The Put 'Em Rights

While my BFF was away in sunny Scotland, I was doing something rather different really apart from having a laugh on well known children's authors website.

There are some books written by Enid Blyton I'm familiar with because I read them when I was in first childhood either owning or borrowing usually from girls and others because she was most prolific author I am not .

The Put 'Em Rights comes under the latter although the subject matter is something I am very familiar with which is travelling preachers usually of a evangelical sort who come as the name suggests to galvanize people to action around social or moral issues of the day.
In this particular story it's the impact of travelling gypsy preacher  who inspires Sally, a Ministers daughter, to form a group of six children to do "good works" in their village of Under Ridge after a meeting on the village green.

In modern parlance they act as Social Activists, attempting to put situations right such as a dog being physically and emotional maltreated, a woman with a dirty house and equally dirty baby, a family facing eviction and anther facing lack.

What they discover in their eagerness is often situations are more complex than they originally thought and also less clear-cut such as the mother has a mental illness - depression - the family facing eviction are not only being evicted by the father of one of the boys but for theft which when they get further into it is a father taking the blame for what a severely mentally disabled boy has literally taken a shine to, oblivious to the notion it is theft being in human terms more like a magpie from that point of view.

What is more and I feel is one of more worthwhile aspects to this story is while they start of on the basis of changing other peoples attitudes to the right they soon learn their own are not necessarily any better with Sally being impatient and self righteous, Podge is well looked after but careless in looking after his possessions such as a bicycle  just assuming as they go messing or are stolen because he doesn't put them away safely his parent will just buy  him another, not appreciating the sacrifice they made in buying him them.
Amanda starts to realize she is really is very lazy and selfish being allowed to do nothing and get out of taking turns in helping.

Although Enid doesn't say this (and forgive my C.S. upbringing  and background for dropping a religious point in) what she's alerting the reader to is the notion that caring for everyone else's values and attitudes without looking at your own first is foolhardy.
We may be better off caring about other peoples but working on our own, transforming those we encounter by it even if we may not be perfect rather than coming over as somewhat pious, lecturing others.

The outcome of this book is unsatisfactory in one respect, and that is underneath much of the plot is class attitudes and prejudice. 

Bobby is 'working class' his mother unusually for 1946 has to work as his father is in prison and he feels very much ill at ease with the other five middle class children who haven't struggled as he has.

He starts off being friendly with them, almost an equal but Sally's socially superior attitude starting from how she tries to stop a mother from spreading gossip only goads this woman into revealing the awful truth of where Bobby's father is as his own mother has been hiding it feeling this whole thing has just been a matter of the children playing "goody-goody" to make them feel superior. He feels crushed and for all their mixing he can only ever be with 'his own' although they do make up and share ice creams.

In some respects I feel rather than resigning oneself to your lot, Bobby would of better served by having those children apologize for how he'd been treated and encouraged to give breaking out of his social class a second chance and from that be at the point he is able to take advantage of his own abilities rather than in effect limiting himself because of what had happened. 

Although the ending could of been better thought through, I did feel this was a novel well worth reading.

*There are some alterations in this 1992 version - some of the essential social commentary is diminished although later editions are more altered as sadly the case with most of this authors stories.

Hurrah for the circus

There are things you may have and do feel like revisiting such as books you had for an awful long time and today I'm writing about one.

 I think the first thing to said is this was written in 1939 when people did really look forward to seeing a circus with animals and the understanding of how captivity impacts their lives was less understood than today where it is rare to see such an old-fashioned circus because we are that more enlightened. 

This is the second of the three stories centred around Galliano's Circus looking circus life for children where it is Easter and they are all at Westsea although they are due to move on to Liverpool which I'd presume is some way off as it is probably Westsea is either around Somerset or Devon, areas popular for holidays in the UK.

The story is told through the eyes of Jimmy and Lotta circus children where much excitement is caused by the arrival of tigers to join the circus who are kept in a double locked cage.

Jimmy is very much in awe of the tigers and is determined to snuck into them and befriend them from what he sees as their ill treatment while being trained by Fric and his father which he does learning to control them by body language and words.

In some ways this is a high point of the book because in modern english he's being like a 'horse whisperer' gaining their trust and co-operation without the use of whips and shouting at them.

The friendship between Jimmy and Lotta is under threat of being torn about by Fric, the tiger keepers son and helping hand who is spiteful and not averse to telling lies  which given it is 1939 would be said to benefit from a smack.

Just as they are able to patch up their friendship, Jimmy's beloved dog, Lucky suddenly goes missing that leads to Lotta going out on a daring mission to rescue him who had been dyed after being sold for five pounds by Fric to a crooked, shady circus man called Mr. Cyrano to use. 

She does this by getting her curly hair cut, buying a shirt and pair of boy shorts and impersonates a  boy to confuse everyone so she's able to rescue Lucky.

As a reward Mr Galliano gets her a black pony that she calls Black Beauty after the Anna Sewell novel no doubt that she learns to ride and perform circus tricks with that are incorporated into their Liverpool show.

Just as everything seems to be going so well Lotta discovers Lal, her mother is ill in hospital in Europe where they've been performing with horses and dogs and The little girl's father, Laddo, may have to go away to another circus because he needs a partner in his act.

