A Blyton book for a Japanese child

[Petermax]

I have an old school friend in Japan whose son will be six years old next month. Can anyone suggest a suitable Enid Blyton book for him? I am thinking along the lines of a short stories collection, but the choice is enormous! Is there a volume suitable for a child of that age to read largely unassisted? The lad is very bright and fluent in both English and Japanese languages thanks to his Anglo-Japanese parentage, so I would imagine that his English reading ability would be on a par with a UK six year old.

This is a golden opportunity to introduce Enid Blyton to the Japanese, so any suggestions will be warmly welcomed!

[70s-child]

Hi Petermax,
How about Noddy? I recommended them to some Chinese-American friends of mine who have small children. They said their kids love looking at brightly colored pictures, and wanted some book recommendations from me. I immediately thought of Noddy. My friends said they would look out for them online.

[Anita Bensoussane]

As you know, Award publish a lot of Enid Blyton short stories as reasonably attractive hardback collections, with internal illustrations. My son particularly enjoyed Peter and the Magic Shadow and Other Stories when he was younger, which contains some great tales like 'Peter and the Magic Shadow' (of course!), 'The Village of Untidy,' 'Boastful Brenda and the Brownies,' 'Tell-Tale!', 'A Tale of Two Cowards' and the marvellous 'Father Time and His Pattern Book,' among others. That particular book is illustrated by Val Biro.

Another much-loved Award book in our family is The Little Lost Hen and Other Stories, which is a reprint of one of the 1970s Purnell Sunshine Library books. Stories include 'The Silly Storyteller,' 'The Tale of a Tail,' 'Little Mrs. Millikin,' 'Untidy William,' 'Sammy the Scribbler,' 'He Wouldn't Brush His Hair,' 'The Disappearing Presents' and two of my all-time favourites - 'The Packet of Sweets' and 'The Wrong Bus.'

A Mr. Pink-Whistle book might also be a good choice for someone of that age.

Let us know what you choose, Petermax, and also if you get any feedback from the boy or his parents.

Anita

[Petermax]

Thanks Anita and 70's-child, some great suggestions. I shall probably veer towards a hardback short story compilation complete with illustrations.

For good measure I also intend to send with the book a copy of William Ferguson's "Teaching English Using Enid Blyton Stories" article that recently appeared in the EBS Journal, as my friend in Japan just happens to be an English teacher. This could yield some interesting results in the classroom.

[Moonraker]

I would have thought The Enchanted Wood would be a good book for him to read. You could always get the Dean omnibus that features the three books in one volume, Petermax.

[Petermax]

Thanks Moonraker, another excellent suggestion. Such is Enid's sheer output that my final decision will be quite difficult.

[Petermax]

Further to this, my final decision was Peter and the Magic Shadow and Other Stories. I figured that a compilation of one-off short stories would be an ideal introduction to Enid Blyton for the lad. The first couple of chapters have already been read to him by his father, and would you believe that the boy is hooked! It looks as if further Blyton books will follow, probably The Enchanted Wood and Mr Pink-Whistle.

[Anita Bensoussane]

The first couple of chapters have already been read to him by his father, and would you believe that the boy is hooked!

That's great news!

[Lucky Star]

It was the Purnell Sunshine Library compilations of short stories that started me on my Enid Blyton journey and I have never looked back. I think you made a wise choice Petermax, if the little guy follows my example he'll be reading Blyton for years.

[Petermax]

It was the Purnell Sunshine Library compilations of short stories that started me on my Enid Blyton journey and I have never looked back

My first proper introduction to Enid Blyton was also through the short story compilation books, how proud I was when I could read them unassisted!

My further plans to infiltrate Japan include a rather cunning plan to send over a few DVD copies of the 1970's Famous Five series when the lad is slightly older. At the moment he is crazy about Doctor Who and just about anything else connected with the UK, a country he last visited when only a baby. Anything to do with his father's country fascinates him.

[Lydia]

For good measure I also intend to send with the book a copy of William Ferguson's "Teaching English Using Enid Blyton Stories" article that recently appeared in the EBS Journal, as my friend in Japan just happens to be an English teacher. This could yield some interesting results in the classroom.

Is this a book or an article? If the latter, do you think I could find it online? Does anyone have the link to it? I'd love to see this article!

[Anita Bensoussane]

William Ferguson's article appeared in The Enid Blyton Society Journal number 39, Lydia. You can find out more about the Journal here:

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