The Adventure Series by Enid Blyton, a prolific English children's author, is a series of eight children's novels. These books feature the same child characters: Philip, Jack, Dinah, and Lucy-Ann, along with several adult characters. Jack's pet parrot, Kiki, is also a standard feature in each novel.
The stories show the four children off on their own, discovering and solving mysteries without much adult assistance. Although the publication dates span a decade, Blyton reportedly wrote each of the novels in less than a week.
The colourful dust jackets and line illustrations were by Stuart Tresilian.
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(family names are provided based on first appearances)
Originally, the series was supposed to end after this episode, but under the great demand of dedicated fans, Blyton wrote two more episodes:
All of the books are in print, and the original editions are expensive collectors' items.
TV versions of all eight novels were produced by Cloud 9 Entertainment Studios in 1996.[1] The Castle of Adventure had its title changed to "The Woods of Adventure" and the plot differs greatly from the book.
Philip meets the orphaned brother and sister Jack and Lucy-Ann at a summer school, where he has gone as he was ill for most of the last few terms. Learning that they do not much like the housekeeper and uncle they stay with, he invites them home to his house, Craggy Tops, where they meet his sister, Dinah, his aunt, Polly, his uncle, Jocelyn, as well as a strange man who calls himself Bill Smugs (known as Bill Cunningham later in the series). But all is not as it seems on a little island nearby, and they soon find themselves on the trail of money launderers in the disused copper mines on the Isle of Gloom.
Note: This work has been 'severely' criticised by scientists for its geological implausibility.
The children and Mrs. Mannering travel to a lonely mountain cottage, which lies close to an old castle. Curious about the ruin, and eager to watch a family of golden eagles nesting in it, the children explore the place. Jack decides to stay overnight in the castle courtyard, and finds he is not alone. He finds men doing bad things, and quickly alerts his friends who get help.
Preparing for a trip by plane with Bill, the four children inadvertently go into the wrong plane, which takes off under frightening circumstances — and find themselves stranded in an isolated valley scarred by war, and at the mercy of sinister men looking for a long-lost treasure.
Bill takes the foursome on a trip to a Scottish island to help them recover from measles. But amongst the islands, they stumble upon a sinister plot; Bill disappears, and the children are left alone to find out where he is and what is going on.
Hoping for a quiet holiday for once, the children, Kiki, Mrs. Mannering and Bill go to a mountain farm in Wales for some wandering. But on the search for the Vale of Butterflies, the children get lost and find themselves near a mysterious mountain. Ominous rumblings from the ground, a pack of wolves roaming the area, a black fugitive, and Philip's disappearance are but a few of the mysteries the children have to unravel about the mountain.
All the children are aboard for a quiet cruise among the Greek islands. But when Philip's pet monkey breaks a birthday present, all the children are plunged into an exciting quest to find the lost treasure of the 'Andra' with some ruthless villains hot on their trail.
Who is the strange pompous boy whom Bill has invited to his home for the holidays? The children soon discover that he is a prince, named Aloysius Gramondie, and has enemies on his trail. The enemies want to overthrow his uncle, who is too strong a ruler for his enemies, and to place the prince, who is just 11 years old, on the throne as a puppet ruler. Jack and Kiki find themselves following the others, who are kidnapped and taken to a strange country of Tauri Hessia; but they find help in a circus, and with his new friends Jack will soon decide the fate of an entire nation.
Recovering from a very bad flu, the four children and their family make a river trip in the Middle East. But there is another reason for this choice of destination: Bill has been asked to watch a crook named Raya Uma. The children soon find another adventure revolving around a magnificent buried city filled with treasure beyond imagination.
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