Blyton’s Five Set to Return

A half century after their troublesome debut, Enid Blyton’s Famous Five will storm the world in a new set of books for children, beginning with the UK publication of The Famous Five’s Survival Guide set for publication next month.

From Reuters this morning:

Chorion, which owns the rights to Blyton's characters, has authorised the book’s release along with new versions of some of the author's other popular children's classics including the Faraway Tree, The Wishing Chair, The Secret Series and Malory Towers.

Twenty newly commissioned books will be released, with the latest Famous Five and Faraway Tree novels due out in Britain next month.

The other titles will follow during the next two years.

And from The Times Online:

The author wrote 700 stories and eight million of her books, including more than one million Famous Five tales, are still sold worldwide every year. After her death in 1968 her creations were criticised as sexist and racist, with many modern copies given a politically correct rewrite. But she has come back into favour recently and was named the nation's best-loved author at this year's Costa Book Awards, beating Shakespeare, Dickens and Roald Dahl.