The Famous Five and You

I wanted to do a proper review of these because I've mentioned them as a shining example of "not very good adventure gamebook based on a licensed property" in one or two other posts discussing similar series, and also someone pointed out that their title is actually quite funny if you think about it. But I should warn you that that perhaps unintentional piece of passive-aggressiveness might well be the highlight of The Famous Five and You.

These books were published in the late eighties, around the same time the publishers were translating Claude Voilier's French-language continuation of the original series into English. (If you don't know the story of those: Voilier translated the original Blyton books into French, then -- such was the popularity of the series in France -- a few years after Blyton's death she began writing her own, officially licensed Five stories, 24 in total between 1971 and 1985. These started being translated into English by Anthea Bell a few years later, but stopped with six of them never seeing a UK release; they were reprinted into the nineties, and are still readily available to buy second-hand online, but although the original French versions appear to still be in print, in the UK they seem pretty much forgotten now. Very sadly, one of the never-translated ones we missed out on was The Famous Five Versus the Werewolf.) In any event, it seems possible, if not likely, these books were born out of a desire for more Famous Five content beyond the original twenty-one books Blyton wrote; both series, along with the reprints of the original books at the time, share a broadly similar logo and cover design (one of many attempts over the years to make the books appeal to the current generation, with some seriously 80s hairstyles and fashion senses on display).

Three approximately contemporaneous editions: a Blyton original, a Voilier continuation, and a Famous Five and You gamebook. Some places refer to the Voilier books as The New Famous Five to differentiate them from the Blyton books, but this seems to be a wholly unofficial designation.

There were six books in TFFaY, adapting the first six of Blyton's books, each with new titles (e.g. Five on a Treasure Island became The Famous Five and You Search for Treasure!). And despite the covers promising your character "joining the Five", with cover art to a similar effect, and the books being adapted by prolific children's author Mary Danby (also responsible for editing a large number of ghost/horror story anthologies, and compiling the 1988 Famous Five Diary), I think the target audience would have been very disappointed with these books.

For, you see, The Famous Five and You does not cast you as a companion of the Five. The books are written in the third person, and you have no real control over the events that take place. You are, if anything, cast as the reader of a Famous Five book. The decisions you make are restricted to what you think happens next, based on the events of the original book. Choosing the wrong decision is the most interesting the book gets, as getting it wrong directs you to a different section, scores you "red herring" points (with the reader receiving a ranking based on how many points they scored at the end of the book), with more points being scored for longer diversions from the original plot, before putting you back on the same path. Otherwise, there's no real challenge or way to lose here.

For a proper comparison, let's pretend I approached this in a vaguely professional manner. First of all, here's an extract from the original Blyton book, Five Go to Smuggler's Top:

But [Aunt Fanny] was wrong. The gale did not blow itself out that night. Instead it raged round the house even more fiercely, shrieking and howling like a live thing. Nobody could sleep. Timmy kept up a continuous low growling, for he did not like the shakes and rattles and howls.

Towards dawn the wind seemed in a fury. Anne thought it sounded as if it was in a horrible temper, out to do all the harm it could. She lay and trembled, half-frightened.

Suddenly there was a strange noise. It was a loud and woeful groaning and creaking, like someone in great pain. The two girls sat up, terrified. What could it be?

The boys heard it too. Julian leapt out of bed and ran to the window. Outside stood the old ash tree, tall and black in the fitful moonlight. It was gradually bending over!

"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits. "It's falling, I tell you. It'll crash on the house! Quick, warn the girls!"

Shouting at the top of his voice, Julian raced out of his door on to the landing. "Uncle! Aunt! George and Anne! Come downstairs quickly. The ash tree is falling!"

George jumped out of bed, snatched at her dressing-gown, and raced to the door, yelling to Anne. The little girl was soon with her. Timmy ran in front. At the door of Aunt Fanny's bedroom Uncle Quentin appeared, tall and amazed, wrapping his dressing-gown round him.

"What's all this noise? Julian, what's--?"

"Aunt Fanny! Come downstairs -- the ash tree is falling! Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience. "It'll smash in the roof and the bedrooms! Listen, here it comes!"

Everyone fled downstairs as, with an appalling wail, the great ash tree hauled up its roots and fell heavily on to Kirrin Cottage. There was a terrible crash, and the sound of tiles slipping to the ground everywhere.

"Oh dear!" said poor Aunt Fanny, covering her eyes. "I knew something would happen! Quentin, we ought to have had that ash tree topped. I knew it would fall in a great gale like this. What has it done to the roof?"

After the great crash there had come other smaller noises, sounds of things falling, thuds and little smashing noises. The children could not imagine what was happening. Timmy was thoroughly angry, and barked loudly. Uncle Quentin slapped his hand angrily on the table, and made everyone jump.

"Stop that dog barking! I'll turn him out!" But nothing would stop Timmy barking or growling that night, and George at last pushed him into the warm kitchen, and shut the door on him.

"I feel like barking or growling myself," said Anne, who knew exactly what Timmy felt like. "Julian, has the tree broken in the roof?"

