Famous Five Five Run Away Together Paperback – October 15, 2013

I’ve read these to my 8-year old son, since he was 6 and he loves them. This was one of our favorites and he’ll still mention the Stick family 8 months later. He’ll listen for hours at bedtime. We read books 1-7 back-to-back and enjoyed them, then jumped around. Our least favorite was #19 Demon’s Rock. It took too long to get into a mystery. We started to make jokes about Famous Five “All the do is picnic and talk about how delicious their apples are.” Now we read Enid Blyton’s “The mystery series” which we love even more. They jump right into mysteries without all the delicious, crusty bread and sweet plums :)Famous Five series and The mystery seriesWarning 1: A lot of odd old English sayings e.g. “Blow!” Or “Golly!” as exclamations and “I daresay...” or “let’s do a spot of picnicking!” I usually give my son a modern variation as well, mentioning that this is how people used to speak. He has never picked up that old fashioned language in his day-to-day talk, though I wondered if he would. It’s actually a great vocabulary-builder.Warning 2: There are moments that are not PC. At first, I didn’t like that a character’s nickname was “fatty” in the Mystery series (his initials spell FAT). Or, in F5, that girls are supposed to be protected, weaker, or cook...But I use these as teaching moments - how people have learned to see, do and say things differently. About how people have fought hard for equality and that there is still a way to go. The parts I skip if I can is where they meet new friends (not in this particular book I’m reviewing) whose parents have died (hence they have a mean uncle/guardian who is up to no good and the F5 have to solve the mystery). However, this is no different from EVERY single Disney/Pixar movie where the protagonists’ parents die at the beginning - that bothers me much more! Most of us have already done our best at answering our kids’ questions about death, I don’t see why Hollywood wants to keep reminding them!Anyone who hasn’t read Enid Blyton, I recommend starting with the Enchanted Wood (1st of 3) - it was magical to me as a kid, and it’s how my son started loving chapter books at age 5/6. First chapter may be difficult to get into for a few pages, so def start on a sleepy night or summarize info up to entering the magical woods.DISCLAIMER: Enid Blyton wrote btn 1930s-1960s. In the 60s, she was accused of racism for books not mentioned here, as well as of sexism and xenophobia (it’s true that foreign people are seen as suspicious in a few stories.) I do not know enough about the accusations, but from what I’ve read (half F5 series, Enchanted Wood, Wishing Chair series, half Mystery Series), I believe the attitudes came from ignorance and a reflection of attitudes of the times, rather than maliciousness. I fight against ignorance and FOR acceptance of all people...but prejudice is still rife today, so talking to our kids about it, instead of brushing it under the carpet, while teaching compassion and understanding, can only help.

'Five Run Away Together' was written in 1944. It is the third book in Enid Blyton's popular 'Famous Five Series'. This Kindle edition features a new cover illustration and revised text to bring the dialogue up to date for a whole new generation of readers and also includes a personalized note (dated 14 June 2010) from Enid Blyton's granddaughter - Sophie Smallwood. This is a nice touch!'The Famous Five' is Enid Blyton's most popular series based on the characters Julian, Dick and Anne, George and Timmy the dog. The first book,  Five On A Treasure Island  was written in 1942 . The last book,  Five are Together Again  written in 1963 completes the 21 book 'Famous Five' series.Although, these stories are around 50 to 70 years old, they remain fresh and exciting today.What is Blyton's evergreen book formula?It's simple! Enid Blyton created 'believable' characters complete with faults. Young readers identified with these kids back then, and still do so today!The 'Famous Five' are a group of British children who often stumble upon the most exciting adventures involving smugglers, spies, lost treasures, secret maps, caves, circus folk and gypsies. They holiday in quaint seaside villages or cycle, hike or caravan through the English countryside, often by themselves.Ginger beer, ham rolls, hot buttered scones, ices and canned pineapples always seem to be the kids' staple diet! Enid Blyton cleverly made these simple meals sound so deliciously exciting!Over 8 million Enid Blyton books are sold in over 200 countries each year! What is the most successful Enid Blyton series of all time? You guessed! It's 'The Famous Five' :))

