The Famous Five Books - Enid Blyton

Posted: Tuesday 13 August 2013 by Mandy in Labels: , , , , ,
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In my 'reading out my closet' collection I have to include The Famous Five books by Enid Blyton, which were extremely popular in my country and I've read every single one of them as a child.
The books follow the adventures of Julian, Dick, Anne and Georgina or George as she likes to be called, who face different kinds of detective situations - think of them as a Scooby Doo gang (they even have a dog).
The reason why I wanted to include these series is because APPARENTLY they caused a massive controversy according to some of my Early Childhood Studies classes. There have been uproars about the books in regards to racism and gender stereotyping - presenting females as weak and males as strongest.
A couple of years back there was also a very controversial post where one Slovenian mom addressed the issue of her daughter reading the books and copying everything the characters are doing - like eating unhealthy, wanting to be a boy etc.

"She never meant to offend anyone with her work and would probably have been horrified if she knew she had, but she was a product of her time." Seven Stories Chief Executive Kate Edwards .

The Famous Five books have to be my favorite book series I've read as a child (pre Harry Potter stage). They're an extremely light read, but you'll want to read them over and over again. The writing style is simple and easily readable, good for anyone in the mood for something nostalgic.

Oh, and apparently there were series out there as well.



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