Five on a Hike Together

The Famous Five #10

by Enid Blyton

When Dick is woken by a light flashing through his window, is someone trying to send him a coded message?

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

196 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

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

[Mark Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hot on the heels of an adventure wholly dependent on parking a caravan on the only square yard of a wild sprawling moorland that matters, Enid brings us an adventure that relies not only on Dick being in a particular barn at a particular time, but also on him being called Dick. (Note, Dick was also confused with another Dick in Five Get Into Trouble (Famous Five, #8), two books before this one, and ends up being kidnapped by mistake.)

A rabbit-related injury to Timmy splits the five into two groups. Dick and Ann get lost and Dick ends up in a barn where another Dick was supposed to meet an escaped convict. Somehow Dick manages to receive a verbal and paper message from the convict without him seeing he was talking to a young boy.

From this unlikely event the adventure unfolds!

The message is a series of obscure clues to the location of the jewels stolen from the Queen of Fallonia! (The only other countries mentioned in the series are America and France as far as I know - not sure if Fallonia is wordplay on fallacious or felonious.)

There follows a series of back and forth squabbles with two criminal types also looking for the loot.

The saving grace of the book is the ingenious (albeit rather dubious) way in which the loot is located beneath a sunken lake by means of sight lines on local landmarks.

The fabulous treasure is recovered in due course and the baddies taken into custody by the police ... though in this case it's far from clear that they have done anything illegal. Failing to recover stolen goods wasn't a crime last time I checked.

A reasonable addition to the series, with the usual love letter to ripe plums, ginger beer etc thrown in. Notable for the lack of an additional child, caves, poisoning of Timmy, guns, Americans, & gypsies.



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[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.5 stars*

Had poor hubby rummaging up in the loft yet again, to find my much loved copy of ‘Five on a Hike Together’. It was well worth the rummage (even though I didn’t do it myself), I loved it just as much as the first time around!

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Famous Five are on their half term break and have decided to go hiking. Needless to say, they soon find themselves neck deep in another adventure.

Due to Dick not being able to follow a set of simple directions, he and Anne end up staying the night at the wrong farm, which leads to the kids getting involved with a criminal gang who are plotting to recover their stolen loot. Thanks to Dick getting his hands on a set of clues as to the loot's location, the kids decide to beat the criminals to it, so that they can give the stolen loot to the police.

This one clips along at a fair old pace, with the action starting almost straight away and not really letting up until the final chapter. I don't need to tell anyone familiar with this series that the Five eat enough food along the way to feed an entire country for a year.

A bit of trivia: This is the first book in the series where the kids are referred to as the Famous Five in the actual story, instead of just on the cover.

[Archit · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Kirsti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't even like pork, but when they eat the pork, ham, egg and cheese sandwiches I always want one! How is the five almost always end up eating the most delicious sounding food, and drink the best sounding drinks? Orange and ginger beer, yummy!

Now, through a series of mistakes, Dick ends up sleeping in a barn believing George and Julian will be along soon and that this is the farmhouse they agreed to spend the night at. He is mistakenly given a message from an escaped prisoner- the directions to a stolen treasure! Adventure is on as the five go off to find the treasure before Dirty Dick and Maggie, and all over the course of four days before they have to go back to school. Magic really does happen when the five get together, even for a short time.

I like in this one that the kids have got to use their heads, it's not as straightforward as some of the others. I like that they see the other side of life and Anne and Dick have to stay with a woman who doesn't think these middle class kids are excellent and treat them as such. A great mystery, and a great book! It's not hard to see why these were so popular.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Regarded as Enid Blyton's best Famous Five book, and I would wholeheartedly agree. No shortage of mystery and action. It rolls from page one, and has everything, except the manditory secret passage oddly enough, but even without one, it is a cracker. This book was not simply churned out to meet a publishing deadline. It sparkles as a timeless classic destined to prevail.

