Looks like children love Stephenie Mayer’s vampires more than those inquisitive children with interesting neighbourhoods that Enid Blyton created. The author of the Famous Five and Secret Seven series has fallen out of the top ten list of children’s authors. She has gone from position eight to 11. The reason — youngsters can’t relate to her language anymore!
Many, who grew up reading Enid Blyton say they owe their writing skills to her. “I have grown up reading every single Enid Blyton book and it is unfortunate that she is out of the list. I’m very surprised. Every aspiring writer has read her books and she has somewhere inspired many young minds. She had the language that all of us could relate with, it is really unfortunate that people don’t find her good enough any more,” says Nisha Barjatia, a Delhi-based literature student.
But after the mega success of the Harry Potter and Twilight series, followed by the successful movie adaptations, the Secrets Sevens and the Famous Fives are mere memories. “It would be wrong to blame youngsters for not reading the once children’s classic. We want something that has a good mix of romance and thrill,” says Hina Bajaj, a movie buff, who started reading Harry Potter to understand the movies better.
Movies seem to be a buoying factor that affect the success of authors. “The new-age adapted fantasies give room for excellent graphics and animation and that’s what we want today. Blyton is good to read, but we can’t expect a cinematic experience out of her stories,” says Prateek Harsh.
Her die-hard fans believe that the reach of Enid Blyton’s books have diminished to a limited audience. “People found it funny when I told them that I haven’t read Twilight, that’s when I started reading the book. Noddy and Barney Secret series come on cartoon channels and thus classify to be a juvenile concept,” says Megha Gulati, a first year media student.
Youngsters feel if movies decide the destiny of writers then it is sad that no new-age director sees any potential in these classics. “Comparing Twilight and Secret Seven is like comparing apples and oranges. The writers of these books are themselves inspired by Enid Blyton. If Alice in Wonderland and the Toy Story series can be made into movies then why not the Enid Blyton collections? We must have young filmmakers to make movies based on her books and I’m sure we will have many takers,” says Jayjeeth Vinod, a commerce student.
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/sites/default/files/TEEN_29.jpg
