Something stirred my memory the other night. Thinking back, I can’t actually remember what it was now, but it spurred me to to get online and look up The Chalet School and Malory Towers (two book series I devoured from the ages of like 6-8. Yeah, I know that’s really young, but I would definitely have been under 8, because we moved to NZ just after my 8th birthday, and I never read any of them once we got here. Too many other awesome books to choose from in Aucks).
I got totally lost in the world of the books I used to read. There are fan sites for seriously EVERYTHING! One was really quaint, Friends of the Chalet School, which was a paper fanzine produced a few times a year and mailed to members (none of it was posted online). I didn’t realise there were actually around 60 books in the series…I definitely never read them all.
Reading through Enid Blyton sites got me remembering various books of hers I’d read (the Secret and Adventure series, one of which featured a character called Fatty!) but forgotten until now. Along of course with the Famous Give and Secret Seven, and Cherry Tree Farm and the one about the magical world on top of the Far Away Tree!
Although I actually remember very little of the books, I know that I used to know and love them well. I considered trying to track down copies and rereading them (mainly the Chalet School books) but the few quotes and excerpts I found online deterred me. Some things are better left in the past. These are definitely books from a different generation (mid 20th century) and I think I have grown too much to go back to them. Maybe when I’m older and have too much time on my hands, and then can pass them down to my nieces/grandkids, whatever.
I did however dig out my one Enid Blyton books (a double one) and tore through the Children of Green Meadows and More Advenutes on Willow Farm. Yeah, she really has the dullest, most unimaginative, least descriptive titles (think Famous Five Have a Lot of Fun, or similar), and although her books don’t really follow the typical story plot, they’re still a rip roaring good read IMO. I hope they don’t die out over the next generation.
None of these book covers actually look like the ones I remember….but I guess the international eds had different slips!
