The Magic Needle And Other Stories

Popular Rewards

by Enid Blyton

Genres: Childrens

192 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2001

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

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's an eclectic mix of tales in this anthology for younger readers from the pen of Enid Blyton. Eighteen in total, and generally split into three distinct categories. The first grouping are the straightforward 'nature' stories, which tend to be either anthropomorphised 'cutesy' fare about animals learning lessons (a baby squirrel learns to listen to his mother after nearly being eaten by a fox, for example) or are basically set in the real-world and are informative, such as the opener about life cycle of a frog. GOLDIE, THE CAT WHO SAID THANK YOU stands out for the disturbing set-up which has an ugly kitten threatened with drowning before being rescued by a sympathetic kid, not something I expected to find here.

The second group of stories are those Noddy-style tales about sentient toys, of which my favourite is THE BIG FUR MONKEY, in which a toy learns that wealth and privilege are overrated in comparison to true kindness. This one has a proper character arc and you can tell Blyton was enjoying the moralising, which fits the concept well.

The third grouping are the light fantasy stories of gnomes and pixies, mostly involving Brer Rabbit-style pranks and involving a twist or two in the proceedings. The vindictive Mr Pink-Whistle has a cameo appearance in one of the stories (THEY MET MR PINK-WHISTLE). The opener, THE MAGIC NEEDLE, is unsurprisingly the best and most developed of the lot, in which a handy magical sewing tool spells disaster for a couple of unwary thieves. The moralising is heavy here but it's done in an entertaining way nonetheless.

This 2001 hardback was released as part of the 'Popular Rewards' series, and has huge text and plentiful illustrations. The latter are quite bizarre, as in one picture we see a group of kids in 1940s get up (bonnets etc.) being menaced by a couple of modernised bullies in trainers and t-shirts. I still don't quite know what to make of that...

[Raniafatima · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like nursery rhyme land

[Jill CD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute short stories that would make a great read aloud for younger children.

[Atharv Garg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories in this book were great and some were a little out of my taste

[Jagdeo Sammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It. Not. Letting. Me. Read

[Guan Jie Fung · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book. It has a 18 stories in this book!

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love...Love...Love this book.

[maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has 18 different stories. Some of it include The Magic Needle , The Land Of P’s And Q’s.

[Becky Lam]

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