The Island of Adventure By Enid Blyton | Book Review

We have often mentioned that writing a “kids special book” is not a child’s play.

On one hand you need to feed the ingredients of adventure, joy, thrill and other emotions, and on the other, you have to make them easy to understand.

In terms of story, a fine balance between real-world and fictional-universe is expected.

And yes, the content must be appealing and should not look like something done in a hurry.

Author Enid blyton is known for some of the fantastic books in this genre.

Today we are going to talk about her book The Island of Adventure the first book in The Adventurous Four series.

Here are quick links to some of her books, we have shared our thoughts about, earlier.

• Five on a Treasure Island

Book Cover:

While “a book should not be judged by its cover”; its influence in a remarkable number of purchase and/or read decisions cannot be ignored.

As you can see, the cover page of this book is moderately good and the target readers will surely find it appealing. You see an illustration of the protagonists in an action at the island. The rich background and right color strokes makes it attractive. Different versions of the book comes with different covers, and one of the latest edition contains better designed cover page with modern approach.

The Book And What We Think Of It:

Usualy, we talk about books in two different segments, dedicated to 1) The Story and 2) Views and Reviews. For this book, I think it would be better to merge them both.
Spread over int 26 chapters – this book explores the story between

• The Beginning of the Adventures
• The End of the Adventures

Intended to start a new book series with four protagonist, The Adventurous Four introduces us to Tom, Mary and Jill. They are siblings. Amongst them Mary and Jill are twins.

But, they are three, right? Who is the fourth pillar?

Well, it must be their great friend – Andy. By the way, The Andy – is a boat!

The author introduces the innocent childhood days of these children quite interestingly.

They were all on holiday, staying in a little fishing-village on the north-east coast of Scotland. Their father was in the Air Force, and their mother was with them, knitting hard all day long in the garden of the little white house where they were staying.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – –
The three of them had run wild, and were all burnt as brown as monkeys. Usually they wore nothing but bathing costumes and rubber shoes, and spent as much of their time in the sea as out of it.

Definitely, the childhood is the best time of life where you can enjoy the moments in almost carefree manner. And, the children are blessed with good fortune to have such moments available to their kitty.

So, living in this happy environment, the kids decide to have a small fishing trip in their boat. They stock the required items in – The Andy – and they started their “voyage”!

The weather – played its role, and the kids are stranded on a small island.

They were the only inhabitants there!

But, an adventure is waiting for them in a near by “hidden” island!

The book has the sarcastic moments where the story moves forward by bringing a smile on the reader’s face. Eg:

It would really have turned their mother’s hair quite white if she had seen the things that the three children sometimes tried to do!
– – – – – – – – – – – – – –
”It was a shock to see that enormous plane coming!” said Jill. “Oh dear-if we have many more shocks, my hair will turn grey!”

It is rightly said that the circumstances sculpt your characters. And, the challenging circumstances can bring the best out of you. Probably, the abilities which are unknown even to you, yourself.

Andy nodded. Both boys seemed to become men at that moment. They looked gravely into each other’s eyes and what they saw there pleased them both. Each boy knew that the other would do his best and even more than his best.

As the protagonists belong to Britain, the story is geographically set-up around that area of Europe. It was the time around World Wars. These two pointers are important to remember as for them all and their family, British area is their motherland. And, their loyalty would be towards the British Empire. The nations who are fighting against the British Empire and their friendly countries, would be seen as enemies by them.

“But it doesn’t do to think the enemy is careless or stupid. We must think they are smart and clever, and try to be the same ourselves….”

As you can see, the kids are analytical and wise. They know that one shouldn’t underestimate one’s opponent. At this age, it is the sign of maturity.

The way, the book concludes is something interesting.

”The Andy is like her master then!” cried Tom. “For he’s just the same. Good luck to the Andy, so bonny and brave-and good luck to you too, Andy!”

The strong characters are the backbone of this book. And, of course, the interesting storyline (which the readers of Europe will relate more to) supports it effectively. The simple language makes it an easy read. In this book there are some co-incidances which are rare to happen, and some mammoth tasks done by the kids which otherwise seems impossible! But, that is the beauty of kids’ adventure tales, right?

Summary:

Overall, an interesting book tailored for kids and young adults, which they will enjoy. The adults will find it interesting too.

ThinkerViews Rating:

Around 7.5 stars out of 10.

Quick Purchase Links:

• Buy - The Island of Adventure by Enid Blyton - Paperback - Amazon IN
• Buy - The Island of Adventure by Enid Blyton - Kindle EBook - Amazon IN
• Buy - The Island of Adventure by Enid Blyton - Paperback - Amazon US
• Buy - The Island of Adventure by Enid Blyton - Audiobook - Amazon US

Over To You:

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