Dixie O'Day and the Great Diamond Robbery- Shirley Hughes and Clara Vulliamy

 

The Blurb

Dixie O'Day and his best friend Percy are off on holiday, and drive straight into adventure!

Peaches Miaow, the fabulous pop star, has her priceless diamond necklace stolen from the Hotel Splendide in the crime of the century. Can Dixie and Percy track down the sinister figures at the heart of the mystery?

Pack your bags for a thrilling trip filled with glamourpusses, cat burglars and seaside fun in this gorgeous chapter book with a chapter for each night of the week, as well as plenty of exciting extra material.

The Review

I am beyond excited that the next Dixie book has finally ventured out into the big wide world.  My son and I read the first in the series, Dixie O'Day in the Fast Lane last year and fell in love with Dixie and his sidekick Percy.  It's no exaggeration to say this has been one of the most highly anticipated releases of the year in our house, and I don't just mean by Zachary!

Everything we liked about the first book is back.  Lovable characters- check.  High drama-check.  Beautiful illustrations- check.  Additional extras, maps to envisage the places in the story, chapters which are perfect in length and substance- check, check, check.

However, there are enough changes to distinguish Dixie O'Day and the Great Diamond Robbery from what has gone before.  The holiday setting worked well and Peaches Miaow is the ultimate in glamorous- my son developed quite the soft spot for her.  I also felt the 'baddies' were just naughty enough without being nightmare-inducing and of course they get their comeuppance in the end.

The vocabulary in the book will stretch most children in the target market, introducing new words to expand their language development.  There are humorous elements and a moral message.  It is all round good old-fashioned fun, and the wonderful illustrations bring the text to life.  The illustration on page 99 of Percy and Peaches is my ultimate favourite- utterly simplistic but beautifully evocative- I want a larger version of it for my wall!!!

Overall, we were not disappointed.  The only disappointment came when we finished it at break-neck speed and we realised we had a long wait for the next Dixie adventure!

Dixie O'Day and the Great Diamond Robbery is out today, published by The Bodley Head.

With thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy of this title.

The Secret Seven-Enid Blyton

Oh, Enid Blyton.  The cause of much debate and controversy in children's fiction, yet still incredibly popular.  Adults are often dismissive of Blyton, even those who loved her books as a child, and I was very keen to start rereading some of my favourites.  When the opportunity to review The Secret Seven came up, I jumped at the chance.  I must have read the whole series at least ten times between the ages of 5-10, and the books that I especially enjoyed many more times that that. 

With slight trepidation I picked up the book.  Would I be disappointed?  Should childhood favourites be left in the past for fear of spoiling the happy memories they provide?  Or would I feel like I was being reacquainted with old friends?

The Secret Seven is the first book in the series.  First published in 1949 there are definitely parts of it that seem dated, especially some turns of phrase that are used (particularly by straight laced Janet).  However they were probably also outdated in the mid 1980s when I read these books the first time, and I was never aware that they were so old fashioned through my childhood eyes.  The same could well be true for children in modern society, infact I would go as far as to assume that it IS true, or the books would surely have gone out of print-nostalgia alone is not enough to keep publishers printing books, they have to actually sell too.

I whizzed through the story, and recalled many of the key moments throughout.  It was almost like being transported back to my own childhood, a sense of deja vu.  I loved reliving the adventure, particularly the sense of being tucked away in the shed sat on a flowerpot in the meetings the children have.  Passwords and disguises abound as the seven set off to find out who the stealthy men sneaking around a spooky old house are.  What are they doing, and why?  Of course the Secret Seven come up trumps, I don't think that is a spoiler, and as an adult I finished the book with the same sense of satisfaction that I did the first time around.  This surely shows the power a good book has, it can stand the test of time and be read at varying stages in life and still be appreciated.

The Hodder edition I had to review was illustrated by Tony Ross, which is obviously an attempt to make the books as visually appealing as possible to the young audience of the twenty-first century.  Whilst I liked the illustrations I didn't feel they gelled especially well with the text, but this may just be because they are not what I would traditionally associate with Blyton. 

Don't overlook Blyton thinking her work outmoded and irrelevant for children today.  Any child seeking high adventure and a story about true friendship and teamwork will find plenty in the Secret Seven books to appeal to them.

I have already decided that I'm going to buy all the books in the series to reread and review.  They will then remain on my son's bookshelf to hopefully be enjoyed again and again-they are classics, pure and simple.

9.5/10
With thanks to Hodder for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an impartial review.