If you only read one F.F. book, then make it this one!

[Coleccionista de finales tristes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me ha gustado más el primer título que éste. Es bueno pero resulta repetitivo que al igual que en el primero de la colección encuentren un tesoro. Espero que los otros libros no tengan más joyas 💎

[Mathilde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bizarrement je trouve toujours autant de plaisir à retrouver les histoires du Club des 5 ! C'est encore mieux quand ce sont de vieilles éditions comme celle-ci ! L'odeur et l'histoire me transporte en enfance !
Un vrai plaisir de lecture.

[Ansu Kshetri · Rating 5 out of 5]

it has got so wonderful adventure that i wish i was one of them

[Kelly-Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars.

[Lou Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Story Enjoyment Rating 9/10 Christian Faith Rating 0.5/3 (a tiny bit!)

[Enia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Petualangan ke-10 Lima Sekawan!

Dick menerima pesan rahasia dari narapidana yang kabur! Apakah pesan ini akan mengantarkan mereka ke petualangan yang baru?

Semester ini kebetulan Julian, Dick, George dan Anne mempunyai hari libur yang sama. Kesempatan ini dipakai Julian untuk mengajak saudara-saudaranya melancong berjalan kaki menyusuri padang-ladang dan pertanian. Tapi bukan Lima Sekawan namanya kalau tidak menemui petualangan mendebarkan.

Seperti biasa saya selalu merasa sedang bersama Lima Sekawan menyusuri padang, pertanian dan hutan kecil. Enid memang mempunyai talenta yang membuat saya bisa membayangkan setiap kalimat yang beliau tulis.

Petualangan yang ini menurut saya tidak terlalu menegangkan tapi perjalanan mereka sangat menyenangkan. Belum lagi penggambaran karakter Julian, Dick, George dan Anne yang makin bagus. Saya sangat terhibur dengan segala banter yang mereka lakukan satu sama lain. Kejahilan Dick terutama sangat menghibur saya. Anne juga kelihatan cerdas di buku ini.

Salam limun Jahe!

[Halla · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was amazing. You never would have guessed the ending. But Enid Blyton certainly didn’t surprise me. She’s an amazing writer and her Famous Five collection is the best collection I’ve ever read. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone who’s ready to be amazed. It definitely deserves five stars and more. Excellent!!!

[Arina]

'Annie was de enige die niet kon slapen. Ze was klaarwakker en dacht na over het avontuur dat ze beleefden. Sommige kinderen beleefden altijd avonturen, andere nooit. Het leek Annie veel leuker om over avonturen in een boek te lezen, dan om ze zelf te beleven. Maar wie avonturenboeken las, verlangde er misschien wel naar om ze zelf te beleven! Het was allemaal erg moeilijk!'

'De vier kinderen liepen verder. Timmy blafte in het voorbijgaan een paar keer luid tegen de man en de vrouw, die verschrikt achteruit sprongen. Timmy kon heel gevaarlijk doen als hij wilde!'

[Cyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lima Sekawan dapet libur tambahan dua hari nih! libur dari Jumat sampai Selasa enaknya ngapain ya? ya apa lg kalo bukan melancong 🤣 kali ini Lima Sekawan melancong ke padang luas di tengah antara sekolah Anne-George dan Julian-Dick. rencananya mereka bakal singgah di tmpt" yg udah ditentukan. tp gara" Timmy keseleo kakinya pas masuk lubang kelinci, rencana mereka berubah total!!! 🤪🤪🤪 Julian, George, dan Timmy nyari dokter hewan, sementara Dick dan Anne tersesat waktu nyari penginapan. Dick dan Anne justru nginep d rumah serem dan ga sengaja denger rahasia narapidana yg kabur, dan ngebawa mereka smua ke petualangan seru nyari harta karun 😍

buku ini ibarat oasis di saat ak baca Pet Sematary, segerrr!! 😂😭 petualangan mereka yg gapernah bosenin meski dibaca org dewasa, kehidupan ngehirup udara bebas, lari sesana kemari. seru bacanya! tapi kayak kata Anne, lebih asik baca tntg petualangan drpd mengalaminya sendiri 🤭🤭🤭

