Fun For The Secret Seven: Book 15

The Secret Seven #15

by Enid Blyton

The Secret Seven are Peter and his sister Janet, Jack, Colin, George, Pam and Barbara. They meet every holiday in the shed at the bottom of Peter and Janet's garden - and solve mysteries, and eat lots of delicious food. But no one can enter the shed without whispering the secret password! There are 15 Secret Seven novels, and a collection of short stories. The Seven are very fond of Tolly and his horse, Brownie, so they're determined to help out when Brownie is sick. But they need to find Tolly and Brownie somewhere to hide out - somewhere that dangerous horse thieves will never find. But where?


Each book features rarely seen bonus Blyton: extra stories, a quiz, additional artwork and insights into Blyton's life and writing process.

Genres: Childrens, Mystery, Fiction, Adventure, Young Adult, Classics, Novels

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

See also:
Ένιντ Μπλάιτον (Greek)
Enida Blaitona (Latvian)
Энид Блайтон (Russian)
Inid Blajton (Serbian)
Інід Блайтон (Ukrainian)

Enid Mary Blyton (1897–1968) was an English author of children's books.

Born in South London, Blyton was the eldest of three children, and showed an early interest in music and reading. She was educated at St. Christopher's School, Beckenham, and - having decided not to pursue her music - at Ipswich High School, where she trained as a kindergarten teacher. She taught for five years before her 1924 marriage to editor Hugh Pollock, with whom she had two daughters. This marriage ended in divorce, and Blyton remarried in 1943, to surgeon Kenneth Fraser Darrell Waters. She died in 1968, one year after her second husband.

Blyton was a prolific author of children's books, who penned an estimated 800 books over about 40 years. Her stories were often either children's adventure and mystery stories, or fantasies involving magic. Notable series include: The Famous Five, The Secret Seven, The Five Find-Outers, Noddy, The Wishing Chair, Mallory Towers, and St. Clare's.

According to the Index Translationum, Blyton was the fifth most popular author in the world in 2007, coming after Lenin but ahead of Shakespeare.

See also her pen name Mary Pollock

Reviews

[Dr. Appu Sasidharan (Dasfill) · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have read the Secret Seven series in the order of its publication, this will be a proud moment for you. This is the last book in this series. Just like my case, this will also be one of the first series you might have finished reading.

In this final book, Enid Blyton decided to take a different turn and avoided the seven to pursue in solving a mystery. She emphasizes the power of empathy and shows us how the seven save a horse from euthanasia. It was fun rereading this whole series. It is a great way to come out of your reading slump and enjoy the fun moments in our childhood along with the seven characters.

If any young teenager is reading this review, I request you not to sell your secret seven books. You can lend it to your friends and relatives so that they can also enjoy these stories. But please don’t sell them. Try to reread them when you have become an adult. That will give you a wonderful nostalgic experience, and you can also gift them to your children.
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[David Sarkies · Rating 1 out of 5]

Blyton's Running out of Mysteries
23 August 2012

Well, there goes my goal of reading all of the Secret Seven books in order. I realised that I haven't read one for a while so I decided to grab this one, in case I finished my other book while I was on holidays (I didn't), and when I finished my last book I clicked on the 'reading now' tab on Goodreads and suddenly realised that this was the last one – I still have another three to read before I get to this one. So, I sat at the table in the coffee shop bemused for a little while (and trying to actually work out if I had made a mistake – I had) and then decided to stuff it and read it anyway – it's not as if you have to read them in strict order.

Fortunately I'm getting to the end of my Enid Blyton collection (and will probably not try to get my hands on any more of them because once I finish off the rest of the Famous Five and Secret Sevens there aren't really any more books of hers that I really want to read) so I guess that this one being a disappointment isn't really a big thing. Anyway, the Secret Seven books are really short, and I'm getting to the point where I basically expect the book to be 90% of them having fun and 10% of them actually solving a mystery.

Except there wasn't any mystery in this book. Okay, there were some horse thieves, but all that happened was that Janet heard a noise, ran to her parents, and then sat back with Peter and watched the ensuring melee. Actually, with the exception of Peter and Janet (and Scamper, but he actually isn't a member of the Secret Seven) the rest of the gang only made token appearances, and Susie only gets a mention. I guess I shouldn't be surprised because having written so many children's books Blyton was probably getting ready to call it a day.

There is a story here though – basically a nice old man named Tolley is working on a farm with this horse named Brownie. However the owner of the farm is a pretty nasty character and works both Tolley and Brownie to the ground. One day, while pulling a cart, Brownie is injured and the farmer decides to put him down, much to Tolley's horror. Despite going into a ridiculous amount of debt to save the horse (by calling in a vet) the farmer still wants to kill the horse. However the Secret Seven come along, convince Peter's father to buy the horse, and also employ Tolley. After talking to the vet they manage to get the fees waived (with the catch that the Vet has an equitable ownership in the horse, but considering the amount the vet charged, and the price that Peter's father paid for the horse, the vet pretty much has full ownership).

