DISCOVERING ENID BLYTON

I must have read my first enid blyton book at the age of 10, more than 50 years ago. Yet, the impressions remain as strong and have shaped my character, indeed my life choices. 

She is a prolific English author, writing some 800 books around the lives of english children. Yet, they go through heartbreak, loss of parent, rejection, happiness, being loved, feeling alone, curious, skillful - the whole melange of emotions and happenings around children anywhere in the world. 

The Five Find Outers

The first character I encountered in the 'Five Find-outers' - Fatty, was inspirational - he accepted he was fat, and went on with what he liked to do - solving mysteries... 

Fatty (The Mystery of Tally-Ho Cottage) by Treyer Evans

While the mysteries were absorbing, what was equally interesting was the chatter between the children - and their high teas ! So they had scones, pastries, sandwiches with their evening teas - many other snacks i have forgotten about. To an only child like me, the companionship, and being served great food by your mother, was all great (my mother was busy working - and surviving)...

Also in the books were myriad descriptions of nature.. children lying down in an open field and gazing at the blue sky.. at the wind chasing the clouds... or gazing at a thick tree trunk and spreading branches above them... No had ever spoken a word about nature to me before that.. so nature became engrained in my psyche... 

The Famous Five

After the Five Find Outers, I encountered the Famous Five Series... Here was George - actually a girl, Georgina, who rejected the trappings of being a girl.. who was alone mostly, but had a dog.. She slowly joins up with other children to go on advantures...

My brother was possibly named after George's dog - Timmy !

I lived in small 1-2 room houses in crowded urban areas in Delhi.. So the settings of the books : always rural England, and situated in cottages, islands, the English and Welsh countryside and sea shores, was enlightening to me about the big world outside of where i lived.

The first Famous Five book was published in 1942

Here is a good video showing one of the Famous Five adventures.. 

Boarding School Series

I then encountered the St. Clare's series and the Malory Tower series. These are girls boarding schools with a variety of characters.. amiable, timid, bold, cheeky, spiteful. Lots of things happen between them. Eventually, everyone learns lessons and grows up to go to the next class.. I did my growing up alongside too..

From midnight feasts to illicit hook-ups to smuggling to bullying, all these make for great drama.

The St. Clare's story follows two twin girls- Patricia and Isabel O’Sullivan. The series sees their growth from conceited and arrogant girls to dignified and kind young women.

The Family Books

Next I encountered the Family books which are about families in trouble, and pulling together in the time of adversity. I found them hugely inspirational. 

For example, they might have a parent who has gone missing, or both, presumed killed. Or an injured father who was the breadwinner of the family. Or their city house burns down, and overnight they have to live with cousins at a farm. 

The settings are always rural, where the children help tend to hens or sheep, and farm. They help their family put food on the table and there is always laughter, despite the sadness. 

Wraparound dustwrapper from the 2nd edition, illustrated by Barbara C. Freeman

Wraparound dustwrapper from the 1st edition, illustrated by Harry Rountree

I am sure i was helped to cope with my own troubled family situation. More than that, I even found my family in these characters and their lives.

Because of the changing situation of the characters, which mirrored my own refugee family, my world expanded from what it might otherwise have been. For example, the Willow Farm house is constructed partly of timber recycled from old wooden sailing ships and one of the children says, touching a black oak beam, "Funny old beam — once you knew the fishes in the sea, and you creaked as great waves splashed over you. Now you live in a house, and listen to people's feet going up and down the stairs."

NATURE BOOKS BY ENID BLYTON

Finally, I discovered the nature books by Enid Blyton.. of seasons, animals, birds, as they go about their daily lives.

I disocovered these books at the fag end of my childhood, growing into late teens, and did not read all I could have, had i found them earlier. 

But they introduced me to everyday nature, all around us, wherever we live.