The Children At Green Meadows

by Enid Blyton

The three children love animals, but haven't any of their own - until they are given a secret to look after. Then other problem pets begin to arrive. Soon Green Meadows turns into an animal home, and Francis, Clare and Sam are having adventures more exciting than they thought possible.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Animals, Classics, Family

160 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1974

About the author

See also:
Ένιντ Μπλάιτον (Greek)
Enida Blaitona (Latvian)
Энид Блайтон (Russian)
Inid Blajton (Serbian)
Інід Блайтон (Ukrainian)

Enid Mary Blyton (1897–1968) was an English author of children's books.

Born in South London, Blyton was the eldest of three children, and showed an early interest in music and reading. She was educated at St. Christopher's School, Beckenham, and - having decided not to pursue her music - at Ipswich High School, where she trained as a kindergarten teacher. She taught for five years before her 1924 marriage to editor Hugh Pollock, with whom she had two daughters. This marriage ended in divorce, and Blyton remarried in 1943, to surgeon Kenneth Fraser Darrell Waters. She died in 1968, one year after her second husband.

Blyton was a prolific author of children's books, who penned an estimated 800 books over about 40 years. Her stories were often either children's adventure and mystery stories, or fantasies involving magic. Notable series include: The Famous Five, The Secret Seven, The Five Find-Outers, Noddy, The Wishing Chair, Mallory Towers, and St. Clare's.

According to the Index Translationum, Blyton was the fifth most popular author in the world in 2007, coming after Lenin but ahead of Shakespeare.

See also her pen name Mary Pollock

Reviews

[Gemma Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whenever people ask me, 'What book started your passion for reading?' I never knew quite what to say, I always supposed it was the Harry Potter series, as it was the first series I really remember reading. But as I was looking through my (large) collection of books the other day I found this book, and I realised, this is the book that started me reading. I have read it ever since I can remember, over and over again. I can't describe how much this book means to me but I hope other people can even begin to understand and comprehend my love for this book. I also hope that other people learn to love this book as much as I do.
Without this book I would be just an ordinary teenager, going about normal teenagery stuff with my friends, hanging about around town. But with this book I became someone who cannot live without books, cannot stand to go anywhere without a book in my hand or my bag, someone who has been able to grow with the books she reads, to learn to love books as a part of my life, not just something that stops the boredom taking over in the holidays. BOOKS ARE A PART OF ME.
So yes, to anyone who has ever asked me, 'What book started your passion for reading?' this book. And I don't care what you think about that. I am entitled to that opinion.
This is a beautiful book.

[Ilona Ciller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book!

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book will surprise you with how beautiful their family's love and happiness is!

The author left some trails of what the next chapter is going to be like at the every end of the chapters so you would be really excited about what the next chapter is going to hold, Tragic? Adventure? Joy?

The story is about the three children who live in the Green Meadows, a lovely place which possess beautiful flowers, well made flower beds, loads of animals and the happiness with their family. But one day, their dad got hurt in the war and he can no longer walk or earn money for his family... They went poor rapidly...they couldn't afford to hire a gardener to look after the Green Meadows so Alice(their mom) do all the house works, it is not easy to manage the whole house and the Green Meadows by herself, alone even though the children help her run the errands and other things.

Will they be able to regain their happiness?

Is the Green Meadows going to be full with joy and animals again?

What adventures will they face?

I enjoyed reading this story very much although the way the author wrote is quite weird sometimes but the way she described the expressions and the actions that the animals and people made were very vivid. I admire how she inscribed them, I wish one day I could write like her.

[Lydia Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our Instagram book club is having an Enid Blyton themed readathon & it’s great fun & very relaxing. Loved this one- don’t think I ever read it as a child.

[Cheryl Briggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of this book before I found it in a charity shop recently.
It's a great read especially for animal lovers.

[Daisy May Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes Enid Blyton could be rather brilliant. I picked this up in a second hand bookshop the other day as a treat to myself. I had a vague memory of the title and, what's more, I had the odd ache for something simple and rich; a Blyton of the most Blytonian sort, where the bad guys get what's coming to them and the morals are bluntly rendered and the world is forever sunlit. The Children At Green Meadows delivered all that and more. It is a delight, and it kind of put me back together a little bit.

