Five on a Treasure Island

View other editions of Five on a Treasure Island.
View books by Enid Blyton.

OK - Rated
Here is the blurb of this book: The very first Famous Five adventure featuring Julian, Dick, Anne, and tomboy George along with her beloved dog, Timmy. There's a shipwreck off Kirrin Island, but where's the treasure? The Five are on the trail, looking for clues... but they're not alone and time is running out. I like the bit when they go to the island for the third time when they find an old wooden box lined with tin, with something inside! I would rate this book 8/ 10. I think any age of children would enjoy this fabulously exciting book.

Start of a legend. - Rated
The first if the Famous Five books and it set in motion the most famous children's series of all time.
It is a thoroughly good read, the first FF book I ever read myself by coincidence, and children everywhere will find it delightful. It has all the essential ingredients which children love, adventure, storms, vilains, shipwrecks and a dog.
But please, get the youngsters to read the newer edited versions, as the early editions, as lovely as they are to collectors, can be extremely sexist, racist and snobbery personified. Not acceptable nowadays.
Great book- super series.

Another great fab five adventure - Rated
This book has got it all. You can imagine yourself on those lovely westcountry beaches having fun with friends when you spot an unusual sight on a small island. I always imagine I am in this adventure when I got to Bantham Beach in Devon and I pretend that Burgh Island is the island in the book! Fantastic

The most beautiful book I have ever read. - Rated
Yes, it might not be the best story around (Blyton or otherwise), but this is the most powerful book I have ever read. I have no idea when I read it first but it must have been before I started secondary school and I can't remember reading it when I was 10/11. This means I must have been 9 or below and still very young.

Reading it now is but a shadow of what it meant to me when I was a child but then the posibilites seemed endless. Yet, my new reading has left me with a re-born spirit, that I really can do anything I want. It is up to me.

As I re-read this book I did feel some of the magic that touched me when I first read it. It is a wonderful tale that says to me, get out there and live it (as most of Blyton's books do). What stops us is ourselves!

Many years ago this book taught me that there is a world out there to explore. Reading it again tells me that the world is still there, it is simply up to me to find it and live it.

Timeless, classic entertainment for children - Rated
These comments apply to the whole Famous Five series, not just this book. Enid Blyton wrote several series based around groups of children having adventures (The Secret Island series - also excellent, the Secret Seven,) but the Famous Five is the one that seems to stand out, possibly because of the magic extra ingredient of Timmy, the faithful and resourceful dog.

Enid Blyton has been criticised for being too 'middle class', and it is true that the children are ruthlessly polite and well-spoken (and they do sometimes have lashings of ginger beer), while there is frequently an additional child involved who starts out selfish and spoilt, but learns to be 'nice' through association with Julian, Dick and co. However, the stories are none the worse for that.

It is also true that she endlessly recycles the same plot ingredients of secret passages, ruined castles, kidnappers and smugglers, jolly farmers' wives etc, but that is largely where the appeal lies, at least for younger children. My daughter is five, and I honestly thought she was probably too young when I bought one of the books as a 'filler' on a larger order from Amazon, but in fact she was hooked from the start, and in a year or two will be able to read them for herself.

There is something magical about reading a couple of chapters at bedtime, and hearing her say she can't wait to find out what happens next, whilst speculating on the likely identity of the mystery figure in the tower (or whatever). There is also a surprising amount of humour, one example (from Five Get into Trouble) being where the children discover that the 'baddie' is planning to give Timmy poisoned food. They bury the poisoned food safely, before pretending, with feigned innocence, to feed leftovers to the baddie's chickens, sending him into a rage. My daughter found this hilarious, and I raised a smile or two myself.

I remember these stories from my childhood, and I would like to think that in due course my daughter will pass them on to her children. So, ignore the carping of the PC brigade and indulge yourself and your children in one of life's enduring pleasures.