To label Enid Blyton and her work a ‘phenomenon’ is no exaggeration. How else could we do justice to her prolific output of over 600 books? In 1974 she was the fourth most translated author in the world, with 149 translations of her work in 15 different countries. All over the world children have been eager to follow the fortunes of Noddy, The Secret Seven, The Famous Five and other memorable Blyton charactersSheila Ray looks at the facts behind the phenomenon of Enid Blyton. How have the attitudes of adults towards her work changed? How have they justified their critical reactions? Out of the evidence of the author’s undiminished popularity with children, comes a re-assessment of Enid Blyton’s contribution to twentieth-century children’s literature, cleared, for the first time, from the preconceptions of the last fifty years.

Enid Blyton, Secret Seven, Famous Five, Noddy