The Secret Seven

I never really got around to reading The secret seven when I was young. The first Enid Blyton I read was Five on a treasure island so I was already a bit too old for the Seven and only ever read a few. But Malcolm remembered them fondly, so eventually I collected them. However, after reading the

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first couple, my reading got taken over by many other interests, such as the Chalet school and I never read more than the first couple.

I have finally decided that it's time to read the whole series properly, in order, as I meant to do in England years ago. Which of course means starting back at the beginning since it's so long since my last attempt. Fortunately, the books are so short and vividly descriptive that it's no hardship. The secret seven must be one of the few of the series that I've now read something like four times, but I still loved reading it. I was amazed at how bossy Peter is - it's a wonder he has managed to be the head of anything, let alone a "secret society". I used to get in trouble for sounding bossy to Adrian at school (I once told him his latest story was really good but he didn't believe it himself, so I half-jokingly said "If I say it's good, it's good!" - I then got into trouble for being bossy - the teacher told him not to listen to me!!!). Now I know where I got my bossiness from - I was trying to imitate an Enid Blyton character!

So now I've started. I've read the first few before - I can't wait to get past them to the ones I've never, ever read before...

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I missed these as a child, and I'm not sure why. Potentially my parents may have thought that I would have got far too many ideas from Peter - I was almost as bossy, given the chance.
I do have to say that the middle class-ness just oozes off this. The children meet, in winter, in a shed that's

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warm because it is next to the boiler house for the greenhouse. Like you do. And Jack's sister has a governess. These aren't your everyday run of the mill kids, and I doubt they ever were. It's not exactly representative. Peter is over the top domineering, probably because that's how is father is, being (probably) of the local landowning classes. And while they are not entirely belittling to the girls, Janet is the one that gets to sew costumes, she doesn't get to go out and use the disguises - the 4 boys do that.
It's amusing, it's pretty unbelievable now, I think if they ever were for me, that time has passed.

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This first Secret Seven book. Same plot as all the others.

I'd forgotten how much this doesn't feel like the first book in a series, but a later one - the very first sentance is 'we'd better have a secret seven meeting, we haven't had one for ages'. Good story, but the gender is a bit annoying (the boys do the nighttime exploring and the girls stay home)