From Newsgroup: rec.arts.books.childrens

On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 11:49:21 +1000, Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org>
wrote:

On 23/07/26 07:12, J. J. Lodder wrote:

Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> wrote:

Public-school stories were popular. Billy Bunter was never my thing, but >>> I had a volume of Jennings stories that I remember fondly, and I recall
reading others, though the names of the characters escape me.

It may surprise you, but Billy Bunter (translated as Billie Turf)
was hugely popular in the Netherlands and Belgium in comic format.
There are even three Belgian movies featuring him. (~1980)

This despite the fact that the whole Greyfriars universe
was completely foreign to late 20th century Dutch/Belgian kiddies.

But I was thinking of Enid Blyton in particular as boring,

They appealed to different age groups. I liked the Secret Seven and the >Famous Five when I was about seven years old. (I was already too old for >Noddie and Bigears.) Billie Bunter was aimed at a much older readership.
And Harry Potter, I submit, is more sophisticated than Billie Bunter, so
is suitable for those who have already passed through the school system.
For some reason, perhaps the magic, it also managed to appeal to a
younger group who wouldn't have known such things as the spells being
based on Latin.

If school stories are a genre, than perhaps "Tom Brown's Schooldays"
started it.

Enid Blyton also wrote school stories, her "Mallory Towers" series,
for example, though I haven't read any of them. As a child I enjoyed
her "Secret" (not Seven) series, and the "Adventure" series. They were
badly written and full of food porn, but I still enjoyed them and they
gave me a love of reading.

Here's my review of the first Enid Blyton book I read, after rereading
it as an adult:

<https://ondermynende.wordpress.com/2017/07/05/the-secret-of-killimooin/>

There is also Kipling's "Stalky & Co," which reveals something of an
anarchist streak.

Rowling combined hers with magic/fantasy in a sort of genre crossover.

I think we have previously discussed some of the puzzling terminology
of the Billy Bunter books (like "Remove") here in aue.
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2