Uncle Quentin took a powerful torch and went carefully up the stairs to the landing to see what damage had been done. He came down looking rather pale.

And here is how that exact same material is adapted in The Famous Five and You Search for Smugglers!:

21

But Aunt Fanny was wrong. The gale didn't blow itself out that night. Instead it raged around the house even more fiercely, shrieking and howling like a living thing. Nobody could sleep. Timmy kept up a low continuous growling -- he didn't like the shakes and rattles and howls.

Towards dawn the wind seemed in a fury. Anne thought it sounded as if it was in a horrible temper, out to do all the harm it could. She lay and trembled, half-frightened.

Suddenly there was a strange noise. It was a loud and woeful groaning and creaking. The two girls sat up, terrified. What could it be?

The boys heard it too. Julian leapt out of bed and ran to the window. Outside stood the old ash tree, tall and black in the fitful moonlight. It was gradually bending over!

If you think the ash tree falls on the house, go to 27.

If you think it doesn't, go to 33.

27

If you've arrived from 33, score <)))< [i.e. one red herring].

"It's the big tree! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits. "It's falling, I know it. It'll crash on the house. Quick, warn the girls!"

Shouting at the top of his voice, Julian raced out of his door on to the landing. "Uncle Quentin! Aunt Fanny! George and Anne! Come downstairs quickly! A tree is falling!"

George jumped out of bed, snatched up her dressing gown and raced to the door, yelling to Anne, who was scrambling hurriedly out of bed. Timmy ran in front of them. On the landing they met Julian and Dick, Uncle Quentin and Aunt Fanny. They all fled downstairs as, with an appalling wail, the great tree hauled up its roots and fell heavily on to the roof of Kirrin Cottage. There was a terrible crash, then the sound of tiles falling to the ground. Then there were other noises, thuds and little smashing sounds. The children couldn't imagine what was happening. Eventually the noises stopped.

Uncle Quentin took a torch and went carefully up the stairs to see what damage had been done. He came back looking very pale.

Go to 37.

33

Julian stood at the window watching the ash tree bending in the wind. Then suddenly the wind dropped, and the tree slowly straightened up. Julian watched it for a little while longer, then got back into bed.

"I thought the ash tree was going to fall on the house!" he said to Dick, "but I think it'll be all right now."

Dick turned out the bedside light and the two boys lay in the dark, listening to the wind screaming around the old house. Julian was just beginning to feel drowsy after his long day when he heard a creaking, groaning noise. He got out of bed and rushed to the window. He expected to see the ash tree bending again, but instead he saw the beech tree that grew just beside it swaying violently. It was definitely falling towards the house!

Go to 27.

I will note that these books are all pretty substantial, running to around 300 sections each (with the second book peaking at an impressive 355), Danby manages to capture Blyton's voice quite well in the sections where she's not taking material verbatim from the book, and there's plenty of original illustrations, although some of them look a little rushed in the later entries. (There's also the occasional update to the 1940s text, such as clarifying Uncle Quentin's experiments on Kirrin Island in Five on Kirrin Island Again/The Famous Five and You Underground!, kept very vague in the original, are about harnessing tidal power.) But whilst I've deliberately chosen the shortest possible excerpt to use as an example, I can't help but feel that once you've seen one puzzle from this series, you've sort of seen them all -- there's really no kind of outside-the-box thinking allowed at all, the book gets only slightly more complex as it goes on, as later on the "wrong" sections sometimes have more branches and you receive more red herrings for taking longer to get back to Blyton's plotline, and Danby chooses some truly baffling places for the story to branch at times:

Mrs Sanders was fetching a big round tin from the pantry.

"What do you think I've got in here?" she asked, smiling.

"Shortbread!" said Anne.
"Gingerbread!" guessed Dick.

If you think Anne is right, go to 54. If you think Dick is right, go to 35.

Mazes, such as the secret underground passages Blyton was so fond of, are one thing that do seem to translate a little better to this format -- there's one in the second book which is probably the highlight of the entire series, as it's possible to go round in circles and you have to find the correct way through trial and error, which makes it the most interactive sequence the range ever manages.

I think the reason why I find these books so frustrating is that Blyton's material should lend itself perfectly to the adventure gamebook format, and what the books promise on their cover -- an interactive version of one of the original books, with the reader as a self-insert character -- seems like a great idea. This is solely my own conspiracy theory, but I wonder if that was the original intention and some kind of licensing issue got in the way.

The cover art for these editions isn't original; this one combines that of Treasure Island and Off in a Caravan.

Rather surprisingly, The Famous Five and You was re-released under the slightly less misleading moniker of The Famous Five Adventure Game Books in 2010, again with covers closely matching the current reprints of the original books; I'd guess in a bid to capitalise on the resurgence of the format's popularity, but they were slow on the uptake by a few years if so, and I've got to be honest: I don't think children of the eighties would have got very much out of these books, let alone ones over twenty years later. If you can put aside the flagrant false advertising, the format of these books isn't without merit, and it would be wrong to dismiss them as a cheap cash-in, but the execution leaves me struggling to see what the point of them is.