Enid Blyton

I loved Enid Blyton books. I kept all my books and now my daughter reads them to the grandchildren. Milly-Molly-Mandy books were all re-issued some years ago now and I bought them all for my daughter (and me!) We used to sit and draw little villages together like M-M-M's village at the back of the books.

Ian64, I think I got as much pleasure reading my grandchildren bedtime stories as they did listening to them......"Just a wee bit more, Grandma, then I promise I'll go to sleep...." .

I have very happy memories of my father reading to me and my younger sister in the latter stages of mum's pregnancy with daughter 2. The baby was born not long after Christmas, and mum must have been tired, so dad did the bedtime story. We usually had Enid Blyton, The Bobbsy Twins, or a fairy story, but dad introduced Dickens, and read his own illustrated copy of a Christmas Carol every evening for what seemed like forever. I have that book amongst my treasures.
I read to my children, and we enjoyed Enid Blyton, Meg the Witch, all the Alfie books, the Dhal stories, The Nania books, Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf, Pippi long stocking, and many more. The children went on to love the Jacqueline Wilson books as they began reading to themselves at bed time. Books, and reading to children, what a glory.

KatyK - don't know why I remembered 'Radleigh' - probably because I couldn't pronounce it at that age and it stuck in my mind!

I'll ask her if she knows them, when. The chances are that she's read them as she is a regular attendee at two libraries.

Did anyone else take the Enid Blyton weekly magazine as well? I was aged between 10 and 12 when I was getting that, in other words, early to mid 1950s.

anno The Gallagher Girls series by Alli Carter are proving very popular. About girls who go to spy school and have adventures, solve crime and mysteries. There's lots of books by that author, so if she likes them plenty to give as presents.

My 11 year old GD has gone through Jacqueline Wilson like a tornado and is now enjoying the Twilight series. What next?

Like most of you, I was raised on Enid Blyton and suchlike, and my own children (born in late 60's and early 70's) also enjoyed them. I am now asked to read Noddy to the youngest grandchildren, and I think they still give a message about right from wrong. We also all enjoy Richard Scarey books, Dr Seuss, "My Naughty Little Sister", etc., so things haven't moved on very much, though I bought a Jacqueline Willson book for one of the older girls for her birthday (with advice from her bigger cousins) and it was very well received.
Those picnics were delicious, provided by the cook, Joan. When we go down on the beach in summer, my daughter is very keen to re-create them, and Fentiman's ginger beer is a must!

And I've learned from your post Marelli that it was Mary Radleigh not Raleigh. All those years I was wrong. Memory not that good then!

Marelli - Yes that's how I remember them. I didn't remember that Mary Simpson's father was a grocer though. Strange what sticks in our minds. As a younger child I remember being fascinated by Rupert Bear books.

Thanks when.You might be right ! I always thought it was Kirrin Island.

Grannylin if you scroll down to June 20th and 21st 2013 on the enidblyton.net website, there is a discussion about this quote, which might have been misattributed to Enid Blyton. I always thought it was the Famous Five, but apparently not, nor the quote 'lashings of ginger beer.' Perhaps it was Ade Edmondson and co. in the Five Go Mad series that parodied all those Famous Five adventures.

www.enidblyton.net/messages.html?showall=1

I'm so sad, I've just been on enidblyton.net looking for an answer.
When the children were small, as we drove across the bridge from Devon into Cornwall, they used to shout out ( in scary voices) 'We 're in Cornwall now, anything could happen!!' It's from a Famous 5/Secret 7 book, but I can't find it, anyone know?

I think it was all the EB mystery stories - Secret Seven, Five Find-outers (and dog) etc - that led me seamlessly to the detective stories of Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and (best of all) Dorothy L Sayers. I am still a glutton for good mystery tales.

KatyK, Mary Simpson's dad was the grocer! Mary had shoulder-length dark hair, Mary Cotter had plaits, and Mary Radleigh had blonde hair. I do remember the name Mary Field, but have forgotten what she looked like!

