Customer Reviews

Noddy Goes to Toyland (New Noddy Library)

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Picture a child, ready to tackle listening to a "chapter-book" read by a caring adult. Or a child ready to try to read a "chapter-book", after building up skill with single-story picture-story books. In both cases, Enid Blyton's "Noddy", especially the first six titles in the original series, are amongst the very best of these early-listening or early-reading "chapter-books". It's true that people object to golliwogs, in any form, even when they are kind and friendly, as many of Blyton's are. It's true that many people read nasty things into the substitute-parent role played by Noddy's good friend Big-Ears the Brownie. True, they do (or did) share a bed, on one occasion, when Noddy visits. It's true that Mr Plod the policeman is a bit of a bumbling fuss-budget. These early (usually stupid or prudish) objections have been eliminated in recent sensitive revisions. No golliwogs now. No bed-sharing. Sweetness and light. Fortunately the books are as good as ever. Noddy is a little wooden nodding-headed toy, who is afraid of the toy lion Old Man Carver is making, so he runs away - and finds himself helped by Big-Ears, and is taken to Toyland. Now Noddy needs to be dressed, and to make himself a house. In later books he needs to find a way of earning his sixpences. Noddy is really a young child playing at growing up. He gets into trouble, occasionally. Yet his heart is always in the right place. But when he let's the animals out of Noah's Ark, there is community uproar. Is he really a toy? Does he really belong in Toyland? And is he a GOOD toy? Enid Blyton's wonderful toy fable-fairytale, brilliantly illustrated by the artist Beek (whose illustrations inspired Blyton), was deservedly an instant classic. The controversy came later, and should now be set aside. Noddy is still a classic, almost a nursery epic of growing up to be a good person. Pinocchio without the moralising or horror, and with much warmth and humor. Noddy wants to build the roof of his house first, ! so he can build the walls and stay dry if it rains. Later, perhaps regretably, Noddy became an industry of books and merchandising. But the first six titles are outstanding of their kind. Very highly recommended.

I approached Noddy with a bit of trepidation, for a number of reasons.

First, I remember being a huge fan of Noddy in my own childhood. Would it stand the test of time, would my fond memories prove unreliable.

Second, there is all the bad press Noddy has received over the years - some of it hysterical over-reaction eg reading homosexuality or paedophilia into the relationship between Noddy and Big Ears - i have read both over the years.For pete's sake! Friendship is a hallmark of children's literature and childhood, surely!

Third, the racial and sexist stereotyping. I think some of that has been "cleaned up" to make it more compatible with contemporary values.

I was pleasantly pleased when I re-read Noddy, and my son started asking for the stories. They are not earth-shatteringly well-written (in fact some of the writing is a quite banal, and a bit dated / twee). However, they are reasonable stories that have a place in a child's literary experience.

Some of the moralism is a bit heavy-handed, and there is definitely an authoritarianism evident in Blyton's writing. She was a product of her time and class, and she does tend to patronise a bit.

But on the strength of that, I would never support "banning" Noddy, or even prevent children from reading them. They are good early reading books for the independent reader. as long as a child has access to the great range of children't literature, I see no problem. There are, after all, only 6 of these books. They don't repeat endlessly in the way some of the more modern series books do.

Enid Blyton captures a child's heart and starts them on the wonderful adventure of reading with her Noddy Series. These were some of the first books I learned to read when I lived in Scotland and have treasured them since. I have read them to my children and grandchildren and still get delight from reading them again to myself! Everyone should experience Noddy!