Fantasy Revised: The Persistence of Enid Blyton in the 21st Century

Mary Alexandra Houston

When I was about five years old I learned how to count by reading the table of contents in Enid Blytons Boys and Girls Story Book. I carefully counted the pages between each story to determine which one would take the longest for my parents to read aloud. While my friends were hooked on Junie B. Jones (who I regarded as spoiled and irritating), I was drawn to Blytons land of fairies, elves, goblins, children without parental supervision, and fabulous British desserts. The old books, inherited from my grandmother who grew up in a small town in South Yorkshire, featured beautiful illustrations and looked as if they might turn to dust with a single touch. I was born in Orlando, Florida in 1990, almost a century after Blytons birth. I could not relate to the English countryside or the British expressions used by the characters, but I was totally enchanted by Blytons writing. I was consistently surprised that my friends hadnt read or even heard of Enid Blyton. In seventh grade I wrote a story for class in her style, which I am sure confused my English teacher at the time. Growing up, I knew that Enid Blyton was controversial. In one story two children go off to pick wild mushrooms and sell them something my parents made quite clear I was never to do. Frequently, the children outsmart the adults and live in an almost adult-free world, a dangerous proposition in any time and place. What I was not aware of were the accusations that Blytons work was streaked with sexist, classist, and racist attitudes. Critics complained that Blyton utterly ignored the existence of the working class and glorified the upper class. While Blytons depictions of golliwogs (black faced rag dolls reminiscent of American minstrel characters) were considered unremarkable in the 1950s and 1960s, as attitudes towards race have changed (for the better) these characters appeared to demonstrate crude and derogatory stereotypes; some libraries have entirely banned the Noddy series from their collections. Despite

her huge popularity, media outlets like the BBC came to view Blyton as a simplistic and

Mary Alexandra Houston

predictable writer. Even though Blyton was the most prolific and popular English-language childrens author of the 20th-century, for thirty years the BBC refused to feature her on any of their broadcasts. 1 During the first steps of my research, I was taken aback by these accusations; I did not recall my younger self reading anything quite so offensive or scandalous. I had a better memory of fairies, midnight feasts, and faraway lands. Then again, I was under ten years old when I read most of her work. When I went back and actually read the books again, I found that some of that some passages would never be read aloud to children today. Her writing had not simply come under fire from advocates for women and minorities; the books themselves had actually changed. Beginning in the 1980s, publishers released updated editions of Blytons classic works, which had been scrubbed of anachronistic and politically incorrect content. Typically, these changes did not alter the overall plot, but many Blyton fans were outraged when they discovered, for instance, that the names of their favorite characters had been swapped for more modern names. The revisions have largely split readers and critics into two camps: those that view Blytons books as children books that must set a good example for children and support these revisions, and those that see the books as historical childrens books that should be kept as they were written, and oppose the revisions on the grounds that they represent censorship and an inaccurate reckoning with the past. Some preservationists have compared Blytons stories to Twains Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, books that some libraries decided to ban, but which the publishers preserved in their original, unruly state, allowing readers to encounter first-hand the racism of 19th-century America. Others reject this comparison, claiming that while Tom

Enid Blyton and the BBC collection. BBC Archive, Accessed on 22 Mar. 2013.

Sawyer is mostly read by young adults or adults, the audience for Blytons books is comprised of children who would simply absorb, rather than reflect upon, the books controversial content. In recent years, I have become increasingly interested in these modifications and the debate surrounding them. I started to search for recently published editions of my childhood favorites to determine what, if anything, had been changed. As Blyton was never as popular in the United States, it is difficult to find many of the books today (every book in this collection was published in England). Many of the books were not re-printed past the 1970s, so the only copies of the books that remain are from before publishers began to revise them. While numerous articles describe the types of changes publishers made, few have gone through different editions to determine the exact nature of each change and how frequently these revisions occur. Magns Bjrgvin, an Icelandic student, compared Icelandic versions of Blytons work (which were never modified) to recently published versions of Blytons work in England 2. While she found interesting and meaningful modifications, this method of comparison relies on the original works translation to Icelandic, which does not permit direct comparison. I am interested in the content that British publishers viewed as necessitating revision. Most often, those changes eliminated antiquated language and politically incorrect views. I also researched the author behind the books, Enid Blyton. My first glimpse into Blytons life was through the BBC movie, Enid Blyton, and later I read biographies and articles about Blyton. From all accounts, it is clear that Enid was an incredibly successful woman. For a woman living in the mid-twentieth century, her life was filled with scandal: two marriages, an affair with a married man, disowning her mother, and a daughter who would go on to write a scathing review of Enids mothering ability. Enid wrote a weekly column that gave short

Mary Alexandra Houston

accounts of her perfect family life, which bared little to no resemblance to her actual life. In total,
2

Magns Bjrgvin, The Censorship of Enid Blyton in Two of her Novels, University of Iceland, 2012.

