Le mystère de la forêt bleue

The Secret #4

by Enid Blyton

La Varanie ! C'est un pays extraordinaire et combien mystérieux pour Guy, Nicole, Linette et Jean Arnaud I Des voleurs qui disparaissent comme par enchantement, des statues qui s'animent, des grottes inexplorées, et surtout, une forêt où nul n'a jamais pénétré. Les enfants ne peuvent que la survoler en avion.
" Une fumée ! s'écrie soudain Jean.
- Où donc?
- Dans la forêt bleue !
- Une fumée dans la forêt? Mais c'est impossible, puisque personne n'a jamais pu y pénétrer ! "
Impossible?... Cette fumée va pourtant entraîner les jeunes Arnaud dans la plus fascinante aventure qu'ils aient jamais vécue !

Genres: Childrens, Adventure, Fiction, Mystery, Classics, Middle Grade, Young Adult

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1943

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

[Cheryl Briggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never read this as a child but glad I've read it now. Great story, just a bit long-winded on their way back home.Thought their escape was never - ending.

[chucklesthescot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nora, Mike, Peggy and Jack are thrilled at being given the chance to go and have their holidays with their best friend Prince Paul, at his home in Baronia. Staying at the luxury castle with Paul's family is exciting but the hot temperatures mean that a move to the cooler secondary castle up in the remote mountains. The children are excited to fly over the secret forest surrounded by mountains that cannot be reached and Jack is sure that he sees smoke coming from it, suggesting people do live there. When robbers prowl the area close to the mountain castle, attacking his people, Paul is determined to put a stop to it and rescue his friends, a dangerous mission that takes the children inside the mountain itself.

I really like the children in this book because they are brave, smart and not at all whiny. They have that curious streak that kids at that age have, just like I had when I was like them! I enjoy seeing their adventure go to a different country. It was fun to get a chance to finally visit the country of the much mentioned Baronia and briefly meet Paul's extended family. A lakeside castle in the hills provides a bit of exciting luxury for the children and it also reunites them with their friends Pilescu and Ranni from their previous adventure. It was great to see both men feature heavily in this adventure. I also loved the addition of the new character Beowald, a blind goatherd with musical talent who knows the mountains near the higher castle better than anyone. He serves an important role in this book.

The whole idea of a secret forest surrounded by mountains that can't be crossed is exciting for any kids to think about and a flight around the area lets them see it for themselves. Jack is certain that he sees smoke in the forest from a possible campfire but the local men can't imagine that there is any way in or out of the forest. It is when the raiders suddenly appear and start to attack local people that things ramp up, and the children wonder where the people came from. It is while out exploring the area that they find a temple and it soon becomes clear that the raiders are coming through it to attack people and steal what they need. It is during an exploration of the temple that Pilescu and Ranni disappear.

Paul is furious and upset that his people are being attacked and his friends have been captured. Paul, Mike and Jack decide to set out on a secret mission to go after their friends, starting with a trek to the temple. They soon discover that there is a secret entrance in the cave that will explain why there was a campfire inside the secret forest and lead to their most exciting and dangerous adventure yet.

I liked the sheer scale of this adventure. Children love to explore buildings, forests, mountains and islands so as a kid I shared the interest of our kids in the book as they went on their adventures. I wish my childhood had been half as exciting though perhaps not so dangerous! This book plot is not limited by reality and what kids would really do, rather exploring the things that kids would want to do. I still found it as good a story to enjoy now as I did then.

[The Book Chief · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 2-star rating is for the novelisation of the TV series, not the original book, which I purchased by mistake. The original book by Enid Blyton is brilliant, with a 5-star rating!

