Wishing Chair Series - End Blyton

[broccoliandchips]

My 5 year old daughter is a good reader and just beginning long readers/chapters. Are the Wishing Chair books any good? A friend recommended them but I come from the era when 'Enid Blyton books should be burned/banned' was rife and therefore seemed to miss out on her. Any thoughts?

Oh no they are utterly utterly unreadably awful. But my DD (4) loves them! If she can read them herself I'd say yeah go for it. If you are likely to have to suffer them yourself, try something else first . (Personally I prefer the Faraway Tree)

I loved EB when I was a nipper. Second faraway tree and also Mr Galliano's Circus.

I'd also go for the faraway tree

I loved the Wishing Chair. She might enjoy The Faraway Tree as well although my 4-year-old finds it a bit scary sometimes (I'm reading it to her.)
Also My Naughty Little Sister - quite old fashioned but fantastic. The each chapter tells a complete story about her exploits and they are quite short so hopefully she won't get too fatigued.

Magic Faraway Tree every time. Loved it as a child.

My Naughty Little Sister is by Dorothy Edwards though and has lovely illustrations by Shirley Hughes.

I loved the Wishing Chair, The Magic Faraway tree and pretty much all Enid Blyton books when I was a child. I'm sure your daughter will love them and I intend to introduce my DD to them as soon as she is old enough.

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I feel like a deprived child , I never read Mr Galliano's circus!

but I did pretend to have a wishing chair in the garage!

I think they are awful, and would never inflict them on my bookshelves. But I am a reading snob. Well done your dd for being ready for chapter books!

My DD loved the Wishing Chair collection. The language is very old fashioned in parts though.

The wishing chair and the faraway tree are excellent for five year olds. Although I would be surprised if she is capable of reading entire chapters. It takes quite a lot of stamina to read an entire chapter out loud. I would suggest that you read alternate pages or paragraphs.

You can buy oringinal EB second hand. The EB that are currently in print have been santised. I think they have taken the sanitisation a bit too far and its stops being EB.

Some of this is an improvement like for example the Gollywogs in Noddy have turned into teddy bears, but I think they taken it a bit too far. A lot of the very quaint langauge like "queer" or "ginger ale" has been changed to modern language and many of the names have been changed. I can understand by the name Fanny was changed in modern books to "Frances", but why change the name "Bessie" to "Beth"?

Thanks everyone - will try and have a good sneak at The Wishing Chair series in the bookshop this weekend and also The Faraway Tree series.

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I re-read all the Faraway stories last year- they were as good as when I was 5 (34 years ago)

Some children are ready true but TBh an awful lot at 5y do IME find the long chapters very daunting. It is just he way it ll looks, all that text without being broken up with images and lack of colour. I agree with reallytired that alternating pages and/or paragraphs with a newly confident child can be a very good way to introduce these lpnger books.It certainly seems to have worked with many of the children I know of and work wit at school.

Interesting, Reallytired! Is Dick now Richard in the famous 5? FFS, changing Bessie!

I know she was far from pc by our standards, but it's indicative of the attitudes of the time. Social history, if you will. Not something we should whitewash out (pun intended!) IMO.

Most five year olds are on the lower stages of the ORT. A five year old who can even attempt a chapter book is the exception rather than the norm. There are very few five year olds who are capable of reading chapter books for hours on end.

The OP said that her daughter was begining to read longer books. That is why I suggested alternative pages or paragraphs. As her little girl gets more and more confident she will read more and more on her own. I am sure that the OP will let her know when she no longer wants to be read to.

Even if a child can read fluently they still benefit from hearing people read to them. An adult reading them will show them how to read with expression and the child has the opportunity to discuss what different words mean.

Just because a child can bark at print doesn't mean that they can truely read. Comprehension is every bit as important as decoding. Some of the language in EB is so archaric the chances of a 21st century five year old understanding every word is slim.

I loved these and have really enjoyed reading them to dd. In fact she always wants to go to school on the bus, rather than the car, so that i will read to her. They are a bit twee/non PC but sod it. My Naughty Little Sister is another great example. It is SO dated that I find it funny/actually quite scary but dd absolutely loves it.

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But at least My Naughty Little Sister is clearly set in the past (when I was a little girl) which makes it easier to understand that it was about a long time ago, when daddies might not have looked after children on a regular basis (one of the more tricky stories). I think that you do have to be careful about matching books up to children. We got Little House on the Prairie for dd this summer (she was 7) and although she could technically read it, it was just too long. It was much harder to get her reading age appropriate books afterwards - she wanted to relapse to her picture books.

in response to the op, i loved them, my dses love them (one of whom is 5yo)
And The Book People have the set on offer atm

Thank you everyone