Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
London : Macmillan Children's, 2006.
Description
For Philip, Dinah, Lucy-Ann, Jack, and Kiki the parrot, the summer holidays in Cornwall are everything they'd hoped for, until they begin to realise that something very sinister is taking place on the mysterious Isle of Gloom where a dangerous adventure awaits them in the abandoned copper mines and secret tunnels beneath the sea.
User reviews
LibraryThing member LibraryLou
I love this series of books and have recently been listening to them in the car, which has bought back lots of memories. I also found all of my original copies in the drawer at my Grandma's house, right where I left them when I was a child the last time I stayed over!
LibraryThing member benfulton
One dimensional, formulaic, simplistic, class-conscious, yadda yadda yadda. That's what most reviewers say about Enid Blyton's books, but if you take them as they are, that is as childish fantasies, they're terrific. Secret passages, tunnels under the sea, castles, hidden rooms, every daydream a
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ten-year-old might think of will be in one of Ms. Blyton's books. This book, the first in the "Adventure" series, is appropriate for slightly older readers, coming in as it does at over 150 pages, and we are introduced to Jack, Diana, Philip, and Lucy-Ann, not to mention the parrot Kiki. What will happen on the ancient cliffs of Cornwall? Show Less
LibraryThing member Akeley
The adventure books by Enid Blyton were my favourite when I was a kid. I saved my pocket money and when I had three guilders and 25 cents, I rushed to the stationary and bookstore around the corner and bought a paperback. And then had some wonderful hours in my room, usually with a bar of chocolate
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to accompany the reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member DaveLaw
great series of books and its great to re-read after 30 odd years. The Island of Adventure is I think one of the weaker titles in the "adventure" series but it does introduce you to the characters that re-appear in the later titles.
LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26
The first in a series of eight books detailing the adventures of a group of children and their avian companion, The Island of Adventure (first published in 1944) introduces young readers to Philip and Dinah Mannering, Jack and Lucy-Ann Trent, and Kiki the parrot. When Jack and Lucy-Ann come to stay
Begun last year, after I learned that the author - whose books are largely unknown in the United States - is the sixth-most popular author in the world, my "Enid Blyton Project" has thus far included the fifteen-volume Five Find-Outers and Dog series, a few of the Noddy books, and the first installment of The Famous Five series. But The Island of Adventure is without a doubt the most enjoyable Blyton I have read thus far. An exciting plot, and engaging characters, make me wish I had access to the next seven in the Adventure Series. I'm finally beginning to get an inkling as to why Blyton, whose writing is mostly mediocre, is so beloved. She keeps the reader wanting more.
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with Philip and Dinah at Craggy-Tops - their aunt and uncle's home on the rugged Cornwall coast - the four children are soon caught up in an exciting mystery involving the nearby Isle of Gloom. Who is responsible for the strange lights that Jack sees one night, first from a ship along the coast, and then on the cliffs near Craggy-Tops? Who's been on the Isle of Gloom, despite its reputed inaccessibility, and what have they been doing in the old abandoned copper mines there? And what does it all have to do with Bill Smugs, the children's new friend...?Begun last year, after I learned that the author - whose books are largely unknown in the United States - is the sixth-most popular author in the world, my "Enid Blyton Project" has thus far included the fifteen-volume Five Find-Outers and Dog series, a few of the Noddy books, and the first installment of The Famous Five series. But The Island of Adventure is without a doubt the most enjoyable Blyton I have read thus far. An exciting plot, and engaging characters, make me wish I had access to the next seven in the Adventure Series. I'm finally beginning to get an inkling as to why Blyton, whose writing is mostly mediocre, is so beloved. She keeps the reader wanting more.