In the end, this is one of those happy, happy, feel good type of books, and while there is one chapter containing horse thieves, all that happens is that the Secret Seven manage to save a horse and clear poor Tolley's debt. So many nice things happen that by the end Blyton suggests that the events of this week have worked to make Peter a really nice person and when he grows up he goes off and does nice things for other people. It's probably a good book for children, but I preferred the ones where they played detective and busted some rather nefarious characters.

[Sandra Nedopričljivica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aktivnosti vezane uz Tjedan dobre dječje knjige, u Gradskoj knjižnici Rijeka, su odgođene. Srećom, čitanje nije. Nakon Pet prijatelja, oprostit ću se i sa Sedam tajanstvenih. Hvala, Enid, bilo je ovo simpatično putovanje.

[Jake Collins · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is undoubtedly the worst book that Enid Blyton ever wrote, and the fact that she seems to have all but totally lost her mental faculties by this point is undoubtedly to blame. Plot strands are started and utterly forgotten about, characters forget what they are supposed to be doing or feeling from page to page, and the narrative is a complete mess. The fact that the book was allowed to be published in this state is an insult to both Enid and her readers.

[Olivia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was boring. Nothing objectively wrong with it to my memory, but just boring.

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect ending to the sprawling Secret Seven series. I think Blyton has really fallen into a rhythm with these characters by now - she has realised that they work best when spending most of their time stuffing themselves with sweets in the shed, whilst occasionally solving very minor village mysteries or doing some good deeds. To those who say Blyton's books are all just carbon copies of each other, I have to disagree. There is clear distinction between the characters and settings of each of her series creating distinct atmospheres and adventures.

In this book the Secret Seven (aided by some rando called Bob Smith) plan to help old farm hand Tolly to buy his beloved horse from his abusive employer. There follows a series events in which these kids realise that they're all so well off they basically have the money already, proceed to wave it under the nose of poor working-class Tolly and then go off to splash it on this horse. But then everyone insists on providing their services for free and Peter's dad pays for the horse and I think they end up spending that on a saddle? Not too sure. But I am sure that Tolly aught to be VERY GRATEFUL to these guys. He is nothing after all.

- If you are wondering how Peter's father is so deep-pocketed, wonder no more.
"What a pity he wasn't grown up. He could then do as his father did - go to the bank and take out quite a large sum of money."
So that's how you run a successful farm and casual horse-dealership. Pay-day loans. -

Sadly there was no Susie in this book, the first time she has not appeared in the whole series. But although I love her character, her absence shows Blyton's ability to move on from the repetitive and predictable antics of that character and be able to focus on a new and more exciting series of events.

This book is such a wonderful end to the series, I don't know if Blyton had planned it this way but it demonstrates the children's best qualities in their eagerness to help others (and their determination to be repaid in a share of the horse) and explores the wonderfully tranquil setting of country village life.

[Shreyas · Rating 1 out of 5]

'Fun For The Secret Seven' (The Secret Seven #15) by Enid Blyton.


Rating: Unfortunately, 1.0/5.


Status: Definitely a first read. I don't recall reading this particular book during my childhood. [I had first read some of the Secret Seven books about 20 years ago. At present, I'm not sure which of these I had read earlier and which I haven't.]


Review:
When I considered the previous book to be the least interesting Secret Seven book, I had assumed none of the other books would be worse. But this book proved me wrong. Compared to 'Fun for the Secret Seven', even the previous book ('Look out, Secret Seven') appears to be a gold mine.

The book promises to be full of fun according to its name, but there isn't any fun to have for the Secret Seven members as well as for the readers. There is neither a mystery nor an adventure, only a meandering mess of a narrative. It should rather have been named 'Old Man Tolly and his horse' because of more attention given to them. The Secret Seven have hardly anything to do throughout the book. They do collect money for paying the medical bills to the horse's vet, but all that happens offscreen. All the Secret Seven did collectively in this book is to have a meeting and eat food. Disappointed.

The only parts I liked about this book were Janet giving it back to a lazy Peter and Janet's mother holding back the horse thieves with a large kitchen poker. Oh, all that and also George winning second place in the essay writing competition and contributing his reward money (£250) for the horse's medical expenses was a great moment. His father was also generous enough to consider adding another £250 of his own for the horse's welfare. These were the only redeeming parts of the book that helped it earn at least one star in the ratings instead of a zero-rating.

