Last week on Meet Me at Mikes Pip posted this trailer…
Wonderful isn’t it! Helena Bonham Carter plays nasty so well.
Although Enid is said to have been a dragon and pretty shocking to her own children she still created one of the first ever publishing franchises with her many different series. Of course the most popular are/were the Wishing Chair, Faraway Tree, Secret Seven and Famous Five. I adored them all but the Faraway Tree series and the Famous Five were my favourites and stay with me vividly in adulthood.
Recently Hodder Children’s Books, who publish the Famous Five, announced that they are giving the Five a facelift. Changing some of the language in the books to make them more “timeless”. Read an article about the move here.
Not as harsh as the changes to Noddy but I think still probably unnecessary. What do you think?
Of course the books are all pretty twee and Enid was the first Barbara Cartland of children’s publishing – following formulaic storylines to publish title after title but I do really remember enjoying them.
I also remember all the words to the Famous Five TV show theme song…
One of my all-time favourites. How I wished to be Anne riding my pony across the Moors!
So what do you think of the Enid Blyton books in 2010? Do you think they still have a place? Do you think the language should be updated?
Leave a comment sharing your view and we’ll have a little competition to (randomly) win a copy of a wonderful intermediate reader novel called Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve.
This whimsical fantasy about a rhubarb farm where it always rains on Monday at 1pm is a gorgeous hardcover from the US.
i think we owe it to enid to keep her words as she wanted them. it’s seems a crime to change such infamous words.
by the way…i just squealed with delight when i saw you have the new alex and lulu book. however,do you have it in hardcover? we have the first one in HC and I’d really like to be boring and a perfectionist and have both in HC
I think it’s crazy to change the language and words at the whim of some overtly PC publisher. It’s like changing Shakespeare in some respects. You just don’t mess with the best.
I LOVE THIS!!!!
My kids love the Famous Five and Faraway Tree series (which were also the ones that stayed with me from childhood) and they have read them in the original versions that I inherited from my mother, so I doubt very much that the language is a barrier. But it was interesting that the article you linked to said it was the parents who were put off by the language, not the children.
I was most disappointed to discover they had changed even the children’s names in the new Faraway Tree editions – if poor Fanny had to go, does that mean Dick’s days are numbered?
I think it’s a cynical exercise in marketing and I for one will continue buying the books second hand.
I have been reading Famous Five to Fred and we have to stop sometimes and talk about some of the values or attitudes towards girls (we haven’t come across any “dirty gypsies” yet to have that conversation.) The cadence of the language is one of the best things about Enid Blyton (and hearing Fred spontaneously come out with some of those funny little turns of phrase is a highlight of my existence).
The books were dated and silly when we were kids, and I loved them regardless. Famous Five were my favourite, but I also adored the Farm books and the Circus books. I loved her recurring motif of children who had a special language and empathy with animals.
I can never resisit an Enid post. I am against changing the words and I believe firmly that Enid Blyton is one of the most important writers of this century. You only have to look at how many writers from all genres she influenced as a child to see her importance. She not only inspired books such as the Harry Potter series but she helped to feed and inspire many budding imaginations. It’s no accident that so many writers pay homage to her in those five books that influenced me as a child column.
Her books are a product of the times and I dont have a problem with with the golliwog references. Enid Blyton was also very harsh towards big blonde dolls with blue eyes but nobody gets themself in a state over her bias towards blondes there. I really hate the modern trend towards dumbing down the books, changing the names etc. If Enid was a male writer and working in a different genre, she wouldn’t be treated with such disrespect.
I don’t think she can be compared to Barbara Cartland as Enid was so original in so many of her ideas. BC is very rarely mentioned as an influence in any writer’s lives.I’ve recently blogged about Enid and Helena on my Blog. It’s a wonderful movie and I totally love Helena in the role. However it fails to mention some of the more favourable ascpects about Enid’s character such as the charity work she was involved with The film also waited until her daughter Gillian died (who thought highly of her mother) and used Imogen (daughter who didn’t get along with her mother) was then used as a major source. Enid made my childhood magical along with millions around the world. My daughter still prefers her books to many current day writers working in this genre. A lot of current day books feature subjects such as I have 2 Daddies or How to Share or feature animals in place of children. Enid captured magic and mystery. I don’t find them twee anymore than Harry Potter (which owes a lot to Wishing Chair and Far Away Tree books) are twee Enid really knew how to enter into a child’s mind and imagination and I for one will always tip my hat in homage to her for that. xx
here is the link to my post
http://talepeddler.blogspot.com/2010/07/fabbo-friday-and-fab-flick-enid.html
The folk in the faraway tree was my favourite book and one of the first chapter books I read myself. I read the faraway tree series to my daughter when she was three. She loved them and couldn’t wait until bedtime for the next few chapters. I edited them as I read or explained some of the differences in values as we went along. I am looking forward to Ellie being old enough for me to read them to her too.
All my children love Enid Blyton and part of my delight in reading her stories is explaining some of the more old fashioned terms-I feel we should keep the language and remember the era in which the stories were written!
My favourite Enid Blyton’s include the Faraway Tree, Mr. Galliano’s Circus and Shadow the Sheep Dog.
We could change the language, but I would still like to read the old copies of my Mum’s and Grandad’s.
Hi!
I really ADORED this film! I love Helena Bonham Carter… and although I suspected that it wasn’t COMPLETELY accurate, it made for a jolly good yarn! I thought the bit where she got upset about people thinking she didn’t write her own books was a bit sad. Poor Enid. And I thought the way she read her fan mail was a bit overzealous! But yes, I did LOVE this film.
And I LOVE the BBC production of ‘Sense and Sensibility’ which DOES NOT relate at all to this post, but I thought I would tell you that! The one with David Morrissey in it. It is so wonderful. Sigh.
Okay! Bye! Hope your day is ace-ness!
xx Pip
i loved enid so much when i was a child. i used to write my own stories based on her characters. i still have my faraway tree copy and have read it to my own children and they love it too (and had no problems with any of the words). the original language is part of the charm that is enid. how can people want to mess with that? is nothing sacred anymore?
My seven year old daughter and her friends are all reading Enid Blyton. They’re also driving teachers and parents a little bit crazy with fake English accents and jolly phrases. But the language and the role playing are all part of the marvellous experience of entering another world through books. Maybe kids will love the amended versions but I don’t think they’ll get transported to quite the same long-lost world of mothers and fathers and jolly good times. And that would really be quite a shame.