Tag Archive | The Famous Five

Five & The Smuggler’s Code by Chris Smith

Jan25

Solving The Code

Five & The Smuggler’s Code by Chris Smith is a marvellous contemporary children’s adventure that is perfect for the over eights. Whatever your age, if you remember the original famous five, this book will entertain you. It is the second book in the New Famous Five series. This book can be read as a stand-alone but I recommend reading the books in numerical order as the first book sets the scene.

As with the previous book, this one is simply and effectively illustrated by James Lancett.

All the characters were well drawn. The reader meets up with the three new children and their dog, as well as grandad Dick, great aunt Anne and Professor George – all part of the original famous five.

As the children set about solving a new crime, it is seamlessly woven into a crime from fifty-four years ago.

The locations spring to life. I recognised the setting of the Mermaid Inn at Rye as I visited there as a child, more than fifty-five years ago.

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Five & The Forgotten Treasure by Chris Smith

Jan25

A Fabulous New Series

Five & The Forgotten Treasure by Chris Smith is a marvellous children’s book and just perfect for eight years and older. It is the first book in a brand-new series called The New Famous Five which promises to be fabulous.

I grew up on Enid Blyton’s original Famous Five books so I was excited to read this new version. Of the original famous five, we meet George who is now a professor. Just like her father.

The book is set fifty-five-years after the original. We meet three new children and their dog who go to stay with George. She is the cousin of their grandpa Dick who was in the original series.

A new adventure awaits but it is linked to an old one, fifty-five-years ago. Blending old and new, Chris Smith has created the perfect tale for old and new readers alike.

There is a feeling of familiarity to the book as locations, as well as characters, are familiar. There are picnics and lashings of ginger beer – a nod to the originals.

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