Enid Blyton.

FLASHBACK.

I think it was in 2001..on my 11th birthday I was gifted The Enchanted Wood, the first book of the Secret Seven series, one of Malory Towers and one of St.Clare's.
(Then, I thought Enid Blyton was a man)
I don't remember Enchanted Wood so well. All I can recall is two kids running around and meeting weird characters.

Malory Towers started my Enid Blyton fanaticism. I ended up finding a LOT of Blyton's books in my school's library. Read a couple from the Malory Towers series. I remember the main character..her name was Darren or Darrell.

I ended up reading almost everything of Secret Seven. Those six/seven (was the dog part of the seven..was there a dog? :S) needed badges to enter the meeting room. Hehe. Otherwise..the head would get really mad and tell them to get a new one stitched.

Moved on to Famous Five. It was an amazing series. The library didn't have around 4-5 of it..so couldn't read it. That really disappointed me then..I was on a roll :D

Then my all time favourite boarding school stories.. St.Clare's and the Naughtiest Girl in School Series. I used to read the latter while having my food. I really was a fanatic.
I remember the books having some really great colourful pictures on the front cover. :p

In the 7th standard..my teacher told me to move on to some books which can improve my vocabulary. This was a huge blow. Leaving Blyton? What? How? Why? I remember pondering over it for weeks and feeling very sad. I didn't know what else to read. And I stopped reading all together. (Got back to it in the 9th standard with R.K.Narayan)

I tried reading The Enchanted Wood again around 1-2 years back..but it seemed very funny and ridiculous.
Now that I think about it..I don't know how 4 kids along with a dog could solve complex mysteries.
I read an article in the newspaper about Blyton and how the kids in her books keep eating all the time. I had never observed that before. So true!
In Secret Seven..they keep drinking lemonade and eat cakes all the time. In Famous Five, they keep eating sandwiches. They never start on a journey without taking a basket of food.
Malory Towers, St. Clare's and Naughtiest Girl - MIDNIGHT FEASTS! Oh my god. I used to get sooo jealous. It happened in all the books and every year! I don't remember them ever getting into trouble for having a party in the middle of the night. Some girls got food packages from their parents..and they would take it to the feast. Wish I could have one of those feasts :)

I own around 8 of Blyton's books. 4 of Famous Five which was gifted to me one year back...I have read 2-3 of them. I don't know if I'll go back to them..but I'm never giving them away. It's nice to have them stacked in my cupboard...takes me back to my Addicted To Blyton days.

No other author has managed to keep me as hooked to their books as Blyton did.