Alternatives to the Great Blyton

[fatwildwoman]

Can anyone recommend anything to read to ds that isn't by Enid Blyton? I always declared I'd never have any of her books in the house, I totally agree with all posters on other threads who denounce her writing as being moralising, stereotyping piffle, but now I find they are creeping in cos they are so easy to read to a 4 year old - the humour appeals to him, it seems. But what can replace Pink-Whistle? Even something more up to date would be a start - "Dame Grumble boxed her cook's ears" ... wtf?

Gruffalo, bear hunt, Pooh, Paddington, I love you this much, Hugnry Caterpiller (sp?) Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz all were books my dd loved having read to her. Alternatively go to your local library for inspiration.

paddington definitely, and there's loads of them to get through!

What about Teddy Robinson? They're lovely, fun stories and I don't think 4 would be too young. Some here on Amazon.

I give a vote for Paddington too!!! I loved Mr Curry "BEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR""

My four year old DS loves Mr Gum and they're well-written enough for me to enjoy them too. Andy Stanton has a great way with a metaphor and he also has a website with games that derive from his stories. Double win.

I used to love Enid Blyton when I was a child and it didn't do me any harm.

Beatrix Potter, Mr Men/Little Miss stories, Dahl (not the scary ones), the Worst Witch, Curious George, The Giving Tree (may be a bit Blyton-esque for you).

Love Paddington (and Blyton....)

Roald Dahl, janet and Allan ahlberg, first 2/3 harry Potters before they get a bit too 'dark' (depending on your child), 5 children and it is fabulous, shirley hughes. Although I must admit I love blyton especially the wishing chair books and the magic faraway tree!!

Horrid Henry?

Thats the trouble with ol' Enid, she's so darn insidious isn't she? I do love the Faraway Tree, Wishing Chair etc., I just wish there was something a bit more relevant to the 21st century, and not so twee.

I have tried Roald Dahl, but I had to keep skipping bits about picking noses with long delicate fingers etc etc - I am his mother after all (and turning rapidly into my own)

Never heard of The Giving Tree, have to check it out.

IMO, people should avoid Horrid Henry. DD is not allowed to read him because she is SO influenced by his deeds and attitude.
Topsy and Tim were always welcomed by my DD, she liked trying to see where Steve was in the books and judging by the illustrations that pop up every once in a while on the left, they've improved the drawings too.

Winnie the witch, My Naughty Little Sister,
Daisy... (series by Kes Gray), Just William is now done for younger children called "Meet Just William" (isbns 9780330390972/9780330391009/9780330391023)
also try the Bananas series by Egmont (blue bananas, red bananas, green bananas and yellow bananas), Dick King-Smith, Jeremy Strong.
all those are quite amusing and suitable for reading to a 4yearold without being too complicated or nasty.

Dd2 is convinced she is 'perfect peter' and aspires to him instead. Doesnt work she is much nearer to Henry but at least she aspires the right way

Now Tracy Beaker was a bad influence for a while but not now, I'm not sure what changed,

Little bit at the censoring of kids literature that really gets kids reading.

Horrid Henry and good old Enid have given me 2 X 6 year old very fluent avid readers.

One of my twins is obsessed with EB and has read nearly everything she's written and is constantly making up adventures to go with his siblings.He's also been scribbling down his own versions too.

The other twin is HH mad, although fluent he was a reluctant reader,he now devours HH books and has been writing down secret club rules,trap ideas etc. Admittedly our patience is tested at times when he calls his sister 'worm' and sings The Bottom Song (continuously)but the way he's been inspired I'd tolerate old Henry any day .

Tread very carefully when dictating what your kids read. Horrid Henry books are the most checked out books in kids libraries,there is a reason for that-kids love them and they get them reading. Enid has got millions of kids reading,her books are part of childhood.

Kids need to read a variety of texts and books that inspire and that they want to read. If you dictate too much you'll turn them off. Anything kids are desperate to read has a place on their bookshelf imvho. My dd 5 is getting very interested in the infamous Rainbow Fairies, I wouldn't dream of banning them if they get her reading.

HH and Tracy Beaker are the only things she isn't allowed to borrow from the school library. She is a fluent reader who is interested in everything. DD has read every single EB book I th to temink and has her own detective club at school, these go by different names according to how many other members she can rope in. Sometimes it's just the daring duo when there is a spectacularly good game going on to tempt other members away.
For the OP, I don't know if they are too young for your DS, but Jeremy Strong writes amusing books for children.

Swallows and Amazons?

A word of warning re. banning of Enid Blyton books. My mother, like the OP, hated Enid Blyton and used to collect up all our Famous Five books and give them away to jumble sales and bring and buy sales. So we used to go along to all the village sales and use our pocket money to buy them all back. The harder she tried to get rid of them the more we bought - still got a few of them somewhere!

So I would just encourage some of the alternative authors mentioned here if I were you!

The Phantom Tolbooth is a good book. It's a sort of 'adventure in a strange land type of tale'. I think it must have been written in the 60's; it's a bit psychedelic but fun. Might be better for 6 yrs up.

