The Famous Five Clothbound Hardcovers by Enid Blyton

I've always been an avid reader, but growing up in the eighties and nineties, I devoured books like there was no tomorrow. (That was before gadgets, social media and the Internet came on the scene, and began competing for my time and attention, along with the realities of adult life). If I wasn't playing outside or having fun with my Polly Pockets and Sylvanian Families, I could usually be found with my nose buried in a book, or visiting the local library with my Mum and checking out the maximum number of books they allowed. I couldn't get enough of them. 

In my childhood days, I read everything from The Animals of Farthing Wood to Goodnight Mister Tom, and of course, anything by Beatrix Potter, Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton.

I always had a particular fondness for Enid Blyton's books, and read every one I could get my hands on. My favourites were The Magic Faraway Tree, The Secret Seven, and The Famous Five books. (And in that order). I loved her good old-fashioned children's adventure stories, usually featuring groups of children exploring magical worlds, going on adventures, and solving mysteries together without their parents around to spoil their fun. Isn't that every child's dream? I wanted to turn my Dad's shed in to a secret club house like in The Secret Seven, and go off in a gypsy caravan like The Famous Five. I can't imagine why my parents never let me.

Then I grew up and out grew my childhood interests. I distanced myself from my childhood possessions in favour of boybands, make up, and teen magazines, as pre-teen girls often do, and my books and toys no doubt got handed down to my younger sister or given away to other kids we knew.

The only book from my childhood that I still have today is Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian, and I've long since regretted not keeping hold of the rest, especially the Enid Blytons. 

So, you can imagine how excited I was when I discovered that Hodder and Stroughton had released beautiful cloth-bound, hardback editions of the first three Famous Five books to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the series last year. I knew I had to get my hands on them, so I snapped up all three books from Amazon earlier this year, and I've been meaning to write about them ever since.



These three special editions include the first three books in the Famous Five series, Five on a Treasure Island, Five Go Adventuring Together, and Five Run Away Together, which in my opinion, are three classics that every child should read before they grow up. In fact, I think every adult who didn't grow up on them should read them, too.

The books are stunning little hard backs with clothbound covers in muted colours that create a real nostalgic aesthetic that makes them look like they've been pulled off the shelf of a 1940s child's bedroom. They each have patterned front and back covers relating to the story, and if that wasn't wonderful enough, the prints, lettering, and spines have been embellished with a beautiful metallic foil that creates a mesmerising shine. The only problem is, you'll be so distracted with playing with the covers, you'll forget to start reading the stories!

The first book in the series, Five on a Treasure Island, has a sky blue cover featuring a navy-blue ship print with a metallic blue sheen.

Five Go Adventuring Together is yellow-green in colour, and has a forest green anchor print with a metallic teal shine.

And the third book, Five Run Away Together, is brick red with a gorgeous metallic rose-gold Spitfire print on the front and back, which has such a nostalgic feel to it.

The books are also illustrated, with black and white sketch style illustrations taking up half to two-thirds of a page every few pages, which is a sweet touch, and sure to interest young readers. I think they may be the same illustrations that were in the Famous Five books I grew up on in the nineties.

All three books are absolutely beautiful. I can never resist a book with a pretty cover, and love a good cloth-bound, and these are three of the prettiest children's books I've ever seen. (And I used to work in a vintage-style toy shop with no shortage of beautiful classics). I only wish they'd release the entire Famous Five series in this style. I don't know if they plan to, but I hope they do bring them out at some point because I'd love the whole collection in this style- especially Five Go Off in a Caravan, which was always my favourite of The Famous Five stories.

I haven't found the time to sit down and enjoy these books yet, but I'm looking forward to taking that trip down memory lane soon. I'm hoping to fit them in before Autumn is through. They'd be perfect for reading curled up under a blanket on a dreary rainy day.