As is often the case in Enid Blyton's writing she leaves how this pans out until the next book but we are left pondering just what will happen to Lotta and if she might have to leave this circus and everybody including Jimmy for another.

It's very much a rip-roaring tale that I enjoyed re-reading from my original 1973 Deans hardback edition even if today much of the background to the plot simply would no longer be permitted. 

The "Barney" Mysteries

The old adage "You can't but a good book down would seem to apply around these parts of late  as some more new to me books by Enid Blyton arrived recently.

These copies are actually editions from the very early nineteen-seventies where while still in hardback form they have been cheapened by printing the frontspiece and spine direct to the jacket and missing off the rear of what would of been the back of the paper dust jacket the original hardbacks had.

 There are six novels in this series of mystery adventures that feature Rodger and Diana Lynton and their cousin Peter, ophaned, who goes under the name "Subby" in the series and his dog Laddie who are also joined by Barney an motherless circus boy who has been on a quest to find his absent father and who has a money called Miranda.
The "Barney Mysteries" is the title these usually are grouped under although some use "R Mysteries" with the "R" coming from the R in the names of all the titles.
The children visit sleepy villages and seaside towns that it transpires are riddled with intregue and it's that they look into.
One of the strengths of this series is the stories are full of atmosphere and good humour, the strong characterization making for much more depth  than most of her work and more sophisticated language that made it the only series Enid herself recommended just for those of eleven years and upward.

Malory Towers revisited

After all the excitement of last week and writing up all the adventures on Monday I'm writing what in some ways is a continuation piece from a 2011 entry of mine that kind of gives you an idea of just how long I've been blogging.
When I wrote way back in more or less exactly five years ago about Malory Towers, the  six part series of novels by Enid Blyton, I remarked about a couple of things I had noticed since originally encountering them in childhood.
One was about the illustrations which I feel is relevant not least in the Country I presently reside in because for a school based series, you see, you may well have personally even worn, the uniforms many schools have so have a mental image of what a school boy or in this case a school girl generally looks like. The tendency for cartoonish illustrations in particular used on the  first decade of this centuries editions of this series  particularly made them look cheap and detached them from their era.
I'd never of bought them as a child cos I wanted something that looked presentable and clearly hooked me into the story.
I saw the paperbacks with those images and bought at the time a nicer looking set of softbacks from 2004 that served me well until something else came very much to light.
Like with a good number of her books, the text had been altered with no clear indication and so I did pick up a 1987 omnibus edition of the first four novels published by W H Smith but printed by Methuen Children's books under license.

I didn't actually realize Dean's who were an imprint of Methuen's  did a complete  set in the form of two hard back books until very recently and given these were from the early 1990's was a bit concerned about those troublesome alterations and updates.
The first volume not so imaginatively titled Malory Towers came out in 1991, a year later than the separate six volumes issued in their Rewards series with more modernish but generally tasteful front covers.
I did check the text over as in the first novel, First Term at Malory Towers, there are clear references both to Darrel's behaviour that are toned down in modern editions and the threat to spank with a hairbrush common enough when first published but removed completely in newer editions. That was big shock I found moving to the 2004 set to that incomplete omnibus late 80's edition because it does alter the feel of those schoolgirls in a boarding school, like I was, and makes the adults responses more understandable.
This 1991 set surprisingly uses the same text as if they had used the same typesetting as that and had carried it over to the 1990 Rewards too and keeps a good number of the original black and white illustrated plates by Jenny Chapple.

While the cover looks slightly too contemporary to my eyes, the advantage of having the second volume over the 1987 is in part less weight for having just three novel per volume compared to four and again it uses a less modern so-called politically correct text.
My suspicion are that actually these three in one omnibus editions and the 1990 separate ones are just repackaged editions of the versions Methuen  had out during the 1980's with newer covers for sale by certain book sellers who specialized in discounted hardback books aimed at adults buying for children.

 Now that is the original hardback dust jacket from Third Year at Malory Towers which I feel sums up the feel of playing sports together at an all girls school wearing era specific uniform.
While to be honest I'd sooner they had used front covers more in that style for these two three in one omnibus editions, they do make for a good way to get relatively recent pre-political correct text versions often been found for just a few pounds each in good condition.
They do match my St Clares and The Naughtiest Girl Dean's omnibus editions being from the same era with their vanilla coloured spines.
I was very glad to spot these just before I went away.
Original entry: Malory Towers

The Secret Seven and the missing words

Seeing my Caregiver is away but otherwise contactable this week  I really better be good  and get on with things here.
One of things I have made a bit of a start on is getting replacement hard back copies of my Secret Seven books that I originally wrote a bit about on here a few years ago with the bulk of them being modern edition but with good original illustrations and the other five being 1970's paperback ones.

