Secret Seven: Mystery of the Skull

As a mystery story for 7-9s my daughter (age 7) gives this 4 stars. As a Secret Seven mystery, she only gave it 2, hence the 3/5 rating.My daughter and I love Pamela Butchart’s other books, but we were slightly underwhelmed by this effort. It just didn’t feel enough like the Secret Seven (we’ve recently been reading the originals). There were some positives - we liked the fact that Janet was much more of an ‘equal’ to the boys than in the original books. However some of the language felt very wrong.Not a bad attempt, but wish that just a little bit more editing had been done to remove the ‘Butchartisms’ and keep the writing style more authentically Blyton.

The Secret Seven Mystery of the Skull begins two weeks into the summer holidays when Janet and Peter return home from a fortnight with their gran. Peter discovers a skull in his bedroom and calls an urgent meeting of the Secret Seven. Where did the skull come from? How did it land up in Peter’s bedroom? And most importantly of all, what does this have to do with the new hotel down the road and its secretive proprietors?With ample servings of sandwiches and cake, several moonlight adventures and significant levels of danger, this new adventure is a welcome return to a world that I’m pleased to revisit.At first I was concerned that the book would feel dated, being that the originals were set in the 50s and 60s, or that the book would be obviously modernised but I was impressed to note that neither is the case. There is no obvious technology in the book but nothing to suggest that it couldn’t be set in the modern era either, making it accessible to a new generation of readers.I don’t think this book (and others that I expect to follow in the series) will appeal as a children’s / adult crossover in the same way as, for example, the Harry Potter books have but it will appeal to the original fans of The Secret Seven and I think the innocence and simplicity of the story would be perfect for new readers of all ages.For transporting me back to the world of amazing Enid Blyton-esque story telling and for a very clever, intriguing story I give The Secret Seven: Mystery of the Skull by Pamela Butchart and Enid Blyton four stars. I definitely would recommend this book to fans of Enid Blyton stories and to young readers. I will certainly be looking out for any new additions to the series.

Perfect

Delighted with service, looking forward to reading book

Although not a real Enid Blyton book, I did enjoy it.