What Enid Blyton book have you recently bought?

[Chrissie777]

Apparently children prefer these cartoony covers these days. How did they get so corrupted and easily pleased?!

Rob, that's easy to answer. Just compare a very artful cartoon like "Prince Valiant" by Hal Foster or Disney's "Cinderella" and "Snow White" from the 1930's/1940's with today's rather ugly & simplified "Pokémon" and "Arielle" (I have to admit that I actually was already disappointed with the 1970's animation version from "The Jungle Book"...those were no longer the typical beautiful Disney faces that I grew up with) and you can see a decline in the art of animation movies and cartoon illustrations equally.

Children grow up with a certain standard in illustrations. If that standard gets lowered and lowered again, they have nothing really "artsy" to compare with (unless they can have a look at their grandfather's Prince Valiant cartoons collection).
Just my two cents.

[Rob Houghton]

Rob, that's easy to answer. Just compare a very artful cartoon like "Prince Valiant" by Hal Foster or Disney's "Cinderella" and "Snow White" from the 1930's/1940's with today's rather ugly & simplified "Pokémon" and "Arielle" (I have to admit that I actually was already disappointed with the 1970's animation version from "The Jungle Book"...those were no longer the typical beautiful Disney faces that I grew up with) and you can see a decline in the art of animation movies and cartoon illustrations equally.

You are definitely right! I, too, never valued the Disney cartoons so highly after The Jungle Book, which I think is flat and not half so well drawn as the earlier Disney cartoons.

I d have a soft spot for Beauty and the Beast' and 'Hunchback' - mainly because they are so well crafted, rather than the quality of the figures - but to me the quality disappeared when Jungle Book came out.

As you say, this led to Pokemon and all the other badly-drawn TV cartoons - which children seem to enjoy. As most things aren't even drawn by humans these days I suppose they prefer computer graphics.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Some modern Japanese cartoons (animes) have truly beautiful artwork - though not Pokemon! They're popular around the world. One of my favourites is Arrietty (2011), an animated version of Mary Norton's The Borrowers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzBBIBSi2Vo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[joanne_chan]

I do so love Studio Ghibi's work, well drawn and a worthwhile message too.

[floragord]

ENID BLYTON'S MAGICAL TREASURY, quite a nice collection of short stories under various headings such as "witches and wizards", "flowers" etc in a hardback volume, I was shocked to see it was marked down to £6.00, something like a 70% discount

[Katharine]

I think that's the same one I bought recently. I only clicked through it in the shop, and assumed it would be full of short stories taken from other books, such as the Book of Fairies, and would include extracts from books such as The Enchanted Wood, The Wishing Chair etc. I was pleasantly surprised when I started to read it, and discovered there are some uncollected stories in there. Definitely worth every penny I paid.

[IceMaiden]

I know which cover I'd rather have! I know I get on my 'high horse' about this (pun intended!) but It puzzles me how children's brains have somehow altered so much over the last twenty years. Apparently children prefer these cartoony covers these days. How did they get so corrupted and easily pleased?!

It's all their exposed to, certainly those born from about 2000 onwards likely don't know anything else exists. Same with children's TV, for the last decade or so everything is computer animated rubbish, and I'm afraid I do think it's rubbish, it's awful. It's doesn't have an ounce of the warmth, charm and likability that proper old style animation has, Disney animation like Bambi and Pinocchio was realistic and looked alive even though it was a cartoon, CGI stuff doesn't, it looks totally dead behind the eyes and unnatural. Unfortunately everything seems to be done in this way, especially Children's shows, whether they like it or not they've no other choice, and I'd imagine it's the same with books, they only do those silly looking drawings (which incidentally are also lifeless) so that's all they choose as anything else doesn't look 'right' to them. The only exceptions have been the two animations done by the people behind The Snowman, they got huge ratings and I personally think it's because people were so glad to see a realistic animation again. I keep wishing Disney would do a new film in their old classic style, they could bring it back as everyone follows in their footsteps .

[Chrissie777]

IceMaiden, I couldn't agree more!
For 10 years whenever we are visiting my husband's two grandsons, I keep wondering if US children's channels have anything else to offer than animation or science documentaries?

I consider myself very lucky to have been grown up with the CFF movies for British children (1946 to 1969 was their best period) which were also aired on German TV where I was able to watch them.

