Posted by JB on April 05, 2012 at 05:56:33 user JB.
In Reply to: Re: Blyton updated posted by Roger Wardale on April 05, 2012 at 03:22:11:
Let me clarify my aside a bit:
1. Blyton was a good writer in the sense that she captures a young reader's imagination with simple language and makes the transition "through the page" effortless. This is true of nearly all her stories, regardless of their assembly line plots and non-PC anachronisms. It's a rare gift.
2. To ask whether a children's book has merit is a bit like asking whether a toy tricycle has merit. Obviously an adult would find a bike or a car more exciting but that's not really the point is it? All that matters is whether the child enjoys it and whether it serves as a stepping stone to bigger things. From personal experience I find it bewildering that anyone could deny that this is true of Blyton but I suppose that the optimal stepping stone depends on the child.
3. Notwithstanding point 2, sometimes a toy or children's story is constructed with such skill that an adult can enjoy it for its own sake. A kite or radio controlled car might fit in this category. So do books like The Wind in the Willows, the S&A series and Roald Dahl's works. Very few of Blyton's books reach this transcendent level but The Secret Island could be one of them. If you read it to a young child I think you'd both enjoy it.