I spent quite a lot of time ill in bed as a young child, and loved my father reading Noddy to me. However one particular story gave me nightmares, it was the one in which a golly captured Noddy and stripped him down to bare wood.
My favourite books from the library were the Willard Price Adventure series featuring Hal and Roger Hunt. I was surprised to hear that my 8 year old GS is reading his way through them and does not find them old fashioned although they were written from 1949 onwards.

Are there any other GNs who remember reading descriptions of cook's picnics and immediately feel hungry. My god what well stocked hampers she provided for those greedy pigs, not Timmy of course. My packed lunches were sad and meager affairs in comparison, but then they were prepared by mother cos strangely we didn't have a cook! Thank god the smug do gooders were continually on their bikes sorting out smugglers and wrongdoers, otherwise from the amounts they consumed they could have been well on their way to being obese. Ditto the girls in Mallory Towers, far too many carb infested midnight feasts, they jolly well needed to work that lot off on the hockey field the next day!

Down in deepest Dorset, Poole and Corfe Castle both have shops called "Lashings of Ginger Beer" a homage to Blyton I believe she lived around there and drew her inspiration from the lovely Dorset countryside when she described the settings in the "Famous Five"

Just think if kids weren't so moribund by X boxes and other gadgetry in today's world, they too could give the police a helping hand in sorting out the dark under belly of our crime ridden nation just like The Famous Five. Note of caution kids, if you are a girl best to dress like a boy as per George, (not Osbourne) in case you get the "but you're only a girl" comment hurled at you!

gracesmum - no I was serious! Intriguing. I have read some of my gd's childrens books, Jacqueline Wilson and such like. Some of them are better than the adult books I have read.

I remember having Worzel Gummidge and Mary Plain read out to us at school story time and we loved them. Also Heidi and Anne of Green Gables.
Of course Blyton's families in the stories were not exactly working class (wasn't there a girl in one who owned her own island?) and they had wonderful picnics made by Cook with lashings of ginger beer, but we adored them all. We really believed that children could beat the police at solving crime mysteries. So exciting.
Also, we had no telly then- dad refused to get one till after my O levels as he was convinced I wouldn't do my homework!!
Yes, it's down to her that I became addicted to books and still am a committed bibliophile.
Yes we became more selective as we grew older but she paved the way and deserves credit.

Don't mock!

gracesmum - that sounds fascinating! Should I get out more? I too am surprised that I can remember the 4 Marys' faces and hairstyles clearly also
after about 55 years. They must have made quite an impression.

PS Did anybody ever read a book called "Fourteen fourteens"? It was absolute tosh but I loved it as my favourite name was Margaret and this book was about some secret benefactor who set up a boarding school for 14 year old girls called Margaret (I know!!) and they each had to use a diminutive of the name except the heroine who was allowed to keep hers. There's was Meg, Maggie, Peggy, Megs and 9 more which I forget unsurprisingly! They were each allocated a little white bedroom with a coloured "lozenge" on the door which somehow reflected their personality. One of them, maybe the heroine had an unfortunate accident with a deckchair (don't laugh at the back) which resulted in broken fingers and she was rescued by one of the others. How is it that I can remember this at least 55 years on?

Is that a van I see outside and men in white coats.......................??

As Craig would say Ab - so - lutely - I couldn't agree more! One of my earliest memories of primary school was "Story Time" on a Friday afternoon whene the teacher read her way through the series which included The Castle of Adventure etc. A class of probably 30 or more would sit in rapt silence and we were a pretty mixed bunch - none of your leafy suburban prep schools(!) I adored reading, still do and my favourite Enid Blyton books were also Mallory Towers, and St Clares. I know Blyton has been much denigrated (can you say that?) and I was never keen on Noddy or Milly Molly Mandy but I think we should be grateful for any author who inspires a love of reading in young people.

Marelli - I loved the Four Marys. I can see them now. As far as I can recall there was Mary Raleigh, Mary Field, Mary Cotter and Mary Simpson. Not sure about the Simpson but something like that !