gupta@asgb.UUCP (Yogesh K Gupta) (08/13/85)
I think I read books by an author named "Enid Blayton" (or Blyton) when
I was a kid. One of the titles that comes to mind is "Tuppenny, Fifo &
Jinks" (It was a tale with fairies and witches and gnomes and goblins ...).
The author also wrote some juvenile mysteries with kids as detectives
(the Secret Seven series, the Famous Five series etc). I may be confusing
two authors here, but I do not think I am. The author is probably British.
Does any of the above ring a bell, or is my mind going?
--
Yogesh Gupta Advanced Systems Group,
{sdcrdcf, sdcsvax}!bmcg!asgb!gupta Burroughs Corp., Boulder, CO.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
All opinions contained in this message are my own and do not
reflect those of my employer or the plant on my desk.chris@ada-uts.UUCP (08/15/85)
The author's name is indeed Enid Blyton, and while growing up in England
I read all her famous five books and numerous Secret seven. She
seemed to be quite popular at the time, but I have no idea how she is
faring now. If I remember rightly she also wrote the Noddy series
which was for very young children. I don't think I've ever seen any of
her books here in the United States, but I think they may have them in
Canada.
She was certainly very prolific with many more than 20 Famous fives,
as many Secret sevens, and various other fairy tale type books for young
children. Now that I come to think of it, I think she may have had
another series of young detectives that called themselves "the finder-
outers" or something like that and the books were always called
"The mysterious ____". As an aside, I think for some time her books were
frowned upon as being a bad influence on children because the characters
would sometimes use slang common at the time.
Also, she was British.
Chris Gosling UUCP: {bellcore,ima, ihnp4}!inmet!faust!chris
Intermetrics Inc. INTERNET: ima!inmet!faust!chris@CCA-UNIX.ARPAcv@linus.UUCP (Chris J. Valas) (08/15/85)
-=- In article <751@asgb.UUCP> gupta@asgb.UUCP (Yogesh K Gupta) writes: >I think I read books by an author named "Enid Blayton" (or Blyton) when >I was a kid. One of the titles that comes to mind is "Tuppenny, Fifo & >Jinks" (It was a tale with fairies and witches and gnomes and goblins ...). >The author also wrote some juvenile mysteries with kids as detectives >(the Secret Seven series, the Famous Five series etc). I may be confusing >two authors here, but I do not think I am. The author is probably British. >Does any of the above ring a bell, or is my mind going? >-- >Yogesh Gupta No, you are still relatively sane. I read some of the Famous Five series when I was a kid, living in England. The name was Enid Blyton. I was rooting around in my parent's basement a few years ago and came across a few of these books. What crap! I wish I had just spent my time on multiple re-readings of Lord of the Rings and Dune. Still, it was ok stuff at the time. Chris J. Valas {decvax,utzoo,philabs,security,allegra,genrad}!linus!cv -=- Turning over new leaves since 1966. -=-
barry@ames.UUCP (Kenn Barry) (08/18/85)
>I think I read books by an author named "Enid Blayton" (or Blyton) when >I was a kid. One of the titles that comes to mind is "Tuppenny, Fifo & >Jinks" (It was a tale with fairies and witches and gnomes and goblins ...). >The author also wrote some juvenile mysteries with kids as detectives >(the Secret Seven series, the Famous Five series etc). I may be confusing >two authors here, but I do not think I am. The author is probably British. >Does any of the above ring a bell, or is my mind going? > > Yogesh Gupta Advanced Systems Group, > {sdcrdcf, sdcsvax}!bmcg!asgb!gupta Burroughs Corp., Boulder, CO. I'm not sure if you're mixing two authors or not. I am not familiar with any of the books you mention above, but I am familiar with Enid Blyton, a British author of books for children and young people. When I was a child, I read a long series of adventure books by her, all titled THE [something] OF ADVENTURE (eg, THE ISLAND OF ADVENTURE, THE CASTLE OF ADVENTURE, etc.). All featured the same four children getting into various scrapes with spies, smugglers, etc. I recall that one of the boys had a marvelous parrot named Kiki, who accompanied the children everywhere and was the most interesting character in the books. At least one of the books was made into a movie, but I don't know which one. Does any of this sound familiar? - From the Crow's Nest - Kenn Barry NASA-Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ USENET: {ihnp4,vortex,dual,hao,menlo70,hplabs}!ames!barry
peter@baylor.UUCP (Peter da Silva) (08/19/85)
> The author's name is indeed Enid Blyton, and while growing up in England > I read all her famous five books and numerous Secret seven. She > seemed to be quite popular at the time, but I have no idea how she is > faring now. If I remember rightly she also wrote the Noddy series > which was for very young children. I don't think I've ever seen any of > her books here in the United States, but I think they may have them in > Canada. I don't know about her other books but Noddy was "banned" in the US because it was "racist". I don't remember it well enough to comment further. -- Peter (Made in Australia) da Silva UUCP: ...!shell!neuro1!{hyd-ptd,baylor,datafac}!peter MCI: PDASILVA; CIS: 70216,1076
rachel@ada-uts.UUCP (08/20/85)
I am not entirely sure that the English series of childrens books
about a school named St. Clare's was by Enid Blyton, but I think it
was. An English relative gave me a copy of "Fifth Formers at St.