Here's the synopsis for each book:

Five On A Treasure Island: "When four children and their dog, Timmy, set out to explore Kirrin Island, they make a thrilling discovery that leads them deep in to the dungeons of a castle. The adventure of a lifetime awaits..."

Five Go Adventuring Again: "When The Famous Five find a map leading to a secret passageway, they can't wait to follow it, but when uncle Quentin's vital scientific papers go missing, a real-life treasure hunt begins. Could the hidden passage hold the key to finding the thief?"

Five Run Away Together: "When The Famous Five are camping on Kirrin Island they discover a mysterious trunk. Then they hear a terrified scream in the middle of the night. Could the two be linked? The children are determined to investigate."

These beautiful books have an RRP of £10.99, and should be available from all good book stores. I purchased my copies on Amazon, and you can find Five on a Treasure Island here, Five Go Adventuring Again here, and Five Run Away Together here.

Did you grow up reading The Famous Five or other Enid Blyton stories? Which was your favourite?

Day Eighteen: A Story From My Childhood

It's almost the nineteenth, and I'm squeezing this post in by the skin of my teeth, but this is Day Eighteen of the blog every day in May Challenge. The prompt for today is 'tell a story from your childhood. Dig deep and try to be descriptive about what you remember and how you felt.'

I  feel fortunate to say that I had a happy childhood. I was an eighties / nineties kid, which really was the best era to grow up in. It was safe to play outside for hours unsupervised, and we preferred to be outside, using our imaginations, than cooped up indoors. We had the best TV shows, Disney films, toys, and books. We always had a holiday by the sea, and a couple of trips to the seaside in the summer every year, I don't have many bad memories from my childhood, but I had my share of interesting moments...

One memory which is still so vivid in my mind, happened in class one of primary school when I was four or five years old. My best friend at the time was a boy named Dominic. We were playing make believe doctors and nurses (the innocent children's past time, you understand, not the role playing game played in the bedroom, you dirty-minded lot)! And Dominic must have aspired to become an otolaryngologist or something, as the next thing I knew was... he'd burst my ear drum with a cotton bud!

I remember approaching the teacher as I could barely hear a thing. The sounds of the world around me had become muffled and distant, as if I were swimming with my head under water. I don't remember crying at this point, but I do remember Dominic was in tears, distraught that I was going to die and he'd never see me again, and probably because he didn't want to get in trouble, too. 

My Mum came and took me to the doctor, and then we had to go to the hospital in Oxford. I don't remember much about the hospital appointment, but I do remember going in to a shop just before or just after going there and buying some Christmas decorations. A little hobby horse; a drum; and two Mickey Mouse decorations, which we still hang on our tree today. The trees outside were ablaze with Autumn foliage.

Unfortunately, the hospital appointment wasn't the end of the incident. I remember having to lie with my head in the teacher's lap whilst she administered my ear drops day after day, and how my ear would bleed. And I still remember having to go back to the doctor time and time again, and being in the waiting room with my Mum. There was a large grey rocking horse the size of a Shetland pony I would play on. I can still smell that distinct musky smell our local doctor's surgery had, too.

My ear drum eventually healed, although I still get pains in it every now and again, and life went on. Dominic and I remained best friends until we were about eight, when he and his family moved to the next town over. The last time I saw him was a decade ago. Thankfully he hadn't chosen a career in medicine, (wise move!), but was working as a hair dresser.

I still don't know why there were cotton buds provided for four and five year old kids to play with in a class room, but I'm pretty confident that today they'd be considered a potential hazard! I still can't keep cotton buds in the house, but I had no lasting damage!

What do you remember most about your childhood?

Christmas Home Tour 2012

It's coming on Christmas, they're cutting down trees, putting up reindeer, and singing songs of joy and peace...

but I don't wish I had a river I could skate away on.

I love this time of year and I don't think that will ever change.

I physically pushed myself to help decorate the living room, even though I've not been able to sit downstairs since Boxing Day (December 26th) last year! That statistic actually shocks me. An entire year. (Well, almost). I can't believe how fast the year has passed. It doesn't feel like it's been an entire year since the decorations were last up.

