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!)

I loved them but plenty of the content hasn’t aged well

racism, sexism, corporal punishment etc

I absolutely loved The Famous Five. I also read all the Mallory Towers ones and The Magic Faraway Tree. I used to spend hours lost in them.

I thought it would be fun to reread the FF as an adult. I couldn't get through the first book Julian and Dick were so obnoxious 😆😂

I loved them ( but at my age am probably of that era😊 ) and read them to my grandaughters
Favourites was Mallory Towers they really enjoyed

Shadow the sheepdog was the first book I read (on my own) it was the book which got me into reading and my love of books. I read it at 10 just before starting secondary school. EB was banned at my primary school as the headmistress was a total academic snob, and was very sniffy about Blyton. It’s a shame, as I’m sure I would have been more into reading if I could read something I enjoyed instead of the bloody awful ladybird Peter and Jane Books!

Loved the Twins at St Clare´s. Read Famous Five, in Spanish. She was translated into many languages. What a pity she was such an awful person.

How could I forget The Children of Cherry Tree Farm and later Mistletoe Farm?!

Benjy and Tammylan were my favourites. I can still tell a stoat from a weasel because of Tammylan 😁

Ah I’ll definitely be watching this I loved the books, I read all of Enid Blyton’s books. Was there a Mr Moonface or am i misremembering? I shall have to google

Thank you I'd completely forgotten this and it's come back to me. Those were my favourite as well, I loved the idea of midnight feasts and ginger beer. Famous Five, George really annoyed me, I don't think this will have aged well though lots of casual sexism!!

My kids have dipped in and out of them but think they might like the school ones.

I loved Enid Blyton - my favourites were ‘The Mystery Of…’ books with the five findouters - Fatty was the leader if I remember correctly and PC Goon was the useless policeman. They always seemed to be eating macaroons!

I have an original Noddy book. The golliwog scenes and illustrations are quite an eye opener.
I loved the Adventure series, and all the Faraway Tree books.

I was also deeply puzzled by the macaroons as a child, because I asked my mum what they were, and her reply didn’t seem to match up to something Fatty & co would be eating!

I think later I realised that they must have been the squidgy dessicated-coconut-and-condensed-milk cake kind, rather than that the kids were gorging on Ladurée as a treat 😆

I loved them as a child in the seventies. The Magic Faraway Tree, the school stories and all the mysteries. When I was eight, l had chickenpox very badly and my Mum bought me The Naughtiest Girl Again - a real treat. I know they are dated and some of her attitudes are somewhat questionable to say the least but her real talent was that she could tell a gripping story and, ìn this way, she helped generations of children catch the reading bug.

Me. I loved them as did my (now) middle aged kids and my grandkids. 😊

Just remembered the Island of Adventure and others in that series. Kiki the parrot, etc.

Famous Five & Secret Seven. Brilliant

Malory Towers. The House on Red Corner (may be wrong title) were favourites but honestly I adored all of Blyton‘s books. It’s funny how much hate there is for them and parents preventing children from reading them because of the lack of quality. It never did me any harm and turned me into a voracious reader.

Enid Blyton was my first love and I devoured her books. The Enchanted Wood was my absolute favourite and my current dog is called Connie after the children's naughty friend. Unfortunately, my Connie is just as spoilt and naughty as her namesake. Y kids love EB too. Can't wait for this 🙌

The Family at Red Roofs, Mr Galliano’s Circus and the Naughtiest Girl were my favourites. They were so frowned upon when I was growing up and my mum used to hunt for the books at bring and buy sales or ask people with older girls if they’d pass them on.
Tales of Toyland was an early fav and more recently, I fished out my copy to read to the grandchildren, only to realise by the second page that the language was really no longer appropriate!

Yup, I grew up on Famous Five and Secret Seven. Remember saving and spending my pocket money on more of their books. Still got them in a box in our loft, 50 years later!!

I also loved The Wishing Chair, Willow Farm, Naughtiest girl and especially St Clare’s - mam’zelle who tried so hard but the girls always managed to get one over her 🤣 and Carlotta - she sounded so exotic! How can I remember the stories so clearly but can’t remember where I put my keys 🤦🏽‍♀️ I loved Secret Seven too. Enid Blyton gave me a love of reading that has lasted my whole life.

Oh my god you have just sparked a memory! When I grew out of Enid Blyton I got into Agatha Christie - I was about 12/13 - my mum kept a list of all her books in her handbag and she used to trawl charity shops for them to buy for me. Mum died when I was 16 and I hadn’t thought about that for years! 🥰 Thank you for reminding me of that memory.

Famous Five
The 'Adventure' series someone else mentioned up thread.
Five Find Outers and Dog.
Malory Towers
Naughtiest Girl.
6 Cousins at Mistletoe Farm
The Children of Willow Farm.
Hollow Tree House
The 6 Bad Boys
Those Dreadful Children.
Mr Galliano's Circus.
There are probably loads more....

I loved Family at Red Roofs. And Mistletoe Farm.

The Malory Towers girls were brutal!

I too loved the farm books. Children of Cherry Tree Farm and Children of Willow Farm series of course, and the the Six Cousins books, those were my favourite. My mum grew up on a farm and I felt like I was seeing what her life was like.

I spent years thinking there were only three types of deer in England, thanks to Blyton. There are not, there have been six for well over a hundred years! There are also four kinds of snakes now, but that last one is new, as the grass snakes are split into two kinds.

Does anyone remember Milly Molly Mandy? I was always desperate for a pink and white dress like hers!