The Secret Seven is the first installment in The Secret Seven series. It is written by Enid Blyton.The book is abhor the Secret Seven getting together but they don't know what to do. The society decides they want to solve a mystery! They have to keep their eyes and ears open. One night, Jack, a member of the society, sees a car and a trailer coming down a lane and then he hears two men. What makes it worse, is when he hears squealing coming from the trailer. What is it? Jack and the others now have a mystery to solve but can they do it? The seven characters apart of the society are the leader, Peter, I really enjoyed reading about Peter but the one issue I had with him is that he seemed to be this person that was intimidating but in my opinion he wasn't. I also liked his relationship with his sister, Janet and I thought he got on very well with Jack. His sister Janet, is also apart of the Secret Seven and although she was seen throughout the book, I don't have much to say about her. She was a good character. One of the major members of the society is Jack. I really liked the character of Jack. Unlike some members of the Secret Seven we didn't get to find out about their home life but with Jack we did. I found it very interesting to find out about it. I think he is one of the most important characters in the book because if it wasn't for him, there wouldn't be a book. Now I'm going to talk about the less developed characters of the society. First of all are the last two boys their names being Colin and George. I really wanted to like the characters but there wasn't much there. Yes they were apart of the society but that was it. They did some investigating and that was that. Compared to one certain character, they were good but not good enough! The next character is Barbra, I do not like this character. I thought she was a big whinny throughout the book and I didn't like her! The last member of the society is Pam. This is the character that I didn't like. She was a pointless character with no background given to us and she had a lot less to say than any other member of the group! I do not like its character! Moving onto the other characters. One of the other major characters is Scamper. He is the dog that belongs to Janet and Peter. I really liked the dog but that's it. He was a good part of the story but he didn't have to be in the story! The minor characters in the story were Miss Ely and Susie. Miss Ely is the Susie's Nanny. Susie is Jacks sister, who we met briefly. I really liked these two characters because we only met them for at least one chapter and I would be interested in seeing more of them. A character that appears throughout the book is Dan the Caretaker. He is the owner of the old house that no one lives in apart from himself. I liked the character but again that's it. He's deaf and he's a caretaker, nothing more! Pretty much that's it. Finally the characters who stole Kerry Blue, Mac and Nibs. These were pretty interesting characters, who appeared in two chapters! BORING and these are supposed to be the antagonists! The main locations in the story was the Secret Seven's HQ, the shed. I thought this was really great and was a great aspect of the story. I thought it was really cool because it's what kids do. Also the old house, in which Dan is the Caretaker at. Throughout the story, we saw the outside of it but later on in the novel we actually saw inside of the house which was pretty cool and I was intrigued to find out more of the house. Overall I liked the story! Like I have already said, the characters need a major improvement for the next one. Peter, Janet and Jack to me where the only developed members of the Secret Seven. While the others didn't float my boat and I didn't like them enough! The story was good but at first I didn't know were it was going! The mystery element was amazing and I didn't know what the outcome was going to be. At the beginning of the book it sounded like the book I was reading was in fact a sequel but it wasn't, that was a bit I didn't like. Enid Blyton's writing is amazing and her creativity is just perfection. In conclusion I would give it a 4 stars purely for the enjoyment and the mystery element and how it was concluded. I wouldn't give it 5 stars purely because of the characters and some small issues.Can't wait to read the next one...