[Vivone Os · Rating 5 out of 5]

DRUGO ČITANJE
Lagana ugodna knjižica za razbibrigu kao pauza od dvije dosta komplicirane knjige. Vratila me u djetinjstvo i baš sam uživala čitajući nove pustolovine Juliana, Dicka, Anne, George i Timmyja. Zanimljiv zaplet, lagano rješenje, ok negativci koji su naravno dobili po repu. Opisi engleskih pustopoljina u jesen i naravno tona fine klope za našu ekipu. Poželjela sam biti tamo s njima.

Globalni ciljevi: nastavak serijala, s moje police

[Catherine Barnard-Rivero · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the last famous five book in the series that I had left to read. I’ll miss these characters 😭

[*Tau* · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a kid I absolutely adored the adventures of The Famous Five by Enid Blyton and I've reread the entire collection of 21 books several times.
A few years ago I reread the first few books and was disappointed. Thus I gave 2* to the first installments.

Now I started to read the rest of them.
Have I become even harsher in my ratings?
Probably, because - despite my love for these books as a kid - I can't bring myself to give more than 1*.

A few of my biggest gripes:

What an utterly sexist nonsense
Annie does nothing else than 'playing mother/housekeeper': cooking, doing the dishes, …
Actually Dick and Julian should've switched names, as Julian often really acts like a real dick by being condescending towards girls.
This may be a representation of the zeitgeist, as the first book was published in 1942.
But then again, there exist lots of older books that were more 'modern' in thoughts.

So much eating and sleeping
What are those kids: marmots?
They just finished breakfast and they're already thinking about lunch. Oh, and of course they have to get food for the afternoon tea and for dinner.
It's true that I already heard of the importance of food in children's books. As you can read on this blog: "In Blyton’s books, eating food is the central focal point that brings children together. This in turn ingrains the value of having a bond with family and friends."
Taking into account when the first books about The Famous Five were published, I can understand that World War II and the aftermath were of influence. And thus, that food played a big role in people's lives.
But to me, there's a big difference between mentioning the meals or using them as pure page-filling.
Just out of curiosity I scanned one of the books for mentions of food and sleep and it turned out that they appeared on more than 45% of the pages.
Which brings us to the remaining (approximately) 55%:

Plot holes
In between all the eating and sleeping, our protagonists also solve some 'mysteries' that are either unbelievable or totally clear from the beginning.
There are lots of situations that aren't credible to begin with: young children from 10 years old who go on camping trips all alone, they can buy cigarettes, …
And it doesn't get better as there are definitely many plot holes in the described adventures (they hadn't the bag with food within reach, but still managed to eat without going back to get it; etc.).
Some of the errors could be due to a bad Dutch translation, but not all of them.

Line work
Did you know that Enid Blyton (° 1897 - † 1968) wrote hundreds of books and at some periods even 50 books per year?
762 of them are listed on Wikipedia.
But if you want a more detailed list of all her works (> 1.000) you can take a look at https://www.enidblyton.net/ or https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/list-all.php.
Bearing in mind the amount of written books, it's understandable that they often come across as pure line work with a lot of page-filling content.

The conclusion

If I had children, I wouldn't let them read this crap.
It's true that as an adult, you rate books in another way than you would've as a child.
But there are so many really good children's books out there that definitely deserve more attention than this overrated and outdated series.