Blyton wrote more than 600 books for children that were translated to more than 70 languages and she continues to be one of the best selling childrens authors of all time.

Mary Alexandra Houston

The books in my collection are well worn, but surprisingly still intact for how many times they have been read over the years. Though they are undoubtedly imperfect, I have very little interest in ever replacing them. I will always treasure the spelling list that my mother used as a bookmark from the early 1960s and the inscription my great-grandmother left my uncle on the inside front cover of Noddys New Big Book, wishing him a happy 8th birthday. Altogether, this collection of books encompasses about half of my total Blyton collection. I chose these books because they are the oldest and most diverse in terms of subject matter and style of writing. I chose some of the lesser-known works that are no longer in print (like the Boys and Girls Story Book) as well as my entire collection of the Noddy books, which are at once the most controversial and the most celebrated of all of Blytons books. I included the St. Clares series rather than the Mallory Towers series, as they are quite similar to one another, and the St. Clares girls evince more surprisingly nasty, anachronistic behavior. I focused on books that are clearly outdated (such as the exquisitely titled Those Dreadful Children) or ones to which many changes have been made, but which have not received much critical attention (such as The Wishing-Chair). The books are organized chronologically by series or short-story collection.

Annotated Bibliography of the Collection

Story Collections from Sunny Stories

Mary Alexandra Houston

Blyton wrote a weekly magazine, Sunny Stories for Little Folks, from 1937 to 1953, which included many short stories and illustrations. These stories were later combined into large collections, like the Boys and Girls Story Books, of which there are six volumes. The Wishing-Chair stories were first published in serial form in Sunny Stories and later turned into a series of books.

1. Blyton, Enid. Boys and Girls Story Book No, 4. London: New Chronicle, 1936. Hardcover, (Fair condition, binding worn and book jacket illustration fading).
The Boys and Girls Story Book was my first exposure to Enid Blyton. I would beg my parent to read me these stories on a regular basis. Because both storybooks are first editions from the late 1930s, the binding was quickly disintegrating and I had to handle the book with extreme care. One Christmas my grandfather used white wrapping paper to protect the cover pages and give the book a little more reinforcement. From then on, my sister and I referred to the books as the white books. It was not until this past year that I dared to take the wrapping paper off to look at the beautifully illustrated cover.

2. Blyton, Enid. Boys and Girls Story Book No. 6. London: New Chronicle, 1938. Hardcover, (Fair condition, binding worn and book jacket illustration fading).
The cover of the book displays the controversial golliwog doll riding a wooden horse (though, this book was also covered in wrapping paper so I only found this out recently). As far as I can find, there was only one reprint of this book in 1940. In the reprint, the cover changed to a picture of two children talking to an elf. Perhaps the most humorous (and outdated) story in this collection is entitled, The Wonderful Mushrooms about two children who decide to pick and sell mushrooms in order to buy their mother a birthday present. In the caption of one picture, a small elf tells the children to Come pick as many mushrooms as will fill your baskets and then pop off to sell them! The children not only talk to strangers and follow them off to a mysterious wood, but also pick potentially poisonous mushrooms.

3. Blyton, Enid. Adventures of the Wishing-Chair. Illus. Hilda McGavin. London: George Newness, 1937. Reprint 1940. Hardcover, (Good condition, missing book jacket).
This is one of the only books in the collection that includes a preface written by Enid Blyton in the same personal and child-friendly style she used to write her weekly column in Sunny Stories. She writes: You will wish you had a wishing chair too! I expect you have already sat in every chair at home to see if it is a wishing one. If you are ever lucky enough to find one, let me know! Love to you all, from you friend, Enid Blyton.

The Wishing-Chair series are similar to the stories in the Boys and Girls Story Books, but have a more consistent storyline revolving around the same two children, Mollie and Peter. While the language and expressions are old fashioned, this book is relatively uncontroversial. In Chapter XV: The Spinning House, Chinky (an elf) complements Mollie for her quick thinking and says, Girls always think of good ideas! (101), to which her brother, Peter is somewhat offended. Later on, Chinky recognizes that Peter also has clever ideas and exclaims, That was a good idea of yours, Peter Boys have good ideas as well as girls, I can see! (102). Blyton does not portray Peter or Mollie as smarter or better than the other. The gender relations in the Wishing-Chair series are fairly progressive for the late 1930s and act as a counter-example to claims of Blytons sexism. I do not have the most recent edition of the Wishing Chair, but my guess is that the changes would be relatively mild queer changed to strange and servant changed to assistant, similar to the changes found in the Faraway Tree Series.

