Getting Granny into the modern world

Another parody Famous Five book, slooooowly getting through all of these. I need to find the last few! This one has the five visiting their grandmother who they’ve not spoke to in a ridiculous number of years, she lives in Lancashire which is depicted as being rural and “backwards” in a tiny home.

She doesn’t have any real understanding of the Internet or its uses, so the five offer to help. And of course, everything goes wrong. This wasn’t my favourite book, I’m not entirely sure why but it just wasn’t as enjoyable as the others in this weird little series and I ended up only giving it 2 stars.

Maybe it’s because I’m from the North of England and I get fed up of it being depicted as backwards? Maybe it’s because I didn’t like how the five treated their Gran who isn’t their Gran and the actions of just everyone in this story. It just left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I definitely don’t recommend picking up this book if you’re wanting to look into the parody versions of the Famous Five books, as there are much better ones out there. But I’m still going to try and collect and read them all, as I do enjoy the nostalgia of my childhood and some of them have been entertaining.

The Famous Five buy a house… kinda

This is my 6th parody book from Bruno Vincent about the Famous Five. I am determined I will collect them all!! I just keep picking them up as and when I find them in charity shops! The wacky topic for this book is that the Five are having to move out of the residence that they were in because Aunt Fanny and Uncle Quentin need to sell it for money. So they’re looking for somewhere else to move to.

Of course this leads to madness and weird houses and just an absolute mess! It’s very fun and of course still has the typical happy ending, these books aren’t amazing but I keep coming back so there must be something about them! If you have nostalgia for the Five, definitely give one a go!

Famous Five clash with the Secret Seven

Slowly, I’m collecting all of the books in this parody series of the Famous Five originally by Enid Blyton. In this book, the Five all work in the same company and are sent on one of those annoying bonding days. At the same time, the Secret Seven all also work together and have been sent on one of these days from their own company. So of course they compete and try to best each other!

In these books the Five always argue and don’t get along for the majority of the book, but by the end they have made up as a family. This book is no different and they all have differing opinions on how best to get through this stupid exercise quickly.

These are simply fun little books, nothing more, but I still really enjoy reading them all and I’ll get them all eventually!!

Five Give Up The Booze, a review

Another parody famous five book about excessive drinking this time. This one was, well… let me explain.

The majority of it was just like the other books in this parody series that I’ve read so far, the five are in the modern day and are struggling with an issue. This time the issue happens to be excessive drinking, and they decide to attempt dry January as a group. Now, of course, the ending is all wrapped up nice and neat, everything turns out alright in the end, Bruno Vincent keeps these classic hallmarks of the original stories. However, there was a bit that made me feel uncomfortable within this one (which hasn’t happened previously). There was an LGBT aspect which seemed to be thrown in there simply for humour, but it doesn’t come off well. It took me a second to figure out that it wasn’t meant to be serious and then once I realised this I was uncomfortable with the scene. It’s just not done well at all and really lowers my opinion of this book.

Other than that, this is another enjoyable and silly rendition of the five and if you can get past the hiccough above (and like me are wanting to collect and read them all) then go for it. It’s still fun in the main.

Five Go Gluten Free, a parody

How many of you have seen these little parody books of the Famous Five stories of old? I used to adore those books as a child, having read and re-read all 21 of the stories and wishing so hard that I could be in their world. Well this parody series brings them not only into the modern day, but back down to Earth with a bump. This time the five are all grown up and dealing with bigger problems than Timmy eating the picnic they packed (okay that’s a pretty big problem, but still).

In this parody, Anne is given some presents for her birthday that the other three should have looked over more carefully. She reads the book she was given, as well as doing further research online, and decides that they all need to give up gluten (and pretty much everything else) to not kill themselves with their diet. This is an accurate and funny look at how modern fad diets are silly and strange, although there are obviously steps to take to be more healthy, unless you have a medical condition you don’t need to be this drastic with what you cut out of your diet!

The five struggle to keep eating in this way, becoming weaker as they don’t get enough nutrients and attempting to sneak food behind the others backs! It’s a fun little piece, only 104 pages long, and is great for any childhood fans of the five!

Five come into the 21st Century

As someone who grew up reading all 21 of the original Famous Five books and absolutely loves them, I had been worried about reading any of these bastardised versions as I thought they might be tacky and just very disappointing. I finally took the plunge when I found this book in a charity shop (for 30p, how could I say no for 30p?!) and I ended up really enjoying its silly and fun atmosphere. The four are all portrayed brilliantly, and as you’d imagine they would be if they had grown up without much, if any, character development, and poor Timmy feels very much pushed aside due to the new baby! I can only imagine this book would be even funnier if I had experience looking after a baby myself and I’ll definitely have to go back to it if I ever end up as a mother. Definitely a fun read and I’ll have to read all of them eventually!