For English speaking children growing up in the sixties or thereabouts, and right until the nineties, the one staple in their early reading was Enid Blyton. Whether it was adventure— Famous Five and their numerous escapades—or the magical world of goblins and elves, stories about life in school or just bedtime stories, Blyton had no match.
In fact, weaning oneself off Blyton was the problem. Homework got done quickly so one could treat oneself to a Blyton book and every free second at school was sometimes used to catch up with the action in it. Mothers did not complain too much because one couldn’t go wrong with an Enid Blyton. They were clean, wholesome fun, kept kids engrossed, engaged and out of mischief and helped improve language skills. The love for Blyton also prompted children to speed read, as often, they had borrowed books from a friend for just a day and had to return it on time. Besides, the exchange of Blyton titles promoted friendship and camaraderie.
While in today’s unsafe world, one cannot imagine four children and a dog taking off and being thrown into a variety of exciting experiences, we should perhaps rejoice that it is at least possible in the world of fiction.
Pavithra Jaivant, a mother of two says it all started with her mother introducing her to five adventurers as a young child and her taking a liking for it. Then she saw more titles at the library and decided to try them and thoroughly enjoyed the series. While her parents bought her a few of the books, the rest were from the library at school and at the Madras Gymkhana Club.
Sridharan, librarian at the Madras Gymkhana Club, says the Famous Five series are still quite popular despite competition from other authors, titles and genres like fantasy. Saravanan of Easwari Lending Library, one of Chennai’s oldest libraries, says Blyton was clearly one of the most popular authors for young readers in times past and one of the first books that children read on their own. “While children today are lured by Harry Potter and Gerinomo Stilton’s Mouse series, if their mothers had read Enid Blyton they were sure to be introduced to her books.”
Jaivant readily recalls the names of the Famous Five—Julian, Dick, Anne, George and her dog Timmy—their fun adventures and all the goodies they ate. Most readers used to salivate on reading about the scones, ginger beer and sausage rolls which were not easily available in India back then, she adds.
Dr Eric Miller, storytelling scholar and Director, World Storytelling Institute, says that his daughter Kamala enjoys Enid Blyton very much and has picked up many expressions from these books. “I like how in some of her series the children work as a team to solve mysteries.This encourages children to think in terms of teams and teamwork,” he adds.
Not long ago, I realised Enid Blyton can not only be read aloud to oneself but that the stories also lend themselves for oral telling with a little tweaking. I recently told a group of children one of her shorter tales, I don’t want to—a constant refrain from a little girl and the trouble she gets into. It made for a nice starting point for a lively discussion with the children providing interesting insights.
Six-year-old Vishnu who has read the Circus series , O'clock tales, Noddy, Faraway tree, Mister Meddle, Mister Twiddle, Mister Pink-Whistle , Secret Seven and The Wishing-Chair to name a few says they are very interesting. “Some are full of adventure. Some are very funny like Mister Meddle. The circus series was very exciting because they kept moving in caravans and putting up shows,” he says. He is already hooked and is planning to read them all including Famous Five.
Paranthaman, store manager of Odyssey Book store confirms: “Famous Five, Secret Seven, The Wishing-Chair all continue to be popular. We still place reorders and luckily none of the books are out of print.” The timeless appeal of Enid Blyton has not dimmed one bit.
Sudha Umashanker runs Storycorner at Bookmine, a storytelling space that hosts events for children and adults.
