Famous Five Colour Short Stories: Good Old Timmy (Famous Five: Short Stories)

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Enid Blyton's Famous Five are a classic British series of children novels about 4 kids and a dog. The kids are 3 siblings Julian, Dick, and Anne, their cousin George (a Tomboy really named Georgina) and George's dog Timmy, a friendly mongrel with a knack for solving mysteries and catching robbers and chasing off baddies. The kids are about 10 -12 years old, but enjoy the freedom of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, albeit with a level of danger a couple of notches down. Most of the adventures take place in or around a country coastal village in the south-west of Britain named Kirrin, where George's family own an island with a castle in ruins, a shipwreck, secret passages, a treasure, intruders and, generally speaking, a healthy level of danger. The kids spent their time at the beach, rowing to the island, going on picnics prepared by George's mother Fanny. George's father is an irascible scientist who regularly threatens the kids with taking away their privileges.In 2014, these short stories were published in a beautifully illustrated series. They are absolutely lovely. The illustrations by Jamie Littler are superb. I will go as far as to say that these are the most beautiful kids' books I have so far purchased for my son (and I have rather many). There are, at this time, 8 books of short stories. We have bought them all, read them all, and love them all. In no particular order:When Timmy Chased the CatHappy Christmas Five!Five Have a Puzzling TimeWell Done, Famous FiveA Lazy AfternoonFive and a Half-Term AdventureGood Old TimmyGeorge's Hair is Too LongJamie Littler's illustrations are beautiful. There are illustrations on every page. They stretch over both pages. Sometimes the text blends in with the illustrations. The text is well laid out and dynamic. Each book comes in at about 70 pages. They are paperback but very sturdy. High quality paper. Great attention to detail. I do not know if Enid Blyton's text has been touched, but if I had to guess I would say a little: it reads very well, it does not feel dated.My mom read the original Famous Five novels in England as they were being published. I and my siblings read them in the 1970s. I was very keen for my son to enjoy these books too, so I bought the complete 21 book set. But at 6 my son isn't quite ready for them. I was about 8 or 9 when I read them, my nephew was 9. The short stories, however, are perfect for my 6 year-old. These short stories are highly recommended for the 6-8 age range.Background for Americans who do not know the Famous Five. Written in the 1940s and 1950s they quickly became a global publishing phenomenon. They were at a time, certainly in the 1960s and 1970s, the most popular children literature books in Britain, and beyond, particularly France and Germany, where they were translated, continuously published and have something of a cult following. (I'm talking about the countries I know about, I'm sure the Famous Five were big elsewhere too). They must have got out of fashion in the 1990s. There was some bad press about Enid Blyton's political views. When I tried to order them for my American nephew, I was shocked to find they were only available as imports from Britain, at prohibitive prices, and none of them at all available in the California libraries I searched. What a shock. I purchased the entire series on amazon.co.uk. My nephew was then not much of a reader. I had bought him the Diary of a Wimpy Kid for him (it had just come out that month), but hadn't been able to make him read past a few pages (I on the other hand read the whole thing in delight at 40 years of age). So I was rather anxious to see his reaction to the Famous Five. Long story short: he read the whole thing over the summer and re-read them a couple more times after that.I'm not sure of the ethical dimensions of this, but I'm going to copy-paste this review to some of the other short stories, as there are currently very few reviews. Flag this for deletion if it violates etiquette, thanks.

My 10 year old absolutely loves these books. They're more modern looking than the originals and the stories are shorter and simpler so they're a great confidence builder for children who are making the transition from little kids books to 'proper books'. They seem expensive for what they are because the print is quite large and there's not a lot of pages but my son reads them over and over again so he gets good value from them. I'm not a fan of modern childrens literature so I'm thrilled he is enjoying these innocent classics.

My daughter loves the famous five books

Excellent. Quick delivery.

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This was for my daughter's present ! she loves it and I'm so happy!