 This series is for me a link of that nine through thirteen period where  having moved from the first 'proper' reading books I had from around  six with Mr Twiddle, I was looking for something a bit more 'grown up', a bit challenging both by the style of writing and also use of a wider vocabulary and that of older children.
It's an adventure series of a group of children who meet up having adventures while trying to solve mysteries and in it we see their personalities such as a somewhat bossy Peter, club leader.
In many ways it touches on that sense of longing to be long to a group, a circle which as a child of that age  you sure felt and in the series we see Susie, one of more quick thinking children kept out, perhaps more that she might undermine Peter than anything else.
They have a scottie dog called Scamper who rather like George's dog Timmy in the Famous Five plays a big role, big enough to be counted as a member even!
Actually it is the similarities that invite comparison between both of Enid Blyton's adventure series usually to the the detriment of the Secret Seven in which two later stories do clearly reference Famous Five books almost as if she was saying "If you read this, please consider reading the Famous Five!" but that's negate the point which is this is a self contained series aimed at younger children or children with a lower reading age which was probably why I got them given my reading issues when I did.
The series was started in nineteen forty-nine  and concluded in nineteen sixty-three and like the Famous Five editions later copies were subject not just to things such as changes in currency but also in dress where the girls generally wear pinafores rather as I do now but these were again changed for jeans or shorts and the boys wore jeans unlike boys even in the early to mid nineteen-seventies in school who wore tailored hard wearing lined shorts.
The text also was altered in recent copies to 'reflect' modern social ideas so where in the second novel, Secret Seven Adventure, Peter says to Jack as he is being scolded for allowing his sister Suzie to have his  Secret Seven badge she should be smacked for it and a grown up says to the children  the girl at the circus should be spanked for her constant fibbing, that is removed. Given it was written in nineteen-fifty that would of happened and I can well recall when I did something like that in the nineteen seventies I and my peers sure  were smacked or spanked.
It's small details like that, the references to things in 'shillings' that set the backdrop of this adventure as are things like the circus acts a child of that era saw, regardless of our own views on that today and why apart from the feel of having the hard back I'm slowly building up a collection of them hopefully all with dust jackets, to read and enjoy as I did back then.

Original entry:
Original 2012 Secret Seven entry

The return of the original Famous Five

This edition, composed on the JoBook is part of a restoration theme I touched on on Friday being linked in part to getting back in touch with some people I was close to a few years who may have some different reasons for their interest than I but is a place where I can discuss that side of reading that for me is rooted as much part with my past and present child-like sense of being as much as a love of reading, my difficulties with reading aside.
Enid Blyton was as no doubt for many of us in the British Commonwealth the author we were introduced by schools and parents keen for us to reading something other than comics and preferable to the big threat of our era, the TV in the corner which was feared for turning us into passive unthinking consumers.
She wrote for all ages although there was a age-range guide for each series so we'd start with something like Noddy or Mr Twiddle which I loved and move through to a series like Malory Towers and the Famous Five to the very top end Junior Fiction and the cusp of Young Adult Fiction and adult fiction often tied to what we studied for English Literature around our mid teens.
I'm revisiting the Famous Five series after talking about them in 2012 mainly because of they way chunks of the situations around the lives of George, Dick, Julian, Anne and Timmy the dog have been altered dramatically that they no long ring true even if the basics of the plot remain.
What I'm in process of doing is replacing these somewhat altered versions with originals from the 1950 and 60's in hardback form.
Although much of the adventure and the sense of being young are universal across each era's children inevitably it is set in the past with it starting in 1942 and ending in 1963 so as amazing as it may sound one thing is they used a different currency and with it a different sense the value of things. 
This was one of the first things to be changed following the UK adopting decimalization in 1971 was references to money and strangely enough the decision by one paperback publisher to put all the children in Jeans even though that wasn't what was worn back then  plus ignores a common theme in the novels which is how 'George' rejects femininity as expressed in dresses and ribbons in preference to the shorts of boys and boyish pursuits.
At a stroke a big part of her gender role rebellion is diminished by removing the contrast to that societies norms.

My start point in revisiting the series begins where I first met them in chronological childhood  and that's with the first three novels that were put in an omnibus edition which to be honest is how most likely I'd of been given these novels and so I got a 1964 copy of "The Famous Five Big Book".
That contains the very first story Five on a Treasure Island that sets very much the scene introducing us not just to the Island and the children but also to their families and the social order within it, not least that the adults are the Authority Figures and that the children are spanked (and expect to be) which was the norm back then.
More recent editions remove that completely and attempt to suggest a more negotiated form of parenting that simply wasn't the case and what the children  who read the stories originally would not of recognized because the lives of Julian, George, Anne and Dick where very much like theirs in that way!

Some of the copies I have do have their original dust jackets, some of which are like this - a little the worse for wear although I used transparent tape to repair a few tears on this one - that are enjoyable to look at although because so many got lost or badly damaged copies with them tend to at a premium regardless of the actual condition of the book itself.
For me then while I love the dust jackets, it's the original text and the illustrations by Elaine Soper that have never been surpassed that are the reasons why I'm replacing the other set and enjoying re-reading the stories as they were originally written as I identified with them as that child.
I don't appreciate having my memories messed with.

Links:
Famous Five 21 book set (Joanne is reading for pleasure)

Rabbit time.

Ha! Rabbit holes mean different things to different people I guess such as my part of Cheshire  has lots of them thanks to the Brine salt mining heritage that left us with that sinking feeling.
Alice this last week a friend of mine online had her Rabbit moment when a pet rabbit escaped so covered from head to toe in Alice attire, she goes to find it only to be seen by the mailman. He's not phazed by it!!!  I once had a pet rabbit with a long run too.
Alice has also been an inspiration for many a manga or anime too either as a whole theme or sole character.
I love this illustration a lot so while slowly recovering from a rotten illness I thought I'd share it with you while Beaconsfield fights it out  to mark (or not) the 75 years since Enid Blyton moved into that Buckinghamshire town.