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LibraryThing member ljhliesl
Why��don't I note the source of books? I have intended to read Blyton for some time, but what prompted me to place a hold on this book at this time was reading (where?) that its cast included a cockatiel. The cockatiel is sadly neglected in literature. So I opened it up, the book having been
The illustration on the first page indicated that the bird was a cockatoo, which was a disappointment to me but not a let-down by the author. The author let me down on the third page when the omniscient narrator describes the bird as a beautiful parrot, scarlet and gray, with a crest. There is one cockatoo, the palm, that is crested and black and crimson, but it is not commonly kept as a pet (too rare) and not well known to boot, and another, the galah, that is pink and grey and only punily crested. I've never heard of a cockatoo as good a talker as Kiki. Blyton probably intended an African Grey, which is scarlet and grey and the best mimic of all parrots but doesn't have a crest. So whoever led me on about a cockatiel was wrong, and then the author was wrong about parrots, and rant rant rant.
Meanwhile, the adventure story about the falling-down old house Craggy-Tops (the next occupant might be Cassandra Mortmain), boats (very Swallows and Amazons), fanciful parrots (very Peter Duck*) mining (very Pigeon Post*), and barely-present adults was great. And the bit about a tame beetle didn't bother me, and I was able to ignore the pesky back-of-my-mind certainty that the run-off from a copper mine would stain rocks verdigris-green like the Statue of Liberty, not rust-red (because maybe Blyton was right about that). But hot damn, the way Blyton wrote about Jo-Jo the handyman, the way the children speak to him! They seem to disdain him (for being black and a servant) more than the adults do (very Big Six*).
* Swallows and Amazons��was the first of a series. Go read them all.
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hauled up from the cellar for my pleasure and the library binding solid red like Seven-Day-Magic and anticipation high.The illustration on the first page indicated that the bird was a cockatoo, which was a disappointment to me but not a let-down by the author. The author let me down on the third page when the omniscient narrator describes the bird as a beautiful parrot, scarlet and gray, with a crest. There is one cockatoo, the palm, that is crested and black and crimson, but it is not commonly kept as a pet (too rare) and not well known to boot, and another, the galah, that is pink and grey and only punily crested. I've never heard of a cockatoo as good a talker as Kiki. Blyton probably intended an African Grey, which is scarlet and grey and the best mimic of all parrots but doesn't have a crest. So whoever led me on about a cockatiel was wrong, and then the author was wrong about parrots, and rant rant rant.
Meanwhile, the adventure story about the falling-down old house Craggy-Tops (the next occupant might be Cassandra Mortmain), boats (very Swallows and Amazons), fanciful parrots (very Peter Duck*) mining (very Pigeon Post*), and barely-present adults was great. And the bit about a tame beetle didn't bother me, and I was able to ignore the pesky back-of-my-mind certainty that the run-off from a copper mine would stain rocks verdigris-green like the Statue of Liberty, not rust-red (because maybe Blyton was right about that). But hot damn, the way Blyton wrote about Jo-Jo the handyman, the way the children speak to him! They seem to disdain him (for being black and a servant) more than the adults do (very Big Six*).
* Swallows and Amazons��was the first of a series. Go read them all.
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LibraryThing member SilverThistle
I LOVED this book when I first read it all those years ago. LOVED! It was my favourite book, back in the day.
I still have my cloth bound HB from back then and I can't see me ever parting with it.
I still have my cloth bound HB from back then and I can't see me ever parting with it.
LibraryThing member rakerman
Pretty much everyone in the story is disagreeable in one way or another, which makes it a rather difficult read.
A fairly straightforward tale in the classic British schoolchildren style - parents gone or distant, relatives and caregivers not particularly engaged, mysterious ramshackle house,
Unabridged audiobook read by Thomas Judd:
Thomas Judd is a good reader, with good voices for the characters.
A fairly straightforward tale in the classic British schoolchildren style - parents gone or distant, relatives and caregivers not particularly engaged, mysterious ramshackle house,
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secret passage.Unabridged audiobook read by Thomas Judd:
Thomas Judd is a good reader, with good voices for the characters.
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Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1944
Physical description
220 p.; 20 inches
ISBN
0330446290 / 9780330446297