The Enid Blyton Society

The very first book I read was Eight O Clock tales featuring some of my all time favorite children's stories by Enid: The Skittle Policeman, The Runaway Donkey, The Girl Who Told Tales, All the Way to Toy Town, The Good Turn.

The first mystery book I read was "The Mystery of The Missing Necklace", and I instantly became a five find outer fan forever.

I can't be sure but the earliest ones that I remember possessing were:

The Adventures of Pip The Pixie: I may be wrong but I think this is where I learned how blackbirds got their golden beak (allegedly).

Brer Rabbit: born and bred in a briar bush.

Well Really, Mr Twiddle: can't remember much about it other than that he probably needed a carer.

I like the idea of Mr. Twiddle needing a carer. Maybe the stories are actually now politically incorrect, and instead of us chuckling quietly over his mistakes, we should be looking sympathetic and having him checked for the early signs of dementia?

Well, he did get himself into a few muddles poor old fellow.


Nearly forgot Mr Pink Whistle. I enjoyed those stories but always found him slightly scary. Maybe because I was afraid of his retribution if I did something wrong....

I think mine was "Chimney Corner Stories", but I can't really be sure this many years later. It was almost certainly one of the Dean & Sons anthologies. I do remember I used to own a few of the books from this series:



but I'm sure they were given to me as a gift set from friends of the family, after I'd "outgrown" fairy stories and moved onto The Famous Five and The Adventure books. Of course after everyone had been made aware of my disdain for such a childish present I secretly read them all anyway!

Hi Bertram,

Yes, The Adventures of Pip includes the tale "A Crock of Gold" where Pip gives the blackbirds their golden beaks! Anita has written an extensive and beautiful review of the Pip stories in the most recent Society newsletter.

I remember I always hated that we had to cover our school books, it was such a tiring task !

The first Blyton book I read was The Island of Adventure. My best friend gave it to me in 3rd grade when I was ill. I first hesitated to start reading because I didn`t like the look of it ( it was the german pb edition, dtv), but then I fell in love with the illustrations and really enjoyed reading the book.
I remember that the second one was The Mystery of the seret room - I remember quite clearly sitting on my parents` terrace on a really hot day and enjoying the cold weather the findouters had in the book !

Hi Jesy_par,

I'm from Germany, too, but live in the US now.
I grew up with this beautiful edition:

http://www.amazon.de/Insel-Abenteuer-Ge ... rika+Klopp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It contains the Stuart Tresilian illustrations which the newer editions after 1990 don't seem to have any longer.

Courtenay wrote:Hi Bertram,

Yes, The Adventures of Pip includes the tale "A Crock of Gold" where Pip gives the blackbirds their golden beaks! Anita has written an extensive and beautiful review of the Pip stories in the most recent Society newsletter.

Sounds good; I was thinking of signing up for that.

I would if I were you. For a mere tenner per year you get a quality collectable journal every four months. Plus the permission to add "Society Member" in lovely blue ink at the bottom of all your posts. And a secret password allowing you access to hidden areas of the website! A veritable bargain!

walter raleigh wrote:I would if I were you. For a mere tenner per year you get a quality collectable journal every four months. Plus the permission to add "Society Member" in lovely blue ink at the bottom of all your posts. And a secret password allowing you access to hidden areas of the website! A veritable bargain!

Don't forget the continuation stories from Blyton's best series of books. As a free (non-paying) member you don't have access to those.

(apologies if this has been done before .. please feel free to merge it with any others if so)

Now merged.

Which Blyton book did you get first, when, and under what circumstances?

My mum bought me Second Form at St Clares when I was six or seven ... I am not sure why she went for Second Form but when I asked she said that they were fine to read as stand alones and I did not have to have read the others Can't remember what I got next or at what point I started on the other series's

I'm never sure what my first Blyton was. My sister owned quite a few already so my mom often read me stories from those - probably Amelia Jane etc, but the first Blyton book I actually owned from new was The Book of Brownies (Dean) when I was about 4 or 5. My mom read it to me and then later I read it myself. The next one was Binkle and Flip.

The first time I'm aware of is the Famous Five 70s TV-series watching on TV, followed by the dramatised Famous Five audio books (by Europa, starting with Fünf Freunde als Retter in der Not = Five go to Billycock Hill) in 1979 because my mother knew I liked the TV series), the first book I read was "Das Schiff der Abenteuer" (= The ship of adventure) in 1980, it was a birthday present.

I was very young.I was off school ill.From somewhere out of the blue I was handed this whilst stuck in bed..............(Betty Maxey cover,Eileen Soper internal illustrations....)



1970 Knight, illustrations by Eileen A. Soper, cover by Betty Maxey

I read it, or should I say 'absorbed' it.I forgot about being ill,forgot about school,forgot that I couldnt play out with my friends I could hear playing outside my bedroom window......

When I finished it,I clearly remember just gazing into the middle distance, my mind boggled by the sensory overload I had just taken in......

'They went off to their own secret island in THEIR OWN BOAT I thought..............'They lit fires and cooked their own food'............'They dived off their boat and swam underwater to sunken wrecks'.....

Then I relived the excitement of the treasure,the storm,losing their precious box,capure,escape.....

Then a great depression swept over me.......The real world loomed....I didnt want that....I wanted to go back to their world with them.....

I thought THIS IS HOW I WANT TO LIVE MY LIFE!

I put this to my parents when they asked why I looked so gloomy.......they said dont you know,there are many other books about the same characters written by the same lady....'WOW' my spirits lifted IMMEDIATELY!

And thus began my life long Enid ODYSSEY!..............


Strangely enough,at the Ursuline Convent School I attended,this book had been read to my class daily some years before,but I didnt connect it with the lady who wrote 'MY ADVENTURES' until much later!!



I dont know why I didnt realise it was the same author,maybe it was my young age,or the stories being so very different.
But eventually it was Enids distinctive signature that gave it away!!

Regards
Pete