What was your favourite Enid Blyton book?

[Flapjacker48]

When I was a child (80s) read loads of Enid Blyton books (passed down from siblings, library etc) and in the past few months have read loads of these free online (original/early editions, none with updated texts) - prob way more than when I was a child!

Although dated in many ways I have a fondness for the "family" type EB books - (house on the corner, family at red-roofs, six bad boys) which were less well known than Famous five/secret seven etc.

Also I have read several books about EB (biography, book by her agent and a book by her daughter about her childhood) and found these really interesting, of course like all authors/famous people in general who you think you know their lives are more complex (and interesting!) and different to how one would expect and how they are "presented"

The Children of Green Meadows

@Enoughnowbrandon - yes that's right . I need to buy another copy, loved that book

Me too, ours had a pink cover.

I have/had several teachers in my family. Two of them thought Enid Blyton books were poor stories and so never had them in the house.

I liked ‘The Treasure Hunters’ best followed by ‘The Boy Next Door’.

The Adventures of Binkle and Flip, and ditto of Pip the Pixie.

I reread most of my EB series over lockdown (along with Biggles, and WE Johns is a better writer than Blyton, though you still have to raise eyebrows at some of the African tribes and do know.) I spent quite a bit of saved petrol money on Abebooks and eBay filling in series gaps, but you can get a lot of the old paperbacks for a quid or two- it's only really expensive if you go for 1sr eds with pristine dust jackets.

I always loved the Secret Seven, but then Mum got me all the Famous Five second hand from a small ad in the local paper, and they were way better! Also loved the Adventurous Four and the R books with Barney, and the Five Find-Outers and the Adventure ones. Magic Far Away Tree. Less keen on the Secret of ones. i was more a St Clare's girl than Malory Towers, but i do like the last Malory Towers one where they're all heading off to uni or to set up their own businesses and so on. And I liked some stand alone ones like Six Bad Boys and the Put-'Em Rights.

Our local library and the school library did not do Blyton, but jumble sales and birthdays did. I think there would have been objections if I had only read Blyton, but I also read Jennings and the Chalet School, the Abbey School, Narnia, Tolkien, Susan Cooper and a million other things, including adult books.

Blyton did give me unrealistic expectations about finding secret passages in old houses, and more than one NT attendant objected to me tapping the wood panelling, but even that obsession prompted my grandparents to give me a book on priest holes and the Reformation, so in a very roundabout way, Blyton is partly responsible for me ending up with a history degree.

@FourChimneys I remember Shadow the sheepdog, the copy I had had a collie in the snow on the cover. I think there might have been a sequel too.

Does anyone remember Come to the circus? It’s about a girl who has to go and live with her aunt and uncle in a circus, her aunt doesn’t like her at first because she reminds her of her own daughter who died. There was a boy in it too, and they trained bears and a goose.

Oh yes! Memories are flooding back! They lived inside a mountain and there was a solar eclipse maybe?? where they managed to fool the Africans by pretending the gods were angry, something like that?

i also remember one book, I think it was Mr Pinkwhistle, where the children have to stay in bed all day while their clothes are washed - as they only have one set of clothes. I found that eye opening as a child but I expect that wasn’t unusual for lower income families in those days?

great thread thanks OP, like others I read EB all day long as a child, still have most of them as my mum kept them in her loft, and often re read as an adult for comfort. favourites are the find outers and many of the one off books mentioned here - house at the corner, hollow tree house etc.

there’s a couple here I haven’t heard of which I might buy! Queen Elizabeth for example.

My DC aren’t interested in them at all!

I remember our y4 teacher reading us shadow the sheep dog and us begging for more everyday.

I loved the family at red roofs. 6 cousins at mistletoe farm...and the sequel.
The ragamuffin mystery where Barney had a blue striped second hand jumper.

The secret of kilimooin where they all went to stay at Prince Paul's castle in baronia and everything was silver and blue.

Does anyone remember Mr Twiddle? I was obsessed with these stories. Poor Mr Twiddle got everything mixed up all the time. He also wore galoshes and i was intrigued by that...what exactly were they?

I had this hard back series for younger readers which I absolutely loved - Rainy Day stories, sunshine stories etc. they had lovely really iconic illustrations. Quite moralistic stories but really captured my imagination. Weirdly my DD quite likes those! Turned her nose up (now there’s a Blyton-sequel expression) at everything else - Fararway, Mallory etc - she hated the girls in the boarding school books.

In family at red roofs someones fathers business goes bankrupt and the odd term that "he has gone smash" was used which didn't really understand at the time but I presume was used in the 1940s!

@Highlyflavouredgravy galoshes are wellies I think? Always mentioned alongside Sou’ Westers - found that totally confusing as a child but think it’s a Mac!

Goodness - I just googled and a Sou’wester is a hat! Wish I’d had Google in those days! 🤣

What is sad is that her second husband at some point burnt the vast majority of EBs diaries (she was a prolific diary keeper and used EB "branded" ones) when they were both older and unwell. They would have been really useful for a future biographer.

Flapjacker48 · Today 16:47
@Rummikub I just download the PDF versions and read them on my laptop.

@Flapjacker48 thank you.

i haven’t read a book in 2 decades (tho I would still say I love reading) and I think I’m going to read the island of adventure again. I remember borrowing it from the library and I just loved it.

Galoshes were waterproof covers for normal shoes! Like this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/PATIKIL-Waterproof-Silicone-Overshoes-Protector/dp/B0BNB8T354/ref=mp_s_a_1_11?keywords=galoshes&qid=1691009614&sr=8-11

What a delightful thread. You've taken me right back to my childhood ❤️

Does anyone remember Mr Twiddle? I was obsessed with these stories. Poor Mr Twiddle got everything mixed up all the time. He also wore galoshes and i was intrigued by that...what exactly were they?

I remember them. I had all of my mother's old books. There was Well, Really, Mr Twiddle, and another at least.

He was so forgetful, and muddled, but it always came right in the end. I don't think he was fond of the cat.

Come to the Circus was another nice one that I remember, with Fenella and the bear cub.

I do the same with the five o'clock, 6 o'clock, 7 o'clock etc tales, plus the Cherry Tree Farm books (I so wanted a pet squirrel!) and the famous five books

He enjoyed kippers for breakfast. And he used to tie a knot in his handkerchief to remind him of something but forgot what he was supposed to remember!!

I had a book calked Tales of long ago which a book of greek myths retold by E.B.
Absolutely brilliant

I'm sure it was EB but my Nan used to play is the audio tapes when we went for sleepovers and there was a story about a sweetshop and magic sweets. Does anyone know the name please?