Have recently found out that E. Nesbit wrote ghost and horror short stories. Twenty of these stories are collected in The Power of Darkness - Tales of Terror. Worth a read for fans of the genre. Nesbit writes beautifully as usual but these are definitely not children's stories.

Hi everyone

M.R. James is a favourite of mine - only discovered in last 5 years.
Favourite stories are The Haunted Doll's House and Lost Hearts.
Often you will find an M.R. James story in an audio book collection of ghost stories.
The stories have extra impact when listened to.

Hi everyone I think Mystery Moor was the first Famous Five book I read and Billycock Hill was the last. There was no method or order to the reading of the books, just whatever I could get my hands on. My own collection was quite small, just six books. In Australia in the 1970s Blyton books were NOT ...

I recently read this book for the first time while reading the series from start to finish. However, unlike so many of the other stories, this one didn't do much for me. Perhaps I've read too many EB stories set in caves (eg Adventurous Four Again , Valley of Adventure ). But when the Seven relocate...

Greetings everyone! Puzzle was one of the only Secret Seven books I read as a child. I have recently read the book again, along with all the other books in the series, many for the first time. I agree with other posts that this book is a poignant and touching story. There is moral ambiguity in the c...

Good to see you posting again, Booklover! Hope all is okay with you. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone appears in the 9-11 age-group, so you should be able to vote for it in that category. Hi Anita Yes, thanks for your hearty welcome. I've been quite busy in recent times and had some ill-hea...

Hi everyone :) Nice to be able to drop in again after a long absence. Thanks for the link, Anita. You seem to be able to vote more than once (just type out the anti-Spam message each time). Certainly at least twice, I found, and possibly as many times as you want (although I didn't bother checking a...

Hi everyone Greetings for 2013! Hope it's a lucky year! I agree with Lucky Star that a lot of the plots are similar, with plenty of secret passages and tunnels etc - yet Blyton also makes each story memorable in its own way, so the similarities are not readily noticeable. Two stories with similar pl...

Hi everyone

Have just updated the list of polls added to the forum since late December last year (three more - numbers 47-49).

Hi everyone Thanks Eddie - my score this month was very lucky. Like Pip in Secret Room (which I just re-read), I was a "good guesser" on about 10 questions. Lenoir does have a good point - the scoring system for the quiz is a delicate balance of correct answers AND speed. I posted my comme...

Thanks for the link, unclealister. From a quick look at the site, there are 35 EB books available: 19 Famous Fives (not #7 Go Off to Camp or #8 Get into Trouble ) 13 Secret Sevens (not #1 The Secret Seven or #4 Secret Seven on the Trail ) 1 Find-Outers book (#3 Secret Room - incorrectly titled a Sec...

Here is an update on the number of people attempting the quiz in 2011: January 144 February 136 March 167 April 127 May 117 June 128 July 150 An average of 138.43 entries per month so far. These are wonderful Bradman-esque figures! Or dare I say it - Alastair Cook-esque figures (although I suppose ...

Hi everyone :) Some feedback on the poll. We have 51 votes so far and 14 of the 15 books have received one vote or more. The much-maligned Banshee Towers is the only book to miss out. As yet there is no runaway favourite, although six books are preferred: Missing Necklace and Invisible Thief have 7 ...

Greetings everyone!

Have just added a few more polls to the list. Get those votes in!

A very interesting poll! Very helpful to have two choices. I went for Naughtiest Girl and the Adventure Series. Elizabeth Allen is a legend! And Kiki and the gang are legends too! PS Don't forget The Faraway Tree, The Wishing-Chair and the Barney mysteries. Not on the list but also all-time favourit...