Throughout the Famous Five series, one of the features has been how much food they eat. Blyton really leans into it this time as they end up on holiday staying with a farmer’s wife who cooks literally everything in sight and wants to feed them up as much as possible. Meanwhile there’s an adventure to be had - they’re in Cornwall so naturally it includes caves and smugglers and all that jazz. Plus a new friend called Yan.

Off on another adventure, this time the Five are camping in a field that also happens to have a travelling circus nearby. At first they’re not friends but the return of Jo who we met in a previous book softens them, and together they manage to rescue a scientist who has been kidnapped and is being held prisoner in the crumbling ruins of a castle. As you do. Fun, but pretty standard at this point for the group.

Dipping into the next three adventures of the Famous Five, and this one saw them go for a long hike… although obviously that turned into not so much walking and more of an adventure. This time they were following a riddle that was inadvertently given to them - something of a treasure hunt - and I liked that aspect of it, unravelling the clues and determined to make it work. It’s so interesting how the characters develop in each book, this time the focus seemed to be on Julian who was very bolshy and almost rude this time out - standing up for their rights and not taking any nonsense from what could be quite scary strangers. Curious what their next adventure might be!

I quite liked the last story that featured people trying to get their hands on Uncle Quentin’s important scientific work and this was another of the same. The adults go off on holiday and strange things start to happen, ultimately ending with George getting kidnapped. The remaining kids have the help of a new friend, Jo, although it takes them quite a long time to warm to her! Lots of threats to poor Timmy this time, but they all survive unscathed, no harm done!

I quite liked this one, it feels like the adventures are getting a bit more dangerous as the kids are just that little bit older. They continue to go off out and about without parental supervision which I find amazing, but this time they are joined by a friend, Richard, who ends up effectively getting them all kidnapped. It had a locked room vibe, because they were in a house and had to figure out how to get help and/or escape. Quite fun!

I think each of these books should be called Famous Five Get Into Trouble again because you go into each book like you would an episode of Casualty, watching all the signs as they point to the gang falling into another adventure. I quite like that this one was very meta about it - they kept chatting on about whether they wanted to have an adventure or not, although ultimately it wasn’t their choice. The only thing I didn’t like about this one was the word spook-train. Don’t know why, it just annoyed me.

I liked that in this book we got to see that temper tantrum side of George again, the fact that her uncle needs to use the island for some science that could affect the whole world - but hey, it’s HER island and he didn’t ask permission! It feels like the odds were really elevated in this one, the consequences of the bad guy’s actions could have blown up a whole island and destroyed some neat scientific technology. Blimey.

This book seems to bring together all the things that I have thought reading the other books - how is it possible these kids are allowed to go off on holiday by themselves like that, why do they always end up running around in caves, and why are the bad people so set on hurting kids for their own means!

I tell you what, the stakes felt a lot higher in this adventure, it wasn’t just about the kids uncovering some kind of plot, but they actually had to save their own Uncle Julian from being kidnapped! Crikey! It gets off to a mysterious start, that imposing building on the top of the hills with scary marshes all around, and the mysteries just continue to deepend. I did feel a bit annoyed about how much effort it took to hide Timothy the dog, but hey, he’s one of the five, so you’ve got to love him!

Third in the Famous Five series, and this time the gang are very much left to fend for themselves. When Aunt and Uncle have to go away for illness, the crew find themselves at the mercy of some very unscrupulous fill-in housekeepers. It does make me wonder how much screening Uncle Quentin does on his staff, with these guys and with the rogue tutor from the previous book.