The first fortnight of the new year has gone already! It will be Christmas again before we turn round!
here we are at the next issue of Enid Blyton's Magazine - Jan 15 - 28 1958.
The illustration on the magazine's cover shows a picture from the first story,
Smarty Comes To Stay - illustrated by Hilda McGavin. its a story about two lazy fellows who never clean their cottage, and who make more mess cleaning it up! Its a very amusing story - with a good moral at the end. If you want to read it, you can check out Enid Blyton's Bedside Book - Number Three, World Distributors 1965.
In her
Editorial Letter this week, Enid tells us about the many tits that she has in her garden, and how she feeds them with a coconut filled with fat, which sets hard. One thing I found interesting here was that Enid suggests you can break a coconut in half by
flinging it violently to the ground - which I can't imagine having much impact, especially if thrown by a child.
Enid also tells us how she dislikes January -
it is too cold, too dark, and too LONG! she writes. I disagree - I've always liked January - January is an optimistic month in my view - the start of the year - filled with hope - plus its my birthday! However, February is a dismal dreary month...far too long even with only 28 or 29 days in my opinion!
Our Letter Page has a letter from a little girl in Stoke-on-Trent - Christine Platt. I find it interesting, because she tells us -
Dear ENid Blyton, For a present I had a miniature weaving loom. I decided to make purses and sell them - and this is how I'm able to send you this sum of money. I know it all helps..' Enid expresses surprise, as she has never heard of a miniature weaving loom. I'm sure my sister had a similar thing when she was little.
A Puzzle For The Secret Seven continues with chapter 7 and doesn't, sadly, contain an illustration this issue. In fact it only takes up 4 sides of paper...
The next short story
Somebody Took the Box! is an uncollected story, all about two children (twins as usual!) and a small box of bricks - the box is only 5 inches by 5 inches, and the bricks are all multicoloured. Sounds like the kind of bricks Noddy built his house with! Of course, things don't go well when the twins fall out because both want the bricks to be theirs only. However, there's a nice twist in the tail when Joan throws the box out of the window...
After the next instalment of
Rumble And Chuff - we have
Five Get Into A Fix - chapter 14. It's always fun to compare illustrations between the magazine version and the novel version, as we have seen previously.
in the magazine --
and in the novel -- as you can see, there is only one illustration in Chapter 14 of the novel - and it seems to bear no resemblance to those in the magazine whatsoever - although the first one does illustrate the same scene as the novel.
PUZZLE PAGE -
SUNBEAMS PUZZLE -
Add one letter in front of and one letter behind each of the groups of letters shown below, and turn them into the names of birds -
UL HRUS OBI
FAMOUS FIVE PRIZE PUZZLE -
Can you spot the odd word in each group of words below?
a) Cricket, Tennis, Boxing, Football
b) Pansy, Tulip, Willow, Lupin
c) Two, Six, Nine, Ten
A PUZZLE FOR MY BUSY BEES -
A general knowledge question -
Who designed and built St Paul's Cathedral in London?
The last short story is
One Moonlight Night - which, like the first one, can be read in Enid Blyton's Bedside Book - Number Three, World Distributors 1965. Its a story that Enid suggests can be read to younger brothers and sisters - all about some toys who escape into the garden for an adventure, and rescue the little pixies from the nasty army of 20 Red Imps. Its quite a nice story, and is fairly detailed and involved for a story Enid has recommended for younger readers. very entertaining!