I was delighted to read Elizabeth's latest post on Mrs Thomasina Tittlemouse in which she spoke enthusiastically about a fairytale book that she used to read as a child. It got me thinking about all the books I enjoyed and my mind settled on this one.....
Do you remember it? It is, of course, by the indomitable Enid Blyton and whilst she is not loved by all, she is certainly loved by me. She's had a bad press recently, particularly with the making of Enid (starring the fabulous Helena Bonham Carter) and although she was certainly an interesting person (to say the least) she was a terrific writer of children's fiction. Her reasons for writing her books and the deep rooted psychological traumas that caused her to escape into her magical worlds were of no consequence to me as a young child romping through her pages. My entire childhood is one long Blyton memory when I stop to think about it and besides The Magic Faraway Tree (and the others that followed), I can remember Noddy, The Wishing Chair, The Adventures of Binkle and Flip, The Secret Island, The Secret Seven, The Famous Five, Amelia Jane, Mister Meddle, Adventures of Pink Whistle, The Children of Willow Farm and, of course, the entire Mallory Towers series!
Now that I own a bookshop I am constantly amazed at how popular her books still are and not just to people of my age group who buy them from a purely sentimental aspect. Young parents buy them for their children to read now in this highly technological age of computers, mobile phones and playstations, and that fact pleases me immensely. I think Enid would have enjoyed it too.
I can remember distinctly being curled up on my bed avidly lost in stories of schoolgirls and pixies, goblins and magical lands and even if there had been daytime television back then (which there wasn't), I'm not sure I would have had it any other way. Enid Blyton was then and will always remain to me a loyal and trusted friend......
Til soon.
x
