Darn those meddlesome kids10 June 2012tThis is the first Famous Five book where they do not begin their adventure at, or near, Kirrin Cottage. Neither do Uncle Quentin and Aunt Fanny make an appearance. In fact, this is the first book where we actually meet the children's mother and father, though it is only a short scene at the beginning. They don't actually have names, despite George not needing to refer to them, though I notice she does not address them by any title (and in a way it is probably not necessary).tIn this one the five are sitting at their parents house (in the country of course, I don't think any of their adventures take them into the city, though the only real city of massive proportions in England is London, though I have not been further north than Oxford) wondering what to do in the holidays as they watch a circus go past. Suddenly they jump on the idea of hiring a caravan and going off by themselves, which after some debate and deliberation (they are still children and do require adult supervision) they are allowed to, though Julian is put in charge.tSome have suggested that the five live in a fantasy world of endless holidays and ageless growth, and in a way that is the case since there is no indication of their ages, or having any birthdays. The friend, Nobby, that they make in this book is fourteen, however there is no indication of how old the Five are and whether they are actually getting any older. I suspect, though, that Julian is in his teens, though since he goes to the same school as Dick, it is likely that they are close in age. Anne is clearly the youngest, and in a way does not actually seem to grow up. However, realism does not seem to be necessary in this story, but rather the adventures that they have.tThis is another story where the Five stumble across some nefarious guys who are up to no good, and through an element of luck, as well as quick thinking, they manage to trap and catch the criminals. Once again, the police seem to suddenly appear just in time to save the Five, who are then congratulated for cracking a case that the police have been working on for a long time. However, as I have mentioned above, it is not necessarily realism that Blyton is drawing out, but rather the adventure.tOne of the things that I focused on is the descriptions of where the children travel as they enjoy their caravan holiday, and in a way she does do a good job of catching the essence of the quiet English country up in the hills and away from civilisation. One thing I have noticed about England though, or at least the very small part that I have visited, is that you are generally not too far away from any sign of civilisation or habitation, which is vastly different to Australia. In Australia if you, say, break down somewhere and have to walk, you could be walking for a very long time. This is not the case in England as you will always be able to see at least a farmhouse, if not a village. In England (and indeed Europe) everything is close.tFinally, once again, this book also has a cave network that the children explore at the end, but I must admit that when I was a boy one of the things that I loved doing was exploring caves and other places. I guess this is what appeals so much to children in relation to the Famous Five adventures.
Five kids with incredibly lax parents are allowed to take a horse-drawn motor home and enjoy a vacation on the lake by themselves. No seriously. I thought at first the caravan would be more like a vardo-a gypsy wagon-but no, it's a regular airstream-style thing with electricity. Anyways, they run into a traveling circus, make friends with a scrappy lower-class sidekick, and get involved in a mystery.Highlights include the sidekick's pet chimpanzee trying to violently murder in the face the two antagonists. No really, it goes for the throat. A blow to the head doesn't even stop its monkey rampage. Also interesting is the courage of the five interlopers in warding off two particularly frightening men armed with nothing more than an overly friendly dog. Said antagonists have no problems with child abuse though, although only the sidekick gets hurt. You can tell this was written in the fifties, because everything works out nicely in the end, so long as you are not an animal. More seriously, it was a decent enough book in the "multiple kid mystery" genre. It's right in the middle point between the younger Boxcar Children and the older Swallow and Amazons. All of these books have competent kids surviving on their own and dealing with mysteries. Caravan though has an odd mix of realism and fantasy. The villains aren't buffoons or comic entirely; they do things like beat up their young charge, or any of the Five if they could catch them. The fact that the kids are camping in a stone's throw of them, or that the villains threaten them make for slightly uncomfortable reading for adults. It's an empowerment fantasy and cozy mystery though, and you have a weird situation where the villains are realistic, yet the kids handle strange, threatening, and even murderous adults with pluck and courage that many adults wouldn't be able to. Not that this is bad, but it felt a little odd to have the kids so cool about it.Plus of course, the scrappy lower class sidekick. Not a bad book, but a little weird and rooted in the fifties when it was written.
What do You think about Five Go Off In A Caravan (2015)?
I've always wanted to read these books. My mum read them when she was younger and my grandma before her. So when my grandma bought me the box set of 10 for Christmas I couldn't believe my luck! As always, Julian, Dick, George and Anne go on a holiday in summer. I'm so jealous of what those kids get up to and how mouth-watering their food is! In this book the food isn't described in detail like the previous books but they still sound amazing! In this book the group of five (including Timmy of course!) go caravanning on their own. They want to camp as near to the circus as they possibly can and when they meet a boy called Nobby and get shown around the camp, they couldn't have been more delighted! But when they get on the wrong side of Nobby's uncle, Tiger Dan, that strings them into an adventure that they couldn't possibly imagine.It was a delightful quick read for me and I can't wait to read more of Enid Blyton's Famous Five!
—Laura
“ The Famous Five: five go off in a caravan” Book reviewThe famous five is a series of books written by Enid Blyton about four children and a dog, who go on really awesome adventures. In this series of the famous five, Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy. They go on a caravans to a circus camp that was recomended by a boy called Ned. In the camp, they stumble across two mean circus people; an acrobat and a clown, who were hiding a very big secret! I would recommend this book to either parents and students from around grade 2-5. I think that adventurous people would want to read this book or some parents who might remember this book from their childhood years. Some strengths in this book are the amount of adventure and excitement it has in every chapter( mostly the ending), it makes you to not want to stop, but to keep on going. Some witnesses in this book is the book cover. This is a witness because at some point it just makes you want to stop and skip some chapters, because you would know what is about to happen.
—Ogheneruno
It's official. At heart, I am a big fan of the cozy mystery. While deciding what books I should read for this challenge, I quickly decided on a trip down memory lane, reading what was my favourite childhood mystery series (and my favourite childhood author) - Five Go Off in a Caravan.The Famous Five (Julian, Dick, Anne, George and faithful Timmy) are on yet another summer holiday (They're always having holidays). This time, they decide to go on a caravan trip and follow the Circus. Of course, it wouldn't be them if they didn't have an adventure along the way.I think it's quite admirable how independent children were back then. If the Famous Five was supposed to be like the typical English child, then there's no wonder the British Empire was so strong. These children are encouraged to be independent and self-sufficient (really, going on a trip by themselves? And they're not even teenagers!). All this is so different from now, what with the "helicopter moms" and "tiger moms" and "eagle dads". And interestingly, this book dealt briefly with class issues. The Famous Five are clearly middle-class, but here, they meet Noddy, a circus boy who belongs to the lower class. While the book doesn't go into any details, there is some class differences (which can be seen by how uncomfortable Noddy was with them. And constant references to the Five being "posh"). Of course, this being a more-or-less ideal England (except for the amazing amount of criminals), this uncomfortable feeling quickly disappears due to lack of class consciousness of the Five and they become good friends.Frankly, the mystery isn't very mysterious. Well, I guess since this is technically an 'adventure' I can't say anything. But I think for those like me (going back down memory lane), I read it more for the characters and the ideal-England (sunny, friendly, etc) than for the plot. Personally, I love Enid Blyton because she reminds me of my childhood. This is definitely a book for all those homesick for the distant time where we were small(er). If you're much younger, like say, 8, you should definitely read this series. It's not as fast-paced as most YA/Children's fiction nowadays, but it's endearing. This book was read for the Merely Mystery Reading Challenge and clearly, it is a Cozy mystery.First posted at Inside the mind of a Bibliophile
—Eustacia Tan
