Famous Five Annual 2016

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Rob Houghton
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Re: Famous Five Annual 2016

Post by Rob Houghton »

I agree the illustrations appeal to younger children, and also agree they may get these children interested in the characters. I just feel the publishers are dumbing down a bit - but hey - everything is pretty much dumbed down these days, and so it's fairly normal. :wink:

I've always thought modern reading ages are a bit odd, considering many children can't read as well these days. I worked with many 7 year olds, for example, and a good 2/3 of them would have found it a struggle to read The Faraway Tree or Secret Seven. They were still reading very simple books with a line or two on a page, but by the time they were able to read Secret Seven or Faraway Tree etc, they would consider them too babyish and would rather read something more blood-thirsty. :roll:

In the end, it's all a matter of taste. I can't remember any illustrations in books I read as a child resembling this style, so I guess I'm old fashioned in my tastes, and will have to just agree to disagree! :-) Just because people can't see anything wrong with the modern illustrations, and just because I hate them, doesn't mean either of us are wrong or right - just that we have different ideas about what suits a particular book. :-)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Famous Five Annual 2016

Post by Courtenay »

Robert Houghton wrote: It's absolutely great if these illustrations sell books and if children get into Enid Blyton because of them...but a child nearly always judges a book by the cover, and so to me, these illustrations are a cynical marketing ploy aimed at readers of popular more modern authors. Tricking children into thinking Enid Blyton is the next David Walliams seems a bit underhand to me! It might get books flying off book shelves, but it doesn't mean the child will enjoy the story or become a fan of Enid Blyton.
Have to admit I agree. I don't at all mind illustrations like this one if they suit the genre or style of the actual story, but they don't in this case — at all. There are certainly books aimed at 6-8 year olds that have much more "serious" and aesthetically appealing covers, so why do most Blytons no longer fall into that category as far as the publishers are concerned? I can't help wondering if it's because there's still the persistent stereotype of Enid's books as simplistic and undemanding... :x
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Tony Summerfield
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Re: Famous Five Annual 2016

Post by Tony Summerfield »

I think one of the main reasons for the change in reading ages is that in the era that Enid was writing and even later in the 1980s that I mentioned in my previous post, there were simply children's books and adult books and very little in between. Nowadays there is a huge teenage and young adult market with a massive amount of books to read for this age group, so that they are able to find books that they won't feel are either too babyish or just plain boring.
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Famous Five Annual 2016

Post by Rob Houghton »

I did a search and discovered there are indeed some similar illustrations for Just William -

Image

They are great though - they suit the zany comic elements of these books, and the illustrator is also much more proficient at what he does, in my opinion. :-)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Rob Houghton
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Re: Famous Five Annual 2016

Post by Rob Houghton »

Tony Summerfield wrote:I think one of the main reasons for the change in reading ages is that in the era that Enid was writing and even later in the 1980s that I mentioned in my previous post, there were simply children's books and adult books and very little in between. Nowadays there is a huge teenage and young adult market with a massive amount of books to read for this age group, so that they are able to find books that they won't feel are either too babyish or just plain boring.

And yet (in my experience at local schools) most children are two or three years below their reading age. When I was at school my personal reading age was several years above. I remember when I was 11 my reading age was that of a 14 year-old. I achieved this, by the way, through reading mainly Enid Blyton from the ages of 7 - 12! ;-)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Famous Five Annual 2016

Post by Lucky Star »

Robert Houghton wrote:I did a search and discovered there are indeed some similar illustrations for Just William -

Image

They are great though - they suit the zany comic elements of these books, and the illustrator is also much more proficient at what he does, in my opinion. :-)
Interestingly I also note that William is still dressed very much as he was in the original illustrations. His school uniform still includes cap, shorts and blazer. He also has his old fashioned catapult in hand which has obviously been made using the garter that was holding up his stocking. Enid's characters on the other hand, are always updated to look as though they are dressed in the latest fashions. Of course since fashion changes so frequently these covers soon look dated whereas the original clothing looks timeless and classic. If 1930s style clothes are good enough for William why not for The Five? Many of us here would probably get along much better with new covers if the cartoon kids were dressed as they are written in the text.
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Famous Five Annual 2016

Post by Rob Houghton »

That might help a little...but I still can't get my head around the Famous Five being depicted in a zany way - maybe I've been reading the stories wrongly, LOL! :lol: It's a bit like when baddies are portrayed as stupid or comic in the 1970's TV adaptations - Mr Barling, for example - I hated that too!

I'd love to see a book of Biggles stories illustrated in the same style...I'm sure there would be a few people complaining...or maybe the Lone Pine series... :wink:
Last edited by Rob Houghton on 22 Sep 2015, 17:09, edited 1 time in total.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Tony Summerfield
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Re: Famous Five Annual 2016

Post by Tony Summerfield »

It is a problem if poor readers can only read books that are much too babyish for them and this tends to put them off reading altogether. The children I was talking about were mostly fluent readers and it wasn't just horror that they read, authors like Alistair McLean, Desmond Bagley and Jack Higgins were just as popular. Now of course they would be catered for with authors such as Anthony Horowitz (Alex Rider), Charlie Higson (Young Bond) and Andrew Lane (Young Sherlock).
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Famous Five Annual 2016

Post by Rob Houghton »

Even when I was a teenager in the mid 1980's, I almost stopped reading altogether. I wasn't interested in the stuff teenagers were supposed to read, so I think I hardly read a book at all, except for essays at school, until I was about 22. Then I went back to reading Blyton, LOL! ;-) I read many more authors now, but for the teenage years I was lost in a bit of a wilderness!
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Kate Mary
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Re: Famous Five Annual 2016

Post by Kate Mary »

I think a couple of recent FF covers are very good indeed. Emma Chichester Clark's Five Run Away Together (although I'm not keen on her Timmy) and Helen Oxenbury's Five Go Adventuring Again, which has clothes of right period (or at least some of them.) A pity the publishers didn't commission either artist to do the whole series but I know the the idea was to get a range of illustrators to do various titles.
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Re: Famous Five Annual 2016

Post by pete9012S »

Image

With my CSE grade 3 in art I decided to throw my contribution to cover artistry in the ring.

It will however being brutally honest most definitely alienate the original Soper camp,the 1970's Maxey aficionados and even the modern generation of children who accept lots of unusual and angular depictions as art.....
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Re: Famous Five Annual 2016

Post by Fiona1986 »

Grud Blyton, is that an updated author name? :lol:
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Re: Famous Five Annual 2016

Post by Courtenay »

Fiona1986 wrote:Grud Blyton, is that an updated author name? :lol:
Yep. The publishers changed it because they thought "Enid" was a far too old-fashioned name that would most definitely put young readers off. :mrgreen:
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Re: Famous Five Annual 2016

Post by Fiona1986 »

While "Grud" is more gender neutral and edgy.
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.


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Re: Famous Five Annual 2016

Post by Poppy »

That's actually quite creepy Pete... :shock: Those faces have an almost savage look to them! :lol:
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