Here we are, receiving another treat-packed issue through the post! This one takes us into March - and I must say I'll be glad to see the back of February!
As usual, you can read the stories here - and also Tony has been good enough to reproduce the Editorial, which is a great help to me, as I no longer have to quote massive bits of it! Read that also by following the link -
http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/maga ... ?magid=905
This weeks Magazine has a lovely cover, depicting a moment from the first story,
One Of These Days! Its a story that is very entertaining - even maybe a bit bizarre...maybe even horrific, lol! I enjoyed it - although I did think it was a shame that poor Old Woman Green-Eyes had to sacrifice her old fur cape just to teach Sly-One a lesson! The illustrations, by Hilda McGavin are exceptionally good - they make the story look very attractive indeed.
Next we have the
Editorial which as always is brimming with news about life at Green Hedges and also the goings-on at Enid's various clubs and the children's home etc. I was interested to read that Enid has many birds nesting already - considering this was obviously written some time before 27 February which is the start date for the magazine. I wonder if Enid wrote these letters as if they were being written during the fortnight the magazine covered? I haven't seen much sign of birds building nests where I live, but maybe being further south, as Enid was, they would start nest building earlier.
I was interested also to read about the Noddy books being produced in Braille. I wonder if any of these original Braille Noddy books are still about?
Following on from the first entertaining short story, we have the continuation of
Secret Seven Mystery - a story most of us are familiar with - but I do enjoy seeing the 'new' illustrations by Burgess Sharrocks. I wonder why they were so much better in the magazine than in the book? Not as good as other Secret Seven illustrators, but still better than he produced in book versions. Maybe he preferred working at a slower pace and only produced one illustration per fortnight for the magazine, but felt more rushed when re-illustrating the booK! I know I would have!
Next, another short story -
A Rush-About Afternoon' - another one I really enjoyed, although its 'plot' is familiar to all Blyton fans - one of those 'knock-on effect' stories...you can have this if you do that and you can do that if you help with this...turning a lazy child into a very industrious one. I read a similar story in The Yellow Story Book the other day, called 'She Didn't Want To Go' - about a little girl chasing after her runaway balloon.
But 'She Didn't Want To Go' is a much more effective story, I think.
A Rush-About Afternoon is a story all about Don, who wants half of his sister's stick of seaside rock. Its an amusing story - and I guessed the outcome a long while before the end - but as always Enid keeps it entertaining. I did notice she got her names a bit mixed up though - which isn't surprising given just how many children's names the story contains! At one point she has a character called Tom saying 'Why don't you tell Tom to fetch them himself?' - rather than 'Why don't you tell George to fetch them himself.'
One thing I did think about this story when I reached the end - what a lot of obnoxious, lazy, greedy, selfish children it contains! I'm sure this wasn't Enid's intention - but boy - they are the worst bunch of mean-spirited children I ever read about!!
The illustrations - by Alice Bush are beautiful - really full of detail - just the sort of illustrations I would hold up as an example of 'good illustrations' when we are talking about 2017 book covers! They are some of my most favourite illustrations in any EB Magazine so far.
Next -
Noddy Went Too Fast! - and I know Anita is longing to know how this story ends - or at least, she's looking forward to WHEN it ends!
Noddy bursts into tears when he haers how kind Mr Tinny has been because Noddy thought Mr Tinny was stealing his house and car instead of helping him to keep his business of taxi-driving afloat...poor Noddy! Noddy sobs 'I'm the horridest person there ever was!' and I'm sure there are a few who would agree with him!
Five Go To Billycock Hill comes to 'An Exciting Finish' this issue...with what appears to be a longer chapter than usual - without even room for the usual illustration - which is unusual. Enid tells us that she will soon write another one.
Puzzle Page this issue has some entertaining puzzles as usual. The one thing that strikes me about Enid Blyton's Magazine is just how many prizes were offered - no wonder it was so popular! Of course, some competitions could only be entered if you were a member of one of the clubs - but other competitions - like the painting competition - or a prize-winning letter - could be done by anyone. I think each fortnight ENid gave away quite a number of sgned books...so its surprising there aren't more of them about!
The Famous Five Puzzle asks -
Can you find the countries hidden in the following sentences? -
"I find I am late for school."
"Do you agree, Cecil?"
They all liked this painting best.
Club News has an entertaining account of the Magazine Party held for the 100,000th member of the Magazine Club, as featured in the last issue. Jennifer Fletcher, who was one of Enid's 'Club Leaders' writes -
The party was very nice and I enjoyed it very much. All my club went - the youngest member was seven, nearly eight. Roger had never been to London before and it was his second time in a train. The journey took some time because it is a long way and we arrived in Victoria at 3:40 p.m. We caught an underground train to Russell Square, but none of us knew where Montague House was and we had walked three sides of the square when Daddy, who had lingered, shouted 'You have gone right past.'
When we went in, our coats were taken and I was taken to meet Miss Blyton. I sat next to her and Miss Blyton is exactly like her icture in the magazine.
The cake was a lovely fruit cake. It had the badge as well, just the same as Miss Blyton said. When the cake was cut a photograph was taken with three of my members with her. The tea was lovely. There was a delicious chocolate cake as well as the special cake.
Silky and Noddy came from the Toyland Play. A photograph was taken of them kissing Miss Blyton.
Linda Hooks sat at the other end of the table on a big cushion. She chose her books very well, I think. Everybody was given a Magazine Annual and the people who had it or read it, chose another book. Linda Hooks gave Enid Blyton a brooch of our magazine badge from all the club members. It is a day I shall never forget'
I wonder where Jennifer Fletcher is today?
The last of the three short stories (again, all uncollected this issue!) is a nice little home-set tale called
Hunt The Sugar. Its a very simple story - but again, the illustrations by an uncredited illustrator, are really affective and well-drawn. I love the fact that this story manages to impart a basic science fact for young children, whilst at the same time being very entertaining...although I can't help feeling Jimmy was a bit of a cheat at playing 'Hunt The Sugar'...
There's an advert, next, for Chivers -
The Chivers Noddy Corner again showing the badge Chivers were offering Noddy fans - and also the special Toyland Chivers marmalade!
Our Letter Page this time round has two letters from boys - which is quite unusual! usually girls definitely write more letters than boys - or at least, more girls are chosen to have letters in the magazine. One little boy, Paul Bassett from Southampton, tells us about his 'bird cake' - or 'pudding' as he calls it -
I mix soaked stale bread with scraps and melted fat, and a packet of bird seed, and mash it all up with a fork. Then I put it into a basin to set and turn it out onto my bird table the next day.'
Another letter is from a girl in Australia, which tells us about the nesting bag she made -
Last saturday I and my sisters and brother, made a bag out of binder twine, and stuffed it full of feathers, wool, shredded string and cowhair, for the birds to use for their nests. During the next week the supply of feathers and shredded string vanished quickly but the wool and cowhair took longer to go. This evening the bag was empty! So tomorrow we will refill the bag for the birds. Love from faraway friends, Valma, Marylin, Bronwyn and John Nankwell The one thing I wondered about this...would it be nest-building time in February in Australia? I'd have thought it would be heading towards autumn??
And so, with some news on various clubs, and the new Noddy book ' Noddy and the Bumpy Dog' and a reminder to buy a Famous Five sweater - which are really fine - according to Enid - and to save up some tokens for the free Chivers Noddy badge (which Tony kindly posted a photo of higher up this thread) the February 27 - March 12th issue of Enid Blyton's Magazine comes to an end.
Hope you enjoy the stories and ENid's Editorial. They are well worth reading, as always!
