Five Go to Mystery Moor

Five Go to Mystery Moor

Brief Summary by Poppy Hutchinson (from http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk): George meets her match in this thirteenth Famous Five adventure: with Henrietta (or Henry, as she prefers to be called), who is intent on acting like a boy, and the first few chapters of this fantastic book are based purely on their disliking of each other. It seems as if George's cousins: Julian, Dick and Anne are in for an awkward time, when George refuses to let Henry join their company – but will the fiery tomboy prove to be more decent than George expected, when a mystery evolving around the atmospheric: Mystery Moor, emerges, and the children find themselves: yet again, caught up in another adventure!


Random thoughts:

Was the show more United Kingdom in the 50s teeming with girls who wanted to be boys, dressed like boys and were happy when people took them for boys? Because there's yet another one in the series, Henrietta (Henry).

I have to say I loved the pre-adventure part of this book. I like it when we get some character conflict. We got that in Go Adventuring Again, and it made me enjoy that book a lot even though the adventure was lightweight. Here I really enjoyed George's feud with Henry. Let's face it, George is the most interesting character in the series, which doesn't necessarily mean the more likable (even though I really like her, flaws and all). Anyway, she's the one you can count on not to react in conventional ways. And Enid Blyton gets all the personality details so right... the way she gets into her moods, how she excludes herself from an activity to show she is mad, and how she reacts when she is ignored, half angry and half ashamed of herself. Even though she is difficult to deal with, I love how she makes an effort to act better and make up for her occasional petulant childishness. Blyton also gets Henry right, making her different to George in some ways, even though she is so similar in many others. I could read a whole book about everyday life at the riding school, with it's family atmosphere and with Anne trying to keep George and Henry from bickering.

I also love how canny EB is, realizing that characters who are too similar can be jealous of each other because they unconsciously fear that the other will usurp their role in the group. It happens with George and other tomboys, like it does with Kiki in the Adventure series with other pets the children pay attention to. Henry is even more boyish than George, and our poor George gets really mad when they have to dress up for dinner and people notice that, of the two, George looks more like a girl with her curly hair.

I know parents in this series need to get out of the way, but really, what a letter Aunt Fanny sent, curtly stating that the girls could not come back because Quentin was ill, without specifying the illness and how serious it was. And don't think the girls waste too much time worrying about Uncle Quentin. They immediately start thinking about what that means for their holidays.

Anyway, the boys are coming too, presumably because they also don't have anywhere else to go due to Uncle Quentin's illness. So the Famous Five will be together again at the riding school. Of course, their arrival is spoiled for George because Henry is the one who meets them due to a change in traveling plans at the last moment, and she gives a good first impression and is taken for a boy.

I liked how Julian and Dick dealt with George's excessive rivalry with Henry. Sometimes they are a bit insensitive when it comes to dealing with George's moods, but I really felt they dealt with it appropriately here. It would have been unfair to exclude Henry when there were no other kids their age around. Although William (we'll meet him later) looks like he could be in their group too.

In the meantime, Sniffer gets introduced. He is a little gyps... I mean, traveler boy who is always sniffing, hence his nickname. I haven't spoken much about the readers of the audiobooks. Jan Francis does a very adequate job, in my opinion, differentiating the voices from each character and telling the story well. Here, though, she really shines when she does Sniffer: she uses such a childish, helpless voice for him, and he does his sniffs so well... She also does an incredible job with Henry's snores, by the way.

There's some drama with Sniffer's father, who is rather abusive with him, and with their horse, who gets injured and is treated by Captain Johnson. Sniffer's father wants to take the horse, but the captain forces him to leave the animal at the farm until it gets better. It's the right thing to do, of course, but it seems to me that he has no legal right to retain the animal against the owner's wishes. The captain even threatens to tell the police. I mean, what legal right does he have? Well, maybe the police will be on his side, because he is a respectable farmer and the other guy is a gyps... I mean, a traveler.

Speaking of Sniffer, don't miss the stuff about him and the handkerchief George gives him. It's quite funny!

So, why is Sniffer's jerk of a father and the other gyps... travelers in such a hurry to go to Mystery Moor? And why is Mystery Moor called that way?

After some investigations and hearing a curious story from an old smith, the adventure proper begins when the Five (without Henry, who gets kidnapped by two unpleasant great-aunts) go camping on their own to help the captain and his wife, since the riding school is overbooked for a few days. And it's a good adventure, not feeling like a rehash of previous books even though this is already 13th in the series.

