The Children's Newspaper

[Kate Mary]

I've been having great fun recently reading the Children's Newspaper online, it ran from 1919 to 1965. The early issues with reports about the Empire are gloriously un-pc, the later ones have serials by great writers like Anthony Buckeridge and Malcolm Saville. I found a couple of references to Enid Blyton; one in an advert for Princess comic (30th Jan 1960) and one for June (1st Apr 1961), Barbara Stoney in EB's biography mentions that "Child Whispers" was reviewed by the Children's Newspaper but I haven't found that review yet. Try it and see what delights you can discover.

http://www.lookandlearn.com/childrens-newspaper/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Kate

[Anita Bensoussane]

Cheers, Kate Mary. I was aware of that site and have read a few articles from The Children's Newspaper - fascinating stuff. As most people will already know, Enid Blyton admired the work of Arthur Mee. She read his Children's Encyclopaedia eagerly as a child, had one of her poems printed in his magazine when she was a teenager and, according to Barbara Stoney in Enid Blyton - the Biography, had made underlinings and annotations throughout her copy of Mee's Letters to Girls.

Anita

[Daisy]

My parents used to get the Children's Newspaper for me and my two sisters. This would be in the 1940s and early 50s. I used to enjoy it very much. Thank you for the link - I shall investigate it very soon!

[Kate Mary]

In my wanderings through the pages of the CN I have found some interesting references to Enid Blyton including reviews of "Five have plenty of fun" and "The Mountain of Adventure", and this letter from Enid advertising the serialization of "The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat" in the Evening Standard.

http://www.lookandlearn.com/childrens-n ... ch=%22enid" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; blyton%22

[Moonraker]

What a delightful page, Kate Mary. I was intrigued by the advert for the "Ray Powered Car", that must have been fun! A Swan Blackbird pen, I had forgotten all about those, and what a charming illustration in "Mr Portly's Garden" - such a Blyton/Soper looking combination. What a bargain that ex-Commando/RAF fishing set was for 3/9! Those were the days, eh?

Of course, a children's paper today would consist of "Lily Allen" type articles, "How I Lost 15 stone in an hour" and the usual z-list celebrity rubbish that people seem to crave for.

Thank you for sharing that with us, Kate Mary.

Footnote: I have just registered with the site, and am looking forward to trailing the archives!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Of course, a children's paper today would consist of "Lily Allen" type articles, "How I Lost 15 stone in an hour" and the usual z-list celebrity rubbish that people seem to crave for.

Yes, looking at the magazines available in WHSmith, that's the kind of subject matter that many publishers consider suitable for children these days. Flicking through them, there is no really meaty reading at all - just lots of photos with a few lines of text here and there. The assumption appears to be that children are unintelligent and obsessed with image. Arthur Mee and Enid Blyton had a very different view, believing children to be intelligent and to have enquiring minds.

Even schoolwork offers no respite from the "celeb" culture. The other night my nine-year-old son was doing some Maths homework and the first question was all about the cost of buying x numbers of tickets to a Miley Cyrus concert!

Anita

[Julie2owlsdene]

Great link, Kate Mary.

[Ming]

It looks like a lovely children's paper!

[Lenoir]

This is interesting, even just to see how things used to be! I will have to download a few to look at in more detail. Thanks for the link.