Full steam ahead

That there steam choo choo - Met Locomotive No. 1 - was a weekend visitor to London's subway systems ("The Underground") 150th anniversary on the Metropolitan and Circle line. Just imagine the smell and sound of all that steam and the regulars might even why me of all people just puts up for the first time ever a picture of a train?
While many girls shock horror love trains especially the steam powered sort probably keying into stories around getting to girls boarding schools and that marvellous 1970 film adaption of The Railway Children, for me trains are a darker thing routed in childhood abusive episodes.
Consequently talking trains to me is something I'm ill at ease with not that's your fault or anything just the demons running around my head but we're getting somewhere as I was able to view footage of of this weekends event without wanting to hide or run off.
I even thought having that train running was a really nice idea!

365 days in the life of "The world of Joanne-chan"

As we're approaching the end of the old year and the beginning of the new people often think about what happened to them and how that compared to their expectations as well as their dreams for the future.
One thing I hadn't expected this year was to be at a point in my life when I could be open with a goodly number of people about being an adult little girl, sharing with them all that this means to me and what as a community we are all about while at the same time dispelling some of the misinformation shows like the Jeremy Kyle show put out.
Equally I had not expected to have influenced some to have seen that within themselves which isn't to say they're clones of me bit by bit - identical - but they have been able to embrace it, finding a sense of inner peace.
If dear readers you fall in one or both of those categories then  I'd like to thank you all for reading this blog and being understanding on certain forums and social networks for that has help shape this years blog entries.
I've enjoyed being with those of you who are furries, leaning more about your fursonas, mets, amazing digital art skills, learning to share space with you on your sites as well as in chat.
Things around health have been at the core of my offline life from the severe reaction I had to a gnat bite that was super scary to being found so unable to work I was able to leave employment that had the effect of enabling me to spend more time as me although I do work when I'm not pawley voluntarily for a few hours helping out. I so hope not to have such a bite this coming year.
I've been enjoying reading a lot this year having found books I can read without major difficulties, chatting to people about them and even taking part in a bookathon where you read and discuss over a short period a book as a group which was rather fun.
I've talked about on forums and in chat with you about music in ways that just wouldn't of been as fun had they'd of happened in the sorts of places where groan up obsessives tend hang out.
What of this upcoming year? Well I do wanna get out more - out of the front door- visiting places, having fun times in my own little way.
Regarding this blog, I've already a few ideas for the next blog entries which will be that bit different than previous ones, raising the bar of this blog, widening the appeal.
I'll end by thanking everyone for reading this blog, the conversations we've had on various sites and wish you all a very happy New Year.

Find-outers

Hallo there.
I've a bit of blocked up nose today so I'm doing some schoolwork complete in my full uniform today apart from some reading too.
That takes me to today's subject.
There are many types of stories written such as those centred on fantasy, romances, animals, adventures and so on but one genre I struggle with is the Detective Story usually because it requires  you use more short term memory while reading to piece together from the clues you're told, who really did it.
Unfortunately for someone like me reading something like that is like trying to run complex games on old computer with a slow processor and very little RAM (it might load up but attempting play is sluggish and may even stall!).
Fortunately I found a detective  mystery  series by Enid Blyton that were written for children from around nine years upward that I can follow reasonably well.

This series goes under the name the 'Find-outers' after the title the children who form a detective club called themselves dedicating themselves to solving mysteries and outwitting the local Police Constable, Mr. Goon who they christen 'Clear-orf' after what he shouts at them accusing them of meddling and otherwise interfering in the LAW.
The leader of the club is Frederick Algernon Trotteville  who is a boastful as well as cheeky outsider to the others in the village of Peterswood but is actually quite bright being good at languages and art at his boarding school. Because of his build he's called Fatty although he is quite physically fit playing school sports.
His deputy is Larry who is really called Laurence and they are joined by Daisy (his sister), Pip alias Peter, and Bets (Elizabeth) who is just 9 and the youngest of the group.
Fatty has a dog called Buster who obeys Fatty's commands well.
Upon being formed they call themselves "Five find-outers and Dog".
Mr Goon is probably the most incompetent policeman ever to taken on investigating mysteries in their area and the children in the first story, "the Mystery of the Burnt Cottage", strike up a very good relationship with the Inspector of Goon's force much to the displeasure of Pc Goon, especially when the inspector realizes just how good the Find-outers really are solving the mystery Goon failed to do!
There are in total 15 stories in the series which were all  issued by Dean's in the Rewards series in 1990 with reprints from that edition keeping the typeset narrative intact through most of the 90's whereas current editions like most of Enid's output have been revised and rendered 'politically correct'.
Thankfully it's easy to find these editions but Deans also did something else, as with the Schools series Enid wrote, they did two omibus editions each having three stories from the first six published and the top one issued in 1992  is mine (it's a 1994 reprint).