[ANKO · Rating 4 out of 5]

ครั้งนี้เด็กๆตั้งใจจะไปพักแรมกัน แต่เกิดเหตุการณ์ขึ้น ทำให้ดิ๊กไปได้รับเบาะแสที่ซ่อนสมบัติมาจากนักโทษแหกคุก เลยทำให้เด็กๆวางแผนออกตามหาที่ซ่อนสมบัติก่อนที่นักโทษจะหาเจอ และได้สมบัติไป

ชอบในความกินเก่งของเด็กๆมาก อ่านแล้วหิวไปด้วย เล่มนี้สนุกเช่นเคย ตามแบบฉบับห้าสหายผจญภัย

[Melisende]

Childhood favourite - though the dustcover is a little tatty.

[Aditi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The five plan to go on a hike and pack things up and get food and they start to hike. They decide to stay in a inn for the the night which Julian knows. But Timmy goes down into a rabbit hole and hurts himself, forcing Julian and George to take him to the vet. The five split ways and go apart as Dick and Anne have to go to the inn alone. But they do not know how. Only Julian knows the way. Dick and Anne ask directions to the local folks which proves to be not helpful. All of a sudden some bells ring in the middle of the night. The village people say that the bells ring only when someone has escaped from the local prison. The duo lose their way and end up in a small house with a deaf old lady. The old lady says that no strangers are allowed in here for her son is very bad and he doesn't allow anybody. Julian begs her and somehow gets a place for Anne to sleep up in the attic. He sleeps outside in the barn. In the course of the night, Somebody calls his name out through the barn window and gives him a very queer message. "Two Trees, Gloomy Water, Saucy Jane and Maggie knows." And then the stranger gives him a paper and says the message is from Nailer. Dick very confused, believes that this is a dream and goes back to sleep. Soon somebody enters the barn, sits below Dick's feet and talks to himself and leaves the barn. Dick, still tired of the night decides to sleep on it. The next morning they talk to a small boy from the village who says that the old lady son is a bad guy and a bully and Dirty Dick they call him. Soon enough they meet George and Julian who were sick with worry and five are reunited again. Dick narrates his story to the four others and shows them the bit of paper. The paper looks like a scrap from a newspaper scattered with words but they decide to keep it. That's when Anne understands what really happened. She tells that the message was supposed to be for Dirty Dick not our Dick. And that's why Dirty Dick was also there a bit late to receive it. They go and inform this to the police who thinks that the kids are making things up. Angrily he tears the paper into four bits. But Dick collects them all four and leaves. The five decide to decipher the mystery on their own and they set out to Two Trees. But its not on the map. After inquiring the locals, they learn that its a burnt out place. They ask for directions and go to the place. They have to keep in mind that even some Maggie knows all this. They go to the burnt ruin and see that Gloomy water is a lake just beside it. They find a boathouse, get a boat and start looking for the next clue and that's when they meet Maggie and Dirty Dick. They both prove to be bullies after all. They realize that Saucy Jane is a boat. But its nowhere to be found in the boathouse. They go back to Two Trees as its cellar is where their camp is. They find that each corner of the paper has the name of a place. They keep trying to find Saucy Jane but in vain. Soon they realize that they have to row to a place where they can see all four places given on the paper at once and directly below them would be the boat and the loot inside it. They set out to find a place like that and they do and Julian anchors the boat there. They look directly below and find Saucy Jane and decide that the loot must be in it. Julian jumps into the freezing cold water and finds a bag in the boat but he is not able to lift the bag. He tried a lot but in vain. And right at that moment Dirty Dick was starring at them. They decided that Dirty Dick should not see them taking the treasure and they would come back at midnight. As decided they did come back at midnight. They found the loot and saw that it had the precious jewels stolen from a queen and a princess. They return it to the police who in turn drop them to school. And the jewels reach the hands of the queen and the princess. And Maggie and Dirty Dick go to prison.

[Hannah Colechin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

“Anne thought it would be much nicer to read about adventures than to have them. But then probably the ones who only read about them simply longed to have the adventures themselves!”

The Five meet up during school break to hike in the moors. After being split up and forced to stay at the wrong location, Dick and Anne receive a puzzling message not intended for them. By following the clues, and avoiding some other people who are after what they want, the Five trek to Gloomy Water to look for stolen goods.

