The best short stories by Enid Blyton

[Judith Crabb]

Although as a child I was an avid reader of The Enid Blyton Magazine and certainly read stories by her in Bedtime books I have no recollection of any of them. I would like to start re-reading some, and why not start with the best? All reading suggestions gratefully accepted, and with the help of the Cave of Books I'm sure I'll be able to locate plenty sitting in books on my shelves right now.

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

When we did storytellings, the most popular story by a country mile also had the least PC title in the entire Blyton canon.

The Golliwog who smoked

Viv

[Aussie Sue]

Oh Viv what a fantastic story, I hadn't read it before, so I just got out my Sunny Stories 181 and read it. It's wonderful. And gives the message that Children (& toys) mustn't smoke.
Sadly if it was listed anywhere, with the name Golliwog & a mention of smoking in the title it would start a round of those people who haven't & won't read it but will criticise 'Golliwog' & 'Smoking' in an Enid Blyton children's story.

Perhaps I'd better start re reading more of my early Sunny Stories.

[Courtenay]

When we did storytellings, the most popular story by a country mile also had the least PC title in the entire Blyton canon.

The Golliwog who smoked

I dunno — there's also The Undressed Golliwog... (I haven't read that one, but I do remember The Golliwog Who Smoked from when I was little and it was one thing that probably helped my determination NOT to take up smoking like my parents did!! They have both since quit it for good, I should add. )

[Aussie Sue]

Yes Courtney, 'The Undressed Golliwog' from The Third Holiday Book is another wonderful Golliwog story and cleary shows 'Golliwog' in Enid's story is a lovely toy in the nursery.

[Boodi 2]

I have not read either of those stories but must do so as they sound interesting and might encourage me to stop smoking!!! My husband quit a few years ago but unfortunately our son and I are still addicted to the evil weed, although having said that I try to keep my consumption to the bare minimum and oddly enough I might never have met my husband had we not both been smokers...I met him at a party over 30 years ago but did not pay much attention to him until we both left the party for a few minutes and went out to the terrace for a cigarette, at which point we started chatting and the rest is history!!!!

[Anita Bensoussane]

When we did storytellings, the most popular story by a country mile also had the least PC title in the entire Blyton canon.

The Golliwog who smoked

I wonder if it was popular because of the quality of the story or because certain elements might now be viewed as controversial? I've just re-read 'The Golliwog Who Smoked' and 'The Undressed Golliwog', both of which I have in their Purnell Sunshine Library incarnations. 'The Golliwog Who Smoked' is interesting but the ending falls a little flat in my opinion, while 'The Undressed Golliwog' is quite sweet (again it has material that might now be questioned) but not as memorable (for me) as some of Enid Blyton's other nursery stories.

I read Enid Blyton's short stories avidly as a youngster and here are some of my personal favourites, which I've returned to again and again and shared with my own children. I'm particularly fond of cautionary tales about children who misbehave, stories in which one incident leads to another and things come full circle, heartwarming tales and stirring stories full of wonder and intrigue:

Father Time and His Pattern Book

Connie's Curious Candle

The Packet of Sweets

It Came Back to Him in the End

A Bit of Bad Temper

Sulky Susan

I Dare You To!
(I believe there's more than one story with the title 'I Dare You To!' but the one I particularly like begins with the line "'I dare you to!' said Geoffrey to Bill.")

The Wrong Bus

Tiresome Tilda

The Other Little Boy

The Enchanted Book

The Sneezing Dog

The Girl With Whiskers

Little Mrs. Millikin

He Wouldn't Brush His Hair

Untidy William

Little Queenie

Polly's Ps and Qs

He Didn't Say Thank You

The Disappearing Presents

Porridge Town

Whatever Next!

Santa Claus is Surprising

The Man Who Drew Faces

The Girl Who Wanted Everything

The Boy Who Was Too Clever

The Village of Untidy

They Took the Wrong Road

She Lost Her Memory

Grumbling Grace

What Happened to a Smile

Mr. Grumpygroo's Hat

The Little Singing Kettle

The Little Walking House

The Enchanted Table

The Prisoner in the Cave

Colin is a Good Policeman

Adventure in the Afternoon

When Mac was a Shadow

The Secret Door

Adventure Up a Tree

[Judith Crabb]

Thanks to all who replied so far, and of course special thanks to Anita, who has created a super list which I'm sure will be of permanent interest. I wish I'd had it when I was primary school teaching. The titles alone are often excellent guides to content. When about to read an author for the first time I've often googled Best Books by ... , not infallible, but I think I've avoided a few lemons.
Now, when I've attended to less important matters (housework, shopping etc.), I shall see how many of these I can locate from my shelves - of course now I wish that I'd paid more attention to all those Dean books of short stories which are now in other people's collections, but still I'm confident I'll come up with enough to satisfy my curiosity about Enid and her short stories.