And then there are some issues regarding internal inconsistencies with respect to the previous books. Peter is shown to be far too lazy and carefree as compared to the previous books. He had always been alert and on the lookout for a new mystery in the previous books, which does make it feel like the Peter in this book isn't the Peter we have known for so long. Another thing that I found most peculiar was that the Secret Seven members easily and very quickly incorporated Bob as a temporary eighth member of the Secret Seven Society - a privilege which even Scamper and Susie didn't get so far because "We won't be Secret Seven if there are more than seven members". And these two have shown their worth to be the temporary eighth member of the Secret Seven Society. Sigh.

Old Man Tolly considers his horse, Brownie, to be his closest friend and as his brother. And he intended to buy it from Peter's dad by paying off his debts. But Janet and the other members wanted to buy a part of the horse from Tolly just because they wanted a horse of their own and ride it... Tolly was going to let them handle the horse and ride him whenever the kids wanted to without them having to buy a part of it. And yet the kids were adamant. It just felt so selfish of them. Also, what annoyed me the most was that the Secret Seven readily agreed for the vet to have a share of Brownie in exchange for free treatment; something that they shouldn't have done without first consulting Brownie's true owner - Tolly.

Also, there's all that crap about the kids initially criticising the vet and calling him names when they heard about the horse's medical bills. The fees were justified considering the treatment and the fact that the vet had to tend to him almost daily! And the vet was kind enough to reduce his fees to half of what they were out of kindness for the beast and the old man (and this was way before the kids sold a share of the horse to him). And he was kind towards other animals too. Just hate unjustified hate and name-calling towards healthcare professionals based on the medical expenses; they are earning for their livelihood too and not everything needs to be done by them for free.

Overall, this book was the worst Secret Seven book I have read so far. Even as a children's book, it is hardly appealing enough to get people interested in reading books. And this being the last book of the series makes it even worse. I usually tend to rate the entire series while reviewing the last book of the series, but I won't do it for this one. The last two books have greatly disappointed me and I don't want their association with the rest of the books to taint my perception of the Secret Seven series as a whole. For young readers, I would encourage you to read the first 13 books of the series at least; they are quite good. Or maybe try out the Five Find-Outers series instead.


Note: This was the last book in the Secret Seven series written by Enid Blyton. There are two more books written by Pamela Butchart that serve as an official continuation of the series. I'll be reading them as well. Seven Secret Seven short stories were written by Enid Blyton. These are quite hard to find especially considering one of them was published as a gift to go along with McDonald's meals. I hope to read these short stories as well (if I'm successful at finding them).


Disclaimer: Ratings reflect the enjoyability factor of these books considering they are intended mostly for children. Not to be compared with my ratings and reviews for books primarily intended for YA and adults.

[Saffron Mavros · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book series is meant for a younger age group, but thrilling and exciting nonetheless.

New plots, stunning escapes, and chilling mysteries keep you hanging on every word! And of course the descriptions of the elaborate meals that the seven have. Let's not forget the official "seven" meetings that each of us, deep down, wanted to be a part of, like those eavesdropping intruders.

[Reyansh Passari · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was very nice. i enjoyed browny's bday.

[Sean Harding · Rating 2 out of 5]

And that is the end and the worst book is the last book in this book with a whole lot of writing about some old geezer and his horse and very little mystery in the air. The series creaks to a dead halt here and we leave the seven youngsters pottering around in their neighbourhood. A disappointing end to it all.

[Maria Carmo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This last book of the Secret Seven ends with a twist of goodness in action. All the best qualities of the Children come up when they try (and succeed) in saving Tolly's horse... In the midst of night time adventures with horse thief's, this is a proper ending for this youth series.

Maria Carmo,

Lisbon 6 February 2020.

[Kylie Abecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Of all the secret seven books I think this one is the least interesting. There really isn’t much mystery or excitement.

[Farseer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last Secret Seven book is also the weakest. It was written near the end of Enid Blyton's life, when her mental capabilities had deteriorated. Thus, this story does not have much of a plot.

The target audience of the Secret Seven is younger than for other Blyton series, so all the Secret Seven books have short, simple plots when compared with the Famous Five, the Adventure series, the Five Find-Outers or similar series by this author. However, this book goes beyond that. She completely forgot to include a mystery. Susie, the main antagonist of the Secret Seven does not even appear, but is just mentioned. Some details are off (like the children inviting a random boy to be the eight member of the Secret Seven, which is something they obviously wouldn't have done if Blyton had been in full use of her mental faculties).

The book is about the Seven helping an old man and his lame horse. It's mostly slice-of-life, without any mysteries. Only at the end Blyton remembers that she is supposed to add some excitement to the story, so we get a robbery attempt that is not really connected to the rest of the tale.

