The Adventurous Four Series

[Blytonfan]

"The Ark" and "Rowan Farm" by Margot Benary-Isbert are books set in post WW2 where you can see the difference between the good people and the "bad". But they are more family "adventures", nowhere as harrowing as the exploits of Andy & Co.

[IceMaiden]

I like both books and think they're equally great. The second one could easily be from one of the Adventure series, the first one though is a bit more unique. It's not really like any of the other series except the Secret Island perhaps.

Do they count as a series or stand alone novels? I don't think two of something can be a series really but the Six Cousins are classed as that and there's only two of those .

[pete9012S]

I love both books too IceMaiden.

My Mum bought me the books in the wrong order, so it was strange to read the first book second.
I do think of them as a stand alone series, not sure if that's correct, but there is also a short story too to add to my case!

[pete9012S]

1973 Dean, illustrations and cover uncredited


1971 Armada, illustrations by Dorothy Brook, cover uncredited

The versions and order of the books I was was bought.
I only read the short story fairly recently. I've got it in two different books, but I can't remember which two off the top of my head!

[Anita Bensoussane]

The short story (which is quite long for a short story!) is 'Off With the Adventurous Four Again!' and I've got it in Enid Blyton's Omnibus! (1952) and Enid Blyton's Adventure Treasury (1999).

There's also a much-lengthened version by Clive Dickinson, published under the title The Adventurous Four - Trapped! (1998):

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/boo ... Trapped%21

[John Pickup]

I was lucky to read the two books in the published order but it's the only "series" which I did. My copies are the Newnes hardbacks, the first one illustrated by E H Davie, the second by Jessie Land.
I prefer the illustrations by E H Davie, the characters in the second book seem stiff
although the wrapper is appropriate with all the gulls.

[Anita Bensoussane]

My Dean & Son editions have uncredited illustrations which, like E. H. Davie's, are beautifully detailed and realistic.

Jessie Land's illustrations are rather quirky, with some unusual viewpoints and humorous touches. They don't appeal to me as much as the E. H. Davie and Dean ones, but I still like them.

Edit: Just remembered that I picked up the Armada versions of both books in a charity shop some years ago (for 29p each!) Dorothy Brook's illustrations are attractive too - bold and dramatic.

[Kate Mary]

I don’t normally collect multiple copies of the same title but I have four editions each of the Adventurous Four books. I have the Armada paperback editions bought aged 8 in 1962 with my pocket money, they’re a bit frail now but still on my Blyton shelves. The Dean editions and an omnibus version which includes an abridged The Children of Willow Farm published by Viscount all bought in charity shops. And the original Newnes editions. As you can tell I’ve a bit of a thing about The Adventurous Four.

[Anita Bensoussane]

How strange that The Children of Willow Farm (abridged) was put with them for the Viscount collection, Kate!

I don't have the Newnes editions but it's wonderful that Tony has made the original illustrations available in the Cave.

[Paul Greaves]

I’m currently reading The Adventurous Four (again) and I’m struck once more by this description on the first page:

“Their father was in the Air Force, and their mother was with them, knitting hard all day long in the garden of the little white house where they were staying.”

Knitting hard all day long? What IS she creating? A spitfire?

[Anita Bensoussane]

I expect she was knitting for the troops, as well as for her family.

[Lucky Star]

Yes there were appeals for people to knit clothes for the forces so it was a sort of patriotic duty, like the more famous digging for victory campaign for growing food. Also I imagine there probably weren't many clothes on sale in shops at that time.

[Paul Greaves]

I assumed as much. It’s just that, as a sentence taken purely as read in the 21st century, it conjures up quite an image!

[Debbie]

On the knitting my Granny used to tell how she knew a lady during the war who used to ask people for any oddments of wool left over "for the war effort". She would knit squares, sew them into blankets and give them to a little lady who sold them at the back of her shop and the money raised went to an injured RAF fund.
She had told a friend about this and the friend came to her with a whole load of little tiny balls with a small amount of each and so my Granny thanked her and asked if she'd been saving bits for ages.
The reply was "oh no, I remembered this little shop that had a blanket made out of squares of wool, so I bought it and unravelled all the knitting for your friend. The money went to an injured RAF fund, so it's helping doubly!"
Granny said she meekly thanked her very much and took the wool for her friend. She didn't know what else to say!

[Anita Bensoussane]