Enid Blyton - suitable for children???

[cheery]

Hi - we have discovered Enid Blyton ... I never read this author as a child, but dh had.

dd, age 5, devours her series - Noddy, Secret Seven, and now we've started Amelia Jane.

Recently it has come to my attention that some people consider her a "bad influence" and her writing of poor quality.

Gosh ... I never really inspected the books for quality. I know the stories are somewhat repetitive, the characters shallow ... no deep meanings,e tc

am I setting up dd for a lifetime of pulp fiction??? is she missing opportunities to appreciate quality literature because she is satisfying her reading habit with this stuff? I thought that this was great to boost her joy of reading.... anyway it is not as if I am going to discourage her from reading it or anything, but just wondering if others have any thoughts to share ....?

[choli]

Enid Blyton was popular with kids when I lived in Ireland.

Her books that I read were incredibly classist, racist and sexist. Maybe the books have been update to remove that type of thing these days. If not, I suppose you could use them as a tool to discuss those issues.

[mammastar2]

I remember reading the Famous Five series with great enjoyment as a kid. I was a voracious reader, including of more 'literary' books. I still remember her wonderful descriptions of food, actually! They always seemed to have magnificent picnics while on their adventures.

I haven't re-read them since then, so I can't speak to the issues choli speaks to much. I do find I'm sometimes surprised when I come across that stuff in books I remember fondly. With the Famous Five, I think I remember there being a housekeeper, and one of the girl main characters was 'girly' while the other was a 'tomboy', so quite stereotyped, but that's all I recall.

[Irishmommy]

I loved them all when I was a kid, but even then I could see the sexism, especially in the Famous Five. I don't remember much, if any racism, at least open racism - but all the characters were white. However, some of the really younger stuff has golliwogs in them, iirc.