to mop up the blood. Then he gets in trouble for having a dirty hanky!
I always thought this was really unfair- surely it was he whole point of the handkerchief?

Another was one where two brothers fall out and are really cross with each other so their mum gives the job of cleaning windows; one from the outside and one from the inside. They end laughing at each other and being friends again

I definitely read Mischief at St Rollo's, and now wondering if I've confused it all with St Clares/Malory Towers

I have Mischief at St Rollo's, but I haven't read it in decades. EB also set the Naughtiest Girl books in a school, to add to the confusion.

@prettybluepigeons it was really weird wasn’t it?

@Prettybluepigeons I actually did that to my boys when they were about 5 and 7! They were driving me round the twist bickering and sniping, so I gave them a bucket of soapy water and a scourer each and made them clean the patio doors, one inside and one out. I don't remember the story, but it's possible I'd read it as a child and internalised it, I did spend most of my childhood holed up with an EB book

I don't actually think this was Enid Blyton but I swear I had a book/story about a tiny little boy/baby found inside a peach stone... ?

It’s Rumer Godden. The little boy is a doll not a real child, but the dolls in the book are sort of alive and have thoughts and feelings (basically Toy Story). And it is a peach!

The first book is “Miss Happiness and Miss Flower” and the second is “Little Plum.”

The books are beautiful. They’re about a shy little girl who’s sent from her home in India (under the British Raj) to live with her aunt and cousins in England, and comes alive through building a Japanese dolls house for some dolls she’s given. It sounds boring but it’s exquisite, and goes deeply into different elements of Japanese culture.

I've just remembered one about a boy and girl who hated bedtime, and made a fuss each night. One night, in desperation, the parents let them stay up as long as they wanted, and went to bed themselves, leaving the two kids playing downstairs. Inevitably, they got bored and tired, and started trying to keep awake. Then a policeman knocked on the door because he'd seen a light on, and it was so late! (Not likely, even then!) They finally went to bed, woke up shattered, and spent the whole day longing for bedtime!

I adored EB when I was little and can't wait to force them upon read them to my DDs.

What ages have people found the best to get started on the books??

My eight year old son is loving Malory Towers at the moment, and preparing to move onto St Clare's -- I think he started with the FF, 'Secret' and the 'Adventure' series last year, and also loved the Mr Galliano's circus books.

It depends on the books. Things like Naughty AmeliaJane, Mr Pinkwhistle and Mr Meddle are aimed at younger children. I was reading Secret Sevwn at about 7 or 8, then Famous Five and everything else from about 8 or 9, maybe earlier. I was bought the whole set of the Secret Seven when it was advertised in the local paper, and I got most of the Famous Five that way, as well, with just a few gaps, so some of it depended on when I could get the books - they didn't have them at the local library (which I also read my way through - I wasn't stuck on EB alone.) I did quite a few lends and borrows with friends, but that doesn't help much with age, as we met before we could read, and we're still in touch now. I suppose it also depends on how good a reader they are. EB isn't famed for her extensive vocab, but it's still where I learnt some words (I am not sure I have ever seen anyone described as "burly" outside of EB.)