The family at Green Meadows is having difficulties. Granny refuses to sell their ancestral home, and Father is invalided, which means that Mother is having to keep everything going. Things change though when a new block of flats opens nearby and the inhabitants realise that they can't keep pets there. These pets, inevitably, find their way to Green Meadows and everything spirals from that point. It's a book of wish fulfillment and sudden, sharp emotion (particularly in the subplot of Father who has been invalided after an act of mysterious Great Bravery).

Sometimes Blyton could be rather brilliant, and she is very much that here. The story bowls on in a gloriously rich and blithe sort of manner; everything and everyone is lovely, and even though horrible things may happen, lovely things subsequently happen, and she gets that desperate urge for a dog, so much that you may even come to imagine that faithful companion. There's some blunt moralising, as there is with much of Blyton's work, but here it's a justified bluntness and I rather appreciated the point that she makes. This is lovely, and it's a perfect introduction to Blyton and, indeed, reading itself. I often talk about how Blyton is furiously readable and this is the perfect example of it. There's not one inch of The Children At Green Meadows that feels flabby.

[Namratha · Rating 5 out of 5]

In and around my building, we now have a golden Labrador with a heart-of-gold, a snappy l’il Poodle, a goose that honks like a Disney villain, an assortment of cats, a Doberman with a mother-fixation, an overweight Pug that manages to project an air of abject hunger, a blink-and-you-miss-it bunch of fat sparrows, hungry crows who always know when it’s lunchtime and an ever graceful soaring eagle. And this is not even counting the regular menagerie I run into when I head off for an evening walk.

I love animals. The above scenario makes me happy. Noah–recruiting-for-his-ark happy. And it reminded me of a childhood book that I used to love and want to live in: The Children at Green Meadows.

I dug it out. The front cover had vanished (which made me a little mad since I really loved the artwork), the pages were dog-eared and it brought back memories of summer holidays and pepper chips.

I could never critique this book. I love it.

A family living in a sprawling house called Green Meadows. A family that has a handicapped ex-army man for a father, a granny that jingles along angrily, a mother whose work never seems to end and a trio of children trying to be patient and wiser beyond their years. A family that loves animals but can’t afford to keep any.

So what happens when the children: Francis, Clare and Sam find themselves looking after the pets of people who can’t look after them for a variety of reasons?

The transformation of moods, surroundings and fate is a beautiful tale for children who love animals. It’s a simplistic story with heart. It doesn’t claim to change your life but it does leave you with a knot in your throat.

I repeat. I love it.

[Kirsti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved how happy this story makes me, and the sense of positive energy you get from it. Sometimes, Enid makes doing things for others seem a bit preachy, but not in this book. When we first meet the family at Green Meadows, life is not at all happy. Their father has hurt himself in the war, and is unable to walk or earn any money. Their mother is overworked and stressed. Granny misses the life she once had, and also works too hard. The children are cheerful, but go without things they dearly want. Over the course of the story, they all learn that the right attitude and helping others brings its own unexpected rewards, and you are left with such a happy ending it's almost unbelievable. A great story, on my favorites of all time by Enid :)

[Dhiya P · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is intriguing. In this book we see how the Marshall family and the children get some luck and a chance to nurture the pets given by the people who live in the new flats. At the end, all the animals remain (for permanent) there with the Marshall family which is the fascinating part. The PDSA van in which the vet treats the animals is also nice. Each and every person in the family are animal-loving. This book makes us, also animal-loving. So, the book is very,very absorbing

[Jana · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved this book so much it just wonderful. its really amazing. i recommend it to all readers of all ages around this fabulous world

[priyadharshini sridhar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book to read in a day.
Animal lovers will love this book
Enid blyton stretches his imagination to extreme limits

[francis · Rating 3 out of 5]

the first english book that I've ever read. I can still remember reading it for the first time in mid December in fairly bad lighting of my grandma's room, covered in a blanket. Its a cute book

[Kalpak Take · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing, the setting of this story is in old London and there in the country side is a beautiful big old house once called the green meadows which harboured lots and lots of animals,
but now is in vain. So the story revolves around how the children and some pet lovers around the green meadows make the meadow green and full of great pets and animals again!!
Very satisfactory ending so must read!

