Women's Wednesday: Enid Blyton

The day of celebrating women writers and women in literature. *****

The librarian looked at 10 year old me with what? A sigh? Exasperation? "I have a good book for you. How about Black Beauty?" "I don't want to read about a horse. That's boring. I want to read Enid Blyton books. Don't you have any more coming in? I know there's lots of them. They're listed in the books." "You know where they are." "Yeah, but I read all those. And you don't have Nancy Drew either. I've been reading those from the school library. But the school library doesn't have Enid Blyton." "We don't have any other Enid Blyton books in right now. Here. Take the Black Beauty book. You'll like it." I sighed and added it to my stack of non-Enid Blyton books. I didn't get beyond the first chapter in Black Beauty. I didn't want to read about a horse. Just because other girls my age were horse crazy didn't mean I had to be.

I'm not sure which adventure series was my first. I think it was actually "The Adventure Series". Four kids and a talking parrot who go on wild adventures to strange lands that include Nazi's and smugglers in the dungeons of castles. Who wouldn't love that? And then there's The Five Find Outers, a group of kids who solve mysteries right where they

live, their nemesis is the incompetent bicycling bobby Mr Goon. I loved mysteries. And then there was the Adventurous Four who were allowed to go sailing all by themselves and have overnighters camping in caves or on the boat. They all had their adventures while on vacation from boarding school. And there weren't adults around to spoil the fun. Adults were

quite willing to send their children to other people's houses for vacation even though they hadn't seen their kids for months. And they had no problem sending children out on boats on the ocean for days at a time without an adult to sail the boat. And they didn't blink about run-ins with criminals. Good parents were not the focus of these books. Now looking at it, I would say these parents could be charged with neglect, and admittedly I did wonder why they never wanted to see their kids. But I figured that was the way the English raised their kids - by never seeing them. Plus according to the publishing dates (yes I looked at those when I was 10 to see when the books took place) it was the 40's. So English parents in the 40's sent their children away during the school year and then away again on holidays so they hardly ever saw them and everyone was fine with that and people still spoke affectionately of Mummy and Daddy, because they weren't around to nag them or yell at them.

Example of a jumper. You wore it over a blouse.

I did eventually figure out that a torch wasn't a torch but a flashlight, that a jumper wasn't a type of dress but a sweater (it was a little disturbing thinking of the boys in jumpers) that tins of food were cans of food, and there was something called ginger beer which was a favorite of adventuring kids. Oh, and kids that stayed home drank lots of tea and ate scones with pots of jam and cream. The problem with reading books from the library, is that you grabbed what you could. You couldn't read things in order or a series at a time. And then one day in a used book store I discovered Malory Towers.

Mallory Towers - 1946-1951. A book a year.

This was a series of six books, each book a different year in the life of Darrell, a girl who goes to Malory Towers, a seaside girls boarding school. And because I had them all, I could read them in order. This wasn't about mysteries or wild adventures. Instead it was about life in boarding school. And I was fascinated. I am convinced that JK Rowling read these books too. She just made her school magical and co-ed. But otherwise it was the same kinds of things. Sneaking around after lights out. Getting caught. Having problems with school mates. Four house leagues (one in each tower). Hogwarts had Quidditch, Malory Towers had field hockey. And granted, there weren't giant spiders or monsters at Malory Towers, but it had its share of problems, like girls falling over cliffs, and famous actresses coming to be students, and whiny bratty girls, and a girl named Bill who liked horses and didn't like girl stuff and that was okay because there are all kinds of girls. Apparently, there's a reason that the librarian sniffed at my reading choice. Blyton books were once banned for lacking "literary merit". Translation - they were fun and there were no parents getting in the way. I did not read her little children's books so I can't say anything about them. But she certainly whisked me away with the kids that were my age and a little older. And I didn't mind at all that it was written for my mother's generation. I always loved contemporary books that were written at a different time. It was like I was there anyway. Normally I would do a short biography of Enid, but I found this fantastic website that has an extensive biography and covers and blurbs of every book. So there is no need for me to replicate that. If you too are a Blyton fan this website is not to be missed.

The Enid Blyton Society

I found a movie about her! Enid. Here's the trailer.

And I found a documentary about her too!

And the newsreel mentioned in the documentary.

I still have some of my Malory Towers. The hardback ones. I read them so often that the paperbacks fell apart. So many books, so little time. Speaking of so many books. Here's a list of 762 books written by Enid and her alter ego Mary Pollack. Enid Blyton Bibliography Oh, and here's a debate about changing the words in her books. I'm against it. Let kids read it the way it was written. I'm not for updating books. Reading books are about going to a different place and time. And I like the old covers better.