Would this be appropriate?

And Chapeau I agree completely with your post!

Bridgetsdaughter and Paddyanne, do you remember as a child here in Ireland reading Patricia Lynch books? The Turf Cutter’s Daughter, Brogeen, etc! I’ve just remembered them while reading this enjoyable thread. I read every single Enid Blyton book I could lay my hands on, but also so much more besides. I’m so hoping my 3 year old grandson will be as avid a reader as I was/am, and so far that’s looking good as he has a huge number of books and is a keen member of their local library. Yes!

I've really enjoyed sharing some of the more up-to-date books with my DGC.
Although I noticed that the Janet and Allan Ahlberg books date from the 1970s!

Enid Blyton remains in the attic but I wouldn't say they don't have their place if children like listening to them or reading them.
My DC enjoyed the Beatrix Potter books and my DGC do too but my friend, who was an infant teacher, loathed them.

Hello Havemercy

I understand how you might want to recreate the stories you told to your children but, as we all know, times have changed so much. However, the good news is there are many wonderful, humorous and very entertaining up to date children’s books around. Visit your local book shop or Amazon. You’ll enjoy them too.

When I read my GD Alice I was surprised how inaccessible the language was, especially as I remember loving it as a child . She had good language but found it hard.

And as for Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass etc

They are fiction!

Old-fashioned fiction, yes, but so were many of the books I read as a child. Along with Enid Blyton books I read the Heidi books (published 1880), the Little Women series (1868), What Katy did (1872) and lots of other novels.
Later on I even moved on to Shakespeare - circa 1600, Thackeray, Austen, Sheridan etc.

Just be ready to explain what some things were like in the olden days and how they are different now.

I was never smacked so it wasn't always the norm.

Spanking is only one of many problems encountered in EB's books. In 1960 her publishers, Macmillan, rejected The Mystery That Never Was on the grounds that “there is a faint but unattractive touch of old-fashioned xenophobia in the author’s attitude to the thieves: they are ‘foreign’ ... and this seems to be regarded as sufficient to explain their criminality”. Her books are 'of their time' and as such they also contain lashings of sexism, racism and snobbery. Don't get me wrong, I read (and loved) all of her books over 50 years ago and to be honest, I wasn't old enough to have either noticed or been influenced by this. If you really want to read EB's books to your grandson, you will either need to do a lot of explaining or only explain if he asks specifically about something. Personally, I would never consider reading EB to my grand kids; as many posters have commented, there is so much to choose from with all the wonderful contemporary books available now for children.

My three adored Enid Blyton, Shirley Hughes, Roald Dhal etc
but also one of their favourites was The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway when they were aged about eight. I used to read to them when they were in the bath.
My youngest also loved The Lighthouse Keepers Lunch, but hated Harty Potter when he was older and I was trying to get him to read by himself.
I think your five year old grandson would love the Alfie stories and Dogger by Shirley Hughes especially, the illustrations are delightful too.

Lots of children really enjoyed EB books and my grandchildren still do. They read other books too. How do you teach the next generation how appalling it is to hit children? By discussing it with them when they are growing up. Read them the books, talk about how we don't do that any more because we believe it to be the wrong thing to do.

When my youngest was at school Hollycat, Jacqueline Wilson was very much frowned upon.

I agre with those who say the variety of books for all ages is amazing, I love spending an hour in Waterstones with one of my granddaughters, she always chooses a little pile of very diverse books, but there will often be an Enid Blyton in there. Personally, I can’t see the harm.

When my children were at school at the same age a letter came home asking us not to buy Enid Blyton books for our children as they were “not well written”.

And p.s. E.B. isnt "banned" by "political correctness"
You can still easily buy them.

But with the amount of childrens books in that genre, you dont need to to fulfil that niche on their bookshelves

And yes my kids read plenty of the classics. We do not shy away from darker themes.

Thats not the same as the overt unpleasantness normalised in EB

There are so many non dodgy alternatives in the childrens adventure genre such as murpurgo etc there really is no need for them to read EB.

I bought a whole bundle of EB when mine were little hoping that at least one of them would be benign: I read them myself first and none were! Im not talking about them being a bit outdated, they were horribly overtly racist etc.

Yes, we read them growing up, but with so many alternatives I think that kids can read good adventure books without the problems in EB

I had a treasured book of Anderson's Fairy Tales, as a child, which I read over and over. I never tired of it. Re-visiting it, as an adult, I was amazed at how scary some of the stories were.

We can't censor everything that children read. Explaining how times and attitudes have changed over the years leads to interesting conversations.

Cossy's list could be mine with the addition of The Secret Garden, and The Secret Seven. In the past EB got us reading and most people read them when very young, by the time I was 9/10 I had discovered Agatha Christie and spent a Summer working my way through all the murders and mysteries. At least the famous five are outdoors and doing things, although this would probably more alien to modern children than the smacking! Any problems in the script can be talked over with the child but I suspect most of them would soon be caught up in the adventure.

We loved Enid Blyton in our era, although you remember they with great fondness, why not discover new books and new authors with your grandson?

Dick King-Smith has written some wonderful animal stories that you could discover together, and would be appropriate for his age, with you reading.
Or go really adventurous and read him Terry Pratchett's children's books: Truckers, Diggers and Wings, though you will appreciate the humor more than he will!

As a youngster I remember quivering with excitement at the anticipation when I was given an Enid Blyton book. Many years ago, as an adult I reading several William books which made me laugh out loud and would strongly recommend them today.

I would make a plea for some understanding here ( I speak as someone who was fairly often subjected to a spanking or a 'clip' around the ear, both at school and at home). Please don't deprive young children of such reading pleasure - it's easy enough to explain that such things happened many years ago, but no longer.

Would you deprive them of reading Treasure Island? Coral Island? Rider Haggard? Grimms Fairy Tales? Or even the Bible, with its murder, rape and even incest?? BTW, I'm atheist. And when they are older, how will you deal with the shock of Shakespeare and the horrors of Macbeth, Julius Caesar and Richard III? No, please don't, with sufficient advice they can cope and they will be better read and better informed in the future!

Difficult in this day of "political correctness" and "wokeness"!! Enid Blyton had an uncanny ability to appeal to children and most children love Enid Blyton books. My grandchildren absolutely adored the Magic Wishing Chair and The Faraway Tree series and that is really only going back about 10 years ago. Maybe try them - do not remember any spanking in them! However children are well aware that times have changed and have a lot more common sense than adults give them credit for, The main point is that you are reading to them and encouraging reading something much neglected these days!

My GC’s in The Netherlands until recently, loved Julia Donaldson but especially books by Oliver Jeffers. At least one has been made into an animation. I read to them and they are lovely books for 3-6 year olds. Youngest GD, 17 months is getting very into Julia Donaldson now especially Room on the Broom.

There are lots of adult books which are badly written. We can’t ban them all, why should we try as long as someone is getting pleasure from them.

I get that it’s different, young minds and all that. But I can’t help thinking there’s a bit of snobbery in the “I’d never let my children read EB”

Go on, let them enjoy an awfully good adventure.

I am.

Not sure Enid Blyton can be classed as well written.

I think the advice to read them and say 'we don't do that now' is absolutely spot on. Why deny children the pleasure of good well-written stories because they are not quite PC. When a child, I was terrified of stories by the Brothers Grimm. They were thought to be good classics for children, but being put into ovens, lost in woods, or being eaten by giants was horrifying. Hans Anderson wasn't much better either.

Good stories will enable learning of good English and how to express themselves, and a little logic and reason, plus as one contributor said, good is rewarded, naughtiness is punished in some way or other.