This felt like a classic adventure. A message that no one can decipher, clues that lead them to hidden treasure, bad guys who are looking for the same thing; this is the Famous Five in a nutshell. The escaped convict raised the stakes, and the 'race against the clock' idea also made it pretty tense. Simple but classic.

My ranking: #8/21

[Varsha Hasini.S · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the half term and five plan to go on a perfectly normal hike but adventure follows. On their way to Blue pond farm Timmy gets hurt so George and Julian go to a vet. Anne and Dick lose their way in the dark and arrive at a cottage.The women there was stone deaf and has a fierce son so she only offers room for Anne and Dick sleeps in the barn. He hears his name called is recived some really myserious messages. The five think it has something to with an escaped prisoner and discover it.

There is no shortage on mystery and action.It is the best famous five book I ever read

[Dave Johnston · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's taken 10 books for them to be referred to as The Famous Five.
The tension of the writing in this was excellent - had myself and the boy captivated to the end.

[Namratha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Julian comes up with the bright idea of going on a long, rambling hike through the moors during the five’s half-term holiday. What starts off an innocuous outing soon escalates to an out of out adventure when Dick mistakenly picks up a strange message from an escaped convict:
Two-Trees. Gloomy Water. Saucy Jane. And he says Maggie knows.

The cryptic message is soon unraveled by the Five and the realize that they are the clues for some cleverly hidden goods. Throw in a pair of dodgy characters, some midnight dips in the middle of a lake, the promise of an exciting finish and the Famous Five have yet another “unexpected” adventure.

Famous Five is comfort food for my soul. And this includes those oh-so-glorious meals that our lucky friends always seem to have access to. Ham, cheese, egg and pork sandwiches…a steaming tureen of porridge with a bowl of golden syrup…bacon and eggs piled high on crisp brown toast, with little mushrooms on the side….the delectable list here goes on and on.

The Five and their adventures filled me with an early craving for long walks in heathery landscapes, nightcaps in cozy nooks and a bottomless appetite for good, hearty wholesome food. This was quite a fun and engaging adventure although it depended heavily on coincidence.
On the whole, a solid read.

[Sassa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, but it is not my favorite Famous Five. It seems to be written a little differently this time, a little more growny, as if the writing reflects the children growing.
This one involved a weekend adventure, hiking through the moorlands with a hidden treasure thrown into the mix. Blyton quite ably paints a mental picture of the scenery. You not only visualize the setting but smell it and feel it.
Note: The children in the book call others “idiots” a few times. I say this in warning for those who might care. We do not use that word in our home so I have marked through the word and substituted a gentler word like “silly” or “goof ball.” I know the children will chuckle when they see that but they will also know I care.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite of the Five books. It all seemed to happen too quickly and it ended just as fast. It was all a bit too pat. It's full of coincidences which don't ring quite true. Still, it's a Famous Five book so that's enough for me.

[Kamons · Rating 4 out of 5]

ห้าสหายผจญภัยตอนที่ 10 เล่มนี้สนุกดี เด็กๆ ไปเดินทางไกลกันในวันหยุดกลางเทอม แล้วก็ไปได้เบาะแสที่ซ่อนสมบัติของโจรมาโดยบังเอิญทำให้เด็กๆ ลองไปหาสมบัติกันดู ยังคงสนุกกับการอ่านเจอวัฒนธรรมการเดินทาง อาหารการกิน การท่องเที่ยวของเด็กๆ ยุคนั้นอยู่

[Irma *Irma The Book Whisperer* · Rating 5 out of 5]

... reading with my 9 year old daughter...

I've read all these books way back when I was a child and I've read them numerous times. I thought it was time to show them to her.

She loved it and has already picked the next one in this series.

[Stephen Mccollum]

An exciting read-aloud with the family.