Five on a Secret Trail: Enid Blyton’s Famous Five Camp Out and Find a Mystery on the Common
It all begins with Timmy the dog’s injured ear. His owner, George, tired of people laughing at the collar he has to wear so that he cannot scratch and the ear heals faster, decides to get away and go camping for a few days with her cousin Anne. Julian and Dick soon join them.
Author: Enid Blyton (1897–1968)
Title: Five on a Secret Trail (1956), Famous Five book 15
Format: English paperback (Hodder), 192 pages
Scope: Children’s adventure
Amazon: www.amazon.es/dp/0340681209 (ASIN 0340681209)
Strangers in the Night
The Five hope to spend a few peaceful days in the country, but some strangers try to frighten them away. At first the storm and the darkness make everything seem like a nightmare.
Guy and Jet
Then comes the disappearance of Guy, a boy who spends his summers digging for ancient remains with his dog Jet, and the children realise that what they saw during the storm was real. Guy keeps appearing and disappearing and loves playing jokes, so at first nobody worries. But things get more complicated as events unfold.
The Famous Five
The Famous Five are four children and a dog: Julian, the eldest and most responsible; his brother Dick; their younger sister Anne, who loves cooking and keeping house on their camping trips; and their cousin Georgina, who insists on being called George and is fiercer than any of the boys. Timmy, George’s devoted dog, completes the group. Blyton wrote twenty-one Famous Five novels, from Five on a Treasure Island (1942) to Five Are Together Again (1963), and this is the fifteenth.
George and Timmy
This adventure starts from a lovely, very human detail. George is so loyal to Timmy that she cannot bear seeing him teased about his collar, and her stubborn pride sets the whole story in motion. It is a good example of why George has remained one of the most popular characters in children’s fiction: a tomboy who refuses to accept the rules about how girls should behave, and who is often braver than anyone else in the group.
Camping, Storms and Old Ruins
The book has everything readers love about the series: a camp on an open common, picnics with improbable amounts of food, a dramatic storm at night, mysterious lights and an archaeological site with secrets to hide. Guy, the young amateur archaeologist, brings a touch of humour with his practical jokes, but his disappearances also create real confusion, and the children have to work out who is telling the truth.
Reading Blyton Today
Blyton’s books have been criticised for their dated attitudes and simple style, and modern editions have revised some language. Yet children still read them avidly, because they offer freedom: in the Famous Five, children go off alone, make their own decisions and solve problems adults do not even notice. For many young readers, these are the books that first make reading feel like an adventure.
Collecting the Series
The books can be read in any order, as each adventure stands alone, but readers who start at the beginning will enjoy watching the friendships develop.
The illustrations by Eileen Soper in the original editions are part of the charm, and many collectors seek out those early printings. More recent paperbacks are inexpensive and ideal for young readers who want to work through the whole series at their own pace, one adventure after another.
Why Read It
A story packed with surprises and adventure, full of intrigue and suspense, and one of the most atmospheric of the Famous Five books. It is ideal for readers of about eight to twelve. (The Spanish edition is titled Los Cinco tras el pasadizo secreto.)
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