The first of the Secret Seven books13 July 2012tWell, there are a few things that I can say about this book: the first being that it seems to be a retelling of an earlier Blyton story, The Mystery of the Secret Room. In many ways it seemed to be the same story with different characters and a slightly different mystery. The reason I say that is because both stories seem to focus around an old abandoned house and in both stories the children go to a real estate agent, where there is a 16 year old boy behind the counter, to learn who actually owns the property. Okay, it might be somewhat different, but considering that this story is a lot shorter than the other it was the similarities that stood out.tOne of the main reasons that I grabbed this book and read it is because I wanted to see how Blyton crafted some of her other groups that were outside of the Famous Five, and I had yet to read a Secret Seven book, and in a space of five hours (or less, I wasn't counting) I read it. Sure enough the dog in this series, Scamps, tends to play a bit part: simply a character that tags along with the rest of the group. Further, the children in this book seem to be a lot less developed than some of the children in the other books, almost to the extent that they seem to be little more than cardboard cut outs. No doubt it would be difficult to develop full blown characters for each of the seven in such a short book, but then some of her other characters (such as Fatty from the Five Finder-outers) seem to have a lot more life than some of these. However, noting that along with the Famous Five, the Secret Seven were also turned into television series must indicate their popularity.tFortunately I am not the only one that was concerned about some of the aspects of this secret society. Having been written so soon after World War II one would have thought that Blyton would have been a little more tactful when coming up with the logo for the club. Seriously, using a logo saying 'SS' is not something that you want to encourage children to do, and since it is also a secret society with badges and passwords and what not one has to wonder what was going through Blyton's mind at the time and what she was suggesting to her readers. Maybe they were right when they suggested that even if Germany was defeated the era of fascism had not passed, and in many cases it hadn't. While discrimination against the Jews was crushed under the allied boots, discrimination against the negro population of the United States was still in full swing and would be so for at least the next fifteen years. tAnother thing about this book is that it is predictable. I had worked out what the mystery was about and what the stolen object was by the forth chapter, and that was simply because Blyton made reference to the noise that was made by the animal (view spoiler)[which happened to be a horse (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about The Secret Seven (2006)?
The Secret Seven is the first book in the series. First published in 1949 there are definitely parts of it that seem dated, especially some turns of phrase that are used (particularly by straight laced Janet). However they were probably also outdated in the mid 1980s when I read these books the first time, and I was never aware that they were so old fashioned through my childhood eyes. The same could well be true for children in modern society, infact I would go as far as to assume that it IS true, or the books would surely have gone out of print-nostalgia alone is not enough to keep publishers printing books, they have to actually sell too. I whizzed through the story, and recalled many of the key moments throughout. It was almost like being transported back to my own childhood, a sense of deja vu. I loved reliving the adventure, particularly the sense of being tucked away in the shed sat on a flowerpot in the meetings the children have. Passwords and disguises abound as the seven set off to find out who the stealthy men sneaking around a spooky old house are. What are they doing, and why? Of course the Secret Seven come up trumps, I don't think that is a spoiler, and as an adult I finished the book with the same sense of satisfaction that I did the first time around. This surely shows the power a good book has, it can stand the test of time and be read at varying stages in life and still be appreciated. The Hodder edition I had to review was illustrated by Tony Ross, which is obviously an attempt to make the books as visually appealing as possible to the young audience of the twenty-first century. Whilst I liked the illustrations I didn't feel they gelled especially well with the text, but this may just be because they are not what I would traditionally associate with Blyton. Don't overlook Blyton thinking her work outmoded and irrelevant for children today. Any child seeking high adventure and a story about true friendship and teamwork will find plenty in the Secret Seven books to appeal to them. I have already decided that I'm going to buy all the books in the series to reread and review. They will then remain on my son's bookshelf to hopefully be enjoyed again and again-they are classics, pure and simple.
—Katey Lovell
This was the first novel I read as a kid. It was also the first of many Enid Blyton books I would read over the following five years or so (although I soon much preferred The Famouse Five to The Secret Seven series). I can't remember the specifics of the story so I can't say whether or not it's any good - and since I'm not a kid any more, if I were to re-read it I doubt I could respond to it authentically as if I were one! The cover brings me back though.[Review of 2011 transferred from another edition.]
—Greg
I read this book with my classroom in mind as I am always trying to expand my classroom library away from my love of fantasy books and I always start the year with Enid Blyton and The Faraway Tree. I also chose this book because my very English Grade 4 teacher read the Fabulous Five to us. I think the language of the book is fine for the age intended and will teach them some old terms and phrases that we don't use any more. I question as a parent the trespassing that occurred in the story by the children, as well as the sneaking out of the house. There are clever moments with the snowmen and unlike some of the other reviews, I thought the girls had a bit more guts, deciding to do something's anyways despite their self doubt.
—Jennifer Symonds
