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Thu 26 Aug, 2004 08:12 pm
Famous Five top child book poll
Two million Enid Blyton books are sold around the world each year
The Famous Five books, which were penned by Enid Blyton, have topped a poll to discover which books adults most enjoyed as children.
Over 1,000 adults, aged between 25 and 54, were asked to name their favourite children's book while growing up.
Blyton's series of 21 Famous Five adventures, written between 1942 and 1963, narrowly beat classics like Treasure Island and Lord of the Rings.
Two million copies of the Famous Five novels are sold worldwide each year.
The adventure series featuring Julian, Dick, George, Anne and Timmy the dog made Blyton the most successful children's author all time.
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - the 1950 fantasy tale penned by CS Lewis - came second in the survey, which was carried out by the Cartoon Network.
Children's Top Five
1. The Famous Five
2. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
3. Treasure Island
4. The Secret Seven
5. Black Beauty
And Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, published in 1883, came third.
Another Blyton creation, The Secret Seven, came fourth in the poll.
The adventure series aimed at younger readers featured the likes of Peter, Janet, Jack and Scamper the dog.
Enid Blyton's daughter Gillian Baverstock, who lives in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, welcomed the results of the poll.
She said: "It is wonderful that my mother's books are remembered so fondly.
"The secret of their success is that they centre squarely on children, with adults only ever playing a minor role.
"The injection of adventure and excitement on to every page stimulates a child's desire to continue to read not just one book but the whole series."
The survey was done for the Prince of Wales' StoryQuest Children's Literary Festival, which takes place across the UK in October.
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Anyone else out there who grew up reading Enid Blyton?
Wonderful stories!
Does it surprise you that the magic still appears to work?
I adored Enid Blyton! I knew the Famous Five intimately, I owned all of the books at one point and they were well read. Now it's amusing to read them and find the inuendos that I never noticed when small. And I have copies of many in German that I'm struggling through, I was miffed to find that they're not 'Famous' in Germany, they're just known as the Five Friends
I have read all of the Five and Seven books, but I prerfered the Adventure series - Castle of Adventure, Island of Adventure etc. Can't remember the names of all the characters but one was maybe Jack and had a parrot, and Lucy (?) who were brother & sister, and two others who were brother and sister One was maybe Philip? Anyway, perhaps a little darker than the other series (well, as dark as Enid Blyton can get). Made a definite impression on me as a youngster. A damn fine children's author.
Thanks for bringing this up, MsOlga!
Hello travelbug & Rhamag! And welcome to A2K, both of you.
At last, a couple of responses to this thread!
I'm not familiar with the "adventure" series, Rhamag. Looks like I missed out on something there!
I gather that both of you are female, so must I ask: Was George your hero & role model? :wink:
I've read about Enid Blyton, but to my perpetual regret her books aren't available in the States.
Noddy24 - have you any idea why that is? They sell millions elsewhere in the world, so I am puzzled why the children (and adults) of America are denied access.
Oh, sorry MsOlga, but I must point out that I am male. Can I then infer that reading Enid Blyton is for girls? I am depressed...
The boarding school setting is not common in the United States.
Scholastic Books (a small publishing house as publishing houses go) published Harry Potter in the United States because larger publishing companies didn't feel that a story set in a boarding school would appeal to American children.
Rhamag wrote:Oh, sorry MsOlga, but I must point out that I am male. Can I then infer that reading Enid Blyton is for girls? I am depressed...
Nah, boys can read Enid, too, Rhamag!
It's my personal belief, though, that George, of the Famous Five, was an early feminist hero & role model. :wink: Ah, I admired her, escpecially for refusing to be called "Georgina", a real GIRL name!
Noddy
As a newly arrived migrant to Oz, I learned English via addiction to the Famous Five, The Secret Seven, The Faraway Tree ... etc. A strange little Eastern European bookworm, I was.
Msolga--
Learning both a language and a world.
Yes, Noddy. And what a world! Upper middle class English children having "adventures". Life at English boarding schools. The strange & eccentric inhabitants of the fantasy Faraway tree ...
My (totally uneducated) mother viewed all this reading with great supicion & told me I'd ruin my eyes!
msolga--
Most of my elementary school teachers told me not to read so much--that I'd ruin my eyes.
.. & now you have reading glasses, like me?
msolga--
I've worn glasses since I was three. Since then I've had two catarats removed; I'm being monitored for retinal detachment and I'm taking drops for pre-glaucoma.
I'm assured that none of these little occular problems are connected with reading "too much".
Goodness, Noddy, you've really had quite a time of it! But it hasn't stopped you enjoying a good book, I see!
Reading means that delightful company is always available.
Reading means that delightful company is always available.
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