The TV adaptation, though, is boring, shallow and riddled with unbelievably convenient coincidences- clues are dropped unknowingly (all the time) by the villain's henchmen and found serendipitously by the good guys. The plot is far fetched, the characters are stereotyped cardboard cutouts- they aren't even true to the original characters whom readers knew well. In fact, many characters are new. A few examples:
Ruby is introduced as the Arnold kids' nanny. Since when did the bold,brave, adventurous Arnold kids who had once lived on a secret island by themselves for several months, need a nanny? Captain Arnold is referred to as Thaddeus (that's supposed to be his name), cool Mrs Arnold is nowhere on the scene, and in her place is Thaddeus's quasi girlfriend Charlotte. Prince Paul is no longer the youngest, but is tall and gangly and the most resourceful kid in the group (that used to be Jack!). And Ranni and Pilescu, Paul's loyal guards have been replaced by a guy called - I kid you not- Barney, who is an ex US Secrer Service agent!
Bleeeeeargh!
The two stars are only because Ruby is a shown as a strong plucky badass nanny and because Prince the dog is a nice addition.
Do yourselves a favour and do NOT pick up this travesty of an adaptation. Read the original instead.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was a child, I Read and Reread The Secret Island (#1) and its sequels for years.
One of Enid Blyton's best series. : likely a bit dated now but what a fun read! The Secret of Killimooin shows its age/ "datedness" in regards to how Blyton depicts non-whites. It is still a good book, although not one of my favorites of the series.
I have just reread the books in the series as an adult. These books were written in the 1940s, so perspectives, behaviors portrayed are obviously different. There is a little "racism" "sexism" but only because of the times it was written. The age of the publication does not change the fact they are well written, fun, and enjoyable. I recently purchased the entire series.
I glad there are reprints. However, I pray that the reprints have not been rewritten and modernized. This series "Secret Series" are old fashioned, charming without cell phones, computers and such.

[Jess Henshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book when I was 9 years old. I decided to read it again and I can confirm it has not lost its appeal. There is a good mixture of adventure and mystery mixed with a hint of danger. One of my favourite Enid Blyton's.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of adventure even if it is more fantasy than reality. Still fun to read.

[Ocha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jack, Mike, Peggy, Nora diundang oleh Pengeran Paul untuk menghabiskan liburan musim panas di negaranya di Baronia. Disana mereka menjumpai banyak tempat-tempat yang tidak dapat ditemukan di negara mereka sendiri, salah satunya Hutan Rahasia yang konon tidak pernah dimasuki manusia seorangpun. Pada saat itu penduduk Baronia diresahkan oleh kumpulan perampok yang tempat persembunyiannya tidak pernah ditemukan. Suatu hari Jack menemukan kuil yang ternyata adalah jalan menuju gua bawah tanah. Tanpa disangka gua tersebut menembus ke perut gunung menuju Hutan Rahasia yang ada kaitannya dengan para perampok tersebut.
Menurut saya setelah buku terakhir di benua Afrika, cerita kali ini entah kenapa terasa membosankan karena sepanjang cerita hanya menjelaskan anak-anak yang berusaha keluar dari dalam gua, bahkan Peggy dan Nora tidak ikut serta (yang mana cukup mengecewakan).Selain itu mungkin lebih tepat jika judulnya adalah Hutan Rahasia bukan Pegunungan Kalimooin karena letak misterinya lebih ke Hutannya, namun buku sebelumnya telah menggunakan judul 'rahasia' begitu pula novel Enid Blyton lainnya. Tokoh sebelumnya seperti Pilescu dan Ranni juga ikut serta dalam cerita ini. Ending dari cerita ini juga menurut saya kurang greget karena perampok dibiarkan terjebak dalam Hutan, padahal saya menunggu-nunggu saat mereka ditangkap dan diintrogasi asal muasalnya karena mereka cukup unik penampilannya. Selain itu saat diceritakan gua bawah tanah runtuh akibat badai hari sebelumnya agak not make sense karena kalo gasalah Paul bilang yang intinya badai di Baronia itu dahsyat yang berarti ga cuma kali itu. Kenapa badai sebelumnya tidak bisa meruntuhkan gua bawah tanah tersebut. Itu aja sih bagian favorit saat interaksi antara Paul dan dua pengawalnya :')) gemes.

[Farseer · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I love Enid Blyton adventure books, the ones set in faraway, exotic countries tend to be a bit too farfetched for me to suspend my disbelief. This one, while farfetched, is not one of the most farfetched, so I was fine with it.

The children visit Baronia, invited by prince Paul's parents. Due to a heatwave they are sent to a summer residence in the mountains and they get in a adventure involving a band of robbers and a secret, inaccessible forest.

So far, the best books in this series are the first ones, particularly the first (The Secret Island), which is a classic, but young readers will enjoy the continuing adventures of this group of children.

[Ayacchi · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

It gave me a mix feelings. At one point, the story was make sense. Kids having dangerous adventure with adults. Nora and Peggy being left behind. The long journey that not only took an hour or two. But, walking for hours sounded a bit too much for me. Or maybe I'm living in a time when walking 100m is already tiring.

