The Famous Five's First Adventure! (The Famous Five: Five on a Treasure Island - Enid Blyton)

Member Name: GramiWay

Product:	The Famous Five: Five on a Treasure Island - Enid Blyton
Date:	19/05/09 (148 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Likeable characters, a lot of imagination, easy language

Disadvantages: Perhaps a bit dated in parts

The Famous Five series consists of 21 individual books focusing on four children and their dog and all the adventures they get in to. Written by the amazingly talented Enid Blyton who also brought us the similar Secret Seven series and of course Noddy and Big Ears the books were first published way back in the 1940s. I first came across them as a child when my mum gave me her collection and shockingly the stories have aged very well.

The stories primarily focus around three siblings Julian, Dick and Anne Kirrin who are sent to spend the summer holidays with their Aunt Fanny and Uncle Quentin by the sea. Their relatives also have a daughter of their own - Georgina [or George as she prefers to be known] who has a mongrel dog by the name of Timmy.

- Plot -
As the first book in the series, the story takes a lot of time establishing the main characters and their personalities. Julian is shown as the leader with Dick the more comical character, Anne is the youngest and most 'girly' of the group whilst George is presented as lonely, awkward and iniatlly difficult. We discover that George has no friends and is forced to keep the existance of her beloved dog Timmy secret from her parents after her father banned him from the house. After a lot of selfish behaviour on George's part and a variety of ups and downs it's not long before a strong bond of friendship forms between the four and they start exploring an island that is owned by George's ancestors. The island is a crucial setting for a number of stories later on in the collection. In this instance the children discover a ship wreck off the coast of the island which contains a treasure map showing the user where to find some gold bars hidden in the dungeons of the island.

As the children plan to find the gold and help George's family escape from apparent poverty, Uncle Quentin plans to sell the island to some men who it turns out are only intrested in purchasing it to get their hands on the very same gold. A final confrontation occurs in which the gang get the better of the criminals and claim the gold for their own.

On the offset it's clear to pick out various points from the book that would raise a few eyebrows in today's society, the name Fanny for one as the Kirrin's Aunt and the tomboyish nature of George is over dramatised to the extent of almost transsexualism. That said it's highly doubtful that children will pick up on such a thing though the characters all do seem to be terribly stereotyped throughout the collection though more so here as though Blyton intended to emphasise the differences between them. That aside, the story is a perfect blend of right and wrong whilst allowing a child's imagination to flourish.

This book in particular is not one of my favourites in the series though the language is perfect for a younger audience and is easy to understand and flows quite steadily throughout as the plot unfolds piece by piece. The characters are not described in a lot of detail which leaves a lot open to the reader's own interpreatation but the bonds formed between them is definately something that will appeal to a wide generation of readers.
What is presented here is a great adventure story for youngsters to seek their teeth into and even now, over 50 years on from its original year of publication the characters and themes still shine through magnificently and provide a wonderful story. The negative things I've pointed out are something I never would've even dreamed of thinking up back when I was reading the books with excitement and awe.

It's an impressive start to the magical Famous Five series and sets the foundation for much better stories to come.

Summary: A great start to the successful series written by Enid Blyton