Enid Blyton...what ages for which series?

[ThreeFeetTall]

My son and I have enjoyed reading the Faraway Tree Series and the Wishing Chair books at bedtime. I'd like to read him more of her books but not sure where to go next. Famous 5? Secret 7? (What's the difference?)

Or The adventure books?

I never read these as a child. My son is 7 but quite a young 7.

I agree @CatChant-Streaatfield is a read aloud for a 7 year old. The stories are always pretty similar-but the backgrounds are well drawn and interesting but not too information heavy. And they bear re reading. For me, the goal was to find books that the children enjoyed and I enjoyed too as the reader-aloud, and which the children came back to once they were able to read them for themselves. Ransom-I would start with Swallows and Amazons because the children grow up through the series.

Sorry @Scout2016 pressed send too soon! Like everything, try them out-but be ready to give up and move onto something else if they don't go down well. But give it a good go if you can. It can take a while for children to tune in to the slightly more complex sentence structure and difficult vocabulary.

Don't forget Narnia if it's to your taste. Such engaging stories and memorable characters. Personally, I never forgave Lewis for the stealth proselytising, but I still remember the stories with pleasure.

DS read Secret Seven first, he was in year 2 iirc, and then about every single book she wrote including the school ones, he used to get boxes of them from book fairs and second hand shops, if it wasn't for the EB and Harry Potter books I doubt he would have read much at all

The Narnia books are pretty problematic - just as much so as Blyton..

I recently reread them and the sexism, racism and other attitudes (anti pacifism, anti vegetarianism) is not great.

It's interesting though that no one seems to propose editing those to bring them up to date. I do think there is an assumption that they are literature and not to be tampered with but Blyton is not.

Yes, Narnia is problematic in some ways. But it is also beautifully written, and has some merit. And it has complex and sympathetic character interpretation- both good and bad characters are nuanced. Nobody is automatically a bad, criminal, inferior or lazy person simply because of the colour of their skin or their class origins. It is genuinely of its time. Blyton's views were extreme, even for their time!

If you are going to read books written in earlier times-and it would be a crying shame, IMHO, if children didn't, you're going to have to deal with uncomfortable attitudes. It's all a matter of judgement and cost/benefit analysis.

I agree with that which is why I read both Blyton and Lewis to my kids but in many ways I think Lewis is worse. I think the colonialist and anti Arab stuff is much more integral to the story and the beautiful writing makes it more convincing. Whereas you can sort of skip past a lot of the Blyton bits as they are more in passing

I read these as a child but don’t inflict them in my kid. I think my mum does a bit which I don’t object to but with a wealth of modern, non-racist/classist/ sexist shite why would I perpetuate that crap when I could invest in new authors who are writing relevant to my child’s generation.

Favourites in this house include;

Little people big dreams series (biographies of figures from history written from their perspective as a child)

pdsa/rspca series (books about rescue animals finding their forever homes/kid rescuing animals they find)

walter moers (very big books with very creative stories/shameless use of big words and wonderful author illustrations that feel a real achievement to have read)

dinosaur cover (very short easy reads about 2 boys and their time travelling adventures)

i use the website a mighty girl to look for modern, inspiring books by authors from around the world that I might not have heard of. It’s a fantastic resource as you can search by issues if your kid is dealing with grief/family break up etc etc

@Tomorrowisalatterday Yes, I can see that. But I don't think it's an either/or. I don't think that Blyton has any redeeming features at all except her appeal to children-and I do suspect that is largely manufactured by nostalgic parents! Whereas Narnia has important cultural references. And also, the dawning realisation that many children have of the proselytising going on is an incredibly useful lesson...

https://www.amightygirl.com/

Appeal to children is a big thing to dismiss!

Blyton spins a great yarn and is a lot of children's gateway to reading independently. I think that's a big redeeming feature.

It definitely isn't either/or, I read my children both but she hasn't sold the number of copies she has for nostalgia reasons.

My mum was reading little house on the prairie with her too which I said was fine as long as she had the conversations necessary as they came up.

The my kid came home saying about ‘bad Indians’ stealing the families cows and words were had about why people who had so far survived the ongoing genocide of their people and were actively being driven off their land and starved out might be entitled to ‘steal’ cows so they didn’t starve to death

There is value in old stories like these, Enid blyton and narnia but if we don’t challenge them as we go then we are normalising little Anne making everyone’s beds and food or the idea that white people can just turn up and build a farm on someone else’s land and complain they have a hard life there!

@Tomorrowisalatterday Not just nostalgia, no. But I would love to know how many are chosen by children and how many by parents and grandparents!

@SomePosters I love A Mighty Girl! Fantastic link to have on here!

I'd see if you can find the Green Goblin books if you enjoyed the Faraway Tree. Three goblins set up a shop supplying magical ingredients, and it's split into little stories about their adventures to get them. I remember most a magic tablecloth that gave food, and a cat that purred pearls.

Different, but I think still fits your criteria would be the Pongwiffy series by Kaye Umansky.

Re-reading Blyton as an adult, I couldn't believe how badly written I thought the stories were. However, dc1 was a reluctant reader, which given he lives in a house full of books I struggled with. I tried current books handed down by his older cousins. I tried the classics (Swiss Family Robinson, The Secret Garden, Journey to the Centre of the Earth...all books I adored at a similar age). I tried Greek myths after dc2 fell in love with Icarus. I tried Diana Wynne Jones and Roald Dahl. He had no interest.

What worked was the Wishing Chair series by Enid Blyton. It was his gateway drug into so many wonderful worlds. He's 8 now, becoming a confident reader and has wide ranging tastes including many of the books listed above.

my son is 7 and we are reading the 5 Finder Outers series .

Maybe Anne did like to be a home maker. Maybe she didn't want to confront men with guns like Julian did? Probably dick should also have stated behind at the den and that's the real issue in these stories, why can't dick be the stay at home man?

Anne seemed happy enough (as many women are at home)

"Re-reading Blyton as an adult, I couldn't believe how badly written I thought the stories were."

Yep. There is a theory that they were actually written by a "stable" of writers. The ultimate production line!

@burnoutbabe Yep. I bet George loved being "almost as good as a boy" too.....

Didn't she do some Brer Rabbit books, I used to like them as a child, they are probably aimed as being similar to Faraway Tree books so maybe a bit young.

I don’t think you can successfully re-edit books like Enid Blyton’s. They’re problematic on too many levels. But they have stimulated so many discussions with my dc. They didn’t need me to point out the problems; they were questioning them themselves.

It was very interesting to me what this generation see that wasn’t obvious when we were growing up. Dd felt so sorry for Gwendoline struggling to say goodbye to her mother, and found the bullying by the other girls abhorrent. As a child I hadn’t seen beyond Gwen and her mum making an embarrassing scene. Yet our generation created a different world where bullying, racism, sexism, ableism is called out. So I strongly contest the idea that censorship is actually necessary.

I think it’s easy to point the finger at older books and forget to take a good look at the values in modern children’s literature. Our own biases are always harder to identify but for me, the level of violence and the quite graphic descriptions of it are concerning. That’s actually a lot harder to tackle with a simple conversation.

Thanks @CurlewKate and @CatChant
I read Aunt Clara recently myself and enjoyed it and I remember enjoying Ballet Shoes but not what it was about.

The BBC are making a new Famous Five adaptation, aparrently.

I am interested in other books recommended on this thread. I just wanted to comment here so I don't loose this thread.