Magic Of Youth
Enid Blyton
Children's literature is a very risky piece of literature. For, the writing is scrutinized microspocially by one and all. For, the book is meant to be for children - hence must adhere to the morals and language which should not be detrimental to a child's mind as such. Hence the paucity of good children literature over the past century - of which only Miss Enid Blyton has remained a consistent favorite amongst children for ages now.

The Mystery/Adventure books
 My rendezvous with Miss Blyton's books dates back to the earliest days of my reading. The first books that I read of Ms Blyton was perhaps the Secret Seven series - which I enjoyed for a while. The "while" because I rather disliked the "bossy" tones of some of the characters and there was a certain absence of the "fun" element in some of the adventures. Burt overall, it was good enough for me to venture more into the Blyton Domain. The Famous Five was good - but again I lost interest after a while. The adventures were mostly monotonous and the element of mystery which I was beginning to get interested in was absent most of the time. That was when I landed up with the Five Find-Outers series.

The series is certainly her best mystery series. One important reason for this is the wonderful comedy that runs through the books. The creation of characters like Mr Goon the local policeman and his nephew Ern (who writes "poms") is sheer genius. Fatty (his real name is Frederick) is one of her best creations. Indeed, the group of children (Bets, Pip, Larry, Daisy and Buster the dog) is much more a livelier gang than the dour-and-at-times-dull Famous Five one. The adventures by themselves are "true mysteries". Much more of brainwork are involved here - and some of the mysteries throw up really surprising villains (like "The Mystery of the Vanishing Prince") and is thoroughly entertaining stuff. Having read the "Three Investigators" series also, there is a parallel between the two series. Jupiter Jones of the series resembles Fatty a great deal and the mysteries themselves are similar in the sense that they are solved more by the powers of deduction than anything else. Of course, that the Three Investigators is based in America and the Five Find-Outers in England does mean that the types of mysteries differ a great deal.

Then there is the delightful series of mysteries involving Barney, Roger, Diana and the irrepresible Snubby. Snubby is one of my very favourite Blyton creations. Full of fun and frolic is the lad - extremely energetic which annoys his cousins and Aunt and Uncle no end. Snubby is an orphan who stays with his Aunts and Uncle during the holidays. He has a dog called Loony (aptly named) who proves a genius for retrieving combs and brushes from dressing rooms. The group manage to get involved in a number of interesting mysteries during one of which they befriend a circus boy named Barney. Its a good series - though I do get an urge to box Roger and Diana's ears at times. They tend to get all-Lordy over Snubby. Anyway thats rather a small "down"-er. Its otherwise a most entertaining series.

The School Books
 My very favourite Blyton books are the School series. There are two hugely popular series - the Malory Towers and the St Clares. Both are fairly similar in content. There is a criticism over the similarity in theme of each of the books in the series - but I ask you, what is the extent of variety that you can observe in a school life ? Personally, I have enjoyed all the books on their own. There are a variety of jolly characters who enliven the air of school.

For all their popularity, neither of the school series has (IMO) matched the freshness and "jolly"-ness of the Naughtiest Girl series. This series which follows Elizabeth Allen, the naughtiest girl through her days at Whytleafe school, is a sheer delight and one of my favourite pieces of literature. In particular, the first book "Naughtiest Girl in the School". The book starts wih Elizabeth unwilling to leave home and join school. She tries various devises but all fail and finally she joins school. She decides to behave so badly that the school would be forced to make her leave school. The book is about how she learns to enjoy school - and learn some basic values of life. Its a wonderful read - and it still occupies Pride Of Place in my book shelf. The other two books in the series are also good but they do not quite match the brilliance of the first book always. But undoubtedly, its her finest achievement and a must-read for anyone - child or not.

Well, there are a lot more that this very prolific author wrote. Many more mysteries, many more adventures - she zoomed to regions of imagination which are breathtaking at times. And her language is as simple as could be for any child to comprehend. All in all, she is a great authoress - one whose works I have loved literally all my life. As we grow older, there grows upon us a tendency to look down upon such books - a snigger, a scoff, scorn is all that they receive. The same ones would have spent many, many afternoons duringtheir childhood curled on the bed with an Enid Blyton book in hand. Thats Humans I guess. I say - to hell with Maturity and GrownUp if what it means is to realize that such books are trash and not worth spending time on. There is a whole realm of magic that exists within the few pages of a Miss Blyton book - once you lose interest in it, it means that you have lost your innocence, your "Childhood" too.
I believe we should carry sopmething of our childhood with us all through life - and believe me, it makes life so much the easier to live through. And the world is a better place with all the magical lands that Miss Blyton has created for us. She shall ever remain the Queen of Literature for the Young.




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