Clare's" and for years I longed to read the rest of the series. It
was set at a boarding school for girls, and I recall it as being
more entertaining and with more sympathetic characters than many similar
books.
Rachel
ima!inmet!ada-uts!rachelsophie@mnetor.UUCP (Sophie Quigley) (08/20/85)
In article <497@linus.UUCP> cv@linus.UUCP (Chris J. Valas) writes: >In article <751@asgb.UUCP> gupta@asgb.UUCP (Yogesh K Gupta) writes: >>I think I read books by an author named "Enid Blayton" (or Blyton) when >>I was a kid. One of the titles that comes to mind is "Tuppenny, Fifo & >>Jinks" (It was a tale with fairies and witches and gnomes and goblins ...). >>The author also wrote some juvenile mysteries with kids as detectives >>(the Secret Seven series, the Famous Five series etc). I may be confusing >>two authors here, but I do not think I am. The author is probably British. >>Does any of the above ring a bell, or is my mind going? > >No, you are still relatively sane. I read some of the Famous Five series >when I was a kid, living in England. The name was Enid Blyton. I was >rooting around in my parent's basement a few years ago and came across a >few of these books. What crap! I wish I had just spent my time on >multiple re-readings of Lord of the Rings and Dune. Still, it was ok >stuff at the time. Hmmm, I used to love Enid Blyton's stuff too when I was a child. I have heard something about those books being banned in some libraries in Sweden because they were considered worthless. I remember them as being quite racist and sexist, but apart from that pretty ok. What's wrong with them? I think Dune is pretty racist and sexist too. Why is it better than Enid Blyton? -- Sophie Quigley {allegra|decvax|ihnp4|linus|watmath}!utzoo!mnetor!sophie
tini@uscvax.UUCP (Surjatini Widjojo) (08/22/85)
Enid Blyton wrote several books : the Secret Seven series, Famous Five series the Adventure series ( THE (SEA,CASTLE,etc) OF ADVENTURE), and some other books for younger children with witches, goblins, etc. They are pretty entertaining for young adults ( kids over the age of 8 ). (S)he is british; (so) you probably could find her books in any of the Commonwealth countries. I can't seem to find her books in the big US bookstore chains like Waldenbooks, Crowns, etc. Tini.
T3B@psuvm.BITNET (08/22/85)
Enid Blyton's books were in print in paperback editions in
England as recently as 1979. My daughters bought many of them
and enjoyed them. I believe there was also a television series
based on the famous five.
