Best Children's Books Ever 11/30

Of all the authors of children’s book, Enid Blyton stands at the top of the list. Her lengthy series of the Famous Five has time and again reach the top of the charts, generation after generation. When the first book, Five on a Treasure Island was published in 1942, it won great acclaim from both fans and critics. The series has gone on to become amongst the best-loved stories ever to have been written for children.

The series included a fictional group of children who were named Julian, Dick, Anne and George and of course, their dog Timmy, in the first volume, Five on a Treasure Island. Three of the children are siblings, who spend their school holidays at their Aunts and Uncle’s cottage with a tom boy cousin, named Georgina or George for short. The genre of the stories is under mystery and adventure. The activities invariably take place during the holidays when the children come together from their various boarding schools. Every time they get together, they get caught up in an adventure, the location of which varies from book to book.

Originally, Ms. Blyton only considered writing six to eight volumes but the series grew to include 21 full featured volumes due to the high sales rate and the immense commercial success. By 1953, the series had a sales rate of more than six million copies. Even now in 2007, more than two million copies of the books are sold each year, making them one of the biggest-selling series for children ever written.