Mary Alexandra Houston

4. Blyton, Enid. The Wishing-Chair Again. Illus. Hilda McGavin. London: George Newnes, 1950. Seventh Impression, 1967. Hardcover, (Good condition, book jacket in Poor condition).
This is the sequel to the Adventures of the Wishing-Chair novel. The most controversial part of the book is in Chapter XIV: Mister Blackys Strange Army. In this chapter, the two children are introduced to the Mister Blacky, the ruler of Golliwog Village. However, it is hard to critique the characterization of Mister Blacky, as he is a greatly influential old man very much respected and admired. However, the young golliwogs are described as unruly and wild (104). Based on reviews of the newer editions of The Wishing-Chair Again, it seems that Mr. Black was changed to Mr. Cub and he is no longer a golliwog. This book has been continually reprinted and I am very interested in obtaining one of the newer editions to find out if anything in this chapter was altered.

The Enchanted Wood & Magic Faraway Tree

5. Blyton, Enid. The Enchanted Wood. Illus. Dorothy Wheeler. London: Morrison and Gibb, 1939. Reprint. London: Morrison and Gibb, 1941. Hardback, (Very Good condition, missing book jacket).
The first page of this book displays my grandmothers maiden name and address in Rawmarsh, England. The book is in remarkably good condition, even after 50 years of existence and countless page turns. The book tells the story of three children who move to a new house in the country and discover a magical tree, which happens to be full of strange and humorous mythical characters and creatures. The top of the tree housed secret worlds like the land of Topsy-Turvy (where everyone walks on their hands) or the Land of Birthdays (the candles on the cake grant you an actual wish). I looked for a magical tree like this in the same way I waited for my letter to Hogwarts and carefully inspected all wardrobes in hopes of finding Narnia. Though I do not own a new edition of this book, I was able to briefly look at the 2007 edition in a library to compare the two. The primary difference is the characters names: the original characters, Jo, Bessie, and Fanny, were changed to Joe, Betty, and Frannie. The publishers also changed Old Dame Slap, a mean teacher who would slap her students for misbehavior, to Old Dame Snap, who snaps at children rather than using physical violence.

Mary Alexandra Houston 6. Blyton, Enid. The Magic Faraway Tree. Illus. Rene Cloke. London: George Newnes, 1943. Rev. Ed. Dean & Son LTD., 1971. Hardback, (Good condition) 7. Blyton, Enid. The Magic Faraway Tree. Illus. Jill Newton. London: George Newnes, 1943. Rev. Ed. Dean & Son LTD., 2002. Paperback, (As New condition)
Of all of the changes I observed in revised editions, the alterations made to The Magic Faraway Tree (the sequel to The Enchanted Wood) are by far the most prominent. The sheer number of changes made from 1971 to 2002 is remarkable at least one change is made on every page. Many of the changes relate to food and language, which presumably were made to make the story more understandable to a modern British audience. For example, larder (12, 1971) is changed to cupboard (8, 2002) and bathing dress (17, 1971) becomes swimsuit (13, 2002). However, some of the changes seem needless: strawberry jam and scones (10, 1971) is changed to new bread and honey (5, 2002). Perhaps the publishers felt that new bread and honey was a healthier snack than scones and jam? Some of the word changes are clearly marks of a more progressive social climate. The witchs servant (34, 1971) becomes a witchs assistant (29, 2002). Once again, the main characters names are changed to Joe, Betty, and Franny, and an additional character, Dick, becomes Rick. The word gay is changed to happy and queer is changed to strange. The gender roles are the most interesting from a social perspective. The second sentence of the story describes the girls helping their mother in the house while the boy helps his father in the garden. This is totally reworked in the recent edition to all the children helping their parents in the house and in the garden. The division of labor is consistently modified to being all-inclusive in the more recent edition. The girls no longer iron while their brother plants potatoes; instead, the childrens tasks become increasingly vague and unspecified. In the original The Magic Faraway Tree, the Saucepan Man (a character that lives in the magical tree that is covered in saucepans) gets into a fight with Mr. Change-About (a dislikable character who is unkind to the children and keeps changing his size and appearance). The Saucepan Man and Mr. Change-Abouts fight is described in detail for the good part of a chapter. In the 2002 edition, this fight is no longer a fight, but a disagreement. Instead of hitting and punching and pummeling, the two characters shove each other. There are a number of other physical altercations that are put in lighter terms in the 2002 edition. Another significant change is the illustrations. In the current edition, the illustrations look like they are trying to imitate a cartoon television shows style very simplistic characters without much detail. This is unlike the older illustrations in Blytons books, which are incredibly detailed and often just as appealing as the stories themselves. The change in illustrations can be seen across the spectrum of Blytons book with each edition that lose some of the detail and look more and more like a modern childrens story.