The Famous Five were childhood favorites and reading them to my kids brings back mixed memories. This book follows the model for all the books, and has the kids back to Kirrin Island again. I think the later books largely avoided this setting, but this time they actually run away there and stay. I find it interesting and amusing to read now because it amazes me that George`s parents would desert the children even though Aunt Fanny was `very sick` (with an unspecified but hospitalizable illness).I can understand a night or 2 but essentially it was like `can`t come back for a week, sorry` and `no you can`t come and visit us in this hospital that you`re mother is in because no reason`. I mean, it all seemed arbitrary and a little cruel on some level. The adults would all be arrested for abandonment in modern times.Also, it was quite shocking to hear the children being so verbally and physically abusive to other children. I appreciate that Edgar was not the nicest young boy around, but the children psychologically attack him and then end up restraining him in a dungeon and it is all portrayed as justifiable by Blyton, who has a very shaky grip on morality in this story.But then can you really take an adventure book of this sort seriously. No, not really. And it is still pretty good fun and it all ends swimmingly with the children going back to the island to continue their holiday once the evil Sticks have been jailed and Edgar presumably orphaned. To cap it all off, the little 6 year old girl who the Famous Five had just saved from international people smugglers, is allowed to stay on the island immediately after being rescued. Talk about abnegation of parental responsibility. its so bad its hilarious.Ahh, we live in different times.

Fun, consistent storytelling, with highly independent children who suss out what adults can't see.Always easy to follow. Recommended for young readers, and for English language study.

ジョージの家に新しいコックが。ジョージのお母さんの具合が悪くなり入院してしまいお父さんも付き添っていて家には子供たちだけ。ところがこのコック、全然子供達の面倒を見ない！それどころか！しかし、毎度マヌケなお父さん。悪気はないんだけど、ロクな人を雇わないね、いつも・・・（笑）

この夏休みはGeorgeのお母さんが具合が悪く、入院してしまいます。それに付き添いでお父さんも家を空けてしまいます。それに加え、いつも5人においしいお料理、おやつを作ってくれたお手伝いさんのJoannaも母の具合が悪いことで、新しい人が雇われます。5人はしばらくの間、この新しいお手伝いさんのStick家族と過ごさなければなりません。が、5人はこのStick家族とうまくいきません。5人は快適に過ごすためにあることを決心します。はじめから悪い予感がしていましたが、Julianの活躍に、さすがお兄さんだな、と感心してしまいました。

"ジョージのお母さんが病気で入院したので、お手伝いさんが来たけれど、これがとんでもない人。おまけにこの人の旦那も加わって、5人ともげっそり。そこでKirrin Islandに逃げ出しますが、ここで新たな発見が。1巻目でこの無人島の状況がかなりわかりますが、さらに素敵な場所が見つかりました。話の展開が速く、最初からワクワクします。"

I remember listening to an audio book of this when I was about eight, which my poor parents had to put up with on most car journeys, as for some reason I just listened to it over and over again. This is one of my favourites - the nasty Mr. and Mrs Stick, their horrible son and their stinky dog, a kidnapping, the island, everything! However reading it as an adult is interesting - the children's attitude to the son in question is actually pretty nasty and violent. I know he had it coming, but clearly Blyton's children weren't all sweetness and light. His behaviour is classed as appalling because he is a 'nasty' character, but our lovely main characters behave possibly even worse towards to him, with bullying, name calling and even threatened punching on Julian's part, and it is deemed acceptable, even by the police! They have a go at Mrs Stick for being hypocritical for condoning someone for kidnapping Edgar when she has done exactly the same thing. But then the children go on to do the same thing to Edgar! I'm not part of the PC brigade, I just think it's an interesting point to bring up. Was Blyton condoning such behaviour?