The Enid Blyton Society

Another one of my favorite is the Jennings books by Anthony Buckeridge.
More of a school story kind of book. Most enjoyable, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about this boys miss adventures, This book like Jane Shaw books are written with a sense of humour.

Yes I really liked the Jennings books. Jennings and Derbyshire up to all sorts of pranks. My brother and I were librarians at our school so made sure we got to read all the new books first!

Not surprisingly considering all the books I read and enjoyed which involved boarding schools, I always used to think it would have been great fun to have attended one - although I'm not sure whether I would have liked to be away from home for so long.

Maybe I would have coped - although of course it wouldn't have been quite the same as it was in fictional books.....

My mother got me reading all the books she used to read when she was younger, she loves Jennings books as much i do, and wow does she have a catchy laugh!
What i love about those books is the slang, ie Fossilised fish hocks etc.

Yes I remember "fossilised fish hooks" now that you mention it. I haven't got any of the old books to easily look back though.

Talking about catchy laughs, apparently sometimes when I laugh at the theatre it gets others going - although it has never been raised as unusual/funny outside that context!

Viking Star wrote:Yes I remember "fossilised fish hooks" now that you mention it. I haven't got any of the old books to easily look back though.

I read somewhere that they are re printing the Jennings books again.
In my local library, they have a few books, so maybe try your local library and see if they have some in.

Viking Star wrote: Talking about catchy laughs, apparently sometimes when I laugh at the theatre it gets others going - although it has never been raised as unusual/funny outside that context!

Must be so much fun, wish i could do that.

I live in London so it's probably not too difficult for me to get hold of a second hand Jennings book thanks Susie. It's the fitting everything in that's the problem! Or I could ask my brother who may have our original books........

I really love Jennings books too. In France, they are called 'Bennett & Mortimer'.

Be careful of reprints - they've been updated. Admittedly, Anthony Buckeridge himself did the update, so they should be OK - but for example, all reference to the masters smoking have been taken out.

I've been slowly putting together a Jennings page for my site. They're my second favorite children's books after Blyton -- well, there's no comparison really, so they're favorites in their own right.

I have four originals, three of which have DJs, and they're just brilliant! "Better get weaving, Darbi, or Old Wilkie will go blinko." ... "Gosh, Jen, you really are an ancient crumbling ruin!" ... etc. The schoolboy lingo is half the fun for me, and also the endless mix-ups in conversation due to poorly constructed sentences or just plain daftness in translating perfectly well constructed sentences. Like:

"Hand your competition entries into the tuck room, and don't forget to write 'COMP' in the top left corner." ... "But I can't reach the top left corner unless I stand on a table!"

The books are available in new paperback form -- check here at Amazon. They're quite nice looking.

I like the Jennings books very much as well and can identify with all you've said there, Keith.
I'm glad I've got a lot of them already, as they seem hard to come by nowadays. Some are reasonably priced on amazon, but others are very expensive. 45 pounds for one title I see (one I haven't got as well!) I suppose it must be a rarity for some reason.

I saw some new Jennings books advertised. Well, not all that new but I say “new” because they are not part of the original 24 and it’s the first time I’ve seen them.

Jennings Breaks the Record 1st edition, 2000 published by David Schutte
This is Volume 2 (of 10 volumes) of the first publication of the original scripts of the "Jennings at School" plays for radio. These 7 scripts were originally broadcast in 1949-50.

Val Biro is the illustrator so the covers look attractive.
Does anyone know if this is the first time these stories have been published? I was thinking that maybe he incorporated these stories into the books and therefore I might have them already.

I haven't read these scripts (or listened to them), but I know that Buckeridge did re-use them in the books. Not necessarily in the same order, but I believe you would recognise most of the situations.

Alright thanks. I thought that might be the case. I have most of the books.

I've just received notification from Amazon about original text Jennings books available in paperback:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1853 ... 781_snp_dp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Anita Bensoussane wrote:I've just received notification from Amazon about original text Jennings books available in paperback:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1853 ... 781_snp_dp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Great news! Thanks, Anita.