Secret Doors and Smuggler's Holes11 May 2012tThis is the first of the Famous Five (Freunde Funf in German) books that takes place away from Kirrin Cottage and the surrounding area. Once again it is holidays (and it is Easter, which sort of throws the books out of order since book two was during the Christmas break, and the third book was during another unnamed break, however, despite my lack of knowledge about 1940s English School terms, it seems as if the five have skipped some holidays to arrive here) and they all get together again to go to Kirrin Cottage to stay with their aunty and uncle. However, we also begin to notice that the children's parents are now becoming more distant, and it seems as if Quentin and Fanny are taking the role of parents, since during the school term, the children are off at boarding school.tAnyway, a tree falls onto Kirrin Cottage and the house becomes unliveable, but as it happens, Quentin has been communicating with another scientist at a town called Smuggler's Top, and they decide to send the children there for the holidays. Smuggler's Top is an old town built on top of a hill that is surrounded by marshland. It used to be (and still is) a haven for smugglers, as they would use the secret paths meandering through the swamp, and the catacombs under the hill, to bring their illegal imports into England. We are not told what they are smuggling, only that it is happening, and of course the Five, with a couple of new friends, Sooty and his sister Maryanne, decide to get to the bottom of this mystery.tIt is funny how it is all down to the children to solve these mysteries, since the adults seem to blindly trust all the other adults around, and distrust the children's overactive imagination. However, this can be a little dangerous as I know that when I was a kid I would have loved to have gone on the adventures that the Five went on, and as I grew up to teenagehood, I would continue to go out on these adventures, though I must admit that it was not to bust bad guys, but rather to have some excitement in a rather boring life.tHowever, the catch is that in real life, crooks tend not to be that easy to catch, or that easy to scare. Okay, granted, it is a children's book, and we are not necessarily looking for realism, however we are talking about a world much closer to ours. While Blyton's fairy tales are set mostly in the magical world of Fairyland, the Famous Five, and similar stories, are all set in the real world of merry England, even if the towns that they travel to only exist in Blyton's imagination.tOnce again we also have a large house riddled with secret doors and passages, ones that the bad guys know about but the other adults put to the back of their mind. As a kid I would have loved to have lived in a house full of such passages, and I suspect that in England there are a lot of old houses and castles with such passages. Unfortunately, one cannot wonder around Windsor Castle, probably because the Queen lives there, but I would like to know if these castles actually are full of secret passages. The only castle that I went to that you can wonder around was Dover Castle, and granted there were tunnels and passages in this sprawling complex, but not like what one would expect from the Famous Five.tYou can walk around most of Dover Castle, and like other English castles, it consists of a tall square inner keep which is surrounded by an old wall. However, due to the castles' strategic location, overlooking the narrowest section of the English Channel, the castle has been added to and improved, right up to World War II where it was still being used as a military base. I only wondered around the medieval part of the castle, namely the Keep and some old Napoleonic tunnels, however on the drive up there you do pass the old, underground, World War II hospital and store rooms. Okay, I did not explore the castle too deeply, so I cannot actually say if there were any secret doors there at all. The best way to find them though is to look for abnormally thick walls, or sections of the floor that do not seem to have an entrance. However, finding the entrance can be a real trick in itself.tAs for the older houses, I really cannot say. A lot of those houses are privately owned and I doubt the occupants would really appreciate some tourists tramping all over their lovely house looking for secret passages. Further, I suspect you will need to know the area really well to find them, because I suspect that even if there were passages, the exits would either be covered in undergrowth, or caved in. However, as mentioned, I do suspect that there are probably such passages in some of the older houses. In anycase, I did discover a secret hole one, and that was in an elevator at the University of Adelaide. I still do not know what it is used for, but the back of the elevator could be swung open, and down the bottom was a small space that poked out of the back, and it was large enough for a human to crawl into it. However, a couple of years after my discovery, the university decided to put a lock on the back wall, so I could no longer open it and marvel at my discovery.