Mr. Gallianos Circus Series

In Barbara Stoneys biography of Enid Blyton, she suggests that Blyton originally intended to write an adult novel about a circus that was rejected by her publishers Blytons last and only attempt at writing for adult readers. Stoney suggests that it was eventually reworked into a childrens story entitled Mr. Gallianos Circus. As with much of Blytons work, Mr. Gallianos Circus originally appeared in Sunny Stories in shorter form. In total, there are three circus books that follow a young boy, Jimmy Brown, and his circus friends on adventures throughout the English countryside. It should be noted that the Mr. Gallianos Circus series, along with many of Blytons work were written and published during World War II, a chaotic time for many British families and children. Blyton does not refer to the war in any of her books, giving children a glimpse into a fantastical world of circuses rather than the reality of bomb shelters and air raids. While some criticize Blytons lack of reality, I personally think it is what makes Blytons writing so appealing. She creates a magical world for children to use their imaginations, while sometimes learning morals and lessons along the way. This storybook was never reprinted, though a few of the stories would go on to be printed in other short-story collections.

Mary Alexandra Houston

8. Blyton, Enid. Mr. Gallianos Circus. Illus. E.H. Davie. London: George Newnes, 1938. Reprint. 1940. Hardback (Very Good condition, missing book jacket).
In the first story, Jimmy Brown, a boy from a poor family, longs to see the circus. His father, an unemployed carpenter is eventually offered a job with the circus and brings along his wife and son to go on the road with the circus. This is one of the few references to poverty in Blytons work: a boy with an unemployed father and a mother who must work in order to feed the family. However, the Browns are only impoverished for a short period of time as the father is soon employed by the circus. Jimmy, it turns out, has a special ability to work with animals and helps with the dogs and elephants. He also meets a new friend, Lotta, a horse performer.

9. Blyton, Enid. Hurrah for the Circus! Illus. E.H. Davie. London: George Newnes, 1939. 2nd Ed. London: George Newnes Limited, 1940. Hardback (Very Good condition, missing book jacket).
In the second book, Jimmy continues to help with the animals. Blytons writing emphasizes that animals must be treated kindly (a view that was not necessarily held among the circus folk in the late 1930s). When Fric, a new boy who is training animals, tells Jimmy that the tigers must be afraid of their trainer in order to behave, Jimmy responds: I dont think we should ever make animals afraid of us when we take them to live with us! Mr. Galliano says that the finest trainers work by kindness (38). At one point Fric says that he does not want to hang out with Lotta, as Girls are silly. Always giggling and saying stupid things (43). This is one of the more sexist things a Blyton character says. However, Fric is not a particularly attractive character personality-wise so Blyton may have written this to demonstrate Frics unkind nature rather than presenting Lotta as a silly girl. In the next chapter, Lotta threatens to tell on Fric for secretly letting Jimmy see the tigers; in response Fric rushed at Lotta and slapped her hard (59). He does not receive any punishment for hitting another child, and there is even an illustration depicting Fric hitting Lotta. Eventually, Frics poor decision making do get punished after a monkey is almost eaten by his tigers. He receives a whipping from his uncle. I do not have a newer edition of this book, but have been on the lookout for one for quite sometime. I would hypothesize that in newer editions Fric does not use physical violence on Lotta and some of his mean quotes about girls are toned down.

The St. Clares Series

The St. Clares series follow a group of girls as they work their way from the first form to the fifth form at the fictional English boarding school, St. Clares. By staging the books at a boarding school, Blyton continues to avoid parental figures and essentially gives the girls the run of the school. I must regretfully admit, that I read most of the contemporary editions of the books on a Kindle. I was only able to identify one minor change in the newer editions of the books, suggesting that publishers found little to alter in this series.

Mary Alexandra Houston

10. Blyton, Enid. The Twins at St. Clares: A School Story for Girls. Illus. W. Lindsay Cable. 3rd Ed. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1942. Hardback (Good condition, book jacket in Poor condition).
In the first book, the two twins, Pat and Isobel, arrive at St. Clares and have a difficult time adjusting to the new school, which is a step down from their exclusive prep school they previously attended. They were sent to St. Clares by their parents who worried they were too spoiled. Being bratty or spoiled is a major theme in the St. Clares series; Blyton portrays snobby or stuck-up girls as dislikable and disagreeable. However, there remains an element of snobbery that Blyton writes about as a normal element of girls boarding school. Janet, another girl in their form, exclaims, you talk like the daughter of the dustman! to Shiela, a girl trying very hard to act above her lower class upbringing. Janet is not made to apologize and comes off as slightly insensitive, but not wrong in what she says. In the Kindle edition (sold on the Amazon Kindle store in 2012) there are literally no changes from the 1942 edition of the book. In fact, if anything it is a worse edition, as there are a number of spelling mistakes. While some revisions of Blytons writing have updated hullo and golly to modern spellings and expressions, the publishers of the newest editions of St. Clares chose to keep the outdated expression as they were written.

