Tolkien Beaten By Blyton!!!!!!

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<div id="story_heading">Famous Five top poll </div>
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<p xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt" xmlns:cmacontent="http://tvnz.co.nz/cmacontent/elements/1.1#" xmlns:cacheollie="http://apache.org/cocoon/cacheollie/1.0"><font color="#000000">Enid Blyton's Famous Five have come top of a poll to discover which books today's adults most enjoyed as children.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">The adventures, featuring Julian, Dick, George, Anne and Timmy the dog, have pipped other classics like Treasure Island and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe in the survey.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">More than 1,000 adults, between the ages of 25 and 54, were asked to name their favourite children's book while growing up.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">Blyton's series of 21 Famous Five adventures, which were penned between 1942 and 1963, came top of the list.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">Today two million copies of the Famous Five novels, which made Blyton the most successful children's writer of all time, still fly off the shelves each year around the world.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the 1950 fantasy tale by C S Lewis and the best loved of the Narnia Chronicles - came second in the survey carried out by the Cartoon Network, followed by Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, published in 1883. </font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">Another Blyton creation, The Secret Seven (1949 to 1963), the adventure series for younger readers featuring the likes of Peter, Janet, Jack and Scamper the dog, came fourth in the survey.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">Black Beauty, the only book written by Anna Sewell, whose aim was to "induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses" takes fifth place.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">Sewell died of ill health, at the age of 58, just months after publication in 1877.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">Enduring favourite J R R Tolkien makes it on to the list with The Lord of the Rings, the trilogy which began life in 1954, in sixth spot, and The Hobbit, written in 1937, ranking eighth.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows (1908) featuring the riverbank lives of Rat, Mole, Badger and Toad came seventh.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">American author John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men (1937), the moving story of two drifters trying to make a life for themselves, came ninth followed by Little Women (1868) the autobiographical novel by fellow American Louisa May Alcott.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">Enid Blyton's daughter Gillian Baverstock, who lives in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, welcomed the results of the poll, saying: "It is wonderful that my mother's books are remembered so fondly.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">"Moreover, the mystery and adventure books continue to be avidly devoured by each successive generation.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">"The secret of their success is that they centre squarely on children, with adults only ever playing a minor role.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">"The injection of adventure and excitement on to every page stimulates a child's desire to continue to read not just one book but the whole series.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">"In some respects my mother was also ahead of her time. She was probably the first children's writer to give girls equal billing to boys."</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">Head of the Cartoon Network Richard Kilgarriff said: "The Famous Five are stories based on kids taking charge of their own lives, a premise which is also at the heart of the most successful <br clear="none" />cartoons." </font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">The Top 10:</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">1.The Famous Five, Enid Blyton <br clear="none" />2.The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, C S Lewis <br clear="none" />3.Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson <br clear="none" /> 4.The Secret Seven, Enid Blyton <br clear="none" /> 5.Black Beauty, Anna Sewell <br clear="none" /> 6.The Lord of the Rings, J R R Tolkien <br clear="none" /> 7. Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame <br clear="none" /> 8.The Hobbit, J R R Tolkien <br clear="none" /> 9. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck <br clear="none" /> 10. Little Women, Louisa M Alcott </font></p>
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[IncanusI]

<p>Why have I heard of (and read) all of these authors/books, except Enid Blyton? Is it another hole my American cultural upbringing, or is it just random chance? Or is there a Enid Blyton society that conducted the poll of 1000 of its own members? I'll have to keep an eye out for them next time I'm at the bookstore. </p>

[ElvenArcher]

<p>the poll makes sense, because LOTR is not really a children's book. Many of us read it as children, but it's a grown up's book, and I didn't really appreciate it until I reread it as an adult.<BR><BR>The Hobbit is great, and I would have been surprised if it weren't in the top ten, but it seems well placed in the poll. </p>

[dlloyd]

<Shrug>

Millions of people prefer "reality tv" over watchable shows... doesn't make 'em right.

[Mungo]

Enid Blyton's Famous Five have come top of a poll to discover which books today's adults most enjoyed as children.

So the poll is of books read as children and remembered by adults?

I cannot believe anyone enjoyed reading Of Mice and Men as a child/teenager. I read it in high school and it was one of the saddest books I've ever read, next to Flowers for Algernon. I mean, I liked reading these books, but to say that I enjoyed them? Nope.

Same as Black Beauty. I first read it when I was eight and the book opened the world to a whole new level I never saw before.

[drieske]

I actually read and devoured all the Enid Blyton-books when I was younger, and I would have listed them also as one of my favorites back then.

Found secondhand copies of The Lord of the Rings when I was 18, and since then they're absolutely my number 1, but not for a child. Perhaps the Hobbit yes, but not LotR.

[LadyCoralie]

Enid Blyton was my all time favourite as a child. I fondly remember receiving a copy of one of her books each Christmas and birthday growing up. The Famous Five were a must read, but I also loved The Magic Wishing Chair and The Magic Faraway Tree. I always wanted to try Moonface's Honey Snap biscuits (cookies) and wanted to visit those farway lands at the top of the tree. Wonderfully imaginative for young audiences. when I read Harry Potter, I see Enid Blyton's influence all over Rowling, in fact I could have sworn it was written by her, their styles are so similar. Obviously an influence on Rowling as Blyton was a much loved authoress of her time. I don't think these classics made it to America. Shame.

[Ivriniel]

Everytime I saw this thread I thought the name Blyton looked vaguely famliar but I couldn't place it. I knew I had never read the Famous Five....

But just now it hit me. Blyton was also the author of Noddy!


I LOVED Noddy when I was little...So little as a matter of fact that I can't remember what he did, or why I loved him, only that I did.

Ivriniel

[Gilaglar]

Enduring favourite J R R Tolkien makes it on to the list with The Lord of the Rings, the trilogy which began life in 1954, in sixth spot, and The Hobbit, written in 1937, ranking eighth.

Trilogy? Arrgh!


Umm, I read a whole bunch of Famous 5 Books when I was young. All I can remember is that they spent a lot of time eating mountains of food given to them by friendly farmers/fishermen/innkeepers etc, all washed down with enough Ginger Beer to float a warship.

[Úlairiii]

I can understand this - for children, I believe the Famous Five and The Lion ... are better books. (Although I am suprised The Hobbit didn't make it up there.)

And is Mice and Men and children's book? I suppose it is to Grapes of Wrath what the Hobbit is to LotR.