Will you please tell me something? How much would a seaside cost to buy? I’ll tell you why I want one. It is because Mistress and Master and Gillian and Imogen all go off to the seaside in the summer of each year, and Sandy and I are left to guard Old Thatch. Now, if I could buy a seaside and put it in the garden, somewhere by the summerhouse perhaps nobody would need to go away to find it, would they?
-Bobs, the delightful fox terrier of Enid Byton’s “Bones and Biscuits”
The Thoughts of a Wonderful Little Dog
Bobs, the endearing canine author of a long-running series of letters to young children, has many pithy observations to share. Enid Blyton based the character on her real-life dog and the quotidian adventures he had in the country with her and her two young daughters, Gillian and Imogen.
The letters, originally published as weekly installments in Teacher’s World called simply “Letters from Bobs,” were collected in a book and sold like gangbusters—10,000 copies in the first week! The volume is still to be found in libraries, while her more controversial novels are still nowhere to be seen on the shelves. Children enjoy the simple puns and jokes of Bobs and his animal companions. Their mischief and minor misfortunes mirror those of many children but are told in a manner quite enjoyable and humorous.
Enid Blyton: Author
Blyton comes up when you start poking into the history of the ever-popular “Boxcar Children” series by Gertrude Chandler Warner. Blyton’s popular adventure stories featuring families of unattended children are put forward as the British equivalent of Chandler Waner’s children’s series.
Enid Blyton fans are passionate, as evidenced by the still-active Enid Blyton Society. The only people more passionate, perhaps, are her critics. The British children’s author who wrote in the mid-twentieth century, churned out a shocking quantity of children’s books, in addition to regular magazine contributions, reportedly writing upwards of 6,000 to 10,000 words a day.
A British woman with a passion for nature and the outdoors, Blyton began her published career in 1922 with a collection of children’s poems. From there, her meteoric rise to one of the world’s most translated, best-selling, most popular authors of books for children of all time began. Her adventure stories, including a series about the Famous Five and the Secret Seven, won ardent young fans.
The Backlash Against Blyton’s Children’s Books
She also drew the wrath of librarians, teachers, and the British Broadcasting Corporation. Sources state that no author has been banned as much as Blyton. She was disparaged for her limited word choice, recurring adventure tropes, and simplistic storylines. Memos released from the BBC archive reveal censorship of Blyton’s work because it was deemed of “very little literary value.”
Like “The Boxcar Children,” the more teachers and librarians objected to the content of her novels, the more children seemed to find them irresistible. Many adults today recall fondly the adventures of Blyton’s various imagined families. She did not plan any of her works in advance, instead allowing what she called her “under-mind” to dictate fanciful stories blending fairytale, fantasy, mystery, and adventure genres.
Also, like “The Boxcar Children,” Blyton centered her stories on families of characters, a dynamic that engages readers young and old. Her focus on children—the potential and possibility of the very young—ensures a thrilling narrative, no matter how far-fetched the elements of the stories are. Because of her ad-hoc writing process, she allegedly plagiarized her own writing and that of others. Later in her career, with the astonishing volume of her published work, she was dogged by rumors that she employed an army of ghostwriters, a charge she vehemently denied and even went to court to prove.
The Worthy Place of “Bubblegum Lit”
There’s no denying that Enid Blyton’s books for children are a far cry from Louis Carroll or J.R.R. Tolkien, but not many children are reading such books independently. There is a category of books some mothers call “bubblegum” books meaning they are primarily for entertainment. While they are not harmful, such stories have no significant nutritional value, so to speak.
As previously discussed, “The Boxcar Children” fits into this category. The characters are simplistic, the plot is fanciful and farfetched, the themes are heavy-handed. But, boy, do kids love them. For newly emerging, independent readers, such chapter books can be great fun. And at the time these beloved children’s books were originally published they had not yet stooped to the level of “Captain Underpants” with overt crassness as the motivation to keep reading.
Why allow such frivolous entertainments when our children could be made to read Dickens? One consideration is that frivolity and mindlessness will sneak in. Will we burn ourselves out forcing constant readings of Shakespeare and Virgil? Will we in joyless desperation turn to television to make everyone quiet for once? Is reading about the Famous Five and the Secret Seven and all the other frivolity Blyton managed to turn out really worse than mind-numbing television?
Allowing a bit of bubblegum on a dull afternoon is not the worst thing in the world. It’s no substitute for meat and potatoes when they are needed, but it won’t hurt anyone in moderation. If Enid Blyton is too silly for you, you will be in good company, but your kids might enjoy simple stories of outrageous adventure.
One caveat we must mention: An avowed Enid Blyton fan grew up to write romance novels. That doesn’t bode well, but such a travesty does not seem to be the destiny of every young Blyton reader.