11. Blyton, Enid. The OSullivan Twins. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1942. Reprint. Illus. Jenny Chapple. London: Atlantic Book Publishing Co. Ltd., 1969. Paperback (Very Good condition).
This book is essentially a continuation of the previous one. The girls play pranks on one another, a few new characters are introduced, and the concept of a midnight feast is first described. Reading these books as an adult, I was shocked at how cruel the girls are to one another for seemingly minor offenses. One girl, Erica, gets in trouble for telling the headmistress about the midnight feast a secret party held at midnight with lots of food and the girls send Erica to Coventry, another way of saying she would be completely ostracized by every girl. Eventually, the administration asks Erica to leave the school, essentially supporting the girls social hierarchy.

12. Blyton, Enid. Summer Term at St. Clares. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1943. Reprint. Illus. Jenny Chapple. London: Atlantic Book Publishing Co. Ltd., 1969. Paperback (Very Good condition).
A number of new characters are introduced in this book, including a Spanish girl, Carlotta, who once performed in a circus. There are many similarities between the Lotta character from Mr. Gallianos Circus series and Carlotta, as they both ride horses and worked in a circus. Blyton is known for reusing characters and plots in stories, but it does seem a bit soon to have another horse-riding circus performer girl. In this novel, there is an attempted kidnapping of the self-absorbed American girl, Sadie. Carlotta takes off on horseback to recruit the nearby circus performers to help her rescue Sadie perhaps the least realistic plot of all the books in this series.

Mary Alexandra Houston 13. Blyton, Enid. The Second Form at St. Clares. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1944. Reprint. Illus. Jenny Chapple. London: Atlantic Book Publishing Co. Ltd., 1969. Paperback (Very Good condition).
The girls finally transition to the second form. Another midnight feast occurs and the younger girls question the authority of the head girls in the form. They play lacrosse and field hockey. Girls who are not good athletes are criticized and made fun of, while the successful players receive praise from their classmates. While I found these books absolutely enthralling as a ten year old, I do have to say that theyve lost some of their charm as I have grown older, as I find it hard not to disagree with the girls righteousness in who to like and who to dislike.

14. Blyton, Enid. Claudine at St. Clares. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1944. Reprint. Illus. Jenny Chapple. London: Atlantic Book Publishing Co. Ltd., 1969. Paperback (Very Good condition).
This book provides an example of the way in which Blyton stereotypes of different nationalities. Claudine, a French girl, has trouble fitting in with all the British girls. Claudine lives by her own rules of conduct, which are unfamiliar to the English girls, and they view as foreign and unattractive. A boy also makes a fleeting appearance in this book. If these books were written today there would undoubtedly be some sort of school dance with a neighboring boys boarding school to liven things up, but in the St. Clares world, romance is essentially nonexistent. Blyton carefully avoids broaching more mature subjects.

15. Blyton, Enid. Fifth Formers of St. Clares. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1945. Reprint. Illus. Jenny Chapple. London: Atlantic Book Publishing Co. Ltd., 1969. Paperback (Very Good condition). 16. Blyton, Enid. Fifth Formers of St. Clares. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1945. Reprint. Illus. Jenny Chapple. London: Egmont UK Limited, 2005. Paperback (As New condition).
Upon looking for hardcopy revised versions of the St. Clares books, I settled on beginning with the Fifth Formers of St. Clares, the last book in the series. This was before I read the Kindle editions of the other books and determined that the publishers did not feel it necessary to change these books. I was expecting there to be less talk of social class as the girls of St. Clares look down on those in a lower class and often make derogatory comments. However, I did not find any examples of this. I did discover that Carlotta, the Spanish girl and circus performer, is described as looking more like a gypsy than ever, (5, 1969) in the older edition. This is not changed in the 2005 edition. However, in the 1969 edition, the girl goes on to tell Carlotta, You look as dark as a gypsy! (5, 1969), which is changed to, You look so tanned! (2, 2005). It is somewhat surprising they left the first gypsy comment in the 2005 edition at all, and it suggests that the St. Clares series have barely received any revisions. Perhaps the homogenous setting of St. Clares did not allow for as many sexist and racist comments to be made and all in all, the girls of St. Clares rarely get into physical fights.

