Life must be filled up

So I went to the Enid Blyton talk on Tuesday, with a friend. To be honest, I wouldn't have bothered if it hadn't been for Enid Blyton's strong local connections. Viv is a real Blyton enthusiast who's been collecting her books since reading Mr Galliano's Circus as a child. Now, she knows all Blyton's Dorset locations, has opened the Ginger Pop shop in Corfe Castle village and has a new venture, Eileen Soper’s Illustrated Worlds down on Poole Quay.

There was no need for Viv to say a great deal about Blyton's life as it turned out everyone there had watched the BBC4 programme (and everyone had an opinion). Things I learned: the Mary Mouse strip books were written in the 1940s to make use of publishers' offcuts which would otherwise have been wasted at a time of paper shortages; Blyton's nature knowledge was so good that she became associated with the Warne 'Wayside and Woodland' series.

For a book collector, the slides of cover designs were slightly disappointing. I'm not a Blyton collector, probably only have about a dozen of her books to Viv's hundreds but I do have a full set of original Malory Towers hardbacks with the weird but so distinctive ilustrations by Stanley Lloyd. Only one of mine has a dustwrapper, alas, but I don't think I could enjoy the books in any other format. Unfortunately, these original books are now very expensive, in spite of the large number of reprints.

I'm certainly planning a trip to the Eileen Soper gallery next summer when it's open again. For people who can't wait, the web is simply heaving with Blyton information! I was hoping to post a picture I love, which shows Enid Blyton with Richmal Crompton and Malcolm Saville at a theatre. It's printed in Barbara Stoney's biography, which I no longer have. While searching in vain I found this fun Children’s Literature Quiz. Have a go!

No, not guilt about how much money I've spent on books but about where I've bought them. This is an apology to all small independent booksellers struggling to keep going. W H Smith's are selling the new Jacqueline Wilson book Jacky Daydream at £4.00 off and including it in their 'second book half price' promotion. So I was able to buy Jacky plus Sarah Waters' Night Watch for less than the cover price of the Wilson alone.

Jacky Daydream is an autobiography written for children. It includes many photographs from JW's childhood, very similar to those in fashion in blogging circles at the moment (grin). At the end of each chapter is a question for the reader asking 'in which of my books will you find a character who...?' She really has become a brand. It would be interesting to compare it with Enid Blyton's The Story of my Life, with its many concealments, not to say downright lies. One can't imagine Blyton admitting to having peed on stage whilst reciting. Times change.



Edit. P.S. I now see that Wilson claims to have read The Story of My Life when she was six or seven.