This one (the second in the set) has 'Spiteful letters', 'Missing Necklace' and 'Hidden House' in it and was published in 1994 although my copy is the 1998 reprint and both keep original illustrations and text in them, making a great starter set you can get cheaply used.
I'm really enjoying reading this series, more than I thought I'd of been able to howling at how Fatty and the gang put Clear-orf off the scent as Fatty's boisterous wit as well as his genius with disguises.
They also are a period reminder of how life was in sleepy English villages back then before policing moved mainly to the town and your only contact with the police was in their distinctive 'Panda car' they came out to visit your patch in where at the time this was written your Policeman lived in a Policehouse in your village and he patrolled it.
So far I've picked Mystery of the Pantomime Cat, Mystery of the Invisible Thief and Mystery of the Banshee Towers to go with the omnibus editions.

It's a wrap!

Well, the first week of new improved life went pretty well from the ability just to do a bit a work and keep up with the lives of my work colleagues now the crazy world of paid work is over. I had a blast talking with and helping our clients out as I've so much more control over how much I take on.
I was able to spend some more time dealing with sorting out presents for people although as some of you will recall from last year with the current financial situation effecting us all, I have again parred down how much I'm spending as have those who'd usually treat me. I do sometimes wonder if we'd be better of giving more of ourselves all year round instead.
Arrangements have been made to get me to and help me throughout this years works Christmas lunch which usually involve a quiz and various presentations outside of the formal meal.
I also did some more reading last week and will be taking part in this years Winter readathon where we read a set book and discuss together which should be fun as we're tackling the first Secret Seven novel!
I've wrapped up all ready my stuff cos as I think we all know sometimes it can be hard to get folk to get you what it is you really would like for Christmas with people feeling a bit awkward and that, so to avoid that foot stamping angry protest from the Little Girl within, she's been the money to get what she would prefer with the help of her bigger side.
That makes a lot of sense really as Christmas is really important for children.

Reading and more on change of circumstances

Well the start of the week is among us and as you've no doubt read this week will like all my weeks from here on in will be different meaning I'll have to fill the extra time I have to be my little self up by myself which should prove most interesting.
Tomorrow, I'll be working for a few hours across the morning at my own pace talking with people and from that helping them out for the people I was employed by because it's a skill my health situation aside I'm actually rather good at.
I liked the people we get for the most part (you'll always get the odd one that's a bit awkward), finding our conversations rewarding apart from learning about other peoples circumstances. Anyway my leaving employment isn't and really shouldn't be seen by anyone as just more time for to be online for hours at a time just because someone may like a bit of company although it'll enable me to visit a few sites more often where I can have fun people who know me there and I love their company a lot. Their support during this period means a lot to me, personally.

One thing I will probably be doing more of is reading which for all my difficulties with it, is something I'm really enjoying right now and one site has an upcoming readathon I'll be able to take part in, sharing observations around the story as we all read together.

This week I've been reading the Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton which is about a group of children - Jo, Bessie and Fanny - who having moved to the Country, encounter a  most odd wood at the end of their garden - The Enchanted Wood where pixies, fairies and others live. Growing in this wood is the Fareway Tree which initially the children climb that leads to the top where you can enter lands, lands that change regularly where many an adventure is had often featuring Moon-Face who has a face just like the moon and Silkie who has hair just like silk.

Some of the lands are really magical like Nursery Rhyme Land or the Land of Presents, cautionary such as the Land of Do-as-you-please or a bit nasty like the Land of Tempers. Well, would you liked to be surrounded by people always in a bad temper?
My copies of The Fareaway Tree and the Folk of  the Faraway tree are copies I had from my chronological childhood being printed around 1971 and1972 but the first book of the series the Enchanted Wood is a newer copy from 1987, all just being decimalized but otherwise keeping the same text as earlier editions which isn't the case with the current ones with name changes for the three children, gollywogs being removed and any mentioning in passing of slaps or spanking as punishment removed.

Related to that and again from my original copies from the early 1970's I read Wishing Tree series (in the original series there but two books) which are fun to read. The plot is essentially that of two children, Peter and Molly who go to an antique shop to by their mother a present and come back with a chair that, when wishes are made has the magical ability to fly. They discover and make friends with a pixie called Chinky and have adventures flying in the Wishing Chair meeting also sorts of amazing and sometimes slightly scary characters.
As with Fareway Tree, these two books (Adventures of the Wishing Chair and the Wishing Chair Again) have been extensively 'revised' in their current editions to remove all the stuff so-called 'Politically Correct' people have issues with even mentioning.
Thankfully for those without copies, the Deans hardback Rewards series are easy to find used in at least acceptable condition being in print until at least 1990 where the heavy revisions came in.
Malory Towers revisited:
I got used the unbutchered text editions in the form of a W H Smith hardback Omibus edition of the first four novels and the separate Deans hardbook Rewards series ones from 1990 of the last two.
There are entire paragraphs missing from the current ones and the 'PC' alterations do effect the characters responses to some important storylines in the books. Rereading them, it all makes more sense.

Children of Cherry Tree Farm

I grew up in the countryside in a small hamlet with just one store and public house that we spent summers outside drinking lemonade in when we weren't playing out  so it isn't that surprising I love stories about the kinds of communities I lived in.
Enid Blyton wrote three super books that deal with this topic that I adore.
We start with four children Rory (13), Sheila, Benjy and Penny - that's the youngest at 7 - who lived in London are sent to their Aunt Bess and Uncle Tim's farm, Cherry Tree Farm,as they were poorly to recuperate while their folks were on business in America.
It's an old country farm with thatched roofs and little mechanization.