Noddy Books
The Noddy series are one of Blytons most popular (and most notorious) series. The Noddy books greatly increased her popularity around the world. To this day, there are Noddy television shows, video games, and merchandise that continue to be popular with young children. The book follows a wooden doll named Noddy on his adventures in the fictional world of Toyland. While there are one or two goblins and gnomes, there are some notable differences between the Noddy series and her earlier works, like The Faraway Tree and The Wishing-Chair. While her earlier work was essentially based in a real world, Noddy takes place in a land of toys. I found this collection of Noddy books in a cardboard box in the attic at my house. I asked my parents why the books were all put away (most of the other Blyton books were prominently displayed in my bedroom). My parents response was that I did not

seem to enjoy Noddy as much and they felt uncomfortable reading about the golliwog characters (while golliwogs certainly exist in other books, they play a very prominent role in Noddy). While none of the individual Noddy books were modified, the exclusion of certain characters and themes in the later televisions shows, movies, and merchandise suggest what the publishing company believed too controversial.

Mary Alexandra Houston

17. Blyton, Enid. You Funny Little Noddy! (No. 10). Illus. Peter Wienk. London: Sampson Low, 1955. Hardcover (Good condition, slight tears on book jacket).
In You Funny Little Noddy!, the tenth book in the Noddy chapter books series, Noddy struggles to drive in the rain and ends up knocking many things over. The policeman, Mr. Plod, is very upset with him and threatens to spank Noddy. Needless to say, the television version of Noddy never included even an idle threat of physical punishment by the policeman. The illustrations, while not done by Enid Blyton, give some interesting and controversial details: on page 40, a depiction of the Toyland police station shows a very clear Reward poster with the image of an angry looking golliwog on it, an illustration that would not be included in a contemporary childrens book.

18. Blyton, Enid. A Day with Noddy. London: Sampson Low, 1956. Hardcover (Good condition, slight tears on book jacket).
The Noddy books were written for a variety of ages. A Day with Noddy was intended as a nursery picture book. The book has large text and is written entirely in rhyme. In this story, Noddy is driving his friend, the elephant, around and hits a pole. Mr. Plod, the policeman tells Noddy, Ill spank you for knocking that down! Eventually Big-Ears, Noddys friend the gnome, comes to Noddys rescue and invites Noddy over for ice cream and cake. The plot of this book is essentially a simplified and abridged version the plot in You Funny Little Noddy! It is a well-known fact that Blyton reused many of her stories and frequently the same plot will pop up over and over again. Blyton could get away this because she had so many young readers, and wrote You Funny Little Noddy for a slightly older age group than A Day with Noddy.

Mary Alexandra Houston 19. Blyton, Enid. The New Big Noddy Book (No. 7). Illus. Peter Wienk. London: Sampson Low, 1958. Reprint. 1959. Hardcover (Good condition, slight tears on book jacket).
In total, eight Noddy Big Books were published from 1951 to 1958. Both of these books (the last two in the Big Books series) were originally given to my uncle by his grandparents, my great-grandparents. He wrote his name in big letters in the front page of both of the books. The books are full of short stories with many detailed illustrations meant for children just learning how to read. These books were not printed after the 1950s, and the first edition Big Books sell for more than any other Blyton book, even more than her earliest works.

20. Blyton, Enid. Noddys New Big Book (No. 8). Illus. Peter Wienk. London: Sampson Low, 1957. Reprint. 1960. Hardback (Good condition, slight tears on book jacket).
The story Noddys Bag of Money in this big book received quite a bit of controversy after its publication. In this story, Gilbert Golly (a golliwog) and Tricky Teddy (a teddy bear) are jealous of all the money Noddy has earned. They spy on him at night, but are found out by Noddy. Noddy decides to trick they by setting up fake bags of money around town. Many have criticized Blytons depiction of Golliwogs in the Noddy series for committing acts of burglary and robbery. However, David Rudds 2000 analysis of all the Noddy books suggested that for the most part Golliwogs are not the major criminals in Noddy stories that some have made them out to be. 3 Instead, goblins, monkeys, and bears tend to be the true criminals. The golliwog debate has for the most part come to an end golliwogs are rarely considered acceptable toys and toy stores selling them have received negative press. To this end, all of the golliwogs were removed from recent adaptations of the Noddy series and turned into goblins.

21. Blyton, Enid. Noddy Goes to Sea (No. 18). Illus. Peter Wienk. London: Sampson Low, 1959. Hardback (Good condition, slight tears on book jacket).
Noddy Goes to Sea is an example of the bears exhibiting especially bad behavior. In it, Tubby Bear (Mrs. Tubbys son) uses the hose to spray his mothers laundry and drench Noddy in water. To avoid punishment, he runs away to the sea. It is worth noting that running away from punishment (usually, spanking) is a common plot device in the Noddy series and shows up in almost every book.

