Poll 16: The Secret Series

[Irene Malory Towers]

Hi Anita thanks for deleting the post in the other thread. I had just done a quick search for Spiggy Holes and had not realised that it was not on the books forum. I must try and get hold of that Secret Mountain book. It is so long since I have read it. I wonder whether it is available second hand then. Any ideas ?

[Anita Bensoussane]

I'm sure secondhand copies will be available from sites like eBay and Abebooks. Hope you soon get hold of one, Irene!

[Irene Malory Towers]

Thanks - I did for only £2.50 or thereabouts. Ordered it from Ebay, to complete my collection of the Secret Series.

[Anita Bensoussane]

That's great!

[Nair Snehalatha]

The Secret Island.The Secrer of Spiggy holes are the best in the series.The secret island shows real friendship -- a friend in need is a friend in deed-- Jack really is a good friend to Peggy, Nora and Mike. I loved to be with them them and sharing thwir adventure.

[Irene Malory Towers]

I reread the secret of Killimooin except my copy was a new version called the Secret Forest and I can see from Da\vid Cook's review there have been quite a few text changes, so I found an older copy on Ebay and will compare and no doubt prefer the original. i do like the Secret Forest - it is a very exciting adventure and one of the few that the kids plus unusually adults come close to death. However, it is slightly spoilt by the fact that the most of the adventure takes place without the girls. The girls are hardly mentioned at all and seem to be irrelevant which is a shame. Like Nair I definitely prefer the first two of this series. Yet to reread the Secret Mountain but I won't bother with Moon Castle as I found that quite weak.

[Lucky Star]

I read The Secret Mountain last night. As always I found it a thrilling adventure, one of Blyton's finest. The first chapter is awful though! The series of convenient coincidences which set the scene for the adventure are truly unbelievable. Ranni and Pilescu seriously need their heads examined for even listening too the hare brained scheme in the first place.

Once under way of course it is fantastic. The action is tautly plotted, moves along at a rapid and satisfying pace and delivers all of the mystery, action, danger and adventure any child could wish for in a book. It's such a pity that it is now out of print. I did notice that there is a distinctly "colonial" tone to the book. It's very definitely a case of the Africans being quite superstitious, backwards and generally very silly. The shining exception to this is Mafumu who comes across as the bravest, most loyal and trustworthy person possible. There are several references to "savages" which could be removed of course but unfortunately the general story relies heavily upon the superstitious and ignorant nature of the natives and this would be impossible to alter. In my view the book should still be in print with an explanatory note to inform children that this is how things used to be but I guess the powers that be do not agree.

There's also a howler near the end when the children and Captain and Mrs. Arnold are tied up hand and foot but minutes later when Ranni and Pilescu fortuitously arrive they all run to them and give them hugs!! Umm what about those ropes?

Minor quibbles though. As ever with this book I sat enthralled all the way through and did not put it down till I had finished. My two copies are both Armada paperbacks from 1965 and 1971, the latter being the edition I had as a child. I really must try to lay hands on a hardback copy as the illustrations shown in the Cave are absolutely beautiful and plentiful compared with the handful in the paperbacks.

[Courtenay]

It's such a pity that it is now out of print. I did notice that there is a distinctly "colonial" tone to the book. It's very definitely a case of the Africans being quite superstitious, backwards and generally very silly. The shining exception to this is Mafumu who comes across as the bravest, most loyal and trustworthy person possible. There are several references to "savages" which could be removed of course but unfortunately the general story relies heavily upon the superstitious and ignorant nature of the natives and this would be impossible to alter. In my view the book should still be in print with an explanatory note to inform children that this is how things used to be but I guess the powers that be do not agree.

I haven't actually read The Secret Mountain yet, but I really wish that was the case with a lot more children's books that have been either heavily censored or just cancelled for being politically incorrect. It IS actually possible for young readers to understand that attitudes towards race, gender etc. have changed a lot over the past 70+ years, and why. I've always believed it's actually very helpful and instructive for children to learn that things weren't always as they are now. Thanks to all the references in Enid Blyton to girls doing the cooking and cleaning, and essentially being told that girls shouldn't go on adventures that are too dangerous (with some characters, especially George, deliberately rebelling against that idea!), I learned early on that the way I was being brought up by my parents — to accept that girls and boys are equal and nobody should ever be told "girls can't do that" (or "boys can't do that", for that matter!) — was not the way my parents were brought up, and so I shouldn't take that freedom for granted. That's a pretty important lesson to learn, and I don't think I'd have grasped it nearly as fast if I hadn't encountered those older attitudes in books and been able to challenge them directly. They didn't, of course, include a disclaimer from the publishers, but I'd be quite happy if they did, rather than losing those books — and what we can learn from them — altogether.

[Wolfgang]

Concerning "The secret mountain" and removing political incorrect content, if I was a cynic I'd say that it's politically not desired to let children know that there was a general attitude of racism, sexism, xenophobia and class thinking. After all you can't expect teachers and parents to explain the children complicated things like that - it's much too embarrassing.
Fortunately I'm no cynic, though Pete might think otherwise.

[Boodi 2]

My favourite was always Moon Castle, probably because it made such an impression on me when I first read it as a child...I enjoyed the description of the castle, the surrounding countryside and the "nasty" sisters, while I found the twanging of the musical instruments and Lord Moon's glowing eyes deliciously frightening!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I agree that the beginning of The Secret Mountain is rather weak, John (Lucky Star), but that the book is enthralling once the adventure is underway. My copies of the Secret series are all Armada paperbacks which I bought as a child but the original hardbacks do look special.

There's...a howler near the end when the children and Captain and Mrs. Arnold are tied up hand and foot but minutes later when Ranni and Pilescu fortuitously arrive they all run to them and give them hugs!! Umm what about those ropes?

Heh - I've never noticed that!

...unfortunately the general story relies heavily upon the superstitious and ignorant nature of the natives and this would be impossible to alter. In my view the book should still be in print with an explanatory note to inform children that this is how things used to be but I guess the powers that be do not agree.

I haven't actually read The Secret Mountain yet, but I really wish that was the case with a lot more children's books that have been either heavily censored or just cancelled for being politically incorrect. It IS actually possible for young readers to understand that attitudes towards race, gender etc. have changed a lot over the past 70+ years, and why. I've always believed it's actually very helpful and instructive for children to learn that things weren't always as they are now.

I feel the same, John and Courtenay.

[Irene Malory Towers]

Comparison of the Secret of Killimooin and The Secret Forest - yes it is the same book but the former is the first and early editions and the latter later editions. To my almost disappointment there are very few text changes - only ones really are all references to gay and queer have been replaced by by words such as bright and strange. There is one preposition change - into replaced by up. The context - the boys, exhausted with their trip into the watery passage finally find a resting place and rugs - Killimooin book - the boys snuggle into each other ! whereas forest book - the boys snuggle up to each other. I guess the snuggle into each other is considered far too intimate, perhaps hints of homosexuality even !!

The other change is that the illustrations are by Eileen Soper and while I much prefer them, both in style and also they make the children look younger which is more appropriate for the story, they do look remarkably similar to the famous five. There is a great one of them examining the cave and really it could be taken from a famous five book - minus Timmy the dog. If i can remember how to paste it in, I will do.

[Irene Malory Towers]

[Irene Malory Towers]

Success - now doesn't that look like Anne kneeling down.

[Lucky Star]

Yes and the others could easily be Julian, Dick and George. I still love Eileen Soper’s work though.

To me the book will always be The Secret of Kilimooin. That’s how I first read it and I think it’s a much more intriguing and evocative title than The Secret Forest.