Smuggler’s Top is an ancient house steeped in mystery. There are hidden passages behind panels, deep pits under ordinary floors that lead into a honeycomb of passages, some known and others where a clueless person could get lost in…forever. Dat laatste heeft voor mij in dit verhaal altijd geprimeerd, en het is publiek geheim dat Enid Blyton de moeite heeft genomen om alles zo realistisch mogelijk te maken. Ze heeft zich namelijk gebaseerd op het stadje Rye, dat in het graafschap Kent ligt, vlak aan zee, op een heuvel die vroeger volledig omringd werd door moerassen - en nu nog voor een klein deel eraan grenst (het hele gebied daar, van Rye tot aan de Romney Marshes, was vroeger allemaal verraderlijk gebied). Rye stond ook bekend als smokkelaarsstadje. Ik ben er een paar keer geweest - de laatste keer een jaar of acht geleden, volgens mij - en ondertussen is de mist er allang weggetrokken, maar de situering als heuvel is natuurlijk nog altijd goed te zien. De hele sfeer die Blyton creëert, met mist, grotten en mysterieuze seinen, zit geweldig goed ineen. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2020-09-11 09:02:30 Boxid IA1928310 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier

Having established that her books have exciting story lines it has to be said that they are very restricted in the vocabulary they use. This is probably partly why kids love them of course! And there's absolutely no harm in reading this type of easy book with lots of repetition for pleasure, as an extra outside school. But there is a plethora of other options - books which are not contentious in this way, where the attitudes shown are far less questionable and socially damaging. Five Go to Smuggler's Top is the fourth book in the Famous Five series by the British author Enid Blyton. Julian plays his part by asserting his authority now and again and thank goodness for his strength and Goodness to guide them all as they plunge deeper into the mystery and attempt to sort things out. The title Smuggler's Top indicates that it was named after only one smuggler. But somehow Smugglers' Top doesn't look right, even though it's grammatically correct for a place named after many smugglers of the past. But that's just semantics; I think the title works fine as it is. It reminds me a little of wasps' nest—I'd seen it written as wasp's nest and thought, "My, that must have been a big wasp!"This book has a consistently high rating when Favourites are discussed. Why? One reason might be the atmosphere. It's there in abundance and it can play on the emotions. For example, take a look at the inside cover (endpaper) illustration and you'll see George climbing down a wall by means of a rope-ladder and overlooking a vast expanse of marshlands and mysterious ships in the moonlight. There's a sense of true adventure when the setting is analysed. There's also quite a lot about George herself and Timmy so maybe that's another reason. George's temper, obstinacy, willfulness, and forceful character are traits that tend to pull the Kirrin Book Fanciers away from the sidelines. First of all let me say they are great as adventure stories. They describe kids having an active outdoor life - and generally getting mixed up in something exciting. This sounds just like the sort of books we should be encouraging children (who nowadays are potential couch/computer potatoes) to read. And generally I would encourage all types of reading - comics, interactive books, whatever. But since there is such an abundance, do we have to select such inappropriate material? Caves and tunnels are a staple of this series. Few, if any, of the 23 books don't go underground or through the walls at some point. The central lesson of this book is that if you see a light out in the dark, then someone is up to no good. Generally smuggling. Timmy has caused many problems for his mistress in the past and yet another springs up: She's not allowed to have him at Smuggler's Top because Mr Lenoir despises dogs but that doesn't put George off. Typically, she decides to take him anyway but with the firm resolve that Timmy will be kept hidden from Mr Lenoir's view.