In spite of all that, I did enjoy reading it. It's a quiet, gentle tale about the children helping someone in need, and if some plot details seem off... well, I don't hold it against Enid Blyton, but I'm grateful for one last chance to hang out with the Seven. Thank you for all those wonderful hours reading your stories as a child, Enid!

[Shonel Teke · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title should have been an indicator that the Secret Seven would not be up to any mystery in this one.

Well, what is the book about then? Just because there is no mystery, it doesn't mean the Seven were not problem-solving in this one! One of their classmates, the young Bob Smith has come to them with a unique problem indeed. Farmer Dinneford's hired hand, Old Man Tolly was in dire straits. He had become very fond of a farm horse named Brownie, but Dinneford was a task-master with no pity for old and sick animals. Brownie had met with an accident and was of no real use. Dinneford threatened to have him shot and Tolly was worried sick. In addition to all of this, the vet had charged an enormous sum of money for taking care of Brownie and Dinneford expected poor Tolly to bear the amount.

Was this a task for the Secret Seven? How could they help, even if they wanted to?

The storyline is quick-paced, even for kids. At around 135 pages, it is easily readable and understandable, despite Blyton's characteristic English snobbery. I completed reading it aloud in two nights (approximately, 3 hours altogether), and it was fun. The boys were totally enraptured. In addition to the Secret Seven's fun antics, it also has a valuable lesson about the importance of good intentions and karma too.

Good read!

[Vishnu Madhu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a mystery story, but a feel-good story. A larger part of the storyline is around Peter and Janet, so that didn't feel good. The last part of the story had Janet and her mother, going out by herself trying to figure out what's going on, and fighting thieves respectively. That felt good, and maybe forced, since towards the end of her career, there is a possibility that Enid Blyton might have been persuaded to include more female positive instances in her works.

And that completes my Secret Seven collection! :) I must have started them in 2000. Feels good to have closure! :P

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have finished all the Secret Sevens I had and I doubt that I'll read any more. On that note, maybe I should get a couple more and keep them around in case I need to overcome a reading slump.

If only life were like the plot of this book. A minor problem arises but is quickly resolved as a bunch of good-hearted people come in and help out. Like this isn't utopian enough, there are two dogs and a horse that are all incredibly nice.

Life in an English countryside is insanely peaceful. I guess you'll get to live like that if you've robbed the rest of the world of all it's riches. 🥲

[juLiA · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think Peter is becoming a bad-tempered and sleepy person. He always thinks that he is the boss. I also think that Brownie is not the best horse in the world. The other horses have feelings too and they will be so sad if Brownie gets all the attention, love, shelter and food. Very kind of George to give in all his prize money. It's hard to imagine that I would.

Overall very good book, just pointing out some aspects I didn't fully agree on.

[Book Snail · Rating 2 out of 5]

The worst book in the secret seven series. No fun at all, even though it’s called ‘Fun for the secret seven’. Also I was really disappointed that there was no mystery, when I felt there definitely should be one, because in my opinion the secret seven are associated with mystery and it’s unfair that Enid Blyton should cut it. I barely finished reading it. No excitement at all. Perhaps some people think it’s OK, but I like a bit of adventure and mystery.

P.S. Not the edition I read but I couldn’t find mine on Goodreads.

[Vinay Leo]

The Secret Seven series was the first “series” of Enid Blyton I came across, thanks to a book being passed on to me by my cousin. For a child, I think the series was fun. It made me want to explore the idea of forming secret clubs with badges and passwords and such. It is a box set I’ve acquired since then, and hope to reread soon.

[Jenna Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a bit of a weird one for the series. Rather than a mystery, there was just a problem that needed solving.

I was a bit concerned that everything was resolved with 40 pages left, but then the random fighting happened with the thieves.

A fine, decently entertaining - if a bit repetitive - instalment.

[Elaine Mullane || Elaine and the Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Revisiting the books of my youth out of a feeling of nostalgia! I loved Enid Blyton when I was younger and can't wait to re-read these with my own children.

[Grace Sargeant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book.

[Adhyan Daga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed It!

[Gail Wylde · Rating 3 out of 5]

3* for the blast of nostalgia.

[Medhansh Vaddadi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading complete set of books... It all started during the pandemic time. One of my favourite reads during pandemic

[Dawin (DawinTheBookworm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Book was fun, Of course!!

The mystery was a little short-handed and quick but it was great and beautiful!!

[Kushagra · Rating 5 out of 5]

my first ever novel or whole-book-with-a-single-story

[Samyutha K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last book with a heartwarming story.

[Arpita K · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for children to understand how to help people and animals.

[Abhav Menon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really a good book, nice read.