22. Blyton, Enid. Noddy Goes to the Fair (No. 21). Illus. Peter Wienk. London: Sampson Low, 1960. Hardback (Good condition, slight tears on book jacket).
The Saucepan Man (originally introduced in The Faraway Tree) makes an appearance in this novel with his newly acquired donkey, Ee-aw. It is somewhat unusual to see two of Enid Blytons fictional worlds collide in this way, as the Saucepan Man was last written about in the early 1940s in The Faraway Tree. Another unusual character that makes relatively frequent appearances in the Noddy series is Noah and his arc full of animals. The Noddy series lacks much religious influence (though Noddy does sometimes say his prayers at night), so it is a little strange the Noah shows up as one of the toys in Toyland. In this book, Mrs. Noah complains about how much all of the animals in the arc eat.

23. Blyton, Enid. Noddys Toyland Train. Illus. Peter Wienk. London: Sampson Low, 1961. Hardback (Fair condition, slight tears on book jacket and binding near falling off).
In this picture book, Noddy becomes the train conductor of Toyland. He drives outside of Toyland to Golliwog Town. Noddy invites the golliwogs onto his train and they drive around the toy world. Nothing all that unusual happens in this book, but I am sure if this were adapted into a television show, Golliwog Land would be replaced with teddy bear land, or something of a less controversial nature.

David Ward, Golly! Blyton is not guilty of race slurs. The Guardian 3 Jul. 2000.

Mary Alexandra Houston 24. Blyton, Enid. Noddy and the Aeroplane (No. 24). Illus. Peter Wienk. London: Sampson Low, 1963. Hardback (Good condition, slight tears on book jacket).
Once again, Tubby Bear causes problems for Noddy by putting ginger-beer into Noddys petrol tank. Noddy is given an airplane to fly while his car recovers from the ginger-beer incident. Eventually, Big-Ears fixes Noddys car and Noddy sings a song about how much he loves Big-Ears. While the original Noddy books were not revised, the producers of the television show Noddy were careful in how the portrayed Noddy and Big-Ears relationship. In a somewhat ridiculous claim, some have suggested that Blytons depiction of Big-Ears and Noddy was homoerotic, as they at one point sleep in the same bed. When Noddy was adapted into an American television show (that never gained much popularity) Big-Ears name is changed to White Beard, so as not to offend anyone with large ears.

25. Smallwood, Sophie. Noddy and the Farmyard Muddle. Illus. Robert Tyndall. London: HarperCollins, 2009. Hardback (As New condition).
On Noddys 60th birthday, Enid Blytons granddaughter, Sophie Smallwood, wrote a new Noddy book. The omissions in Noddy and the Farmyard Muddle encapsulate much of the criticism of the earlier Noddy stories. Golliwogs do not have a role in and there is no mention of anything suspicious between Big Ears and Noddy. Sophie Smallwood has clearly worked hard to write a book that fits with the rest of the series. She does introduce several new characters, which are as uncontroversial as possible. Some fans were dismayed to hear of the golliwogs dismissal from Toyland while others praised Smallwoods progressive thinking.

Miscellaneous Blyton Books

26. Blyton, Enid. The Enid Blyton Book of Fairies. London: George Newnes, 1924. Reprint. London: Dean, 1967. Oversized Paperback (Very Good condition).
Similar to the Boys and Girls Story Books, the Book of Fairies is really more of a collection of short stories previously written by Blyton for a variety of magazines. Before Blyton began Sunny Stories, she wrote for Teachers World, a magazine for students and teachers. Many of her articles in the magazine focused on nature and the outdoors, other columns included poetry for young children. Teachers World also occasionally published some of her short stories, such as the ones published in the Book of Fairies. Perhaps the most unlikely story to be published in its original form today is entitled The Land of the Great Stupids. In this story, a boy named Pat tells his sister

that all girls are stupid and inadvertently sends her off to the Land of Great Stupids. Pat must go off looking for her, giving Pat the role of adventurer and leaving his sister out of the story all together. This is the oldest set of shotstories in my collection as it was originally published in 1924. These stories demonstrate Blytons earliest works, which were much more based in the traditional fantasy genre than her later works.

Mary Alexandra Houston

27. Blyton, Enid. The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat. Illus. Joseph Abbey. London: Methuen & Co. LTD., 1944. Reprint 1950. Hardback (Book in Good condition, Book jacket in Poor condition).
This is the second novel of the Five Find-Outers and Dog series. The novel follows a group of children as they attempt to figure out who stole a valuable Siamese cat. The story is very much in the vain of a Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys book clever children solve a mystery before the authorities. In later editions of this book, the character Fatty is changed to Freddy, but not many other changes are made.

