Sickness/illness/injury in the Famous Five Books?

[Debbie]

I think the adventure series have a high proportion of sickness.

In Island isn't one of the boys at the tutor because he'd missed school through illness, Sea they've all (including Allie) had measles and you also have the car accident of the professor who was originally taking them, Otto is described as seriously ill in Valley, Mrs Mannering breaks some bones in her hand in Mountain, Aunt Polly is ill enough to call Aunt Allie back in Ship, I suppose if you want to count it the bear trainer is ill in Circus and in River they've all had flu.
I can't think of any illness in Castle though.

Interestingly Bill doesn't seem to succumb to either illness or accidents, although it might have been realistic if he'd had a few broken bones in his line of employment!

[pete9012S]

Book Four - Smuggler's Top:

Chapter Twelve
BLOCK GETS A SURPRISE
MRS. LENOIR came back after a time. She smiled at George.
'That was your father,' she said. 'He is coming tomorrow, but not your mother. They went to your aunt's, and your mother says she thinks she must stay and help her, because your aunt is not very well. But your father would like to come, because he wants to discuss his latest experiments with Mr. Lenoir, who is very interested in them. It will be very nice to have him.'
The children would very much rather have had Aunt Fanny instead of Uncle Quentin, who could be very difficult at times. But still, he would probably be talking with Mr. Lenoir most of the time, so that would be all right!

Who is this lady? Fanny's sister? Remember though that they couldn't go back to Julian's gaff after Kirrin cottage was damaged by the tree as Julian's people were away and the house was locked up!!!

Also in this book: Uncle Quentin feels sick when he comes round in the tunnels after being kidnapped.
Block claims he gets really bad headaches that make him feel sick...

[pete9012S]

In Five Go Off in a Caravan Barker is poisoned - does that count as sickness?

As Katharine mentioned earlier, I think this is the only illness/sickness in book five:

Nobby tried to shake off his uncle's hand, and opened his mouth to yell back something. But Dan roughly put his hand across Nobby's mouth and hauled him away, shaking him as a dog shakes a rat.
'HOW'S BARKER?' yelled Julian. But Nobby had disappeared, dragged into his uncle's caravan by Dan. The little elephant man heard, however.

'Barker's bad,' he said. 'Not dead yet. But nearly. Never saw a dog so sick in my life. Nobby's fair upset!'
The children walked off with Timmy. George had had to hold his collar all the time, for once he saw Dan he growled without stopping, and tried to get away from George.
Thank goodness Barker isn't dead,' said Anne. 'I do hope he'll get better.'

'Not much chance,' said Julian. 'That meat must have been chockful of poison. Poor old Nobby. How awful to be under the thumb of a fellow like Tiger Dan.'

[pete9012S]

Book six Kirrin Island Again - Just Martin as far as I can tell:

" Mr. Curton and his son. They came here some weeks ago. You ought to get to know the son, Master Julian. He's about your age, I should think. Must be pretty lonely for him up here."

" Doesn't he go to any school ? " asked Julian. " No. He's been ill, so his father said. Got to have plenty of sea-air and that sort of thing. Not a bad sort of boy. He comes and helps me with my toys sometimes. And he likes to mess about with my telescope."

[Lucky Star]

Martin may have been ill but I'll bet that Mr Curtin brought him to the sea for his own purposes rather than any concern for the boy's health.

Very witty captions Pete.

[pete9012S]

The seventh book - It's the first since book one Treasure Island that contains no sickness or illness!
The most tenuous reference is listed below purely for amusement:

The candlelight flickered and shadows jumped about the tiny hut. It was a poor, ill-furnished little place, dirty and untidy. A cup without saucer or handle stood on the table, and a tin kettle boiled on a rusty stove.
Sam put down his paper and rubbed his eyes.

But, it must be noted that there is an injury in this book:

They made their way very slowly - and then Dick gave a sharp cry. 'Blow! I've twisted my ankle. Half a minute!'
He sank down to the ground in great pain. It was only a sharp twist, not a sprain, but for a few minutes Dick could, do nothing but groan. The others dared not leave him. Julian knelt by him, offering to rub the ankle, but Dick wouldn't let him touch it. Jock stood by anxiously.
It took about twenty minutes for Dick's ankle to be strong enough for him to stand on again. With the help of the others he got to his feet and tested his ankle. 'It's all right, I think. I can walk on it - slowly. Now we'll go to the yard and see what's happening!'

[IceMaiden]

A lot of Enid's books have various illnesses in them, presumably as they're such a good and easy way of isolating the child characters from the adults. I'm reading The Family at Red-Roofs which I've never read before and the mother in that has just fallen ill. There's a rather strange comment from Peter the eldest boy I thought as he says 'are you in pain, darling?' to his mother! What child would say that to their mother? 'Are you in pain, mother darling?' perhaps but not just darling as it sounds more like what a husband says to his wife. I wonder if it's supposed to be like that or if Enid momentarily forgot who was meant to be talking .

[Debbie]

It sounds very Little Lord Fauntleroy!

[GloomyGraham]

There's a rather strange comment from Peter the eldest boy I thought as he says 'are you in pain, darling?' to his mother! What child would say that to their mother? 'Are you in pain, mother darling?' perhaps but not just darling as it sounds more like what a husband says to his wife. I wonder if it's supposed to be like that or if Enid momentarily forgot who was meant to be talking .

Language evolves. It might sound strange to 21st century ears but back in that era it was fine, though probably still a little old-fashioned.

[pete9012S]

So, we're up to book eight.

Any sickness, illness or injury in this book?

[Hannah]

Doesn't get Dick (or was it Julian?) hit by one of the villains?

[Bertie]

Two minor instances.i can think of: I think Richard Thurlow Kent starts to feel sick in the boot - is it the smell of petrol or the bumpy roads? Also, when he wants to leap out when the car stops, he has to wait for his legs to recover as he's got cramp in them.

[GloomyGraham]

If 'Doctor-shopping' was a thing when I was a child, I would have been looking for the Kirrins' doctors.

A 'bad cold' and they were promptly shipped off to the seaside. I would've even settled for a few extra weeks in my bedroom rather than going back to school.

The kids hardly seemed to think about their illnesses once some adventure had started. Except to note that Dick must be fully cured as he had managed 30 sausages for breakfast lol.

[TheAngryPixie]

In one of the books, Timmy gets an injury and has to wear the cone of shame. George ran away to the woods because everybody kept making jokes at him.

[Bertie]

That was Secret Trail.

If we're counting animal injuries then there's plenty in FF (my least favourite parts of the books ).

Tim getting a cough / cold in Five Go Adventuring Again; Being drugged in one of the two books that George is kidnapped (I get the two mixed up); Being hit over the head and collapsing in exhaustion in Mystery Moor, etc. Then there's also poor Pongo and Barker's injury and poisoning in FIve Go Off In A Caravan...