The Enid Blyton Society

Well spotted! Apparently, maybe due to coastal erosion, there's now only one rock!

Rob Houghton wrote:and it struck me that I hadn't realised 'Five Go To Demon's Rocks' was about a magic monkey with a crystal ball until now...

Any relation to this, do you think... (I know, that was too obvious, but I couldn't resist )

Courtenay wrote:They also seem to have the title slightly wrong...

Ah yes - the same mistake was made in the 1970s (though the TV cover copy in the Cave doesn't have the error) and in 1993:

I checked the text:

‘I’ve a map that shows where my light-house is,’ said Tinker, scrabbling in one of his pockets. ‘It’s rather crumpled and dirty because I’ve looked at it so often. Look - here’s a map of the coastline - and just there - built on rocks is my light-house. It’s marked by a round dot, look!’

‘The rocks that the light-house is built on used to wreck many ships,’ said Tinker. ‘Wreckers used to work along that coast, you know - they would shine a light as if to guide ships along the coast, and make them go on the rocks. Crash!

‘We’ll soon be off again together, all the Five - and two more to keep us company. It will be quite an adventure!’
‘An adventure?’ said Tinker, surprised. ‘But you can’t have adventures in a light-house - it’s out on the rocks, all by itself, as lonely as can be! There aren’t any adventures to be found there!’

‘See - that’s the way to go,’ said Julian. ‘It really wouldn’t be far by sea - look, round the coast here, cut across this bay, round the headland - and just there are the rocks on which the old light-house stands. But by road it’s a very long way.’

The man at the garage listened to Julian’s tale of wanting a car to go to the light-house. ‘It’s the old light-house at Demon’s Rocks, not the new one at High Cliffs,’ he said. ‘We’re going to stay there.’

‘Don’t forget we can go shopping in Demon’s Rocks village,’ said Tinker.

It was very exciting that evening to talk about the next day - the car coming to fetch them - the drive round the coast to Demon’s Rocks.

‘But honestly we’d be blown out to sea if we put an umbrella up on Demon’s Rocks. Tinker says there’s always a gale blowing round the coast there.’

‘We’ll be there in another hour or so,’ said the man. ‘Where are you staying at Demon’s Rocks? The garage didn’t tell me.’
‘At the light-house,’ said Julian. ‘Do you know it?’
‘Yes - but people don’t stay there!’ said the driver, thinking that Julian was pulling his leg. ‘What hotel are you going to - or are you staying with friends?’

‘Well - you’ve certainly got a place with a fine view!’ said the driver. ‘I was born at Demon’s
Rocks.'

I could go on,but the text is quite consistent that it's Demons Rocks...

First edition: 1948
Publisher: H.A. & W.L. Pitkin
Illustrator: George Bowe
Category: Pitkin Story Books
Genre: Mixed
Type: Short Story Series Books

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... nt+a+Story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Review by Terry Gustafson included in the cave which gives a very good overview of this book.

Another nice book. I particularly like the illustrations in it. These are some of the types of books where I need to buy them again in dust jackets - but they are pretty hard to find in good ones!

Nice to see the update by T.G. A story Party at Green Hedges. I thought, I'm sure I've got this book, but when I looked mine is - A Picnic Party at Green Hedges. Then I realized I'd reviewed it.

A Story Party at Green Hedges is one of my favourite short story collections. Its so well put together, with those great illustrations featuring Enid Blyton and Green hedges! Of course, Grace Lodge is by far one of Enid's best illustrators.

Picnic Party is also good, but for some reason its almost impossible to find in a dust jacket!

Great review...although I do think Terry seems to be following the old idea that Enid's story about 'Little Black Sambo' is racist...and that once his black face has been washed off by the rain, that makes him 'more desirable'. The review seems to hint that this is where the story ends - which is selling Enid a bit short, I feel. The toys dip a cloth in black ink and make Sambo's face black again - which in my view seems to carry the message that we should judge people by who they are, not what they look like...but I guess that is open to interpretation. That's how I've always interpreted the story - Enid is saying quite plainly that the toys have been mean and nasty and have been taught a lesson about looking further than outward appearances. For the 1940's, that's quite radical stuff! It was even pretty radical in the 1970's and 80's and maybe even more recently than that.

A good review by Terry. My copy of A Story Party at Green Hedges doesn't have a dustwrapper but it's still a beautiful and unusual book. I was in my thirties when I bought it, but if I'd had it as a child I'd have been over the moon to see that a girl called Anita was invited to the party and was told a story about a Manx cat because her aunt owned one. My uncle lives in the Isle of Man and used to own some Manx cats. We went to see him when I was ten but unfortunately I turned out to be allergic to his cats. Most unBlytonlike, I know! It was while I was in the Isle of Man that I started learning to swim (in a saltwater pool) and we also visited castles, beaches, a Fairy Glen and a little island called the Calf of Man, so it was quite a Blytonesque holiday.

Anita Bensoussane wrote:A good review by Terry. My copy of A Story Party at Green Hedges doesn't have a dustwrapper but it's still a beautiful and unusual book. I was in my thirties when I bought it, but if I'd had it as a child I'd have been over the moon to see that a girl called Anita was invited to the party and was told a story about a Manx cat because her aunt owned one.

Yes - I would also have been pleased to see there's a 'story for Robert' included in the second book, 'A Picnic Party With Enid Blyton', had I read the book as a child! Its also just the sort of story I enjoyed 'The Two Meddlers'. Its one I mentioned before, with some fairly horrific happenings when the meddlers of the title touch some strange spells they find in an old hut in a wood!

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... mas+Treats" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Rob has already mentioned this collection.
I have just downloaded a kindle sample from amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Christmas-Trea ... 8&qid=&sr=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm planning to buy it shortly and read one chapter each night during the weeks running up to Christmas!

Wow - I was surprised to see that the Kindle edition is actually more expensive than the paperback!

I have beaten you to it, Rob! I'm sure I have many of these stories in other books, but to have them all together in one volume is too good to miss.

I'm currently reading a story from 'Wizards and Witches' - 'witch' is another good anthology of magical tales - many of which seem to be uncollected. Then I'll get the Christmas one. I bought 'Christmas Tales' last year and read one each night through to Christmas Eve - very entertaining. As you say, Nigel - its great to have all of these Christmas stories in one book - a very good idea from the publishers for a change!!