Keith's site, recommended
Enid Blyton Society

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Many visitors to our site have asked for an ENID BLYTON page. There seems little point in duplicating material already available from the specialist sites to be found elsewhere. The links appear above. All these can be recommended but tell me if any no longer work.

NODDY books to avoid. In the 1980s, Gilbert the Golli was replaced by Mr Sparks, the garage owner. The only difference on the endpapers is the lack of Gilbert, replaced by a politically correct character of the times.

Enid Blyton, who died in 1968, was a woman of mystery. She wrote more than 600 books according to an authoritative source yet rarely made the pages of books supposedly listing children's authors of the 20th Century. Why was this so? Was it due to her popularity? Just as Frank Richards was ignored for many decades due to his influence on the pre-war generation, so was Enid Blyton swept under the carpet when the subject of children's authors came up after the war.

Brian Doyle in his definitive 'The Who's Who of Children's Literature' (Evelyn 1968) was probably the first researcher to give Enid her due. Soon after, 'Lines', Autumn 1969, published 'Blyton Revisited' in which Michael Woods came forth with a psychologist's view on Enid Blyton's style. In short he believed that her use of groups and action rather than singularly defined characters and background detail were the secrets of her success.

Enid Blyton is the most widely read children's author of all time. Her books continue to be devoured by each generation.

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