28. Blyton, Enid. Those Dreadful Children. London: Lutterworth Press, 1949. Rev. Ed. Illus. Grace Lodge. London: May Fair Books, 1967. Paperback (Good condition).
The book centers on a respectable family, the Carltons, who have three proper and well-behaved children. The Carlton family is dismayed to learn that an unruly family, the Taggertys, moved into the neighborhood with four dreadful children. The Taggerty children lack good manners, do not attend Sunday school, and frequently forget to wash their hands before eating. The plot of the story revolves around the two sets of children learning from each other. The Carltons eldest son becomes more adventurous and his father is thrilled that he is acting like a boy should a good example of Blytons use of gender roles. The Taggerty girls learn better manners. The novel praises and criticizes aspects of each family; however, both families are very middle class. While the Taggertys are disorderly, they are clearly well off. Thus, the book does not delve into class differences; it purely focuses on the proper manners and behaviors that children of a certain ilk should display. It also suggests that the solution to the Taggertys misbehavior can be found by regularly attending Sunday school. Of all the books in this collection, this is the most blatantly religious. While Blyton wrote a number of Bible stories for children, most of her books do not make explicit references to Christianity.

Enid Blyton Biographies 29. Stoney, Barbara. Enid Blyton: A Biography. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1974, Paperback (As New condition).
Stoney wrote this biography about a decade after Blytons death and did extensive interviews with those closest to Blyton to get a sense of Enids life. The overall message of the book is that Enid never really grew up. After her beloved father separated from her mother when Enid was 13, she stopped developing and held the separation against her mother for her entire life. She moved out of the house with her mother as soon as she could and became a schoolteacher against her mothers will. She then submitted writing to publishing companies until one of her pieces was selected. She married and later divorced, ignoring the scandal of divorce and subsequent affair with a married man. Enid spent almost all of her time writing novels, stories, letters to fans, and a weekly column. She lived in a sort of fantasy world of her own creation: she continued to write about her dog years after the dog died. Overall, Stoney suggests that Enids ability to write so successfully for children is because she retained many childish qualities herself.

Wish List 1. Blyton, Enid. The Enchanted Wood. London: Dean, 2011.

Mary Alexandra Houston

As described previously, there are some interesting changes (similar to the ones found in The Faraway Tree) in this book. It has remained very popular and has been consistently revised. Though I am already aware of most of the changes that took place (character names, expressions, etc.) I really want to take a more thorough look at some of the more controversial chapters, including the one that involves golliwogs.

2. Blyton, Enid. Circus Day Again. London: George Newnes, 1942.

This is the third novel of the circus trilogy, for which I already have the first two. I would like to complete my collection of the circus books, preferably from the early 1940s and in hardback.

3. Blyton, Enid. The Circus Collection. London: Egmont, 2012.

This 2012 book collection contains all three stories about Mr. Gallianos circus. As described previously, I am particularly interested in Hurrah for the Circus as Frics character makes many sexist remarks and actually hits the female character without receiving punishment.

4. Smallwood, Imogen. A Childhood at Green Hedges. London: Methuen, 1989.

Enids youngest daughter, Imogen, wrote an autobiography when she was in her 50s. The novel describes her unpleasant childhood at the much-romanticized Green Hedges. The book is out of print and difficult to find, especially in the United States. According to a review of the book, she is quoted as writing: The truth is, Enid Blyton was arrogant, insecure, pretentious, very skilled at putting difficult or unpleasant things out of her mind, and without a trace of maternal instinct. As a child, I viewed her as a rather strict authority. As an adult, I did not hate her. I pitied her. Imogens daughter, Sophie Smallwood, would go on to write an additional Noddy book. Sophie felt her mother provided a fair assessment of her grandmother. 4 Enids eldest daughter stated that while she supported her sisters decision to publish the book, she had a very different experience with their mother on a whole and found her mother to be a much nicer woman than the woman Imogen describes. I would love to read this book (rather than just reading about the most scandalous quotes from it) and add it to my collection of Blyton biographies.

5. Rudd, David. Enid Blyton and the Mystery of Childrens Literature. London: Macmillian, 2000.
This book is one of the few large-scale academic works of theory on Enid Blyton. I have been searching for a copy of this book for quite some time, but so far have only been able to find reviews and summaries of the book. An interesting theory of Rudds is that Blytons writing is in the Homeric tradition of oral story telling. The stories, not Blytons language, make the books accessible and fun for children to read. Rudd argues that for this reason, the revisions to the writings simply increase the books accessibility, rather than censoring. Rudd also goes into quite some detail about the claims of sexism and racism in Blytons work. He defends Blytons writing and argues that some of the criticism is uncalled for and unfair. However, it seems he does not fully disagree that some of the novels could do with some revisions as long as they do not take away from the original story.

Cook, Emma. Granny, Noddy and me. The Guardian 13 Nov. 2009.