Reading, Books & Enid Blyton

Few months back I took membership at a local library - its a small library but has good collection of old and new books. The first thing I checked out was the children’s section and was happy to see good collection of Enid Blyton Famous Five (FF), Secret Seven (SS), Nancy Drew collection. next to it was Tintin series, Asterix, Calvin & Hobbes  !! I was happy to see the collection and picked up few books.

As a child I was not much into reading , but once in while whenever I took book from school library it would be Enid Blyton’s books collection of short stories , to Naughtiest girl series to famous five , Nancy drew. To be frank for a long while I did not know any other author (and I still don’t know many other authors for children literature, Ruskin bond another name…). As an adult, especially after marriage I hardly thought about reading books, life as a IT professional and wife and later mother of two had no scope for reading books. Its only in last one year that I could pick up books and surprised myself by reading quite a few books which I had thought I would never be able to read  ..

The visible impact which I could see after starting reading was ,Esther got into the habit of asking my progress in reading, she also observed that when ever I was reading , I would not concentrate much on what she was talking, So whenever she saw me reading she would ask if I could hear what she was telling :) Then one day I got Famous Five (FF) to read, I read that book in a day getting nostalgic, Esther was surprised that I could finish reading in one day, and after me Anil picked up that book. Esther saw us reading and talking about the books listened to our discussions, and then she asked if she can also take books from Library !

During vacation I took her to the library, and there she picked up ‘Thea Silton’ books, somehow after seeing the print style and reading few pages, I was not impressed and then suggested that along with Thea book (which were very few) she could probably pick one of  Enid Blyton book ,she was not sure which one to pick there were too many books, I suggested SS. After couple weeks and few SS and FF , which Anil (and at times I also ) would read, while we were having discussion on one of the SS books, Esther commented - ‘What I like about SS or FF is when you read you can picturize the scenes and the whole set up’ Exactly!, that's the beauty of Enid Blyton books, they are very simple not just to understand but also to visualize, and even after 20 years later Anil or me still enjoy reading the books.

During her vacation Esther introduced 2 of her friends to the same library, and she read quite a few books herself. When her school reopened 2 weeks back, she asked me if she could still take books from the library? I told her to check the school library, and if they would allow class 5 students to take books (She was not sure, as till class 4 she said they had a useless library which had only old issues of children magazine). End of first week at school she got her Library card - she was very happy to have her own membership card, and she could take books from the library. but she was still not sure what all books were available. Last week they went to the library - their teacher told that they could take books from the ‘Children Literature’ section, Esther browsed and saw it was all magazines or books for small children - and then she saw ‘Famous Five’ series in another rack - She asked her teacher if she could take books from that shelf? Her teacher replied - it is for bigger students and not for class 5 children, Esther replied that she has read quite a few FF and SS. Teacher looked at her and after few seconds pause - issued the book to her :)

Btw Ezekiel has started imitating Esther reading book (he still does not know a,b,c,d :)

Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him/her.

- Maya Angelou