Berbicara tentang buku anak, saya tidak bisa melupakan serial Lima Sekawan. Pertama kalinya saya menyukai kisah misteri ala detektif adalah lewat buku Lima Sekawan. Beberapa waktu yang lalu, saya sudah membuat review buku 1-3, dan kali ini saya membaca buku ke-4. Kali ini Lima Sekawan akan pergi ke Sarang Penyelundup.Liburan Paskah sudah tiba. Julian, Dick, George, Anne dan (tentunya) Tim kembali ke Pulau Kirrin. Sayangnya di Pulau Kirrin sedang terjadi angin kencang. Sebuah pohon tumbang dan merusak kamar yang biasanya ditempati oleh keempat anak itu. oleh Paman Quentin, mereka dikirim ke rumah rekannya sesama peneliti, Pak Lenoir, di suatu tempat bernama Sarang Penyelundup. Ternyata Pak Lenoir memiliki anak laki-laki bernama Pierre yang juga adalah teman sekolah Julian dan Dick. Anak-anak semangat pergi ke sana, apalagi mendengar nama tempatnya yang menjanjikan petualangan. Tetapi, Tim tidak boleh ikut karena Pak Lenoir tidak suka dengan anjing. George yang tidak bisa berpisah dengan Tim tidak kehabisan akal. Bagaimanapun juga Tim harus ikut.Lima Sekawan tiba di Sarang Penyelundup, dan disambut oleh Pierre. Pierre sendiri memiliki kulit hitam sehingga oleh anak-anak dia dipanggil dengan nama Si Hangus. Pierre memiliki adik perempuan bernama Marybelle yang berkulit pucat. Rumah tempat tinggal Pak Lenoir memang sesuai dengan nama lokasinya, Sarang Penyelundup. Rumah itu memiliki banyak sekali lorong-lorong rahasia di bawahnya yang saling menghubungkan antara satu tempat dengan tempat lain, bahkan ada jalan ke kota. Lima Sekawan sangat antusias, namun pertama-tama yang harus dilakukan adalah menyembunyikan Tim. Keluarga Lenoir memiliki seorang pelayan bernama Block yang tuli. Untuk berbicara dengannya, harus dengan suara yang keras. Namun Pierre menyarankan pada teman-temannya agar mereka tidak sembarangan bicara di dekat Block karena bisa jadi Block mampu membaca bibir mereka. Kalau Block sampai tahu soal Tim, bisa-bisa mereka akan diusir oleh Pak Lenoir.Bukan Lima Sekawan jika tidak ada petualangan dan mengungkap misteri. Pierre menceritakan tentang seseorang yang sering dilihatnya di menara rumah memberikan isyarat di malam hari saat semua orang sudah tidur. Namun Pierre tidak berhasil mengungkap siapa orang itu, dan apa yang dilakukannya di atas menara. Julian dan saudaranya berusaha membantu Pierre, apalagi ketika mereka mengetahui bahwa Black ada di balik misteri itu.Petualangan kali ini lebih seru dibandingkan tiga petualangan sebelumnya. Dengan adanya lorong-lorong rahasia membuat petualangan semakin menegangkan. Hanya saja, saya tidak menyukai ketika Lima Sekawan menyebut Pierre dengan nama Si Hangus karena kulitnya yang hitam (meski menurut Julian Lenoir dalam bahasa Perancis memang berarti hitam). Terkesan rasis menurut saya. Penggambaran ayah Pierre yang ringan tangan juga sedikit mengganggu. Memang ada baiknya kalau buku ini dibaca oleh anak yang berusia 10 tahun ke atas, dan didampingi oleh orang tua.
Do You like book Five Go To Smuggler's Top (2015)?
One of the few Famous Fives where the wondrous meals took a back-seat! Smuggler’s Top however, atop the mist-shrouded Castaway Hill more than made up for the absence of 'lashings' of delicious food. The adventure starts off with the Five heading off to Kirrin for another glorious vacation. But a terrible gale puts a damper in plans. It uproots a massive ash tree that crashes on to Kirrin Cottage. Four active kids, an excitable dog, a house badly in need of repairs and an irritable Uncle Quentin. Poor Aunt Fanny is in a right fix! Uncle Quentin comes up with the plan of parcelling off the children to his fellow scientist, Mr.Lenoir’s house. And the house goes by the name of 'Smuggler’s Top'. An added attraction is Sooty(Pierre Lenoir), Mr.Lenoir’s stepson…a prankster who goes to school with Dick. Smuggler’s Top is a huge house straight out of history with hidden passages behind panels and pits under seemingly ordinary floors.....all mysteriously ensconced on a small island surrounded by marshes and swirling mists. After a few uneventful days, the Five soon discover that someone is flashing signals from the tower of Smuggler’s Top. Is smuggling still going under wraps of the creeping mist? And who is involved? Is their host up to something sinister? A delicious mystery made all the more intriguing by the house and it’s many unknown secrets. Interesting characters are Mr.Lenoir...who likes to appear jolly and friendly, but regularly flies into a nasty temper (the indication of which is the tip of his nose turning white!). His man-servant Block is instantly repulsive with his blank-face,supposed deafness and brute-like strength. And then ofcourse, there’s Mr.Barling…the eccentric smuggler who has escaped the police so far. He longs for a bygone era when ships crept in, over the treacherous marshes towards the appointed place. Another one of my Blyton favourites……Five Go to Smuggler’s Top was one that appealed to me purely for the entire ambience created. The house located atop a hill,riddled with secret passages……the sleepy town with cobbled streets and diamond-pane windows……the catacombs, where people could wander for days and get lost forever……the squelching mud of the marshes, which was almost a live, breathing thing.....all collectively added to the aura that was Smuggler’s Top. Enid Blyton effectively created a world that I could picture with startling clarity even after so many years. When I was a snotty-nosed kid, I always read “Five Run Away Together” and “Five Go To Smuggler’s Top” back to back. From the windswept beauty of Kirrin Island to the sinister charm of Castaway Hill...each had it’s own appeal. And while I have replenished my stock of other long-lost Famous Fives…I have loyally preserved this ancient double edition; a slice of my childhood and a reminder of simpler times!