The setting once more is very atmospheric. Are there really so many moors in the UK, though? Anyway, that scary, impossibly thick fog... really well done.

At one point, when the children are running away in the fog following the abandoned train tracks, carrying the parcels the plane dropped, they start making a series of really bad decisions. Even though they only had to follow the tracks to get away, they decide to hide the parcels (which admittedly were rather heavy). To do that, they separate in two groups, with the girls and Timmy waiting on the track while the boys go look for the old train engine to hide the parcels there. It's a bad idea to part ways in the middle of the fog, it's a bad idea to leave the tracks and it's a bad idea to leave Timmy, the only member of the group who can find his way in the fog, behind. So, even though they have a compass, the boys manage to get lost. The girls, even though they could have easily used Timmy to find the boys, decide instead to follow the tracks and ask for help. However, they make a mistake and follow the tracks the way they had come. Really, girls, I know it's foggy, but you can do better than that. Anyway, when they realize what's happening, instead of turning back again and following the tracks to safety, they decide to leave the tracks and look for the quarry in the middle of the fog to spend the night there (?). That quarry, let's not forget, is the last known location of all the bad guys. The girls manage to find the quarry, but they are soon taken prisoners. These are children, and I understand them making mistakes, but this really wasn't their most inspired moment.

Well, while Julian and Dick are missing in action, the girls manage to fool their captors and get a message to Henry via Timmy asking for help. Henry, boyish as she is, is still not as brave as she boasts, and she hesitates. The Captain is out, and apparently Mrs. Johnson is a sorry excuse for an adult and would be too distressed to hear that her charges are in trouble. So Henry enlists the help of an incredibly competent younger boy called William, who takes charge. Henry and William rescue the girls, Timmy is injured, the boys manage to remember they have a compass and find their way out of the moor and everything is very thrilling.

I was happy to see George and Henry finally become friends. I would have liked to see Sniffer getting his wishes (a bike and living in a house where he can ride his bike to school). George promised that to him and it's implied that he gets it, but I would have liked to see it. And what happened to his horse? Maybe Captain Johnson and his fragile wife could have fostered him. He would have been happy in the riding school, I think. Hopefully he'll get the happy home he deserves.

Anyway, I had a blast with the adventure, the setting and the character work. Another fine entry in the series. show less

Amazing book.Very beautiful description of the scenes and the bit between George and Henry is really amusing

Red

Book 13

Novels/novelettes

Novels/novelettes

Durante las vacaciones, los Cinco irán a la Escuela de Equitación del Capitán Johnson, allí se encontrarán con Enrique, otra chica vestida de chico, que rivalizará con Jorge. También conocerán al Husmeador, un niño de una tribu de gitanos que acampa por los páramos, cuyo caballo Clip, se ha lastimado una pata. Mientras Jorge se queda en la Academia, los tres hermanos salen de excursión a caballo con Enrique, y descubren las vías de un tren, medio ocultas en las arenas del páramo, que llevaban de Milling Green a las canteras de arena. Mientras, en la Academia, el Husmeador va a recoger su caballo, y Jorge le regala un pañuelo, éste le promete que le enseñará a descifrar patrins y le dejará señales por el Páramo, para show more que ella las vea.

Al otro día. Ben, el viejo herrero, les cuenta que antes se llamaba Páramo Brumoso. Los Bartle, una familia que explotaba la cantera, desaparecieron una noche, presumiblemente aniquilados por los gitanos que acampaban en el páramo. Desde entonces se llama Páramo Misterioso.

Los Cinco, deciden rastrear por las vías del antiguo tren y acampar en las canteras de arena. De noche, ven una luz en el cielo y escuchan un aeroplano que está arrojando paquetes que contienen billetes de 100 dólares. Ellos recogen los paquetes, y Julián decide esconderlos dentro de la chimenea de la antigua máquina del tren. Surge una espesa niebla, y las chicas se quedan atrás, mientras que los chicos se pierden en el páramo. Los gitanos, buscando los paquetes, encuentran a las chicas, atándolas y abandonándolas en una caverna dentro de las colinas. Husmeador libera a Tim y a las niñas. Jorge manda a Tim con un mensaje para Enrique, en la Academia. Enrique y Guillermo, las rescatan al tiempo que Julián y Dick llegan a la Academia del Capitán. show less