Enid Blyton Biography

Enid Blyton was one of the 20th century’s most popular British authors and a prolific producer of books and stories for young readers, including the series of adventure books featuring the Famous Five. Trained as a teacher, Enid Blyton began writing poems and childrens stories on the side. After five years of teaching she left to write full-time, and between 1942 and 1968 Blyton published hundreds of books (some sources say as many as 800). Her Famous Five series included 21 novels published between 1942 and 1963; the adventure stories feature four kids and a clue-sniffing dog. Blyton also authored other series, featuring the Secret Seven (fifteen books between 1949 and 1963), the Five Find-Outers (fifteen books between 1943 and 1961) and Toyland’s wooden boy, Noddy (24 books between 1949 and 1963). Critics have sneered at Blyton’s formulaic stories and her lack of literary sophistication — and she’s been called racist, sexist and classist because of certain passages — but her books continue to be popular all over the world.