Purnell Sunshine Library

[pete9012S]

Split from another topic.

Funtime Tales (1972)

Happy Adventure Tales (1971)

Happy Time Stories (1970)

Fireside Tales (1972)

Anytime Tales (1971)

Just bought these five books for £9.99. Don't know if that's a good price?

[Bertie]

That looks a very good deal, Pete.
I've just paid £4 for that same edition of Happy Adventure Tales. So to get 5 books for £10 is a very good find.

My copy of Happy Adventure Tales hadn't arrived yet. But my Enid Blyton Dossier arrived yesterday so I'm looking forward to starting that.

[Katharine]

Sounds like a reasonable price to me Pete.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Sounds good to me, Pete! I loved those Purnell Sunshine Library books as a child, and so did my daughter and son when they were little. I believe the stories are all taken from various Holiday Books. Of the books in that pile, Fireside Tales is a particular favourite, containing gems like 'The Firework Club', 'He Never Knew the Time', 'The Little Gold Brooch', 'The Poisonous Berries', 'The Christmas Tree Aeroplane', 'Mrs. Muddle's Scarf', 'Two Children Came By', 'It Came Back to Him in the End' and 'The Pig with Green Spots'. A wonderful assortment of tales. And I've already mentioned that I'm a fan of Happy Adventure Tales because so many of the stories are short mysteries/adventures.

Enjoy the Dossier, Bertie!

[Katharine]

I had Fireside Tales as a child. The stories in it left a very strong impression on me.

I hope you enjoy the books Pete.

[Lucky Star]

The Purnell Sunshine Library books were my introduction to Enid Blyton and my next reading step on from the Ladybird books. Those look like a great bargain Pete.

[IceMaiden]

I only had two Purnell books, 'sleepytime tales' and 'everyday stories' but I read them over and over. I recall the illustrations in them being quite thick and blocky, for some reason the brownie pictured in 'Sammy the Scribbler' terrified me!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Great description, IceMaiden! Yes, most of the Purnell Sunshine Library books have those "thick and blocky" illustrations. I rather like them as they were such an important part of my childhood. Like John (Lucky Star), I came to the Purnell Sunshine Library books straight after learning to read with Ladybird.

[Courtenay]

We had two of the Purnell Sunshine Library books when I was little — Toyland Tales and Happy Time Stories. Both excellent collections and I have vivid memories of many of the stories. In Toyland Tales, "The Strange Sailor Doll" is a particularly touching story of learning to accept someone who's "different" — in this case, a toy with the equivalent of a disability. "The Black Sheep" likewise has a message that is very clearly anti-racism, so I don't want to hear another word of what a terrible influence Enid Blyton is on young readers!!! "The Cuckoo in the Clock" was another favourite of mine, and "Billy's Little Boats" includes a lovely craft project that I never did get around to trying out, not having any walnut shells on hand! "The Golliwog and the Radio" captures something of a young child's curiosity about technology — how on earth does the music get inside the radio, as all the toys wonder?? — and the golliwog, by the way, is the hero of this story. "The Golliwog who Smoked" is less admirable, but the story does at least have an anti-smoking message, at least for children!! (I have a feeling it suggests that smoking is OK for grown-ups, but I can't quite remember. Regardless, I'm pretty sure it's a story that wouldn't be reprinted at all these days, even if they substituted a less controversial character for the golliwog.)

Happy Time Stories has more stories of the fairy folk rather than toys, although a few toy-related ones got in there. "The Toys Go on Strike" is Enid being surprisingly left-wing and is the story from which I first learned the meaning of "going on strike", which she explains in simple terms for her readers. I think of that story every time we hear more workers' strikes announced, as we just have today with the railways again!! "Mr Big-Hat's Button" is a charming little story of a wizard's assistant who does something bad and gets her comeuppance, but she's forgiven and the story ends happily. "The Very-Long-Tail", all about a boastful tadpole, was amusing for me, as not that long before I first read that story, we'd caught and kept tadpoles ourselves at home and watched how they changed into frogs! But I think my favourite of all was "The Biscuit Tree", in which a pixie's kindness to a hungry beggar girl brings him a marvellous reward. I always wanted a biscuit tree like the one that magically grew for him. I still do!!

Has anyone else here read those stories? I know it's off the thread topic, but this is just making me want to collect more of the Purnell Sunshine books, especially the ones others have recommended (Happy Adventure Tales sounds fab)! Maybe we could split these posts off and start a Purnell Sunshine Library thread for admirers of this series? [Good idea - 'tis done!]

