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Children's books

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Original poster

Which book is the first of the Famous Five books?

30 replies

Snowstorm · 05/02/2010 14:58

Think my 7 year old DD might like it ... or maybe it's too old fashioned now. It has most certainly been a while since I read them!

TIA.

OP posts:
madamehooch · 05/02/2010 15:26

Hi there

The first FF book is 'Five on a Treasure Island'.

bumpybecky · 05/02/2010 15:37

dd3 loves them she had them on cd (free from Grandma's paper ages ago) and got the first couple of books for Christmas - she's 5 next week (dd3, not grandma....)

they are a little old fashioned, e.g. the first book mentioned the children not knowing if they were allowed to talk at the table at tea (I wish mine would shut up!) and we've had some funny language since - dd1 apolgised for being beastly the other day

all good fun though

bumpybecky · 05/02/2010 15:38

oh forgot to say, dd1(11) and dd2(9) keep sneaking in for dd3's bedtime story, so I'm sure your 7 year old would love them too!

PureAsTheColdDrivenSnow · 05/02/2010 15:45

Don't forget Malory Towers as well

Can anybod remember another series that Enid Blyton had (not the Secret Seven)
Similar set-up to the famous five, but one of them had a pet cockatoo

(or am I making this up?)

NoahAndTheWhale · 05/02/2010 15:46

There were Mystery ones, with a policeman called Fatty maybe? Can't remember a cockatoo though

flowerybeanbag · 05/02/2010 15:46

ROFL at apologising for being 'beastly'

NoahAndTheWhale · 05/02/2010 15:48

These are the ones I was thinking of.

NoahAndTheWhale · 05/02/2010 15:48

Ah policeman was Mr Goon. Not Fatty, who was one of the children involved.

annmar · 05/02/2010 15:51

The adventure series had a cockatoo.

I always preferred these to famous five and secret seven.

shonaspurtle · 05/02/2010 15:53

PureAs, they were the Valley of Adventure et al series. I think I only had the Valley of... but I absolutely loved it.

They were all called the something of Adventure I think.

There were also a couple of books set on a farm (Cherrytree Farm?) which I enjoyed. One of the boys had a pet squirrel iirc.

Do children still like Enid Blyton today? Actually, I can't see why not given that none of her characters or settings bore any resemblance to my suburban, Scottish, state school upbringing and that didn't bother me.

SkaterGrrrrl · 05/02/2010 15:54

Fatty was the child and Goon was the copper in Five Findouters and Dog.

The kids with the cockatoo were Jack, Phillip, Dinah and someone else in the River of Adventure, teh Mountain of Adventure etc.

NoahAndTheWhale · 05/02/2010 15:56

Why did I never read the Adventure stories?

CornishKK · 05/02/2010 16:10

Secret Seven, Five Find Outers, The 'R' mysteries (Rilloby Fair, Ragamuffin, Rat-a-Tat-Tat etc.). I think Fatty was in the Five Find Outers!

I was a big Blyton fan.

nannynobnobs · 05/02/2010 16:15

I still love them, though they are SO quaint. Jolly farmers wives making them 'high tea' and there's always some wild 'gypsy' child following them about!

careergirl · 05/02/2010 16:30

The cockatoo was in fact Kiki the Parrot. The children were Jack, Lucy Ann, Phillip and Dinah. I cant remember the book order now but I know they started with The Island of Adventure. Other books in the series include Circus of Adventure,Ship of Adventure, Valley of Adventure, Sea of Adventure, Mountain of Adventure. The books currently in print have been edited in parts so better off getting second hand ones from Ebay etc. These books are probably best for slightly older children as actually a bit dark in places!
The Secret series by Enid Blyton is a good one for younger readers (again you will need to get second hand copies as the newer ones are either edited or out of print) The books are from memory The Secret Island The Secret of Spiggy Holes, The Secret of Moon Castle.. there are others but I can't remember them off hand.
My all time favourites are the R Mysteries especially Ring O' Bells Mystery and The Rockingdown Mystery

Original poster
Snowstorm · 05/02/2010 16:58

Great - thanks for all that everyone - will give the Treasure Island one a whirl and see how it goes - won't go in for the box sets just yet. Am also getting First Form/Year/Whatever at Malory Towers, which I know I used to enjoy ... and which had an interesting take on life at boarding school!

OP posts:
SkaterGrrrrl · 05/02/2010 17:28

Mountain of Adventure had a proper Bond villan lair built into the side of mountains and stuff.

careergirl · 05/02/2010 18:37

So it did! I remember that now!

PureAsTheColdDrivenSnow · 05/02/2010 18:59

ah yes.. Kiki the parrot. I remember now... On the cover of one of the books it was definitely a cockatoo, but the description in the books is more like a maccaw (I think)

SkaterGrrrrl · 07/02/2010 16:01

I cant wait for bump to be born so I can buy all the Enid Blytons...

mummydoc · 07/02/2010 16:07

loved reading then to mydd1 when she was around 7 or 8 , again started because heard a cd free from ganny's paper. just be warned that reading out loud, the old fashioned prose sometimes leads you into tricky areas .....my dh was reading and it went something like this...
" I say Dick is super " said Julian to george . " I agree Julain I just love dick" replied george happily....

cue dh rofl and dd saying " i don't why you are laughing daddy"

wubblybubbly · 07/02/2010 16:08

Oh I love Enid Blyton, St Clares was the other boarding school series, I so wanted to go to boarding school....

PixieOnaLeaf · 07/02/2010 16:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Mistymoo · 07/02/2010 16:14

I thought boarding school sounded great fun too. I liked Enid Blyton's books but when I saw the film of her life on the BBC I was put off her slightly.

Turniphead1 · 07/02/2010 16:21

My DD (6) is madly into Enid and is constantly telling me what Alma, Darrel and Gwendoline etc are up to. It has made her speech rather old-fashioned and she too is determined to go to boarding school. I asked her the other day where she was planning on getting the 20k necessary for this .

It's mad that the first Mallory Towers book was printed in 1946 but is still captivating little girls over 60 years later. Agree that EB seemed like a complete cow when I watched the BBC3 drama! And I am a bit about some of the characterisation etc. But DD is flying though them and now writing EB style stories herself. (sample sentence "I say, shall we go batheing...")