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The Famous Five are on holday in horse-drawn caravans - and they have discovered a ruined castle nearby. However, the castle isn't empty - the Famous Five have seen a desperate face at the tower window. Who is hiding in the castle?Tags
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Five Have a Wonderful Time (1952)
Brief Summary by Poppy Hutchinson (from http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/): Whilst caravanning in the hills beside Faynights Castle, the Famous Five are eventually invited into the company of some extraordinary fair folk who are camping in the same same field, and meanwhile learn of the disappearances of two well-known Scientists who have presumably fled the country to sell some priceless Scientific secrets. The adventure really begins when the children spy a face at the window of a tower belonging to Faynights Castle, and following further investigation – find that the tower is not open to the public... Who was it, and how did they get into the tower when it was strictly out of bounds?
Random show more thoughts:
The name of the book couldn't be less descriptive. Five Have a Wonderful Time? Could have been the title of any book in the series. Of course, Caravan is already taken... I don't know... Five and the Fair Folk?
Listening to these books one after the other, you notice Enid Blyton having to introduce small variations in the beginning to avoid making all of them the same. After all, the books mostly start with the Five going on holiday together. When you leave a more reasonable interval between books, though, these familiar beginnings offer a re-encounter with old friends and the promise of fun times and adventure to come.
In this case, we start with George, who has caught a cold due to swimming in the sea in April and was unable to join Julian, Dick, and Anne from the start on their planned caravan holiday. What a bad patient George is, so eager and impatient!
As George writes to tell the others she's finally coming, the children learn that two scientists have gone missing. It's presumed that they are traitors, and have fled the country to sell secrets. Since EB wouldn't mention something like this unless it was relevant, we know they are going to have something to do with the Five's adventure. I had never noticed the Five paying attention to the newspapers at any other holiday. Maybe they did but it was not included in the book as it was not relevant.
Again the children go on a caravan holiday! Only this time they meet fair folk instead of circus folk! OK, this setup does not feel very original after Five Go off in a Caravan, and the adventure itself, with the castle, the secret passages and the kidnapped scientists is not the most original either.
On the other hand, the fair folk are colorful and delightful, easily the highlight of the book... along with the return of Jo!
Jo's foster family is quite understanding, letting her go roaming the country on their own like that... if she even asked permission, I mean.
The fair folk are not so delightful in the beginning, though. They are downright nasty to the children, quite the bullies, sneakily moving their caravans when they are away, sending them from person to person as they try to ask where they are, Bufflo the Whip Cracker taking some hairs from Julian's head with his whip... I'm quite happy that we can have people being rude and unfriendly without necessarily meaning that they are criminals, however. I thought for a moment that we might have an encore of Caravan, with some of the fair folk using their abilities to steal. It turns out that their hostility had nothing to do with them wanting to hide any crimes, however, but they wanted to get rid of the children because some outsiders had cruelly freed the birds belonging to one of the fair folk, causing the animals to die and him to lose his means of making a living.
The amounts of food ingested by the Five is not as awe-striking as in other books.
I know they are blatant comic-relief, but I had to grin at the huge Alfredo the fire-eater and his tiny, scolding wife.
The pre-adventure part is quite long in this book, but it's very entertaining.
Thankfully, Jo's arrival breaks the tension, as she colorfully scolds the fair folk for being so nasty to her friends. I can't blame Julian and Dick for still wanting to leave, though. Even if the Fair Folk are nice now, having all those previous unpleasant incidents kind of spoils the holiday mood.
Fortunately, before they leave the adventure starts. The children spot a face in the window of the castle tower, where no one should be. The Five plus Jo decide to investigate. They find out some puzzling pieces of information and soon the events come one after the other.
The adventure is nice but quite standard, until we get the fair-folk coming to the rescue. They are a force to be reckoned with, colorful and compulsively entertaining. Alfredo the Fire-Eater, Bufflo the Whip Cracker and his assistant Skippy, Mr India Rubber, Mr. Slither the snake man... What a group!
Jo does tend to steal the show when she shows up, doesn't she? Here not as much as in her previous appearance, but she still got a lot of spotlight.
When the fair folk capture the man who was asking so many question, I remembered that it was Uncle Quentin, and enjoyed the scene thoroughly, imagining his consternation and indignation.
Really, couldn't the bad guys have found a better place to hide the kidnapped scientist than in an old castle that is open to the public?
For once, Uncle Quentin was a good judge of character. He was insistent that his colleague could not be a traitor, and even went to London to tell the authorities just that.
However, at the end when he was listening to the whole story and kept saying "Why, I never heard a story like that!" I was thinking "What about all the other adventures your daughter and her cousins got into? You were even kidnapped yourself!"
Anyway, this one is not among the very best books in the series but it has a lot to enjoy.
Next up: Five Go Down to the Sea (1953) show less
Brief Summary by Poppy Hutchinson (from http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/): Whilst caravanning in the hills beside Faynights Castle, the Famous Five are eventually invited into the company of some extraordinary fair folk who are camping in the same same field, and meanwhile learn of the disappearances of two well-known Scientists who have presumably fled the country to sell some priceless Scientific secrets. The adventure really begins when the children spy a face at the window of a tower belonging to Faynights Castle, and following further investigation – find that the tower is not open to the public... Who was it, and how did they get into the tower when it was strictly out of bounds?
Random show more thoughts:
The name of the book couldn't be less descriptive. Five Have a Wonderful Time? Could have been the title of any book in the series. Of course, Caravan is already taken... I don't know... Five and the Fair Folk?
Listening to these books one after the other, you notice Enid Blyton having to introduce small variations in the beginning to avoid making all of them the same. After all, the books mostly start with the Five going on holiday together. When you leave a more reasonable interval between books, though, these familiar beginnings offer a re-encounter with old friends and the promise of fun times and adventure to come.
In this case, we start with George, who has caught a cold due to swimming in the sea in April and was unable to join Julian, Dick, and Anne from the start on their planned caravan holiday. What a bad patient George is, so eager and impatient!
As George writes to tell the others she's finally coming, the children learn that two scientists have gone missing. It's presumed that they are traitors, and have fled the country to sell secrets. Since EB wouldn't mention something like this unless it was relevant, we know they are going to have something to do with the Five's adventure. I had never noticed the Five paying attention to the newspapers at any other holiday. Maybe they did but it was not included in the book as it was not relevant.
Again the children go on a caravan holiday! Only this time they meet fair folk instead of circus folk! OK, this setup does not feel very original after Five Go off in a Caravan, and the adventure itself, with the castle, the secret passages and the kidnapped scientists is not the most original either.
On the other hand, the fair folk are colorful and delightful, easily the highlight of the book... along with the return of Jo!
Jo's foster family is quite understanding, letting her go roaming the country on their own like that... if she even asked permission, I mean.
The fair folk are not so delightful in the beginning, though. They are downright nasty to the children, quite the bullies, sneakily moving their caravans when they are away, sending them from person to person as they try to ask where they are, Bufflo the Whip Cracker taking some hairs from Julian's head with his whip... I'm quite happy that we can have people being rude and unfriendly without necessarily meaning that they are criminals, however. I thought for a moment that we might have an encore of Caravan, with some of the fair folk using their abilities to steal. It turns out that their hostility had nothing to do with them wanting to hide any crimes, however, but they wanted to get rid of the children because some outsiders had cruelly freed the birds belonging to one of the fair folk, causing the animals to die and him to lose his means of making a living.
The amounts of food ingested by the Five is not as awe-striking as in other books.
I know they are blatant comic-relief, but I had to grin at the huge Alfredo the fire-eater and his tiny, scolding wife.
The pre-adventure part is quite long in this book, but it's very entertaining.
Thankfully, Jo's arrival breaks the tension, as she colorfully scolds the fair folk for being so nasty to her friends. I can't blame Julian and Dick for still wanting to leave, though. Even if the Fair Folk are nice now, having all those previous unpleasant incidents kind of spoils the holiday mood.
Fortunately, before they leave the adventure starts. The children spot a face in the window of the castle tower, where no one should be. The Five plus Jo decide to investigate. They find out some puzzling pieces of information and soon the events come one after the other.
The adventure is nice but quite standard, until we get the fair-folk coming to the rescue. They are a force to be reckoned with, colorful and compulsively entertaining. Alfredo the Fire-Eater, Bufflo the Whip Cracker and his assistant Skippy, Mr India Rubber, Mr. Slither the snake man... What a group!
Jo does tend to steal the show when she shows up, doesn't she? Here not as much as in her previous appearance, but she still got a lot of spotlight.
When the fair folk capture the man who was asking so many question, I remembered that it was Uncle Quentin, and enjoyed the scene thoroughly, imagining his consternation and indignation.
Really, couldn't the bad guys have found a better place to hide the kidnapped scientist than in an old castle that is open to the public?
For once, Uncle Quentin was a good judge of character. He was insistent that his colleague could not be a traitor, and even went to London to tell the authorities just that.
However, at the end when he was listening to the whole story and kept saying "Why, I never heard a story like that!" I was thinking "What about all the other adventures your daughter and her cousins got into? You were even kidnapped yourself!"
Anyway, this one is not among the very best books in the series but it has a lot to enjoy.
Next up: Five Go Down to the Sea (1953) show less
I think i remember something - a face in the window....? i think....
i-dont-remember-this-book #4
i-dont-remember-this-book #4
Novels/novelettes
När fem-gänget äntligen var framme vid campingplatsen efter utflykten hade solen gått ner. De började gå över ängen mot husvagnarna. Plötsligt stannade de och såg sig häpna omkring. Husvagnarna var borta.
- Drömmer vi, undrade Julian.
- Nej, de har förvunnit, sa George.
Alla fyra stod tysta och bara stirrade.
Hur kunde två, stora husvagnar försvinna spårlöst.
Det kunde bara betyda en sak.. de var mitt uppe i ett nytt spännande äventyr.
- Drömmer vi, undrade Julian.
- Nej, de har förvunnit, sa George.
Alla fyra stod tysta och bara stirrade.
Hur kunde två, stora husvagnar försvinna spårlöst.
Det kunde bara betyda en sak.. de var mitt uppe i ett nytt spännande äventyr.
Oct 27, 2020Swedish
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2,529+ Works 111,127 Members
Enid Blyton, 1897 - November 28, 1968 Enid Blyton was born in London in 1897. She was educated in a private school and thought that she would become a musician until she realized that writing was her passion. She attended Ipswich High School where she trained to become a kindergarten teacher and eventually opened her own school for infants. show more Blyton's first poem was published in 1917, entitled "Have You-" which appeared in Nash's Magazine. In 1922, her first book of verses was published, entitled "Child Whispers." In 1926 she accepted a position editing the children's magazine "Sunny Stories" as well as writing the column "Teachers World." Blyton's first full length children's book was published din 1938 and was titled "The Secret Island." After working on the column for years, Blyton quit "Teachers World" in 1945 and also ended her stint as editor of "Sunny Stories" seven years later. In 1953 she started her own children's magazine called "The Edith Blyton Magazine" which featured stories about her characters and news on the clubs formed around them. Her most famous stories were those of the "Famous Five" The Magazine closed in 1959. In the 50's and 60's Blyton was criticized for the language in her book, for being to simple, but some 300 are still in print today. Blyton has published over 600 books in the course of her career. Enid Blyton died in her sleep on November 28, 1968. She was 71 years old. show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Five Have a Wonderful Time
- Original title
- Five have a wonderful time
- Alternate titles*
- Le Club des Cinq et le chateau de Mauclerc
- Original publication date
- 1952
- People/Characters
- Julian Kirrin; Dick Kirrin; Anne Kirrin; George Kirrin; Timmy (dog); Jo
- Related movies
- Five Have a Wonderful Time (1978 | IMDb); Five Have a Wonderful Time: Part 1 (1997 | IMDb); Five Have a Wonderful Time: Part 2 (1997 | IMDb)
- First words
- 'I DO think it's mean,' said George, fiercely.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)'Good-bye, Uncle Quentin, good-bye!'
- Disambiguation notice*
- Die deutsche Zählung hat zwei Bände 19:
19 ; Fünf Freunde und die wilde Jo
19 ; Fünf Freunde und ein Zigeunermädchen
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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