After finishing a nasty unhappy-end book yesterday I wanted to read something easy. My default light reading consist of Famous Five books and Donald Duck pockets, and since the latter were all sitting on a shelf in my other house, I picked up a FF book. After having finished it later that afternoon and reflecting on the blantant sexism so painfully present in all 21 books, I decided to go online and find out why modern-day parents were still letting their kids read this stuff. Secretly I suspect my own parents introduced me to the series some dozen years ago to fuel the anger I was feeling towards the boys who wouldn't let me play football in the schoolyard because I was just a 'silly girl', which would later evolve into full-blown grown up feminism. The scheming idealists.
A quote from Rachel Hyland explains perfectly why eceryone, from the pensioners who grew up reading the first editions to the 7-year-olds and their copies printed on biologically degradable paper with sepia-toned photo's found on instagram on the cover, loves the Famous Five and why nobody should: "...the Five are to me like old friends: Lassie-smart Timmy, George, the firebrand, loyal and
brave; Julian, the peacemaker, calm and rational; Dick, the thinker,
analytical and quick-witted; and Anne, the… well, she’s good at making
sandwiches."
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