—Namratha
Synopsis: "Smugglers-coming over a secret path from the sea to Castaway Hill! Smugglers!" (Pg. 78).Julian, Dick, George, Anne and Timmy the Dog meet once again to begin, what they believe to be, a 'normal' summer holiday. Meeting at George's home, the first night doesn't quite go to plan; a terrible storm leaves the household in turmoil as a tree falls on the property. Worried they may not be able to spend their holiday together, George's father, the formidable Uncle Quentin, solves the problem, by sending them to Smuggler's Top, home to a professional colleague of Quentin's, Mr. Lenoir. Arriving at Smuggler's top, not all is as it seems and they soon find themselves caught in a twisted plot. Overall Review - 4.5* (Read it to your kids) I couldn't help but to enjoy reading this book again. It is simply sweet, innocent fun - isn't that what childhood is meant to be? For those of you that are familiar with the Famous Five novels, they pretty much follow a similar plot; the children go on their holidays, find something is wrong, investigate and explore, till the plot reaches it's climax, usually with the children facing a bad predicament and finally it being resolved and everyone is back together in the end. You perhaps wonder how an author could sustain such a plot over such a long series of books and yet, Enid Blyton seems to do it with effortless ease. For a child, (I would put the audience age around 8-10 years), it is full of adventure, comedy, action and friendship which most children can relate to in one way or the other.It's a story that children can relate to it. Instead of being set in another world or another dimension, the setting is seemingly real. The plots are not so far-fetched that they are unbelievable; every child could turn their house in Smuggler's Top, re-play the adventure with their friends in the school playground. Being by the beach set the perfect atmosphere for me when I was reading the book.The characters are very independent, loud, sharp, sure-minded... typical of children. Another reason why young readers will relate to them. When Dick stands up to Mr. Lenoir, it recreates my own arguments with my father. The narrative is third person and flows very well. As an adult reader, transferring to a very young text, e.g. he said this, she said that, he did this etc. was quite hard. It took a good few chapters for me to make the transition. Remembering when I read the book as a child, I found it very exciting, gripping and definitely my favourite out of the Famous Five Series, so much so I re-visited the book very often. I hope today's children still get to read Enid Blyton - her novels are far too good to be forgotten!To read more, visit my blog: http://verdictbookreviews.blogspot.co...
—Sophie Dusting
I remember the bookstore where I first bought this paperback in the mid 1970's, while on a summer vacation with my family in New England. I was so happy to find some shelves of books catered to kids my age! I collected several of the "Famous Five" series books that summer. I don't think I even realized they were first published in the '40's. I loved the promise of adventure more than the unfolding of the plots or "mysteries" themselves. I loved that there was a "tomboy," George, and that she was not an outsider in the least. I loved learning new "British" words. I loved that the dog was included in all the adventures. (Really, now that I think of it--these mysteries were kind of the 1940's British boarding school version of, well, a precursor to Scooby Doo!)Re-reading "Five go to Smuggler's Top" was a wonderfully nostalgic experience--I could smell the cabin in which I first read it, remember the excitement of first meeting the characters! But the story was, today, a bit disappointing, and I am surprised at how the children come across through my modern, adult eye: I have to admit the children really seem churlish and rotten with privilege. Maybe that was once part of the fun, I'm not sure. I will, however, still add it to my "happy nostalgic reads" list!
—Jean