[Derelict Space Sheep · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another memorable piece of wartime escapism, the children venturing this time to Prince Paul’s homeland. Peggy and Nora are sidelined (becoming nigh interchangeable) but, in mitigation, the hero and most competent person in the story proves to be the blind goatherd Beowald.

[Tina O'Connell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book ever .... when I was 11.

[Joao · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um reino peculiar. Uma inacessível Floresta Misteriosa cercada por altas montanhas. Estão reunidas as condições para uma grande aventura.

[Josiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exciting and unusual adventure from Blyton.

[Sid_rw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the first novel that really got me hooked on reading.

[Milley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This reminded me of the Secret World of Ogg

[Kit731 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tohle bylo pro mě celkem zklamání... vždyť to dohromady nic nebylo...

[Ambarish Ramasubramanian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing read.

[Anjali · Rating 3 out of 5]

.

[Bookish_globetrotter · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

[Stephen Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some children's books that adults enjoy as much as, or even more than children do. But Enid Blyton's books are not among them. I've just finished reading The Enid Blyton story, which examines her life and work, and it also makes this point. Most children love her books, and most adults don't. So I thought I'd re-read a couple of books by Enid Blyton to refresh my memory.

This one is the first Enid Blyton book I ever read, at the age of about 8 or 9 or so, and I've always thought it was one of her best, though when reading it again as an adult it looks somewhat different. One of the first things that one notices about many Enid Blyton books is what is nowadays called "food porn". She goes into ecstatic descriptions of food. But then so does C.S. Lewis in Prince Caspian and in some of the other Narnia books. But Lewis is usually making a point about feasts being associated with celebration and community. In his descriptions of feasts there is usually some element of that, so that most of them have overtones of a Messianic banquet. In Blyton there is less of that. It is more food for the same of food.

Many books of advice to would-be authors of children's books say that one should not "write down" to children. But Enid Blyton does "write down" to children. In The Secret of Killimooin almost every second sentence ends with an exclamation mark. She writes in exclamations: "...he had a surprise that was most unexpected!" Adults tend to notice such redundancies and to be rather annoyed by them, but children don't.

In her dialogues Blyton even sometimes makes characters speak in exclamations, which real children rarely do -- Oh, I say!... What a marvellous surprise!... golly, it will be grand! -- yet real children also don't seem to notice it much.

Yet I also have some vague and rather disturbing memories --that when I was younger and read a lot of these books I thought that perhaps I ought to speak like that, because that was the way proper children spoke, especially those who were destined to have adventures. Or is that just "false memory syndrome"? Or perhaps another grey moment.

[T.F. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is again a story set in an exotic locale - the imaginary country of baronia. It had interesting characters like the blind sheepherd. The first hald was quite exciting creating mystery about the secret forest. But second half kind of failed to live up to the expectations. The human interactions is low in this series and no strong memorable character. Enid Blyton's stength is not mystery or intrigue to be be able to make a book stand on that alone. Somehow this series is important in the sense that they show Enid Blyton's writing in a raw form from which the more mature adventure series has evolved later on - that is another series with exotic locales but makes much more interesting read.

[Jake Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a vast improvement on the previous book in the series, as the five children have their individual characteristics back, and the Killimooin Mountains are a well realised and exciting setting for an adventure.

I was worried at one point that the climax of the story was not going to live up to the quite excellent build-up, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that Mike, Jack and Paul made a pleasingly heroic and intrepid rescue band as they entered the Secret Forest.

[Kirsti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Enid Blyton book, although I've not had much to do with this series. It was alright, but the story was pretty wild and out there compared to some other adventures. I'd have to check out the rest of this series to get a good grasp on what's happening.

[Arshia Zehra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an awesome book........when Paul takes his frnds Mike, Jack, Nora and Peggy to his land Baronia they are enormously excited.It was all about mountains and robbers so i really liked it.....

[Sherrynarejo]

never read it

[loie]

This is the first English-written book that I've finished reading.

[Joy (Cheery♡Reads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always love Enid Blyton. The Queen of storytelling. Her books are a treasure.

[Cindy Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

effortlessly gripping

[Therese · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Santa Ze. · Rating 5 out of 5]

good for grown up kids. including myself. was interesting to read.