They learn about country life and lore encountering Tammylan a person who understands about looking after animals and explains the them all about different species and their role in the countryside. For the period this novel is set in Tammylan has enlightened views about the importance of the environment. The fresh air soon helps the children recover and also ignites their imaginations.
They learn about how farming families pull together and have a pleasant surprise as their folks upon returning decided too forgo their city life to return to farming.
The Children of Willow Farm and More adventures on Willow Farm are the stories of bringing a farm back to life, establishing new crops together with livestock as it is a mixed farm and the trails and tribulations of running the farm that the children increasingly learn to do for themselves.
The children learn about being responsible, working as a team and dealing with disappointments.
What I love about these books isn't just the story about the children it's how carefully information about wildlife and farming practise is slipped into the book so you learn about the basics of agriculture and making things like milk, cheese and cream!

Guilty secrets.

We might begin by saying according to Google, I have now 14 followers of this blog and it is going to circulated a bit more widely with a short introductory message.
For most of this week I've been reading a mixture of Enid Blyton's Secrets series with the first two stories in their 1960's paperback editions as modern editions haven't so much edited as partially re-written the first chapters that are essential to understand why 4 children would runway in this period from their guardians.

Guilty secret time:

Okay, the eagle eyed will spot a modern no-no on the front cover of this, one of the original three story collections in the Amelia Jane stories.
Amelia is a home made ragdoll who lives in the toybox with the other twos of the children who own them with a teddy bear, sailor boy, wooden mouse and a clown as well as a 'golly' a black faced doll if you grew up in the 70's or before you may well have had in your toybox.
I have fond memories of my toy box I can assure you with dolls teddy bears and even a golly (eek).
Amelia being home made hasn't been what we'd call socialized and so is gets very bored doing incredibly naughty damaging things, playing with matches, being very rude and spiteful, just like many young children, something that no doubt makes it very easy to identify with.In some respects it's almost a moral tract showing action and consequence through the adult narration.
The other toys do with the help of the brownies (another no-no in modern editions) restore order. Amelia has to stand in the corner  and is smacked, just rather like I was at that age for doing pretty much the same things cos like any kid I was capable of 'naughty'.
'Golly' is a no-no too but anyone who has read these stories know he's a really sweet but strong character who will stand up for himself and isn't afraid to take the lead on bring Amelia back under control.
I guess the 'Golly' problem lies with parts of his depiction having prominent eyes and red lips being too close for some to 'blacked up' white actors who some see as promoting a negative stereotype of black people although Enid Blyton sure doesn't in her stories and in the UK at least 'Golly' or 'Gollywogg' was never frequently used as a racial insult.
Given I at least have been called a 'muppet several times before now and no one has insisted on removing that word from public tv and literature, shouldn't we judge a book by it's content and only take offence when a character is being portrayed in an offensive way?

Joanne is reading for pleasure

A return to work this week after being poorly but immersed in littleness for the preceding two  prompts this weeks entry.
Reading  for people like me who have difficulty recognizing words and following English grammar is hard going but we are getting somewhere as I actually enjoyed for once reading while unable to work.
A good while back we were talking in chat about favourite stories and Jennifer said she liked the Famous Five series to which my reply was one of once I'd finished paying back some money I spend on a big cd box set, I'd consider getting a set cos although I did read a few when I was officially younger, I'm missing a set.
The stories feature the adventures over their vacations of Julian ,Dick, Anne and George aka Georgina and her dog, Timmy. George lives with her father Quentin, a Scientist, next to Kirrin Island that George 'owns'. In total there are 21 stories the earliest being 1942's Five on a Treasure Island to 1963's Five are together again

That bundle of books is the "classic" edition which retains Eileen A. Soper's original illustrations not to be confused the 2011 significantly altered set and only set me back just under £25 shipped from Amazon that's really quite a bargain.
One bone of contention regarding all of Enid Blyton's books is, over the years some subtle and not so subtle alterations have been made.
While this set isn't too bad from that point of view with no loss of  or major changes in characters, some of those made make no sense such George - the girl who wants to present as a boy - we are told in this edition wears a jersey and jeans however the illustrations clearly show her in shorts (something boys under 14 in the UK did wear during the period these books were written) and further research I did showed this to a fairly recent alteration. Equally a reference to Quentin in Five on a Treasure Island  threatening a spanking to George for being very awkward as well as cheeky is removed (even though it would of been very likely to had been made back then) and yet in Five go off in a  caravan, Nobby the circus boy is still threatened with a whipping and gets it from Tiger Dan his circus step father.
For all cackhanded so-called Political Correctness though I'm enjoying reading these stories and it's interesting she made 'George' the way she did without any implied criticism. A heroine if ever one needed one.

Not unsurprisingly I love school stories especially boarding school ones and one series I've been slowly collecting inspired in part by our motley alg crew's tastes is by Anne Digby and is called Trebizon that runs to 14 stories.
If that sounds terribly Cornish it's meant to be cos it's based on this super school for bright girls next to the beach and being written and published between 1978 and 1994 covering a  period when I was in boarding school (yay!) we are treated to such cultural references such as British Rail, Wimbledon, duplicating machines with their stencils, cassette tape recorders and finally Television!

