Five on Kirrin Island Again - Enid Blyton

Published as an audiobook by Hodder Children's Books/Hachette Children's Book, 2013.
Narrated by Jan Francis.
Book 6 in the 'Famous Five' series. Preceded by 'Five Go Off in a Caravan.' Followed by 'Five Go Off to Camp.'
Originally published 1947.

The interesting thing about this entry in the Famous Five series is summed up by a comment Anne makes towards the end of the story. As things are wrapping up, she tells the rest of the group that she is happy the adventure is almost over, and that she didn't even realise they were having one for most of it.

Out of the series so far, this entry has perhaps the best balance in this regards. The second book, Five Go Adventuring Again, tried a similar slow-burn approach to the story and still held our interest, but seemed to be waiting for a revelation to come, whereas the third book, Five Run Away Together, simply made the heroes miserable until they did what the title suggests they did! In Five on Kirrin Island Again, we get all the pieces slowly falling into place, without (unless you take some time to think about it) knowing how they will connect. This means that we as the audience, conditioned to the Famous Five format, are aware that the adventure has begun, even as the children are not. We begin asking questions along with the children, but are more ready to assume something suspicious is going to happen because, after all, it always does!

The set up for this book comes in three seemingly unrelated ways: firstly, Uncle Quentin has 'borrowed' George's island for his experiments, and seems to have also discovered a secret hiding place none of the children know about. Secondly, a slightly mysterious man named Mr Curton and his mopey son Martin have come to live nearby and might be slightly too interested in Uncle Quentin's work. Thirdly, the nearby quarry has a mysterious tunnel going into it.

What could the link possibly be??!!

Yeah, its all straightforward, mildly predictable, and overly dramatic, but that's why we love this series. And I don't even need to add that Jan Francis continues to narrate the series well. I might not even bother to mention that going forward, as she is consistently great.

Completed with Elise, 29 December 2024.



(Elise Books)



(Famous Five Series)

Previous Book ~ Next Book

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Words of Radiance - Brandon Sanderson

Image
Published by Tom Doherty Associates Books/TOR Fantasy: New York, 2014. Book 2 in 'The Stormlight Archives' series. Preceded by ' The Way of Kings .' Followed by (spin-off) ' Edgedancer ' and (main series) ' Oathbringer. ' Well, I finally read the second Stormlight book, this one even longer than the last  at a whopping 1080 pages, and once again found myself enjoying Sanderson's world immensely. The plot does take longer than strictly necessary in places - particularly in the storyline following Shallan Davar as she journeys towards the Shattered Plains - but overall is still a page-turner. By the middle of Words of Radiance our three main characters (Kaladin, Shallan and Adolin) are finally in the same location, something that was never achieved in the first book. In keeping them apart for so long, Sanderson is able to give his readers a real understanding of what makes each character tick, and this becomes quite interesting as when these character...
Read more

Martin Luther - Eric Metaxas

Image
Published by Penguin Audio, 2017. Audiobook narrated by the author. I knew next to nothing about Martin Luther before beginning this book, only that he was famous for starting the Reformation and did so by nailing his 95 Theses to the door of a church. There is a lot more to him than that! The thing that struck me most, while listening to this book, was how little Martin Luther intended to be controversial; as Metaxas argues, Luther wrote the 95 Theses in Latin (the scholarly language) because he intended to have a scholarly debate, not a revolution. It was only when his theses were translated into German and distributed by others that he was forced to defend them in public, thus going further than he intended. As things escalated, and Luther made more and more controversial statements (controversial to the ears of the established church of the day), there came a point where Luther gained a real peace with what was happening, because it was 'obvious that God was in it.' If that...
Read more

The One Year Worship the King Devotional - Chris Tiegreen

Image
Published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.: Carol Stream, Illinois, 2008. For my birthday last year I was given this devotional, by an author I had never heard of, and started reading it sometime later in September. I have quite a hit-and-miss record with devotionals; they are often a bit glib or cliche for me and I struggle to stick with them. This devotional, however, quickly appealed to me and although I'm not sure exactly what day I started reading it last year, I know I have now read every entry in it. What I like about this devotional is that it is quite ready to dig into deeper theology, occasionally even into commentary! An example of a good challenge (from only the second day of the year!): "Many believers get caught up in getting the most out of their salvation. Few move on to giving the most out of their salvation. But those who do will realize one of the many paradoxes of the Kingdom: Giving it all results in getting it all. A heart poured out in praise results in...
Read more