-- Tom Benson
Penn State University
227 Sparks Bldg., University Park, PA 16802
814-238-5277 (ATT)
{akgua,allegra,ihnp4,cbosgd}!psuvax1!psuvm.bitnet!t3b (UUCP)
T3B@PSUVM (BITNET) 76044,3701 (COMPUSERVE)
cv@linus.UUCP (Chris J. Valas) (08/28/85)
-=- In article <1839@mnetor.UUCP> sophie@mnetor.UUCP (Sophie Quigley) writes: >In article <497@linus.UUCP> cv@linus.UUCP (Chris J. Valas) writes: >>In article <751@asgb.UUCP> gupta@asgb.UUCP (Yogesh K Gupta) writes: >>>I think I read books by an author named "Enid Blayton" (or Blyton) when >>>I was a kid. One of the titles that comes to mind is "Tuppenny, Fifo & >>>Jinks" (It was a tale with fairies and witches and gnomes and goblins ...). >>>The author also wrote some juvenile mysteries with kids as detectives >>>(the Secret Seven series, the Famous Five series etc). I may be confusing >>>two authors here, but I do not think I am. The author is probably British. >>>Does any of the above ring a bell, or is my mind going? >> >>No, you are still relatively sane. I read some of the Famous Five series >>when I was a kid, living in England. The name was Enid Blyton. I was >>rooting around in my parent's basement a few years ago and came across a >>few of these books. What crap! I wish I had just spent my time on >>multiple re-readings of Lord of the Rings and Dune. Still, it was ok >>stuff at the time. > >Hmmm, I used to love Enid Blyton's stuff too when I was a child. I have >heard something about those books being banned in some libraries in Sweden >because they were considered worthless. I remember them as being quite >racist and sexist, but apart from that pretty ok. What's wrong with them? > >I think Dune is pretty racist and sexist too. Why is it better than Enid >Blyton? >-- >Sophie Quigley >{allegra|decvax|ihnp4|linus|watmath}!utzoo!mnetor!sophie Excuse me, but are racism and sexism the only two criteria you use in judging the merits of literature? I hope not. I prefer Dune and Lord of the Rings (among various other reasons) to Blytons' works because both Herbert and Tolkien display cogent and sweeping imagination, enough to create complete worlds and universes from scratch and bring them to life on paper. A child reading either of these books will have his mind stretched in several directions, something Blytons' books are too simplistic to provoke. On the other hand, if the objective is to keep the little darlings away from the television until after they've had din-din, then Blyton will suffice .... Chris J. Valas {decvax,utzoo,philabs,security,allegra,genrad}!linus!cv -=-
sophie@mnetor.UUCP (Sophie Quigley) (09/04/85)
In article <527@linus.UUCP> cv@linus.UUCP (Chris J. Valas) writes: >In article <1839@mnetor.UUCP> sophie@mnetor.UUCP (Sophie Quigley) writes: >>Hmmm, I used to love Enid Blyton's stuff too when I was a child. I have >>heard something about those books being banned in some libraries in Sweden >>because they were considered worthless. I remember them as being quite >>racist and sexist, but apart from that pretty ok. What's wrong with them? >> >>I think Dune is pretty racist and sexist too. Why is it better than Enid >>Blyton? > >Excuse me, but are racism and sexism the only two criteria you use in >judging the merits of literature? I hope not. No, they are not, but they are pretty important in shaping people's personalities. When I read Enid Blyton's stuff, I associated very strongly with the characters, something I never did with Dune because the female characters were always very peripheral. >I prefer Dune and Lord of the Rings (among various other reasons) to >Blytons' works because both Herbert and Tolkien display cogent and >sweeping imagination, enough to create complete worlds and universes from >scratch and bring them to life on paper. A child reading either of these >books will have his mind stretched in several directions, something >Blytons' books are too simplistic to provoke. On the other hand, if the >objective is to keep the little darlings away from the television until >after they've had din-din, then Blyton will suffice .... I think it is silly to compare the two kinds of work, they are not ment for audiences of the same age. Enid Blyton's stuff is for much younger children than either Dune or Tolkien. Actually, my impression is that Dune and Tolkien are for adults. I certainly was never able to read them until I was over 20 even though I tried Tolkien when I was younger. I read Enid Blyton between the ages of 6 and 9. I like to think I've evolved since (even though some net readers might not agree <-:). Again, I don't understand why you are making this comparison. It's just as silly as comparing Sheakespeare and Tolkien. They have nothing to do with each other. -- Sophie Quigley {allegra|decvax|ihnp4|linus|watmath}!utzoo!mnetor!sophie
ayers@convexs.UUCP (09/19/85)
>It's just as silly as comparing Sheakespeare and Tolkien. They have nothing >to do with each other. Yeah! but what if Willy had a broadsword with a phaser in the handle and Tolkien had a light saber and... (And they said to me "You've lost your mind!" and I said "No I haven't, I just can't remember where I left it...") B~)B~)B~)B~)B~)B~)B~) B~) B~) B~)B~)B~)B~)B~) B~) B~) B~)B~)B~)B~)B~)B~)B~) B~) B~) B~) B~)B~)B~)B~) B~) B~) / B~) B~) B~) B~) B~)B~)B~)B~) B~) B~) / B~) B~) ;-)