That is the 1993 first three stories in one hardback book edition as published by Deans.
The stories are centred around Rebecca who joins the school having been at a London Comprehensive following her parents stationing in Saudi Arabia with a common theme being her emerging talent at Tennis although (hurrah!) she does play Hockey too! Of the other major characters we learn about her best friends Tish Anderson and Susan Murdoch and her boyfriend Robbie. We learn about the trails of fitting in when you join a school in the second term after everyone's paired off with friends, about hard choices deciding what to major in and what you may need to drop to keep your schoolwork schedule manageable.

In honour of Little Evie

I suppose I am many things to a good number of you and as you know I do not hold myself so in awe of myself that I have the kind of vanity that to want to know what that might be but  I'm a little reserved both online and as well as in real life.
I don't jump in two feet first shall we say! But today I shall having finished reading Elizabeth's adventures in the Naughtiest Girl series remaining in my little girl school uniform all day for the same reasons she would.

This fine person joined GT recently being as I understand it friendly with Priss and something about her immediately caught my attention.
The first thing I'll say about Little Evie  is (as much as I  dislike drawing distinctions) is she is an adult little girl  who has a beginning as a biological female, something that is remains more a minority in the alg world although I'm personally aware of a few and am extremely grateful for one.
While I'm very aware of the negatives  as well as the positives of the Internet to the point I won't post a persons job title, employer etc here, she works with children which is super awesome in my book  as I don't so much work with them myself as they come at times with those I do, both of us get to spend time with children doing stuff like playing. Having an personal insight to how a child sees the World is a jolly useful thing that I used as a School Governor.
The third thing and the reason why I absolutely had to - having an Elizabeth impulsive moment-  jump in with two feet is she did something I thought was very brave.
She came out to her colleagues as a little and what is more they were supportive of her.
How many of us hand on heart could actually be in a groan up staff area and just do this?
I'm extremely fortunate my colleagues do know and so long as it doesn't get in the way of what I do are cool with it. I've had situations where I have been supported  by people outside of the alg world when people have tried to bring a "shock horror she's a little" drama in other organizations life.
It takes courage to do what she did, the same kind of courage Elizabeth found in the stories, that also I had to find for myself to be as I am.
That is why I'd like to say her site is listed here,  hope all the GT people will welcome her and  say I will do whatever I can to support her in  all the things she knows she needs to get fixed to fully enjoy life as an alg.

Love, Joanne.

Elizabeth in Joanne?

This post has be coming to me this morning where I'm poorly laying across my Hello Kitty bed attire and new Duvet in my school uniform, so do bear with me.
Off and on, I've made reference to the books I read during my chronological childhood some of which I owned, some borrowed off friends or via the library of the boarding school I attended.
Indeed you may of spotted a few entries here about books by Enid Blyton that come in that category and how I've gotten new copies not least the second but last entry around St Clare's that with this rotten cold I'm reading, something that is a direct echo of my childhood in times when I read books in my dorm or the sick bay.
I recently got though a most interesting addition again an older edition with original illustrations that has taken me back with some startling observations.
With the final three in one volume of St Clare's (Back to St Clare's) was another three in one book.

This was a 1992 edition of first three The Naughtiest Girl stories (Naughtiest girl again, Naughtiest girl is a monitor and Naughtiest girl in the school)

The stories are set in Whyteleafe, a progressive co-ed boarding school that some feel has a striking resemblance to Summerhill school in Suffolk, England.
The main character is Elizabeth who you could say is a very spoilt child used to getting her own way often running with unchallenged ideas so much so she resolves to behave so badly she can't avoid being expelled from the school she never wanted to go to. The secondary character is her best friend, Joan Townsend, who tries to get her to behave which by the time Elizabeth realizes how lonesome she was as a only girl, she gets more onside with the other children and  is less of a problem to the staff.
Here's an earlier cover from one of the separate books:

Now the first think upon quickly skimming the book was I saw my reflection in in how she dressed in the original illustrations, not least the fully pleated skirt, the modern version of which I'm actually wearing. She's around nine or ten years of age so the first thing I am thinking is, *Something* around this age is lodged in me as I'm not a senior. The second  is that smile as she's doing thinks like flirting ink about - it comes to me that around this age I did some similar things with ink and it's her awkwardness is causing this lashing out as oddly enough it did for me.

E.A stood there on the left of this original illustration is the image of that era of my life, meeting together with satchel, sports kit and naturally full uniform.
One interesting aspect of the Whyteleafe school is that the children have meetings where they dole out pocket money (everyone has a certain minimum  because it is pooled and the case for more has to be accepted by the others first) and also they deal with infractions dishing out punishments which the Monitors have the power to as Elizabeth is reminded of when she acted silly.
In practise, in my school head boys and girls also did although it wasn't formally set up - effectively they stepped in and if didn't accept whatever the outcome was, it was reported to the staff.
On one  particular day I did do something really silly like get going calling one girl rotten names and it got a bit out of hand, as does some of Elizabeth's silly things but unlike it being raised at a Meeting I was called to see the Headgirl in private who wanted answers, insisted on an apology to the girl in question and used her hairbrush on me (which was as far as I was concerned better than some poxy letter from the Head to my folks who'd just send me to child welfare person dragging the whole thing out. At least it's all over with in one go.).
Like Elizabeth I got better after that as I learned to fit in better with people, having my rough edges smoothed and even became a year rep, greeting very important people which does help when as now I have to do groan up things.
Having this book has reminded me of the distance I've travelled emotionally, the difficulties I've overcome in the past through learning to be more mature in how I deal with situations. As well, it affirms what Joanne remains deep down - a little girl only just in double digits - and no one least of me should ever forget it.