Both children and adults have no arc in this book. There is just a clumsy collage of scenes that look pathetic to the eye. The smugglers, the hosts, the victims of kidnapping, all of them seem to lug no pulse in them, and no brain activity whatsoever. Given that there seems to be two of the brightest minds in science under that sinister and lugubrious roof, God help us what lesser mortals act like in that murky and brownish grey universe. I enjoyed this book mainly for the atmosphere created by Enid Blyton. It was also filled with many interesting and dubious characters right from the cold Mr.Lenoir to the slightly eccentric smuggler, Mr.Barling. As a child, I kept second-guessing the motives of the supposed anatagonists. Maybe Enid Blyton or one of her countless ghostwriters thought to borrow somewhat from gothic tales. Maybe she wanted to imitate Poe among all people. We will never know. Good. The less we know about the intricacies of this book the better. Which is why you see me not rehashing any part of the stories. I'm merely here to warn off would be readers to either avoid this book, or to lower their expectations to ankle level. According to the Index Translationum, Blyton was the fifth most popular author in the world in 2007, coming after Lenin but ahead of Shakespeare. De Vijf op (de) Smokkelaarsrots (zelf behoor ik tot de lidwoordhebbende generatie trouwens) is het vierde boek van De Vijf en het eerste dat zich (bijna) volledig buiten Kirrin afspeelt. En ik ben er ook enthousiast over! Wat mij betreft combineert dit boek alle goede, belangrijke elementen die een goede kinderdetective moet hebben: goede en gevarieerde personages, spanning en onverwachte gebeurtenissen en een mysterieuze setting.Het zal wel niemand echt verwonderen dat dit boek ook echt over - jawel - smokkelaars gaat en dat ook het hele mysterie daarom draait. Maar op het einde word je als lezer toch nog verrast en blijkt het net iets meer te zijn dan dat - en blijkt oom Quentin er voor iets tussen te zitten. Daarnaast gaat dit boek wel iets sneller van start dan anders - en het verhaal zelf begint trouwens ook met een ferme knal, een die je misschien niet meteen ziet aankomen. Five go to smuggler's top" was actually one of the last Five books I read, even though it is number 4 in the series. It was hard to find a copy originally, and I had to make do with a more modern publication than some of the others I own. OK, not really... BUT HE COULD HAVE BEEN is my point. It turns out that this chap is extremely grumpy and lives at the top of an island (which I'm pretty sure is a thinly disguised St. Michael's Mount, complete with a causeway and everything) that turns out to be honeycombed with secret smugglers' tunnels. Guess who's still using the smugglers' tunnels? That's right: smugglers. Who could have possibly seen that coming?! Now Uncle Quentin, who in book one was writing formulas in his secret books and brewing stuff in test tubes, seems to have morphed into a civil engineer and is collaborating with their new host, Mr Lenoir, to drain the swamp, in a literal rather than Trumpian, sense.

Enid", a recent award-winning film about the life of Enid Blyton, showed that her home life was very different from her public image. She was the queen of PR - and very driven. Her children hardly got to see her except in the company of a group of local children when she did public readings. Everyone's favourite auntie - including mine I have to say. I was a proud member of the "Famous Five Club"! The Kirrin children plus dog are required to abandon Kirrin Cottage because a tree falls on the roof and messes up their bedrooms so they're are sent to Smuggler's Top on Castaway Hill whilst repairs are carried out. To obtain a reasonable image of their venue take a look at a picture of St. Michael's Mount in the Cornwall area or its counterpart in France — better still, hunt out the Bill Bartlett print of Rye in Sussex. The resemblance is pretty good. Smuggler's Top is continually shrouded in mist and the surrounding marsh is very threatening to anyone who steps off the tried and true paths so the four children plus dog are entering a fairly alien environment where they will be staying with a scientist friend of George's father — a Mr Lenoir. Google "Enid Blyton racism" and you find lots of articles. Her home town is very divided as some regard her as an icon and others actually remember her as a "nasty piece of work" - a sexist, racist, antisemitic, snob. The sexism is flagrant in her books too. The girls are always "helping mother to cook the dinner" or doing some other little domestic task. Not the boys, of course. But overall this is easily the best book so far, and possibly the best in the series. Certainly it's the one I remember most. But there are others I have very fond memories of, so I'll wait before passing my vote!P.S. - Bizarrely, this is the only book in the Famous Five series (which is twenty two books long) that doesn't have an unabridged version available on Audible. The book is on Audible, but only in the dreaded abridged format. I mean, seriously, who wants to read an abridged version of a book? I'm kind of disgusted that abridging books is even a thing, to be honest.

Much excitement is generated with the concealment of Timmy and it's just as well there's a secret panel in Sooty's bedroom behind which the dog can be hidden. To help things along even further, a concealed trapdoor in Marybelle's room allows anyone whose game enough, to climb down a hole and end up in a tunnel which eventually comes out within the city precincts. That's very convenient because Timmy will need exercise but how will he get down the hole? That could be a problem; however the children never shy at any attempt to overcome the Odds. There's a really good dose of secret passages in the vicinity which according to Sooty are actually catacombs inside the hill where Smuggler's Top is situated. Still, they are highly entertaining and useful cultural history lesson (of a certain set of people). It’s weird reading them out loud with my American accent (but my son won’t even let me try to affect a British one), especially when they use British slang or manner of speaking. But I’m entertained by the dichotomy, even if my son doesn’t notice. Ocr_converted abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.20 Ocr_module_version 0.0.17 Old_pallet IA19212 Openlibrary_edition The original conflict is over the taking of Timmy. Mr Lenoir hates dogs. This is generally an unfailing indicator of villainy! But here the solitariness of the book is dull as grain. I have no idea why I am writing so much about a book that I disdain, but sometimes muses have minds of their own. Do not read this book without preparing for it. Do not expect all Famous Five books to be created equal, for some are moreso than others. This book ought not to have seen the light of the day.Despite the nonsensical nature of some of it, I did actually really enjoy this book. It's very exciting and will surely go down very well with children and those who are still children at heart. It's full of moments that will make you go 'What?! No!!! Surely not...'