Writer
Blyton, Enid
Category: Writer
Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was a British children's writer.
She is noted for numerous series of books based on recurring characters and designed for different age groups. Her books have enjoyed huge success in many parts of the world, and have sold over 600 million copies.
One of Blyton's most widely known characters is Noddy, intended for early years readers. However, her main work is the genre of young readers' novels in which children have their own adventures with minimal adult help.
Series of this type include the Famous Five (21 novels, 1942–1963, based on four children and their dog), the Five Find-Outers and Dog, (15 novels, 1943–1961, where five children regularly outwit the local police) as well as The Secret Seven (15 novels, 1949–1963, a society of seven children who solve various mysteries).
Her work involves children's adventure stories, and fantasy, sometimes involving magic. Her books were and still are enormously popular throughout the Commonwealth and across most of the globe. Her work has been translated into nearly 90 languages.
Blyton's literary output was of an estimated 800 books over roughly 40 years.
And her experience was entirely accidental and achieved at the dentist – see Inhaling volatiles and gases and Nitrous oxide.
Enid Blyton related a nitrous oxide (laughing gas) experience she’d had in a dentist's chair in a letter printed in Barbara Stoney’s biography, ‘Enid Blyton (1974)’.
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