To be honest, animation was never my favorite (with few exceptions like "Cinderella", "Bambi", "Snow White" or "Lady and the Tramp"), but I thought and still think today that many of those suspenseful black & white movies produced by/for the CFF (Children's Film Foundation) were absolutely marvelous!
"Five on a Treasure Island" (on Youtube) and "Treasure at the Mill" are among the best CFF movies.

[Rob Houghton]

I was always a Disney Geek - back when I was around 10, I wrote my own history of Walt Disney - using various books and record covers for research!

I have always loved the Disney cartoons - I have them all on video or DVD and also have the 'Silly Symphonies' produced by Walt Disney during the 1930's (and used as ways of perfecting animation techniques which culminated in Snow White in 1938).

By the time of Jungle Book, 101 Dalmatians, Sword In the Stone and Robin Hood etc, I feel the quality of the animation was badly deteriorating - with flat drawings and very stylistic backgrounds, and even as a child I didn't like these films so much. I do think things improved for a while with the last mainly hand drawn animations such as Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, the Lion King and Hunch Back - but I am really not a fan of all the cheap looking animation (such as Frozen) which has come along since.

[Chrissie777]

...By the time of Jungle Book, 101 Dalmatians, Sword In the Stone and Robin Hood etc, I feel the quality of the animation was badly deteriorating - with flat drawings and very stylistic backgrounds, and even as a child I didn't like these films so much.

I didn't get to watch "Lady and the Tramp" before I was an adult, but I had the Disney book (hardcover) which my parents gave me when I was 6 years old. I liked the story, but also admired the background on the many illustrations/photos from the movie when I was little. Thought it was very well done, almost like photography.

[Rob Houghton]

i agree. Disney films like Lady and the Tramp, Cinderella, Snow White, etc, had a 'soft' look to them which was very attractive. All that changed with 'Sleeping Beauty' in the late 1950's, when backgrounds and animation style changed and became harsh-looking and more stylised.

[floragord]

I think that's the same one I bought recently. I only clicked through it in the shop, and assumed it would be full of short stories taken from other books, such as the Book of Fairies, and would include extracts from books such as The Enchanted Wood, The Wishing Chair etc. I was pleasantly surprised when I started to read it, and discovered there are some uncollected stories in there. Definitely worth every penny I paid.

I had a brief browse through it and thought it looked enchanting - before it was spirited away to be giftwrapped for our last present round this weekend!, I'm looking forward to many happy hours of reading in the newly flowering garden

[IceMaiden]

I was always a Disney Geek - back when I was around 10, I wrote my own history of Walt Disney - using various books and record covers for research!

I have always loved the Disney cartoons - I have them all on video or DVD and also have the 'Silly Symphonies' produced by Walt Disney during the 1930's (and used as ways of perfecting animation techniques which culminated in Snow White in 1938).

By the time of Jungle Book, 101 Dalmatians, Sword In the Stone and Robin Hood etc, I feel the quality of the animation was badly deteriorating - with flat drawings and very stylistic backgrounds, and even as a child I didn't like these films so much. I do think things improved for a while with the last mainly hand drawn animations such as Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, the Lion King and Hunch Back - but I am really not a fan of all the cheap looking animation (such as Frozen) which has come along since.

I loved and still love the classic Disney animated films and honestly think Snow White from 1937 looks far better in every way than any of their new stuff. The Silly Symphonies are brilliant .

To me, CGI looks like the result of somebody playing around on a basic drawing programme from back when computers first had those abilities. I honestly can't stand it, I've not seen any recent Disney film or any other that's done in that way because I couldn't watch it for five seconds. There are times when I think computers were the worst thing ever invented, I have a belief that society has 'dumbed down' as it has since everyone became so reliant on one, I'm sure people used to be smarter and used their common sense when they had to rely on their own hands and mind for a skill instead of a machine. That is what is missing from computer animation, human emotion, compare one of Eileen Soper's drawings in a FF book to Frozen, the latter is totally devoid of any real feeling because a machine simply can't convey the heart and soul that an artist can transmit from pen to paper.

[floragord]

A piece of luck, I found a beautiful 1963 Dean and Son copy of CHIMNEY CORNER STORIES at our local bookshop this morning, in perfect condition! The bookshop is heavenly, just down the lane from us in a little country hotel, we'd stayed there for a couple of nights while moving in to our new abode, a great discovery all round.

[sixret]

Well done, Floragord!

Does anyone know if Enid Blyton Armada paperbacks(also Knight and Dragon for that matter) have complete texts or abridged? Please advise. I don't know where to ask so I ask here.