I've seen many bloggers sharing their Christmas decorations on their blogs, and I've chosen to do the same as I'm such a Christmas junkie. I'm probably more enthusiast for the festive season than many children!

Obviously this is our Christmas tree. It's an artificial one with pine cones and berries on it. I prefer real trees but we've not had a real tree since I was about ten. We have multi coloured lights with lots of different settings from still to fading and twinkling. None of our decorations match. I don't remember us ever sticking to a colour scheme. There are decorations from my Mum's childhood, and decorations collected from when my parents got together in the seventies right up to today. A lot of them mean something to different members of my family. We currently have a snowflake tree topper, but growing up we usually finished it with an angel.

If I had my own place, I would have a real tree with white lights and decorate it differently. I'm not sure if I'd have a colour scheme, exactly, but it would probably be a little less tacky.

My Sister and her German Shepherd, Holly, are currently staying with us on and off. Her husband is away on a detachment until May, and she's studying at university closer to us. They were based in our town until last Summer, but then they were posted a hundred miles away, which was beyond their control. It's a hell of a commute for her, and would be unfair on the dog to be alone for so long, so here they are.

Holly is basically a Marley in German Shepherd clothing, although she's not as mental as she used to be. She very patiently allowed me to dress her up in tinsel, but I didn't manage to get a photo. We've just found out she's got cancer, but I won't go in to that now.

Every year, I decorate the fire place. I usually use fir branches and holly branches as a base, but poisonous greenery and a very active dog don't mix. This year, I've had to leave out the greenery, and just decorated it with the pine cones, candles, and animals I also use. I'm not as keen on the display without the branches and I miss the pine needle smell. Not that it really matters since I'm not able to lounge down stairs to enjoy it.

We have so many decorations that I filled every available vase with baubles. There is also tinsel draped over frames and on cabinets down stairs.

We've had the two Mickey Mouse and drum decorations since I was four or five. I can actually remember buying them. My Mum had to take me to hospital after my best friend at the time, a boy called Dominic, burst my ear drum with a cotton bud in year one of primary school! I guess my Mum took me in to the shop to make me feel better or something like that. She bought me these three, and also a hobby horse decoration, although I've not been able to find that one in a few years. There's usually a scramble between my younger Sister and I of who can grab them first to hang on the tree. Sad but true!

We've had these ugly robin decorations as long as I can remember. They look rather sorry for themselves. I think these may have been bought back in the seventies before I was born.

I bought these two Rockefeller Center metal decorations at Top of the Rock in New York in Summer 2011.

I chose these not only for my love of New York, but because they remind me of some decorations we've had on our trees all my life.

I purchased a couple of these glass orbs at work a couple of years ago. They're a cloudy white, and when the light hits them all these colours come alive. Definitely some of my favourite baubles.

I couldn't resist this crystal angel snowman, and adopted him a few years back. Isn't he lovely?

I bought the glittery snowflake topper at work a couple of years ago, too. I love it because it's a little different to the uniform star or angel. And, it's glittery!

And my fireplace is home to lots of woodland creatures made from pine cones, coconuts, and straw (I think), which were all adopted over the last half a decade. Some of the pine cones were picked up from the wild, and some were bought. Some are natural, and some were later sprayed gold. The fire place is usually my favourite area to decorate. The visual merchandiser in me always comes out when I dress it.

There are other parts decorated.  Some parts which are normally decorated but can't be because of the dog and my Sister turning the dining room in to a make shift bedroom. I also want to add some Christmas spirit to my bedroom, but I need to buy myself a little tree. If I get round to it, I'll post photos of that later.

Is your house all decorated for Christmas yet?

Do you colour-coordinate all your decorations, or are you like me and prefer to collect sentimental pieces, regardless of colour, instead?

Do you prefer real trees or the artificial kind?

I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas.