Review - Enid Blyton's Five Go Adventuring Again
The Famous Five are Reunited for Their Second Exciting Adventure!
Apr 23, 2009
Illness in the family means that Julian, Dick and their sister Anne must spend Christmas at Kirrin Cottage with their cousin George (Georgina by rights!) and their Aunt Fanny and Uncle Quentin. The four are excited to be reunited again after spending a term at boarding school and they hope they will have an adventure as exciting as the one they had in the summer holidays. Their enthusiasm is short-lived when they hear that Uncle Quentin has engaged a tutor to help them improve their school-work.
George and Timmy are on Their Own
When the children's tutor, Mr Roland arrives, George takes an instant dislike to the man; this feeling is evidently shared by her dog, Timmy. Julian, Dick and Anne think George is being rather silly - they like Mr Roland as he tells them funny jokes and tricks as well as helping them with their work. True to form George remains obstinate in her views and refuses to change her opinion of Mr Roland despite his apparent efforts to befriend the girl. George is furious when her father banishes Timmy from the house after her behaviour to the tutor deteriorates and Timmy bites him on the ankle.
Sliding Panels, Maps and Secret Passages
The children had enjoyed a walk to Kirrin Farmhouse where they discovered an old map hidden behind a sliding panel in the old farmhouse. They are intrigued by what they presume to be Latin words inscribed on the map, particularly by 'via occulta', or 'secret way'. They determine to return to the farmhouse to try to get to the bottom of the secret way but to George's dismay, Mr Roland is invited to join them. Not only does she despise the tutor, George now distrusts him having caught him snooping in her father's study.
A Snowy Adventure
When Uncle Quentin, a scientist who is working on an important 'secret formula' discovers that several pages of vital notes are missing, the children begin to listen to George's opinions of Mr Roland. When the tutor goes out for a walk after a heavy fall of snow, Julian decides to follow him and his discoveries plunge the children headlong into another adventure.
Christmas at Kirrin Cottage
Apart having from the usual ingredients that make the Famous Five adventures so gripping for young readers, Five go Adventuring Again is a delightful story because of the descriptions of Christmas and being snowed in at Kirrin Cottage. Children will love this classic adventure story and so too will adults who read the Famous Five as children and are perhaps now introducing them to their own children or grandchildren, or maybe just returning to these stories for nostalgic reasons.
Source:
Five go Adventuring Again by Enid Blyton, ISBN 0 340 02424 0
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