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book, despite not being much of an animal person. It finished too soon! I wasn't quite ready for it to end and was disappointed that it was so short. I would definitely recommend it, though. It's a little dated, but this didn't bother me. I love historical fiction. Read it. You're in for a treat! :-) I should add that it was my first time reading this book. Somehow I had missed it when I was younger and now I'm sorry that I didn't read it sooner.

[Nicola Francis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the worst Enid Blyton book I have ever read. The version I read was from 1989. It has not aged well and it keeps going on about what a scout should be like which is nothing like what scouts are like today. It went on so much that I thought the oldest boy's name was Scout and not Francis. However if a child is a real animal lover they may enjoy the book.

[Darcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My memory is a lovely book from my childhood which left me (perhaps unreasonably) disappointed by the ending in which everything is handed over to relative outsiders. The ending didn't take away from how much I loved the rest of the book, but it left a permanent sour taste in my mouth that has lasted through the years even until the moment of this reflection and quite possibly will never go away.

[GhostofMyrtle]

A family of children manage to inherit various animals to live in their ramshackle house where they live with their granny, mum and dad who is a war invalid. Yes, all ends happily. What was disappointing is I only counted one "dear little..." Not much of a drinking game book then.

[Catherine Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saturday morning lie in relaxation. You know everything will always come right in the end when it’s written by Enid Blyton.

[Mariam]

Didn't enjoy this quite as much as the usual family book, I think because I was never big on pets.

[Shruti Raghuwanshi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot could have been better, But overall it's good for a children's book

[Namratha · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I write this review, a seemingly ferocious German Shepherd called Zorro is barking his head off and pausing to play hide-and-seek with the watchman. An elegant cat saunters about disdainfully as she eyes the childish antics of Zorro. My kitchen window provides a chattery view of squirrels, sparrows, crows, a fluffy baby raven and a stern hawk who wonders why my mum hasn’t put out a piece of meat today. The wires outside the front balcony have jewel green parrots vying for territory with a cooing pair of lovelorn pigeons.

As a staunch animal lover, these sights make me happy…Noah-recruiting-for-his-Ark happy. And I inadvertently feel the urge to reread one of my favourite childhood books : The Children at Green Meadows.

I could never review this book objectively because I love everything that this book stands for.
It tells us the story about a family living in a sprawling and bit rundown house called Green Meadows. The family unit consists of a handicapped war-veteran father, a loving yet stubborn Granny who refuses to sell her house despite her family’s pleas, a gentle mother whose work never seems to end and a trio of children who are more patient and hardworking than their young years demand. The one factor they all have in common is that they love animals but cant afford to keep any pets.

So what happens when the children (Francis, Clare and Sam) find themselves looking after the pets of various people who can’t keep them for a variety of reasons?

The transformation of moods, fortunes, friendships and fate is beautifully and idealistically conveyed through this sweet tale. It may not be the book for everyone but it will definitely tug at the heartstrings of animal lovers like yours truly.

[Tushar Mangl · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Children at Green Meadows by Enid Blyton is a delightful tale of family, compassion, and the joy of helping others.
The book, first published in 1949, takes readers on a nostalgic journey to a simpler time. The book’s warmth, coupled with Enid Blyton’s knack for creating relatable characters, has ensured its enduring popularity. At its heart, it’s a story of resilience, kindness, and the joy that animals bring to our lives.

Read the full review on https://www.tusharmangl.com/2025/01/t...!

[Hemavathy DM Suppiah-Devi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enid Blyton was an animal lover, and it shows. Only a true animal lover could have written this gem of a book, that so beautifully shows the importance of kindness and compassion to animals, and of doing the right thing, always.

[Eva Siagian · Rating 5 out of 5]

i♥it very much :)
it's easier to read in english, funnier vocab.. it's jolly exciting :)

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread this childhood favorite. Enid Blyton never fails to entertain. :)

[Vcmc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pure joy.

[K.L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Children living in a dilapidated old house with an invalid father and overworked mother soon find themselves taking care of all the neighbourhood animals. Lovely and heartwarming

[Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

theek hi hai