THE BEST OF BLYTON

14 exciting adventures!

by ENID BLYTON

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New, shrinkwrapped set of the first 5 Famous Five books, the first 5 Secret Seven books and the first 4 Naughtiest Girl books. 14 softcover books in presentation slipcase.

The Famous Five, The Secret Seven and The Naughtiest Girl are Enid Blyton's most popular series.

The Famous Five are Julian, Dick, Anne George and Timmy the dog. Together they are ready for any adventure at any time.

Peter, Janet and Jack, Barbara, Pam, Colin and George are The Secret Seven - solvers of mysteries, followers of adventure.

The Naughtiest Girl - when Elizabeth Allen is sent away to boarding school she makes up her mind to be the naughtiest pupil there's ever been!

This boxed set contains five Famous Five books, five Secret Seven books and four Naughtiest Girl books:

* Five On A Treasure Island
* Five Go Adventuring Again
* Five Run Away Together
* Five Go To Smugglers Top
* Five Go Off In A Caravan

* The Secret Seven
* Secret Seven Adventure
* Well Done, Secret Seven
* Secret Seven On The Trail
* Go Ahead, Secret Seven

The Famous Five are a group of children who have the sort of adventures most kids dream about, in a world where ginger beer flows and ham rolls are a staple diet. Julian, Dick and Anne get together with their cousin George in the first adventure, Five On A Treasure Island. Three of the children, Julian, Dick and Anne, are siblings. During their holidays, they are regularly sent to the seaside town of Kirrin to stay with their Aunt Fanny and Uncle Quentin, whose daughter, Georgina, is a tomboy always known as George. Blyton always said that George was based on a real girl she had once known: in her later life, she admitted that that girl was herself.

The stories almost always take place in the children's holidays when they come home from their respective boarding schools. Every time they get together, they get caught up in an adventure, the location of which varies from book to book. Sometimes the scene is set close to George's home at Kirrin Cottage: "Kirrin Island", a picturesque island in Kirrin Bay, for example, presents many opportunities for adventure. Since both George's own home and various other houses are hundreds of years old, there is room for much in the way of secret passages or smugglers' tunnels, which play a central role in the plot of several books in the series. On other occasions, the children may go camping or hiking or be sent on holiday together elsewhere, but they are always accompanied by George's dog, Timothy, affectionately known to the children as Timmy. The settings, however, are almost always rural and enable the children to discover the simple joys of cottages, picnics, ginger beer, bicycle trips, home-made food, islands, sea shores, and always have a thrilling adventure.

The Secret Seven consists of Peter, the leader, his sister Janet, Jack, Barbara, George, Pam, Colin, and Scamper the dog. Jack's sister Susie and her best friend Binkie often make an appearance in the books; they hate the Secret Seven and delight in playing tricks designed to humiliate them, although much of this is fuelled by their almost obsessive desire to belong to the society.

The Secret Seven are a secret society who hold regular meetings and organize things to do, whether it's helping the community in some way, solving mysteries that turn up, or just having fun playing Red Indians in the woods. The Seven have a secret password, a badge, and a secret headquarters in a garden shed. Peter enforces the rules and delegates tasks for the members. The Seven investigate mysteries by shadowing, interviewing and, most importantly, looking for clues. The Seven tackle all sorts of mysteries from missing dogs to mail robbery, and always come out on top.

Unlike most other Blyton series, the adventures place during the school term time because the characters go to day schools.

About the author

Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was a British children's writer known as both Enid Blyton and Mary Pollock. She was one of the most successful children's storytellers of the twentieth century. Once described as a "one-woman fiction machine", she is noted for numerous series of books based on recurring characters and designed for different age groups. Her books have enjoyed popular success in many parts of the world, and have sold over 400 million copies. By one measure, Blyton is the sixth most popular author worldwide: over 3400 translations of her books were available in 2007 according to UNESCO's Index Translationum; she is behind Lenin and almost equal to Shakespeare.

One of her most widely known characters is Noddy, intended for beginning readers. However, her main forte is the young readers' novels, where children ride out their own adventures with minimal adult help. In this genre, particularly popular series include the Famous Five (consisting of 21 novels, 1942 – 1963, based on four children and their dog), the Five Find-Outers and Dog, (15 novels, 1943-1961, where five children regularly outwit the local police) as well as the Secret Seven (15 novels, 1949 – 1963, a society of seven children who solve various mysteries). Her work involves children's adventure stories, and fantasy, sometimes involving magic. Her books were and still are enormously popular in Britain, Malta, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Australia; and as translations in the former Yugoslavia, Japan, and across most of the globe. Her work has been translated into nearly 90 languages.

Blyton only intended to write about 6 to 8 books in the Famous Five series but, owing to their high sales and immense commercial success, she went on to write 21 full-length books featuring the characters. By the end of 1953, more than 6 million copies of these books had been printed and sold. Today, more than two million copies of the books are sold each year, making them one of the biggest-selling series for children ever written. Nearly all of the novels have subsequently been adapted for television.

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The Best of Blyton - 5 Famous Five books, 5 Secret Seven books & 4 Naughtiest Girl books - 14 exciting adventures by Enid Blyton