Most unlikely of all is the language the children use. I know one theme of these 'holiday' books is children proving themselves smarter than adults, but the cheekiness of these children to adults of the 'lower classes' is painful. The class issues are atrocious! Despite having spent my childhood reading the appalling End Blyton, this is the first time I've seriously wanted the bad guys to win, preferably by smothering the heroes. One of 'Mummy's' roles is to be very firm with the police about what investigations they can do into the smuggling operation run from the property her children's holiday is more important than law and order. The house is already equipped with a full time gardener, and a local farmhand takes care of the family pony. 'Daddy' is working overseas, but 'Mummy' and 'Auntie' both accompany the children, together with Cook and a couple of maids. Not by name, but definitely by implication.įive children, aged between seven and nearly thirteen, go for a holiday to a large house in Devonshire, bought for the family by 'Daddy' with the money he is making from a visit to America. First published in 1934 and then published as Puffin Story Book 47 in 1948, this is one of the books that Geoffrey Trease condemned in Tales Out of School: A survey of children's fiction (1948).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |