Month-of-August's Enid Blyton

Enid Blyton (illustrated by Dominique Liongson)

Enid Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was a successful British children's author who wrote hundreds of books.  Her books ranges from short tales to longer mystery series.  

The first time I noticed Enid Blyton was as a story book I received on one Christmas Day.  It was a random compilation of short tales titled "The Little Brown Bear and Other Stories."  It was a book I was very fond of that I read it over and over again.  I was amused with her tale about the rude boy who was punished, and the penalty was to hold his tongue.  (Yup, it was either he holds it with his fingers or else there is a special slipper waiting for him.)

I became a big fan of her tales about the fairy folk and talking animals. When I discovered that the library had a smorgasbord of Enid Blyton compilations of short tales, I borrowed stack-fuls to take home.  Even if the other tales were about themes that can happen in real life, I feel so eager to finish each story from start to finish.  Amazingly, I wasn't bored nor disappointed with reading them. Even if the tales are shorter than grown-up short stories, they start and end sensibly and entertainingly.

She also had books for bigger kids, but among her big kid's books it was the "The Naughtiest Girl in School" that caught my eye.  I love it when the nasty characters bloom to be the best they can be.

If you wish to read a brief biography of Enid Blyton, you may find her in your encyclopedia listed under B for Blyton.  Or you may click on this Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enid_Blyton

I found some striking quotes Enid Blyton from online.  If you wish to read more, simply click this link: http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2897

• On grown-ups - "It wasn't a bit of good fighting grown-ups. They could do exactly as they liked". (Julian in Five On a Treasure Island)

• On only children - "They're alway a bit odd, you know, unless they're mighty careful" (Julian in Five On a Treasure Island)

• When things go wrong - "The best way to treat obstacles is to use them as stepping-stones. Laugh at them, tread on them, and let them lead you to something better." (Jimmy's mother in Mr. Galliano's Circus.)

• On faces - "I think people make their own faces, as they grow." (Joan Townsend in The Naughtiest Girl Again.)

• On being a judge of character - "The point is not that I don't recognise bad people when I see them - I grant you that I may quite well be taken in by them - the point is that I know a good person when I see one." (Snubby in The Rubadub Mystery.)

• On acquiring useful skills - "I'm good at exploring roofs. You never know when that kind of thing comes in useful." (Snubby in The Rubadub Mystery.)

• On being honest with yourself: "You are honest enough by nature to be able to see and judge your own self clearly - and that is a great thing. Never lose that honesty, Bobby - always be honest with yourself, know your own motives for what they are, good or bad, make your own decisions firmly and justly - and you will be a fine, strong character, of some real use in this muddled world of ours!" (Miss Theobald in Summer Term at St. Clare's.)

• On making mistakes - "Leaving a gate open is a very small thing, but unfortunately small things have a way of leading to bigger things. An open gate - wandering cattle or horses - maybe damage by them to be paid for - loss of hours of their labour - loss of our time looking for them. It all means a pretty big bill when you add it up. But we all make mistakes, Mark - and providing we learn our lessons and don't make the same mistakes twice, we shan't do so badly. Don't worry too much about it." (Father to his children's friend Mark in More Adventures on Willow Farm).

• On changing one's mind - "I wonder where you got that idea from? I mean, the idea that it's feeble to change your mind once it's made up. That's a wrong idea, you know...Make up your mind about things, by all means - but if something happens to show that you are wrong, then it is feeble not to change your mind, Elizabeth. Only the strongest people have the pluck to change their minds, and say so, if they see they have been wrong in their ideas." (William in The Naughtiest Girl in the School.)

• On essential laws for society - "Heaps of people have never seen the sun rise. Hardly any of the girls at my school have. They've missed something! I think there ought to be a law that says everyone must watch a sunrise, and everyone must see a bluebell wood, and a buttercup field, and..." (Jill in The Adventurous Four Again!)

• First Term at Malory Towers Miss Potts advises Darrell: "You will be a finer character if you go along on your own, than if you copy other people. You see, what you do, you do whole-heartedly - so if you play the fool, naturally other things will suffer".
• Miss Potts comments: "... when you choose something worth while like doctoring - or teaching - or writing or painting, it is best to be whole-hearted about it. It doesn't so much matter for a second-rate or third-rate person. But if you happen to have the makings of a first-rate person and you mean to choose a first-rate job when you grow up, then you must learn to be whole-hearted when you are young".

Thank you for your gift of writing stories, Ms. Enid Blyton.  Your positive light inspires us readers to look forward to happy endings from most conflicts.  I wish to remind you that your death is an ending of an old adventure, but a beginning of a new one.

:-( -> :-| -> :-)
DL 
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"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you."

--A.A. Milne
Winnie the Pooh