Guess the Famous Five book

[db105]

I was looking at the latest Enid Blyton editions in Spain. The look of the series has changed. I like the new look, but I much prefer the old one (of course, that's the one I read as a child).

This is a sample of the old covers, to give you an idea:

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Anyway, the game I propose is this: I'll post the cover of the new edition (with the title deleted... it would be too easy otherwise, even if it's in Spanish) plus two pictures from each Famous five book.

You'll have to guess the (English) title of each book in this way:

Book A: title of the book
Book B: title of the book
... and so on

I'll tell you how many you got wrong but not which ones, until someone guesses all of them right.

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Book A




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Book B




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Book C




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Book D




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Book E




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Book F




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Book G




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Book H




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Book I




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Book J




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Book K




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Book L




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Book M




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Book N




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Book O




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Book P




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Book Q




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Book R




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Book S




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Book T




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Book U

[sixret]

Because of the illustrations, they are easy to guess. I do not want to write my answers now in case somebody wants to guess them.

[db105]

Well, it doesn't matter if you get them right at the first try. it's an excuse to show off the book covers an illustrations. Do you like them?

[Daisy]

Well personally, I wish the children looked more like normal human beings! I can guess some titles, I think.

[sixret]

Yes, I like them. They are way better than the UK’s recent publication.

[Daisy]

Agreed Sixret - the UK ones are truly awful!

[db105]

I agree with both of you, I prefer the old covers that I read as a boy, with more realistic drawings. However, I don't dislike the new ones. I guess they thought they were less old fashioned, with those manga-influenced drawings. They look a bit more childish, perhaps, but after all these are books for children.

These are some of the old Spanish covers:








Anyway, anyone wants to try answering the challenge?

[Anita Bensoussane]

I prefer the older pictures because they're both realistic and romantic, depicting interesting scenes in soft and beautiful colours. However, the new pictures are attractive too in their own way. They also show interesting scenes and I like the shading of the internal illustrations.

Why don't we take it in turns to guess just one title at a time, to make the game last a while? I'll start with

F - Five Go Off in a Caravan

[Courtenay]

The new pictures aren't that much to my taste, but they certainly have a sense of fun about them and I like them better than the current covers of the English editions!

I'll guess an easy one:

U - Five Go Off to Camp

[sixret]

T: FIVE ON A HIKE TOGETHER

[Rob Houghton]

I hate the modern covers - even the Spanish versions. I only like covers that depict the characters as humans, and I really, really can't fathom what it must be like for modern children to regard The Famous Five etc as being cartoon puppet type characters rather than real. As a kid I thoroughly believed The Five and Secret Seven etc were real kids, but these days they are obviously only meant to be fantasy type characters.

Its a shame because the realism of the illustrations was a big part of my love for the books. I can see why children don't get so deeply into fictional characters these days, as they are often not depicted as humans, and so children must find it difficult to identify with the characters. Its a shame that Enid went to such great lengths to write realistic child characters (her biggest strength by far) and yet now they are represented by stick-like bog-eyed creatures that don't resemble human beings.

The modern Spanish covers are marginally better than the modern UK ones - but how beautifully drawn the older Spanish covers are!

[db105]

Yes, I also love how beautifully drawn the old Spanish covers are. Of course, since I have an emotional attachment to them because they were the ones I read as a boy, I can't be objective. I guess this more realistic style is regarded as old-fashioned now. George's haircut in those covers is certainly old-fashioned, and too girlish for George. Anyway, we used to have some great cover illustrations in children's books.

This is a Spanish cover from one of the Happy Hollisters books, a series for younger readers than the Famous Five. These were the first books I loved when I started reading real books:


subirfoto

F - Five Go Off in a Caravan
T: FIVE ON A HIKE TOGETHER
U - Five Go Off to Camp

Correct the three of them, of course

[Anita Bensoussane]

K - Five on Finniston Farm. (There seems to be an ABBA LP in the box! )

[db105]

That's true! There's an Abba record in the box. I hadn't noticed that. I bet that was not in the original Eileen Soper illustrations.

F - Five Go Off in a Caravan
K - Five on Finniston Farm
T - Five on a Hike Together
U - Five Go Off to Camp

Correct, of course.

[Anita Bensoussane]

This game has slowed down, so why don't we let people guess as many titles as they want rather than just one at a time? I'll try two:

G - Five Are Together Again
J - Five Have a Wonderful Time