If You Love The Famous Five, You Will Like...

[Poppy]

(Left: front/ Right: back)

I saw this leaflet a few weeks ago in Waterstones - I thought it was a good idea for avid young readers. Basicly it's a leaflet for readers (9-12 - there was a selection for several age groups) If you love the Famous Five, You Will Like... - there is a picture above, but in case you can't read it, here are the options:

Emil and the Detectives
Erich Kästner

The Railway Children
E.Nesbit

Swallows and Amazons
Arthur Ransome

Charlotte Sometimes
Penelope Farmer

Tom's Midnight Garden
Philippa Pearce

The London Eye Mystery
Siobhan Dowd

Dead Man's Cove
Lauren St John

I have read three of these (Swallows and Amazons, The Railway Children and Tom's Midnight Garden) and indeed I have enjoyed them all, so this list is accurate for me - what about you?

[Julie2owlsdene]

I have read Dead Man's Cove by Lauren St John, and was thinking of trying The London Eye Mystery.

[Lucky Star]

The only one I have read is Tom's Midnight Garden and I certainly did love that, it makes my top 50 book list of all time.

Oops actually I have read The Railway Children as well and that is another very good one. So it may well be worth trying some of the others on the list.

[Carlotta King]

I like the sound of Dead Man's Cove but only if it's a good old adventure story and not tinged with modern 'social issues'. There's no synopsis on Amazon but the reviews are good and some of the reviewers have described the plot - the setting and happenings sound promising - it was just the 'Tracy Beaker meets Famous Five' review that put me off a bit - if it's trying to be modern to incorporate today's social issues then I may not be so keen!

[Tony Summerfield]

The only one that I haven't got there is Charlotte Sometimes. I have read both Dead Man's Cove (first in a series of four books about Laura Marlin) and the London Eye Mystery and I can recommend them both, Poppy. I have actually read the other three Laura Marlin books as well which is always a good sign as to whether I enjoyed a book!

[Poppy]

Thanks for your replies. There are some interesting choices on the list. Thanks, Tony; The London Eye Mystery and Dead Man's Cove both sound very interesting. I will have a look for them at the Library next time we go. I am interested in what the books would have been for my own age group - I didn't really look at the other age groups, only the Famous Five one caught my eye. I will have a glance when I am in Waterstones again.

Carlotta: there are some short synopsis on the leaflet. Here is the one for Dead Man's Cove -

Laura Marlin is an orphan who loves to read detective novels. When she is sent to live with her Uncle in Cornwall, she finds her very own mystery to solve - why is she forbidden to visit Dead Man's Cove? This is the first book in an exciting series. See if you can solve the mystery before she does.

[floragord]

Sadly didn't hugely care for any of the items on the list - I read SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS eventually but it took forever to get into the story and I frequently reverted to our favourite author - amazing how tastes do differ but just as well, it wouldn't do for everyone to be "penned" to the same books!

[Anita Bensoussane]

An interesting list - I've read all of those. Tom's Midnight Garden and Charlotte Sometimes are two of my best-loved childhood books and I'm also fond of The Railway Children. I've read all three numerous times, as a child and as an adult. I can't really see any connection with the Famous Five though, to be honest!

Swallows and Amazons, Emil and the Detectives and Dead Man's Cove are all good reads and are well-written, though I'd say the adventures in those books are tamer than most of the Famous Five's adventures.

The London Eye Mystery is unusual and intriguing - rather like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, but aimed at a younger audience. I enjoyed it very much.

[John Pickup]

I've read The Railway Children and Swallows And Amazons out of that list, neither of which I associate with the Famous Five. Has anyone read the Adventure Island series by Helen Moss? There are about 14 books in the series which are supposed to be a modern-day Famous Five. I would have thought they would have qualified for the "If You Love The Famous Five.........."

[Courtenay]

Oh, I love Tom's Midnight Garden - and also The Railway Children and Swallows and Amazons (I haven't read the others on that list). But I wouldn't have thought to associate them with the Famous Five, either.

In fact, if I had to be honest, I would say I like those three books, at least, better than the Famous Five ... but it's just that I'm not the world's biggest FF fan, that's all.

Thanks for sharing, Poppy!

[Fiona1986]

I've read and enjoyed Tom's Midnight Garden and The Railway Children but like Anita can't really see why those are an immediate jump from the Famous Five. "If you like books here are some more books," might be more accurate!

[Poppy]

I actually thought some of them were along the sames lines as the Famous Five - Swallows and Amazons, for one, being about some children and exploration and adventure. Dead Man's Cove, though I haven't read it, brings to mind Five Go Down to Sea,etc. I suppose not so much so with many of the others - perhaps the publication dates have something to do with it - if you like books from this era - then this book also is from them times...

[Katharine]

An interesting list Poppy. I've read 4 of the books. I loved Emil and the Detectives as a child, and have read it once as an adult. Not sure I'd liken it to a FF book though, more like a SS or FFO to me.

Much as I like the Railway Children, I can't see any real similarities with the FF.

Swallows and Amazons might be the closest as it's about a group of children, and they go on to have further adventures. Much as I enjoy Arthur Ransome, I think his stories are rather tame compared to the FF, and also can be a bit heavy going. To me it's a book I'd read when I want a change from the FF, not something similar.

I also like Tom's Midnight Garden, but that's more of a ghost/supernatural story to me, nothing at all like the FF stories.

I haven't heard of 2 of the other books listed, but have heard of Dead Man's Cove. I haven't read that book yet, but I did start reading a book by the same author a week or so ago. My daughter got a free short story as part of the World Book Day event. I can't say I particularly liked the first chapter or so that I did read. So far the story involved a 3 legged dog, a girl living with her uncle, and her best friend who was described as Asian (I think). My first thoughts were 'here we go, let's make sure we cover as many social issues as we can in the first few pages' I really should give the rest of the book a chance though.

[Wolfgang]

I never liked Erich Kästner, I read three books of him, Emil und die Detektive, Emil und die drei Zwillinge and Das fliegende Klassenzimmer (The flying classroom), and I wasn't impressed. His style is so different from Blyton, I don't see how anyone can think the books are alike.

[Daisy]

My only encounter with Emil und die Detektive was having it as one of the books I had to read for my German exams. I didn't really manage to enjoy it - far too much like hard work, and never felt drawn to reading the English translation. I do like Tom's Midnight Garden very much - one of those books I can re-read happily many times, but don't see much similarity to Enid Blyton at all. The same goes for Swallows and Amazons - enjoyable yet very different.