Back to St Clares!

Apologies for the brevity of this weeks edition but I'm unwell with seems to be a bad cold but never fear Joanne always comes up with something.You can thank her boarding school for that!
Picking up with the themes of returning to school where I've been trying last week to get to grips with times tables, the little adventure dayout and so on, I decided to take stock of my small book collection.
Actually it came to me last night, there were two reasons why some of the first books I bought at the end of my formal education were more like textbooks, first first being my problems in reading meant something more simplified like a study aid was easier to follow and the other was - wait for it - an early indication that really I wanted my childhood back by having some of the books I had or read at the time with me.
Anyway, I found a few books that I never read much because as good as they are (some won literary awards), they're too far above my reading age meaning I struggle to really follow them so I'm replacing them.
Why replace them rather than just give them away? Simply I realize that reading is something I need to do to improve within my own learning disabilities restrictions, my ability to read, follow and understand stories.
What I decided to do was to get the older two book collections of the original 6 story edition of St Clare's by Enid Blyton because it's a  bit more wordy than some of her other stuff so it gives me a bit of a word workout (I can look up the words in my new Dictionary and learn their meanings) and a school, based adventure story is the kind of thing I love to read (which helps keeping the interest up).
They were issued several years back with new computerized art covers however I feel they just don't look right and also Pamela Cox ghost wrote three new stories for that series that aren't really essential.
These are my 'new to me' editions:

This edition has the first three books in a single  volume namely The Twins at St Clare's, The O'Sullivan Twins and Summer term at St Clare's, written between 1941 through 1943 although many more memorable characters such as Claudine, a mischievious French girl and feather-headed Alison also feature in a world of tricks and jokes, midnight feasts, sports matches, thrilling rescues, fun and friendship as well as hard work, exams and snobbery!

The final volume has Second term at St Clare's, Claudine at St Clare's plus Fifth formers at St Clare's written between 1944 and 1945. I remember the fifth form vividly!
It's a bit odd for missing out completely the third form  but perhaps everyone leapfrogged it?
The school predates Malory Towers and is seen by parents as being  a "very sensible sort of school one  not to pander to children who feel their above everyone else.
The school Headmistress Miss Theobald is a believer  in the idea people get out of life what they put into it, telling her pupils: "Do your best for us and St. Clare's will be able to do its best for you!  Oddly enough that was what my Head teacher said too!
These editions came out in 1993 but with the artwork still looking a bit more in keeping with the period they written and the stories themselves still hold up. Indeed many 9 through 11 year readers today have written glowing reviews as have parents whose children having gone though today's supernatural based stories were given these only to find their offspring can't get enough of them.

A few more of my favourite things

While some of you are no doubt getting seriously excited at Camp running about, playing dress the Squirrel and more, I've caught up with things after Tuesday's unwelcome wrist ache so this is a few days early. Never mind!

I had this for a while but forgot - typical Joanne isn't it? - to write about it with having the damaged disc on arrival to deal with.
Arrietty is  based upon the classic English children's book The Borrowers by Mary Norton, this adaptation takes the action to Tokyo where Arrietty's family are discovered in a mansion by Sho, a young boy.
The anime was developed by Hayao Miyazaki and directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi being released on dvd and blu ray January 9th in the UK.

This anime is well up to the Studio Ghibi standards being a largely faithful retelling of the original story but with a poignant ending as Arrietty realizes she and the Big People have to live alone departing with gifts from Sho.
Recommended to all.

Something else I got was this the Secret Seven Library  a ten volume edition of Enid Blyton's classic children's books using period children on the covers from WH Smiths sales. I haven't see this particular set on Amazon only the 2006 set with computer generated modern illustrations.
I read some of these at school so it's like seeing old friends.
The Secret Seven are Peter the leader, his sister Janet and their school friends Pam, Colin, George, Jack and Barbara. The Secret Seven are helped by Peter and Janet's dog Scamper.
They enjoy having adventures in a club with just seven members it's own badge and password where they solve mysteries.


It has the following adventures (roars in approval):
The Secret Seven
Secret Seven Adventure
Well Done, Secret Seven
Secret Seven on the Trail
Go Ahead, Secret Seven
Good Work, Secret Seven
Secret Seven Win Through
Three Cheers Secret Seven
Secret Seven Mystery
Puzzle for the Secret Seven


One of the great things about the Secret Seven books is how fast the plots steam along once they get going, with hardly leaving the plot of the story at all.
One of my favourites is Well Done, Secret Seven 

The story begins with The Secret Seven needing a new headquarters so they build a tree house. The mystery starts when someone secretly sneaks in the tree house and ends in a chase of two thieves.
I enjoyed this book because it was exciting making me want to read it again which for a poor reader like me good going.
As well I liked the way the clues came together swiftly once the Seven started on the right track.

I'm  slowly adding the last five stories in late 70's, 80's paperback reprints to round off this collection which while not having the nice period covers the new set had, at least keeps most of the text original baring decimalizing any reference to currency.