Famous Five parodies attract young readers to Enid Blyton’s books

IT’S a measure of the Famous Five books’ popularity that spoof adult versions have dragged in a new generation of readers, writes Susie O’Brien.

The Famous Five Annual 2015: The five are products of their time.

AFTER 70 years, Enid Blyton’s Famous Five have grown up and use Uber, tweet on their iPhones and munch falafel wraps to cure their hangovers. No longer are they spending their time having “jolly japes” in the countryside, eating potted meat sandwiches and consuming “lashings” of ginger beer.

This month the Famous Five books have been rereleased for adults in a series of spoof titles by Hachette.

So we now have Five Go Gluten Free, Five Give up Booze, Five Go on a Strategy Away Day, Five on Brexit Island and Five Go Parenting.

They’re brilliant — or, as Julian might say, “smashing fun”.

In Five Go Gluten Free, the gang “turn over a new spinach leaf” and swap sausages and eggs for spiralised butternut squash and smoothies.

But it doesn’t always go to plan.

“We’re going to eat no wheat, no dairy, no sugar,” explained George.

“I’m so pleased,” said Aunt Fanny. “Shall I make you some nice peanut butter sandwiches for your picnic?”

In Five on Brexit Island, the gang head off to Kirrin Island to escape the British EU referendum debate and engage a reflexologist to help them get into a better “headspace”.

One of the new Famous Five books.

In Five Give Up Booze the group decide to dry out after a particularly “messy” New Year’s Eve. They are then faced with the “dreaded prospect of having to attend a friend’s wedding sober”. They’re the best makeovers of an Enid Blyton book yet. The last time someone tried to modernise the post-war British author, it didn’t go so well.

In 2010 the publisher decided the books needed to have more appeal to modern children and fiddled with the plots, language and character names.

Apparently, they’d done some research and found kids raised on Instagram and Pokemon were put off by the books’ dated language.

Overnight a tinker became a traveller, a pullover became a jumper and an “awful swotter” became a “bookworm”. Other terms such as “wizard!”, “guffaw” and “pooh-hah” were dropped altogether.

Sadly, though, the do-gooders didn’t know where to stop. For instance, Anne played with teddies instead of dolls, the Home for Bad Girls was renamed and all mention of something being “queer” (as in peculiar) was removed. Funnily enough, though, the names Fanny and Dick were unchanged.

Predictably, kids turned off, preferring the originals, which were mostly written in the 1940s and ’50s.

In September the publisher sheepishly announced the new versions would be scrapped, because they were “very unpopular”. Hooray. Common sense prevailed.

Of course, it is not the first time Blyton’s stories have been updated.

In her Faraway Tree stories, for example, Dame Slap who smacked naughty children became Dame Snap, who tells them off instead.

It’s happening far too often. Other classics under attack include Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes, Grimm’s Fairy Tales — not to mention numerous nursery rhymes such as Baa Baa Black Sheep. Authors such as Richard Scarry, Roald Dahl and Dr Seuss have come under similar scrutiny.

With every rewrite of a children’s book or rhyme, a piece of cultural history disappears. A Famous Five book containing lines such as: “That little ragamuffin gave me a good bang” or “The pony went at a spanking trot” are reminiscent of their time and should not be changed.

The reader is taken back to a time that no longer exists and that’s part of the pleasure of reading. We’re reminded how much the world has changed in one generation.

The words and characters of books like the Famous Five series perfectly reflect the era they were written in; we can see what’s changed in society and what hasn’t. Back then, Anne always seemed to get stuck doing the washing up and Georgina had to pretend to be a boy in order to get dirty and have fun. They are products of their time, just like the wonderful modern-day spoofs full of silly food fads and management-speak.

Let’s hope their success leads to more such editions. Indeed, I can already see what the local versions of such books would look like.

What about Five Go to the Boxing Day Sales? It’s a tale about five women who meet on Facebook who have a ripping adventure trying to find a park at Doncaster Westfield on December 26. The adventure starts when a “furriner” driving a fancy imported 4WD takes the only undercover spot left, leading an undercover detective posing as a trolley collector to give chase in his golf buggy. The tale ends when Anne triumphs by snatching the only discounted gold mesh Oroton evening bag from the 70 per cent off rack. Smashing!

Other titles in the series include Five Eat Café Food From Wooden Boards, Five Wear Activewear But Still Haven’t Joined the Gym and Five Get Netflix and Never Leave the House Again.

They’ll be bestsellers for sure.

Susie O’Brien is a Herald Sun columnist

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