Five and a Half-Term Adventure (Famous Five Colour Reads) Paperback – February 6, 2014

These stories are a hit with our seven year old daughter. My American husband had never heard of Enid Blyton, so I was quite excited to find these beautifully illustrated versions of some of the short stories about The Famous Five that were originally published in magazines.

Enid Blyton's Famous Five are a classic British series of children novels about 4 kids and a dog. The kids are 3 siblings Julian, Dick, and Anne, their cousin George (a Tomboy really named Georgina) and George's dog Timmy, a friendly mongrel with a knack for solving mysteries and catching robbers and chasing off baddies. The kids are about 10 -12 years old, but enjoy the freedom of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, albeit with a level of danger a couple of notches down. Most of the adventures take place in or around a country coastal village in the south-west of Britain named Kirrin, where George's family own an island with a castle in ruins, a shipwreck, secret passages, a treasure, intruders and, generally speaking, a healthy level of danger. The kids spent their time at the beach, rowing to the island, going on picnics prepared by George's mother Fanny. George's father is an irascible scientist who regularly threatens the kids with taking away their privileges.In 2014, these short stories were published in a beautifully illustrated series. They are absolutely lovely. The illustrations by Jamie Littler are superb. I will go as far as to say that these are the most beautiful kids' books I have so far purchased for my son (and I have rather many). There are, at this time, 8 books of short stories. We have bought them all, read them all, and love them all. In no particular order:When Timmy Chased the CatHappy Christmas Five!Five Have a Puzzling TimeWell Done, Famous FiveA Lazy AfternoonFive and a Half-Term AdventureGood Old TimmyGeorge's Hair is Too LongJamie Littler's illustrations are beautiful. There are illustrations on every page. They stretch over both pages. Sometimes the text blends in with the illustrations. The text is well laid out and dynamic. Each book comes in at about 70 pages. They are paperback but very sturdy. High quality paper. Great attention to detail. I do not know if Enid Blyton's text has been touched, but if I had to guess I would say a little: it reads very well, it does not feel dated.My mom read the original Famous Five novels in England as they were being published. I and my siblings read them in the 1970s. I was very keen for my son to enjoy these books too, so I bought the complete 21 book set. But at 6 my son isn't quite ready for them. I was about 8 or 9 when I read them, my nephew was 9. The short stories, however, are perfect for my 6 year-old. These short stories are highly recommended for the 6-8 age range.Background for Americans who do not know the Famous Five. Written in the 1940s and 1950s they quickly became a global publishing phenomenon. They were at a time, certainly in the 1960s and 1970s, the most popular children literature books in Britain, and beyond, particularly France and Germany, where they were translated, continuously published and have something of a cult following. (I'm talking about the countries I know about, I'm sure the Famous Five were big elsewhere too). They must have got out of fashion in the 1990s. There was some bad press about Enid Blyton's political views. When I tried to order them for my American nephew, I was shocked to find they were only available as imports from Britain, at prohibitive prices, and none of them at all available in the California libraries I searched. What a shock. I purchased the entire series on amazon.co.uk. My nephew was then not much of a reader. I had bought him the Diary of a Wimpy Kid for him (it had just come out that month), but hadn't been able to make him read past a few pages (I on the other hand read the whole thing in delight at 40 years of age). So I was rather anxious to see his reaction to the Famous Five. Long story short: he read the whole thing over the summer and re-read them a couple more times after that.I'm not sure of the ethical dimensions of this, but I'm going to copy-paste this review to some of the other short stories, as there are currently very few reviews. Flag this for deletion if it violates etiquette, thanks.

Although, as a child, I devoured all 21 Famous Five novels many times over; I have to admit that I had not read any of the short stories based on the characters, which Enid Blyton published in magazines. These were collected in the Famous Five Short Story Collection. However, this short book cleverly takes one of the stories and splits it into 8 short chapters, rather like the Horrid Henry chapter books for younger readers. At only 55 pages, this makes a great introduction to the Famous Five for children moving on to first chapter books, who might find one of the longer novels too daunting.The text is as Enid Blyton wrote it, making the modern illustrations a little jarring for those more used to the originals. However, my seven year old daughter loved the colour pictures . I would have preferred a more retro feel, but perhaps this will help introduce these great books to new readers, which has to be a good thing.It is November half term and the children are staying at Kirrin Cottage for a short holiday. As it is too cold for bathing, they decide on a long walk and some blackberry picking. When it gets dark, they decide to take the train back to Kirrin. On the way home, Timmy is drawn to the strange behaviour of a couple on the train and the adventure begins...Although Enid Blyton has fallen out of favour lately, her books turned generations of children into readers and this is a great introduction to her work. This is a good read for children ready to move on to chapter books, with a small amount of text on each page, short chapters, lots of illustrations and a good story. Plus, there is lots of bold and enlarged text to help children read with emphasis and expression. If you press on the kindle edition, it will enlarge the print of each paragraph, which is a useful feature for beginner readers. The end of the book has a list of all the Famous Five novels for your child to read on and enjoy.

Muy divertido y padre para niños

Buen libro

Famous Fiveを多読しようと本編を買いましたが少しレベルが高く進まなかったので、イラストのあるこっちを先に読むことにしました。同じ作者の作品で、英語のレベルは一緒ぐらいです。YL4.0-5.0ぐらい。短編なので簡単かと思えば意外と歯ごたえが・・・ただ、フルイラストつきなので、絵に助けられて読めます！これで文に慣れてキャラクターの識別がつき、本編に戻って無事1巻目を読了しました。このshortstoriesは、イラスト不要なら検索すると5話入って100円台で買えます。そう考えると割高ですが、イラストの力ってほんとにすごくて楽しく読み進められたので非常に満足です。

My son is 6 years old and I wanted something to read that moved on from picture books and these are fab. He has really enjoyed the story. Still enough pictures to keep him interested and we can read it as a chapter book over a few nights. we have bought the next one 'George's hair is too long' (also a hit), and I am waiting for the rest to be available.

Book was in very good condition & it was received promptly.