I loved Enid Blyton. Even as a child I recognised the nonsense parts (if you don't like sports, you're evil, and other things) but it didn't stop me enjoying the stories.

It still makes me laugh that those children of Cherry Tree Farm were allowed to play with the tramp in the woods (Tammylan was it?) . These days he'd have been set on fire by an angry mob.

My dd is just going through the Secret Seven. She just loves them. What's so bad about Enid Blyton? DD also enjoyed Amelia Jane a while back. I read them to her, and was on the alert for copious amounts of racism etc. Guess what? It wasn't there (and my copy is a 1960s one, so not 'updated'). Sure, there was a Golly, but he was in command and the kindest of the nursery toys. So even if one were to make any connection with black people (which I really don't think children do) there was no negativity whatsoever. As for the Enid Blyton language, sure, there may be limited description and character development, but if a child is enjoying reading a book, what's the crime?

As for suitable reading material for a 4-year-old, I think My Naughty Little Sister is excellent. I think Paddington is wasted on the young. They are books for adults!

I read the Famous Five to my DD but it annoyed me so much that in the end I reversed the characters of Dick and Ann, so that Dick was a sniffling, girly, pain-in-the-arse and Ann went down wells on ropes etc. I did get the "he's" and "she's" a bit muddled but I feel it made the stories work better.

I'm not reading any more though, she can read them herself...and we both enjoyed the Wishing Chair.

I loved Enid Blyton as a kid, and I love Horrid Henry for end of the day storytimes because they read aloud so well. Enid's not dated well sadly but I remember going in to cover a class of kids, being told the fairly regular "if you've got a spare 10 minutes here's the book we're reading" and it was The Faraway Tree - and the kids were utterly utterly captivated by it even in a fairly streetwise before their time type of school.

I don't think Blyton ever deserved the public hanging drawing and quartering she got for a fairly log time; her books were a product of the era they were written in and got a generation of kids reading. Society's moved on since then - but that's not the fault of a long-dead author really is it.

Recommendation-wise - Julia Donaldson's books read aloud great for bedtime - I LOVE Stick Man and my old reception class adored Room on the Broom and of course Gruffalo's awesome. My favourite picture book (I'm a tad obsessed by good kids' picture books) of all time is Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper because of the quality of the illustrations and the discussion you can have about them. I also love Elmer (David McKee) to the extent I had picture cards I'd found of him framed and on my wall at one point. There are a fair few pretty turgid piles of poo out there though - so it's probably worth just picking things out of the local library rather than going out and buying them.

Hate the Very Hungry Caterpillar because it's done to death in schools. I also (and this is bordering on heresy for a teacher) don't like Where The Wild Things Are!

Books in chapters that you can read a bit at a time of are a bit harder to find - the younger level Roald Dahls I'd probably not be broaching with a class until about Y2 ish (my Y2s I had LOVED Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). He's always got his trademark of revelling in the total disgusting though - so it depends if you go there - just be careful over a couple of them as there's some potentially iffy language (one of the poems in his revolting fairy tales one and a more obscure Vicar of Nibbleswick story you'd want to pre-read and make sure you're happy with)

Dick King Smith's got some nice stories - but because he relies so much on dialogue they can be a bit slow to get started story-wise, when I've read them to a class (Y2 ish again) they've been a bit fidgety while he goes through his "using lots of dialogue to get the characters built with not much happening" thing. They liked Jenius by him (about a brainy guinea pig) and Hodgeheg when they got into it they enjoyed but it was a touch slower starting.

I still love Horrid Henry though - you can really lay it on with the voices and it can tame the most fidgetty rabid of classes and have them in fits of giggles!

Sorry - typing lots of this off the top of my head, most of my books are in the car boot and it's raining outside so I'm not going out there.

Miranda Richardson is pure genius reading Horrid Henry.

"One bottom,two bottom...."

I l;oved Enid Blyton as a child and as far as I know my parents still have the books in their loft. I will be getting them out for my dc! Ds1, 4.6, is into Janet and Allen Ahlberg books at the moment, we have read Each Peach Pear Plum and Peepo for weeks now! Mr Men books, Spot books (not the lift the flap ones, I was given some versions that are just reading ones.

This thread is really useful. DS is 4 and we will finish the last Roald Dahl tonight - Esio Trot. He's loved reading them and I was wondering what to go for next. In summary it's yes to:

Enid Blyton - all her books or should I stick to thinks like Magic Faraway Tree for now?
Horrid Henry
Mr Gum
Pooh
Paddington
Teddy Robinson

kreecherlivesupstairs Topsy and Tim - aargh!!! No, no no! I loathed and detested T+T but DD kept getting those books out of the library when she was small.

Personally I wouldn't censor the Enid Blyton books but just make sure she is exposed to lots of other good alternatives such as the ones on here.

I loved Enid Blyton and my DD did too but as she got older she was able to spot for herself the dated attitudes without me pointing them out to her. For instance, I was quite impressed that although she thoroughly enjoyed the Malort Towers series she was quick to denounce Darrell, Alicia and friends as bullies because of the way they often belittled Gwendoline Mary. EB would probably spin in her grave!