Who grew up reading Enid Blyton books?

[OldFred]

Just seen that The Magic Faraway Tree movie is to be released in the UK on 27 March 2026 🙂

I will hold judgement until I've seen it on it compares to the books but as a child, I devoured EB books.
I loved them all but TMFT holds a special place in my heart so fingers crossed!

I know EB books rightly so have had their fair share of criticism but (immigrant) childhood me just took them at face value, and as an adult and parent, my enduring love for them remains.
The Mini Old Freds have inherited all my copies and love them too.

What are your favourite EB books?
(Hoping to come across some I've not heard of!)

With some of her series, it's almost as if she chose a random number of children that she thought sounded snappy/alliterative with their descriptive word, even though she didn't really have that many strong characters in mind. Maybe that's why Timmy ended up being one of the FF - just to make up the numbers!

Then again, it could have been a deliberate marketing ploy. If young readers wanted to identify with the characters, it might have been a barrier to the quieter, less sparky ones if the kids in the stories were all super-smart, extroverted go-getters whom they found difficult to empathise with or imagine themselves as.

You might have been a young reader who saw yourself as a Daisy or a Larry, more than happy to be there in a 'supportive' background role. Actually in the books themselves, Ern Goon was clearly in this position: in awe of Fatty and just over the moon to be in his club and to help out or provide any observations wherever he could. Then again, he was working class, so maybe he just 'knew his place'?!

X-posted with DoubleYellows!

I feel that I must speak up for Timmy the dog, as I can’t stand by and see his name besmirched.
He certainly wasn’t only there to “ make up the numbers”, and played a vital role in mystery solving, eg sniffing out clues, biting villains, fiercely protecting the children and guiding them to safety.

Been reading the Famous Five books with our daughter. Just finished book 11 and finally managed to get her to take a break (we are now reading the Queen of Dreams series by Peter F Hamilton). Yes, the books have some old fashioned values but the surprisingly relatable adventures the kids have still work today.

Timmy is also easily more of a character than Dick, whose only job is to be Token Beta Male to Julian’s Alpha.

I think that even child me thought it was quite exotic that in Five On A Hike Together, Dick actually gets a proper part for a bit because Timmy gets injured and Julian and George go off to find a vet, leaving Dick and Anne to get lost and end up mistaking some villains’ isolated farmhouse for the cosy farm they’re supposed to be staying at and getting caught up in a mystery and a prison break from the local lock up with characters called Dirty Dick and Maggie.

Of course it would never have happened if masterful JuIlan had been in charge.

(That one I remember better than the others because it was a four-day half term the boys’ and girls’ schools had at the same time, rather than school holiday time, and I thought there was something very cool and independent about going off for a hike with only ‘nightclothes, a toothbrush and a rolled-up mac’ and a supply of chocolate and biscuits.)

The thing that I always notice about the Famous Five books now is that they’re always stopping for orangeade or ginger beer at village shops. It makes sense once you realise that otherwise they’d have had to carry heavy glass bottles around, if they couldn’t drink from those convenient springs they keep finding.

Don't argue the point with me; argue with Scamper (uncredited) and Buster (acknowledged but not considered a 'proper' member)

You might find it interesting that Gary Russell who played Dick in the 70s version of FF wanted to be Dick from the beginning.
He said something like they asked his drama class who wanted to audition, and he put his hand up thinking "I want to be Dick, they'll have too find three others round me".

So characters that some see as boring, others clearly see as ones to want to be.

Interesting, thanks. Although, to be fair, there were only ever two of the main five roles that would realistically have been open to him!

I love the adaptations - I remember having the VHS videos of the 70s ones as a child. I think that was the first thing I'd ever seen Brian Glover in and I was terrified of him!

I'm so glad that they're all on YouTube now - I might have been binge-watching them!

@Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService

Are they really?! I've never seen the 70s adaptations.
I'm going to look into this later tonight.
Are they quite true to the books?

Some are, others not. But I loved them!

Dick was a more likeable character than Julian in the books, but the boy who played Julian in the series made him a lot warmer and more humorous.

I remember the one with two trees, gloomy water and saucy Jane - unforgettable phrase!

Thank you @SerafinasGoose I'll take a look when have a spare moment.

As a 11 yr old, I had the hots for Gary Russell as Dick..😂

I remember this one especially as, when Anne spies a horrid face through the window, she says to Dick 'I I think it might have been a BLACK man' to which Dick nearly has a heart attack (or at least becomes masterfully protective of sweet naïve little Anne)

Gary Russell and Marcus Harris are both still in the public eye - Gary is a writer who has worked on Doctor Who and Marcus had his novel published his year.

Jennifer Thanisch (Anne) has lived out of the public spotlight for a long time now.

Michele Gallagher (George) very sadly appears to have died around 2000.

The 90s are normally much more true to the books (except when Julian turns up in a plaster cast, I believe because he actually broke his leg in RL).

For the 70s version they didn't get permission to do Five on a Treasure Island (someone had fairly recently filmed it, I think) so they sort of combined that with Five on Kirrin Island Again.
It makes a slightly odd film because the beginning is TI and the end is KIA.
Five Run Away Together is so unlike the book, I didn't recognise it at all. Not sure what the script writers were thinking, because it's a distinctive book, so why change it so much.
The only other book they didn't film was I think Five have Plenty of Fun because they thought it was too similar to other books.

My favourite in the 70s version is Five get into Trouble - the 90s version is very funny, but loses a bit of the scare factor in that the baddies are a bit pantomime. It keeps close enough to the book, but managed to get some good scenes in which are added.
I have DVDs of both sets because the dc loved them. Dd used to love singing "We are the Famous Five..." from the 70s version.

Best EB film has to be the Castle of Adventure done in about the 90s. But one of the problems with the series above is they weren't really long enough; 25 minutes per episode, and most were only one episode. Even the double episode books weren't really done justice.

I LOVE the 90s adaption, I have watched Jemima Rooper in loads of stuff since, she's fantastic.

@MargaretThursday
please, what are TI and KIA?
I googled them but ‘killed in action’ and a make of car came up.

Sorry
TI = Five on a Treasure island
KIA = Five on Kirrin Island Again

Too lazy to type the whole thing!

I'm, ahem, very much at the higher end of the age-range for children - but I still find myself randomly singing "We are the Famous Five..." now and again!

As an actual child, I used to assume that it was the main cast singing the song - well, four of them anyway - but it was actually a local children's choir.

This is a quite funny memory from Gary Russell about filming FF.

Gary Russell's ('Dick') memories about being Dick -

Thank you very much for that - fascinating!

Is it just me who remembers some sort of adaptation of the original books where you could roll a die and choose which path the children took? I am sure it were based on the FF. I think it came with a map, too.
The die had faces on it, so it could land on any child, the dog or something else-perhaps refer to map/clue?

Yes, I imagine them wearing the clothes they were wearing in the closing credits as they rush off into the distance with rucksacks and singing.

What did Gary Russell do to the production team to get his goofball opening credits scene? Everyone else gets to look cool, even meek Anne — Julian is swinging on a rope like Tarzan, George is skidding to a halt on a bike, Anne is riding a pony and tossing her hair. Dick gets to fall backward off a raft.

I did. Loved them all. As did my ACs. 👍