The first edit in this chapter is in the title, as in the modern edition it has become a peculiar story. Lewis this week too, first published in , I read a paperback from I counted queer or variations of it seven times, used by both the characters and the narrator.
Back to the Five, the fourth instance of queer is the siblings thinking George was the queerest girl they had even known, and again it becomes most peculiar. Again a reference to spanking has been removed, did you get spanked has become did you get told off? The other changes in this chapter are minor; Anne gets a lick on the nose from Timmy instead of a wet lick. Of course the original illustration on the opposite page in the paperback still shows Julian swimming in his bathing suit, the sort that has shorts and a top with straps.
One change I feel is particularly wrong rather than just silly or pointless is the fact the modern edition has removed Master when Alf the fisher boy is talking to George. Those who either know how important that is to her, or who have truly mistaken her for a boy call her Master George, something that really pleases her.
A final pointless change in my eyes is altering her face lighted up to her face lit up. Though lighted might be a more old-fashioned term the meaning is still completely clear. It strikes me, that although it makes sense for books written after to have Queen for example Kiki starts to say God save the Queen after that point in the adventure series it is potentially confusing for characters to talk about a queen when in fact at that point in history they had a king.
So that brings us to the end of chapter four! I am writing an adventure novel of my own with my own characters, not related to Blyton characters or series in any way , and, in certain early school scenes, corporal punishment is mentioned. The silly thing is that we pretend that no parents spank their children nowadays β whereas I bet huge numbers of them still do, even if they keep quiet about it now.
