PUBLISHER’S VIEW OF ENID BLYTON

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29224, 7 June 1960, Page 2

PUBLISHER’S VIEW OF ENID BLYTON

“All Right In Very Small Doses”

“I can understand why Enid Blyton and Richmal Crompton books are excluded from your children’s libraries. They are very conscious of quality in their books. But I think it a pity that the ‘William’ books are excluded because they can be a lot of fun.”

This was said by Mr D. Bisacre who is in charge of children’s books for the firm of Blackie and Son, the English publishers, who are known for their children's books, as well as school and science publications. Mr Bisacre is on a tour of Australia and New Zealand with his wife visiting booksellers. “Enid Blyton is all right in very small doses,’’ said Mr Bisacre. “No-one wants to have too much of her.” Mr Bisacre referred to “The. Secret Seven” as one of her better books. “Your children’s libraries set themselves out to have other books than ones merely to entertain,” said Mr Bisacre. “They select books which are meant to instruct. I hope they do not entirely forget about the other side.” Mr Bisacre believes that reading should be balanced in children. His own, he had found, would read a heavy book like “The Colditz Story” a war-time escape story and then a moment later be found reading something like such as a comic or a children's book.