The Enid Blyton Society

I know there's a 'what have you bought' thread already, but buying things yourself isn't the same as getting them as a gift. I thought it would be nice to have a thread where members can put what books or any other Enid Blyton related gifts they receive as Christmas presents .

I'm not expecting to get any Blyton books for Christmas (though I will be giving at least one! ), but your thread title, IceMaiden, has set off my song-rewriting tendencies again, I'm afraid. Apologies for the following bit of doggerel, but I couldn't resist...

(to the tune of I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, but with fewer verses)

I want an Enid Blyton book for Christmas
Only an Enid Blyton book will do
Don't want a doll, no dinky tinker toy
I want an Enid Blyton book to read and to enjoy

I can see me now on Christmas morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh what joy, what surprise
When I open up my eyes
See a pile of Blytons standing there!

I want an Enid Blyton book for Christmas
Only an Enid Blyton book will do
No grown-up books to shock, disturb or frighten
I only like books by Enid Blyton
And all my forum family like them too!

(Dedicated to, well, all our forum family here — Merry Christmas! )

Bravo Courtenay that's brilliant!

*whispers* and I'm glad it's not just me that likes 'rewriting' songs *whispers*

Brilliant Courtenay!

I do know a couple of Enid Blyton themed things I'm getting...because I bought them! (boring I know - but I ordered them on behalf of people and then they took them and wrapped them up!) So I'm getting the new Enid Blyton cookery book - 'Jolly Good Food', 'The Diary of the Naughtiest Girl', The Little Noddy Party Game (from the 1950's) and the new Famous Five 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle.

I also bought myself a Blyton book with dust jacket (which I've wrapped up and not looked at!) - The Blue Story Book.

Wonderful, Courtenay!

Thanks for your kind compliments, everyone... I was hoping the "no grown-up books" line wouldn't sound like I was literally suggesting that we Enid Blyton fans never read adult literature at all!!

Funnily enough, I don't think I've ever had an Enid Blyton book for Christmas in my life. With us it was always Roald Dahl books for Christmas and birthdays. Enid Blyton books were something we picked up at any time from charity shops and school fetes and garage sales and book exchanges and the like (and very occasionally new from the newsagents) — all year round! This was of course back in the days when you could easily buy even old editions for less than $1...

Yes - I agree I didn't have many Enid Blyton books for Christmas as a child...I've had more Blyton books for Christmas as an adult!

I did have a couple of 'Bedtime Annuals' when they came out in the 1970's - but only for a couple of years.

The only Enid Blyton book I know for sure I got for Christmas was Mr. Meddle's Mischief when I was about eight, and even now I still associate it with this time of year. I also got the other two Meddle books, the two Wishing Chair books, Rubadub and Banshee Towers as presents but can't remember if it was Christmas or my birthday. As it happens, the majority of my Blyton books are second hand or hand-me-downs anyway!

The only Enid Blyton book I can remember receiving for Christmas when young is this one.
It was one of the few Five's I needed to complete my collection. I absolutely loved it. It came out before the Five appeared on tv in the 1970's.
I still have the book in fairly good condition.

Everyone in my family assumed I would love the Five on tv which came out a short time later, but I couldn't take to it all all. I prefered to read the books.
It's only now,many years later that I have the whole collection on dvd - but I have only watched a few of the episodes.

I did watch all the 1990's episodes and found them more 'Soperlike' although to me, Dick's hair colour was totally wrong and the dog was nothing like how I imagined the savage Tim!

I can remember the books I had for Birthday presents best, funnily enough. I can only recall having three Blyton books for my birthday - and all off the same friend - David, who was in my class at school. I had the Dean version of 'Hurrah For the Circus' - and the cover always thrilled me -- plus a Famous Five annual two years running - Smugglers Top, then Mystery Moor.

Courtenay wrote:Thanks for your kind compliments, everyone... I was hoping the "no grown-up books" line wouldn't sound like I was literally suggesting that we Enid Blyton fans never read adult literature at all!!

In my case they'd be right . In my teens, feeling full of bravado one day,I bought a Mills & Boon type book for 25p from the library sale stand. I got home, started reading the first few chapters then got worried my mum would find it so I stuffed it in my school bag, ran down town and put it in the bin! I've never bought nor read an 'adult book' since!

I got a few Enid Blytons for Christmas and Birthdays when I was younger but I can't remember all of them. The only ones I can remember are an annual, several short story collections and a Famous Five tape. Oh and a Noddy video one year which I watched over and over and some Noddy books too which I was too young to recall getting.

I especially liked these lines:-

Only an Enid Blyton book will do
No grown-up books to shock, disturb or frighten
I only like books by Enid Blyton

Sums up my taste in reading.

I got 3 books for Christmas, all of which I'd bought and people wrapped up for me - they find it much easier that way. I got the Famous Five colouring book, the newly published Christmas Treats, which I've already read 2 chapters of, and The Christmas Book http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... stmas+Book" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, which I spotted in a charity shop a couple of weeks ago, saw it contained an Enid Blyton story, and so knew it was 'meant to be'.

As a child, most of my Christmas and birthday presents were Enid Blyton books. I can remember in the early days getting The Enchanted Wood books, Mr. Pink Whistle etc. and then when I was older and wrote a wish list, it was a gradual process of collecting the Malory Towers and St Clare's books, along with the 'Adventure' books, plus a few FF to fill in the gaps of my collection.

I used to get an Enid Blyton book for Christmas once my parents knew of my interest! It meant that they recommended friends and relations who asked, that they would never go wrong if they also gave me her books!

Although I haven't had any this year, on thinking about it, I am reminded that some years ago I asked my daughter to get me The Dossier. When my grandson saw it, he was appalled that his grandmother was getting what he deemed to be a child's book. I told my daughter to tell him it was a reference book. That satisfied him. The next year when I asked her to get the latest Famous Five Annual for me, she kept it out of his sight!

If he's a Christian, Daisy, why don't you let him do some bible work and refer to Matthew 18:3?