My God Enid Blyton was prolific!

[Budababe]

Prompted by Roisin's thread I had a look on Amazon for Enid Blyton books and was amazed at how many there are! And how many I had forgotten!

Hope DS likes them all as am planning on buying lots for me him!

Great post Lorayn!

dd is enjoying Amelia Jane at the moment. I must admit as I began reading it wondering whether I would have to make some 'cuts' as I went along, but I found that the golly is the leader of the toys and is described as a very kind and sensible toy. And this is an old version of the book I have, not a politically-corrected one.

And about the class thing: I loved Enid Blyton as a child and lapped up stories of nursery teas, houses with secret passages, boarding schools etc. I didn't feel alienated and disenfranchised (so the jargon goes) because these things were out of my financial league.

I think those who hate enid blyton have read too much of this

thestaticvoid.net/drivel/201/

LOL at EB being kicked out of hell for not being evil enough!

There might indeed be better things to encourage children to read, but a lot of us enthusiastic readers who loved EB read better things too and it's well documented that many a NON-enthusiastic reader can get suckered into the whole reading business by EB's story-telling gift - 'formulaic and limited' maybe, but as a literary and wide-reading child I never noticed that, the stories were just too darned good I'm a writer myself and would love to have even a fraction of her ability to spin a good yarn that hooks in a reader in a trice.

And no, the golly was not always the bad guy, as fircone says, nor does everyone agree that EB's books are intrinsically racist. See this article

Totally agree EB told a good story. I think the thing to do is take the best and leave the rest. Otherwise a huge amount of literature would have to be censored, including CS Lewis, Pullman, Ransome, Fine, Shakespeare... the list is endless. Modern stuff is often just as questionable- Horrid Henry is truly horrid but enchants little boys. Philip Pullman shoves his beliefs down your throat in spadefuls and tells a fantastic story.
I loved EB- she felt like a safe place to go.

Desiderata I agree wholeheartedly. I studied EB as part of my degree last year and was surprised at how many people (theorists etc) took the thought that she was didactic, archaic and well, boring (!)

I think it is the absolute opposite and agree with you that kids should most certainly have that time in life to be polite, drink ginger beer down a secret passage and not worry whether they get lost on the moors. The most unfortunate thing is that kids today can only get those experiences from books (sigh)

Am a fan of EB myself and can't wait for DS to read her stuff too

Well we can agree to differ. I'm not that rabid about the EB is intrinsically bad/evil line, I just think they are junk reading. I read some EB as a kid, but only when I'd run out of better books. I'll strt my guys off on the good stuff - if they want to read EB at school that's fine so long as they don't expect me to too!

I was an avid EB reader & then moved on to Dickens, Shakespeare & just about anything! Now my daughters are hooked on her, but are moving on to meatier things as well. Yes it's old fashioned & yes it's elitist(by our standards today) but it's pure escapism for most kids. FGS they have enough realism in their little lives some of them a bit of anodyne fantasy stuff is balm to their souls. Anyway we adults watch soaps & read lightwieght books for relaxation too as well as the more intellectual stuff so why shouldn't they?

Children are not instinctively bigotted IMHO the absorb these views from the adults around them,sadly!

oops just noticed this is an old thread..sorry to refresh it!!