Five on a Treasure Island (Famous Five)

My children love the Famous Five series, and I wanted to buy a copy of the first book for a friend's child. This version, which says on the copyright page that is has been "Revised by Birch Tree Publishing", is garbage! The text has been jammed into 99 pages of tiny type; paragraphs aren't even indented and the text is not right justified and is riddled with typos. Spend the extra dollar or two to get one sent from the UK. Avoid this version at all costs!

**Please note this is a review for the publishing/reprinting of the classic, not for the book/content itself**This is one of my most beloved Enid Blyton books of all time. I purchased this edition for a friend of my daughters. Thankfully I chose to walk down memory lane and read a few pages before gifting it. The first thing I noticed was the ridiculous paragraph/text alignment - not only is the text left justified which is completely not pleasing to the reader, but the sentences are nonsensically cut off. For example, some lines end 2 inches earlier than the lines before or after it, even though the words in the next line can easily fit on the line given the alignment. How on earth is a young reader going to learn how to structure their text with a book like this?The book is also riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. It's just such a horrendous, appalling treatment of a true classic! Enid Blyton is already sadly lacking from American kids literature. Reprints like this certainly do not help. Amazon should really remove this edition from its virtual shelves!!!

Many years ago, when I was but a mere lad, I became very familiar with the adventures of Julian, Dick, Anne, George, and Timmy the dog. The Famous Five were my companions as I grew up, and this book is where their story begins.If I had an island of my own, I would call it "Kirrin Island". Of course, I have no island of my own, which makes my observation entirely rhetorical. I don't even have a dog, but if I did, I would likely consider naming it "Timmy". If not "Buster" (after the Five Find-Outers and Dog) or "Looney" (the Barney Mystery stories) or "Lucky" (Mr. Galliano's Circus) or "Shadow" (Shadow the Sheepdog) or "Bundle" (The Family at Red Roofs) or "Mr. Tubby" (Rubadub Mysteries).Thank you, Enid Blyton.

DO NOT BUY. I love Enid Blyton, I grew up reading her, and it's a disservice to her legacy how bad this printing of the book is. Paragraphs run into each other, punctuation marks are missed, spellings are incorrect. I bought the book and returned it immediately, that's how bad it was. SERIOUSLY, DO NOT BUY THIS!

I loved the series when I was a child. Now my granddaughter does. She is 7 years old. Plrobably a good book for kids6-11

This is a great book, but it is a terrible way to read it. The only reason I didn't rate it five stars, is because of the quality. The quality was terrible! There were spelling errors, and capitalization was rarely used.But the book itself is great. I love it so much, it never goes too over your head, and at the same time, it's hard to keep up with the Famous Five. The details Enid Blyton added made you feel like you were a part of the book. I would recommend it to almost everyone. But the quality I read it in, I would recommend to no one.

I've read many of the Famous Five books, but somehow missed this one. I bought it for my son, and ended up reading it myself as soon as he was done. A great, low-stress read as clean as any mother could wish for, exciting, full of adventure, and written with all the usual inimitable Enid Blyton style. Highly recommended for kids who like good old-fashioned series like The Three Investigators, or other Enid Blyton books.

This story is not for those who are offended by gender stereotypesthat were typical of the era (1940s).That said, it is a remarkably good adventure story set in Englandabout 4 children and a dog. (The famous five) These books have been readand re-read by three generations of my family. Lots of camping,cycling, walking, picnics, and no adult supervision, and of coursethey always solve the mystery with style. There are about 20 in theseries, but only the first 10 are worth much re-reading

The original text and character names which is great but not with the original illustrations. The old text though comes with a warning - there is a real bias here against single child families. George's issues and behavioural problems are all blamed on her being an only which obviously gave her these negative qualities! I read to my son and skipped these statements otherwise he might feel there's something wrong with being an only child.

These bring back memories. Famous five and secret seven. Good old Enid Blyton. Okay in my day we had the paperback book collection but now I am reading them with my son on a Amazon Kindle which is just weird. However it's a trip down memory lane for me. From one of the best kids authors of all time. Apart from Michelle Magorians goodnight Mr Tom....

Read all the Famous Five books as a kid and wanted to re-read them again. Great story just as I remembered. Great to be able to get the original unchanged story and Enid Blyton wrote it. I don't understand why they try and change stories. Yes some of it may be a bit old fashioned and even a bit sexist etc but that is part of it's charm and even this thoroughly modern woman wasn't offended. A lot of fun if you enjoyed the books as a kid it is a fun trip down memory lane.

”Queer”, in the sense of strange or unusual has been excised completely. Just in case any one mistook it for something LGBTQIA+ related (heaven forfend!). Other choices are equally queer, with "shorts" being replaced by "jeans" for example.Despite that, it's still a ripping yarn, and just as exciting as when i read it for the first time in my rather distant youth.So, only another 20 books to go and I'll have finished the whole set :-)

I bought my 8 year old grandaughter this book to see if she enjoyed it as much as I used to as a child. She was engrossed in it and could recite the story to me as she progressed further into the book. I found a great sense of pride and comfort knowing I had passed on these stories to another generation. I will be getting the whole set now for her . Priceless.....