Five On A Treasure Island - Enid Blyton

Published by Hodder Children's. Originally published 1942. 
Audiobook released 01-08-2013 by Audible. Narrated by Jan Francis.
Book 1 in 'The Famous Five' series. Followed by 'Five Go Adventuring Again'.

This is the first audiobook that Elise and I have listened to together, and the first I have listened to at all in a few years. This is due to us getting one of those McDonalds Monopoly prizes and being absolutely sucked in.

That is also why we signed up for Disney+.

The story itself is the first in the Famous Five series, which follows siblings Julian, Dick and Ann, and their (girl) cousin George as they go on various adventures. The fifth member of the group is Timmy, George's dog, who in this story is being looked after by a local fisher-boy due to George's father, Quentin, not wanting a dog in the house.

I first read the Famous Five series when I was five, and as a result don't really remember them that well. Revisiting them now, I was intrigued by George's character, and wondered how she would be treated in a story told today...

...because George wants to be a boy. She refuses to answer to 'Georgina' or "do girl things" and wants to be seen as tough. Throughout the story, her cousins think she is quite odd for this behaviour, but accept this 'quirk' and befriend her anyway. Yet there is never any hint given that George should not be thought of as a girl by anyone else. I wonder how later books treat this quirk.

Aside from the gender argument, and some slightly dated words (and names), the story of Treasure Island has surprisingly high stakes for a children's book. A shipwreck on an island belonging to George's family may contain a map to treasure, but does invite the attention of some fairly villainous figures. The children have to problem-solve some serious problems during their adventure (sometimes making slightly far-fetched assumptions that pay off, but you have to allow for some suspension of belief I suppose) and everything of course works out with a happy ending.

Being an audiobook, I should also mention that the narration is great for this sort of literature. Jan Francis manages to distinguish the different characters well, and gives an appropriate level of enthusiasm for a book of this vintage and targeted at this age-group.

Who knows if we'll work our way through any of the other Famous Five books, but this one was a lot of fun.

Completed with Elise, 27 October 2020.



(Elise Books)


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