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.
Once again, I loved reading these stories again! They're so lighthearted and fun! It's always lovely when you recognise certain bits and characters and I can't wait to buy the final collection, so I can reread that too.
The first book in this collection, Second Form at St Clare's is by the original author of the series, Enid Blyton, while the other two are fill-ins, written more recently by Pamela Cox. All the stories follow the same basic formula: pupils arrive back at St. Clare's, new girls join the form, someone has a secret, Alison forms a crush on someone, pranks are played (usually on Mam"zelle), and there is a midnight feast. Not terribly realistic, and few of the characters are fully drawn, but somehow, the stories still hold one's attention.
(Actual rating 3.7) Another children's book finished! Yay! Onto the second book in the St Clare's bunker book series, and this series always fills me with such nostalgia whenever I read it. Something about it is so comforting ; reading about these posh girl's petty drama, where they just talk about midnight feasts, teachers, and tricks just warms my heart, because it's stupid and silly but just enjoyable and a good distraction from a lot of things. I do wish some characters got mentioned more, like Kathleen and Sheila from the first book, but they're all fun, and it's nice to see the regulars like Alison, Pat, Isbael, Doris, Janet, Hillary, etc. I'm going onto the final book now, and am honestly sad to be ending this series, because they're a good bit of fun. Onto the next book!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
i really loved this book, it was a mix of fun, adventures and sensibility. one thing that i would change though was some different adventures, sometimes they go on the same sort of adventures but apart from that i definitely recommend it.
This is another "3 in 1" Kindle book. Blyton only wrote the original six St Clare's book, but another writer, Pamela Cox, wrote some too. In this collection, "The Second Form at St Clare's" is the only one by Blyton. Cox wrote "Third Form at St Clare's" and "Kitty at St Clare's". Cox does an excellent job of writing like Blyton