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Saturday 22 November 2008

I love Enid Blyton, I've read so many of her books starting from when I was about 7 years old, when my dad started to read theAdventurous Four to me.

Shipwrecked! (The Adventurous Four) (Adventurous Four)

Enid Blyton is considered by some, a tad old fashioned, and in some cases non PC, ones would argue we have a wealth of brilliant modern day authors, who provide some great books to read therefore why read Enid Blyton?

Why indeed! - well for one I loved her stories when I was a child brought up in the 70's, most of her books were written in the 40's and 50's, so perhaps could have been considered old fashioned even for my day. But I was a bookworm, my friends were, and we just thoroughly enjoyed reading them. We enjoyed them for what they were, some great adventure stories.

Thus I'm enjoying them all over again, along with my children, we read all sorts of books, modern and older, enjoying the stories for what they are.

Which brings me to this book, Nature Lover's Book



I ordered it purely because it was Enid Blyton, well OK, because it was about nature too, which is something I love. I also knew it was a hard to get book, so I was delighted to see that it has been reprinted.

Well my copy arrived a couple of days ago, and I have enjoyed reading it. It will be a book that gets lots of use, that's why I am recommending it on here.

It's a hard back book with a dust jacket. There are 255 pages.

The contents consist of these headings;

NATURE WALKS

There are 2 stories to each month of the year, we are introduced to Janet, John and Pat and 'Uncle Merry' who takes them on these walks. They learn something each month

POEMS OF THE OPEN AIR

12 poems by Enid Blyton, one for each month

SOME INTERESTING THINGS TO DO

6 nature crafts to make

DO YOU KNOW THESE FLOWERS?

100 Flower descriptions, there are no illustrations, but the flowers are listed by what you might see in certain months

DO YOU KNOW THESE BIRDS?

24 birds listed along with a black and white illustration

DO YOU KNOW THESE POEMS?

One poem for each of the months by famous poets, including; Sir Walter Scott, John Clare, Wordsworth, Keats, Morris

DO YOU KNOW THIS TREE?

24 trees in black and white illustration, along with illustrations of their leaves and berries/seeds

NATURE STORIES

6 short nature stories by Enid Blyton to finish the book off.

It's a nice chunky book, I'm looking forward to breaking the months up next year, and searching for the flowers and trees in season.

Some might call it Twee, with it's old fashioned middle class roots.

I call it a cosy dip in nostalgia, with the added bonus of learning about nature in a simple and delightful way.

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