[Anita Bensoussane]

I had a lot of the Purnell Sunshine Library books as a child and made a point of collecting the rest as an adult (they cropped up regularly in charity shops), so my own children had access to the whole set. I received a pile of them as a Christmas present in 1974, when I was four (almost five). They have inscriptions in the front - for example, Everyday Stories says, "XMAS 1974. To Anita, Love Auntie Janet and Uncle Graham xxxxxx". I was an early reader and I loved the books at once, reading and re-reading them until I almost knew them by heart. I soon added more titles to my collection. The cheery covers were most inviting and the spines looked bright and colourful on the bookshelf.

I only had two Purnell books, 'sleepytime tales' and 'everyday stories' but I read them over and over.

Everyday Stories was perhaps my favourite, containing (among others) 'Little Mrs. Millikin', 'The Packet of Sweets', 'A Hole in Her Stocking', 'The Silly Storyteller', 'The Tale of a Tail', 'The Wrong Bus', 'Untidy William', 'Sammy the Scribbler', 'Tiresome Tilda', 'He Wouldn't Brush His Hair' and 'The Disappearing Presents'. Most of those are cautionary tales about the potential consequences of being lazy, untruthful, disobedient, destructive, etc. Some are pretty chilling, but enjoyably so. 'Little Mrs. Millikin' is different, being wonderfully heartwarming, and I remember that it always left me feeling positive and happy.

We had two of the Purnell Sunshine Library books when I was little — Toyland Tales and Happy Time Stories. Both excellent collections and I have vivid memories of many of the stories. In Toyland Tales, "The Strange Sailor Doll" is a particularly touching story of learning to accept someone who's "different" — in this case, a toy with the equivalent of a disability. "The Black Sheep" likewise has a message that is very clearly anti-racism, so I don't want to hear another word of what a terrible influence Enid Blyton is on young readers!!!

I didn't come across Toyland Tales or Happy Time Stories until I was an adult but I agree about 'The Strange Sailor Doll' and 'The Black Sheep', Courtenay. A lot of critics make scathing comments about Enid Blyton on the strength of just two or three cherry-picked stories, but anyone who has access to a wide range of her work will see that she promotes an inclusive attitude on the whole.

I've just re-read 'The Toys Go on Strike' after seeing your reference to it - I'd forgotten that Enid Blyton had written on that topic! 'The Biscuit Tree' is lovely but I think my favourite tale from Happy Time Stories is '"I Dare You To!"', about a boy who accepts a dangerous dare... which leads to something rather more complex than simply an injury to himself. My son also loved '"I Dare You To!"' when he was little.

[IceMaiden]

I've just read The Golliwog Who Smoked in the second Holiday Book. It mentions nothing about smoking being OK for grown ups but quite plainly it's not looked on favourably. The doll says "toys shouldn't smoke. It's as bad for them as it is for children". The toys also don't want their nice nursery filled with nasty smoke smell and they tell the Golliwog that he doesn't look at all well after starting smoking and that he's going quite pale.

[Courtenay]

Oh, thanks for reminding me, IceMaiden. I knew the story said smoking wasn't good for toys or children, but I couldn't remember whether it said anything about adults smoking! (My copy of the book is back in Australia, so I couldn't check it for myself.)

I don't get the impression Enid herself ever smoked, but it was such a common thing in her time that it would have been seen by many as quite normal, at least for grown-ups. I do remember that's how it was when I was little, in the early-mid 1980s — both my parents smoked at the time (they later gave it up) and it wasn't until around the time I started school that health warnings started appearing on cigarette packets and major anti-smoking campaigns got underway. Mind you, the golliwog in the story smokes a pipe, which hasn't exactly been a trendy thing to do since probably some time before WW2!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I believe Enid Blyton was a social smoker but didn't smoke regularly. I can't picture her with a pipe though!

[Wolfgang]

I think it was mentioned in one of the mystery books that Fatty collected cigarette butts. I'm not 100% sure about it, but I seem to remember that Fatty once tried to smoke but it didn't agree with him.

[Bertie]

In Pantomime Cat, Fatty, despite carrying matches, says he's only going to start smoking when he's 21. And the grown up says something like 'good lad'. In Missing Necklace, when he's disguised as the tramp, he was wondering whether to light the pipe for real to amuse Bets - but I think it says he'd tried it once and it knocked him sick so he didn't do it.