2016, first published 1949
Enid Blyton remains a puzzle. Her books for all age groups continue
to sell and yet she is questioned by
many educationalists. In the 1950s she
was criticised for her poor writing and more recently her lack of political
correctness has become an issue. So, she
is popular but her works can hardly be described as classics.
The Noddy books have indeed been sanitised. The wicked
gollywogs have been replaced by trolls. We still have the problem of Big-Ears
who has acquired his name because of a faulty body part yet he remains a good
mentor to Noddy.
Alas, the females are fluffy and shown as dependent on
males. The males are authoritative and over-bearing. Perhaps, though, this is just reminiscent of
the time in which Blyton worked and lived.
Yet the story still appeals. It is a satisfying well-structure
story with an upbeat ending and the illustrations tell more of the story,
illustrate and amuse.
It's a bit of a puzzle. It is word-rich and employs a serif
font with difficult 'a's and 'g's, implying that the adult might read to the child.
However, the use of ragged right and the nature of the pictures suggest that
this book might also be suitable for emergent readers.