The Magic of Enid Blyton

"Parp, Parp" :D Anyone who has read stories about the wooden little boy who stayed in Toyland would know this sound. Yup, I'm talking about Noddy and his bright red and yellow taxi.

Now where did this suddenly come from? Well, the other day my friend and I were talking about all the different types of books that we have read over the past many years, the variety of genres, and the importance of reading books other than those of course which are a part of school curriculum. She suddenly asked me which was the first book that I remembered having read as a non "school book". I promptly (well, perhaps a moment's hesitation was there) answered Noddy!! in Class I :D I have no memory of "book-reading" before that, but I definitely remembered this because starting from Class I to X we have always had a "library period" once a week. There was this large stack of Noddys in our class cupboard to be rotated amongst us and I remember eagerly waiting for that period. That was the time when I entered the wonderful world of BOOKS and discovered the Magic of Enid Blyton :)

It is not that I didn't read books by any other author or enjoy them as much; considering, however, that Enid Blyton has written over 600 books for young children, it is no surprise to me now that every other book that I could get my hands on (via school library or collections from friends' homes) was an Enid Blyton. Be it the Adventures of the Wishing Chair, The Naughty Children series, The Magic Faraway Tree series, Famous Fives, Secret Sevens, The Five Find Outers and the Dog :D or Malory Towers and St. Clare's....I was always in the possession of two or more ( no less, mind you ;) ) of these books. I did have my share of hindi books too...Panchatantra, Heeray-Moti, Nanihaal mein Guzre Din.....but being in an English medium school the ease of access to these books was more.
The world that was woven by her pen was so very enchanting! Anyone who has grown up on these books would know exactly what I mean. Vivid descriptions of the colourful scenery, characters, the delicateness of fairies, wit of the pixies, cunning of goblins and gnomes, power of magicians and wizards and not to forget the portraiture of the scrumptious food :D Toadstool houses and Blue cup cakes!!! I was soooooo fascinated by the thought of it! Funny animals, creatures and plants that could walk and talk!! There were of course lessons to be learnt too from these stories, the rewards of being good, brave, courageous and consequences of being otherwise. Then there were stories of these young children (at least one of whom you could completely identify with) and their adventures, escapades and secret clubs. I remember spending a lot of my holidays with friends pretending we were camping (a bed-sheet tent on the terrace/garden) or having a secret meeting (under the bed) complete with passwords and all :D It was a lot of fun. I sometimes used to wonder why I don't have access to a forest or a river or a haunted castle or caves! Whenever mom couldn't find me/see me/hear me in the house, it would be obvious that I am in "my reading corner" absorbed in one of these books oblivious to whats happening around me :P And what would be a perfect birthday gift for me would be no secret either!! As much as I used to enjoy getting lost in her books, I do owe a lot of my knowledge and development of vocabulary to her too.

If I went into details of the details of what was so great in each of her book series or description of the characters that I find so interesting etc. I would probably be writing a reallllllllly long article :P But I do believe (as would any other person who has grown up reading Enid Blyton books) that those who did not read her books in their childhood have indeed missed something, which unfortunately cannot be caught up with now. I am convinced that reading and immensely enjoying her work developed the "reader's bug" in me and I gradually moved on to other types of books. The kid in me still admits that I would love to flip through pages of her books anytime even today! No prizes for guessing what 5yr olds around me will be reading ;) Thanks Enid for all the magic and joy.