Today on Classic Fantasy books: The Very Peculiar Cow and other stories by Enid Blyton review

My children's introduction to fantasy

*Image taken from the Goodreads website. No copyright infringement intended.

April 13, 2025

Categorization: Fantasy

Subcategory: Children’s short stories

Where read: On an extremely dilapidated hardcover

I feel bad recommending this book, because wouldn’t you know it, I think it is out of print? That is, when I first tried to buy a new copy, all I could find on Amazon were those of dubious condition at ridiculous prices. But never fear, your friendly neighborhood Elder Goblin comes through in the end – keep reading.

You know how when you are a child (let’s say, seven to ten years old), some books just magically appear on your bookshelf at home? Maybe someone had given it to you or your siblings on your birthdays and your parents squirreled it away so you wouldn’t get sick of all the new things all at the same time until they finally had no space for it, or maybe one of your cousins hit puberty and decided to clear out his room and his old things ended up on your shelf. That is to say, I have no idea or remembrance of how The Very Peculiar Cow ended up in my childhood home (and readers know that the acquisition of every single book is a memory that never fades), but oh boy, am I glad that it did.

This is marvelous collection of stories from the 1940s by the brilliant Enid Blyton, an English writer of renown for her prolific career. She wrote basically a bazillion short stories, many containing magic and fairies and elves and toys that talk, basically the bread and butter of children all over the world. The Very Peculiar Cow is one such book, and I don’t know what it is about it, but as a child, I read this book more times than I can remember, I loved it so much. The stories are clever and usually have a “moral” without being prissy, and though they are short (I realize now they are the correct length to keep a 3 to 5 year old’s attention without boring them), they are full of mini-adventures and amusing magical characters.

Just as an example, the Cow in The Very Peculiar Cow is actually a milk jug shaped like a cow, and because she (not it!) is not really a toy or a jug, the other toys make fun of her, and so she carries on sadly and without friends until suddenly Something happens that make the other toys realize that being different can be a good thing.

I mean, this was written in the 1940s, but such complex and current ideas in a children’s story that takes less than ten minutes to read, right? My toddler was immediately engrossed the first time I read my (ancient, gross, stained with Cheetos powder, copy from my parents as I was too cheap to shell out for a new secondhand one, but such is the beauty of children that my toddler didn’t care) copy to him, and immediately kept asking questions about the Cow “Why are the other toys making fun of her? Why is she insisting that they call her a “she”, not an “it”? I think the beauty of Enid Blyton’s stories is that they introduce universal grown-up ideas to children in such a way that kids immediately comprehend the ideas and are not bored in the meantime.

Another thing that makes The Very Peculiar Cow series special is that while it is more text-heavy than most toddler-appropriate picture books, there is an illustration with every page turn. Parents will know, that at around three years of age, your child is ready for material that is just a bit longer than The Runaway Rabbit, for example, but cannot yet get into the long- windingness of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales, for example. Enid Blyton’s short stories magically hit the sweet spot right where the text of every page turn is longer, than say, a few of sentences, but juuuuust short enough to hold a child’s attention, until the next page turn containing the next illustration. I mean they are simple, black and white line drawings, right, but I realize that when your children are 3-10 years old, they don’t really need any more. They just need an anchor for their attention, and their imagination fills out the rest.

Right after I realized this miracle had occurred, that my child was listening and understanding a story that took about 15 minutes to read, I immediately set out on a quest to purchase the rest of The Very Peculiar Cow series. I was sick by then of all the picture books we had, Winnie the Pooh (Disney Edition), The Knight Owl, Strega Nona, etc., which are wonderful picture books, but as I had read all of them about 50 times over, I needed a break. I tried Amazon and my local bookstore and gave it up (so resourceful, I know); the local bookstore had some Enid Blyton books but it was the better-known Faraway Tree and one other series about the Seven or something, which I wasn’t ready for. So for some weeks I was at a loss and nearing the last story of The Very Peculiar Cow, when I had what should have been an obvious brainwave, to check the local e-commerce sites for secondhand books. And what do you know! About a bazillion results came out, and some were going for about 3 US dollars each for books that were about 5 times in better shape than my ratty old copy was. So I am now the proud owner of about ten of the I think it is called “Star Reads” series, which The Very Peculiar Cow belongs to. I also have some books of another series of Enid Blyton short story collections, and I am sure that possibly some of the short stories overlap between series, but I don’t care. It is such a pleasure for me to read these to my kids and see them form complex ideas and ask such introspective questions while I read them. If each book has like 10 stories and I have ten and more books, so I get a hundred or more stories, it is already the best 40 dollars on education I have ever spent.

Update after reading two other short story collections, The Wishing Wand and The Goblin Hat - This lady... keepin' it real since 1940, let me tell you. After reading more of her work, I am coming to terms with the fact that Enid Blyton is basically my idol. I imagine her as a crusty old aunt who would be my elder goblin best friend.

In her books, bad kids get punished (like their toys run away from them or whatever), good kids are cherished as a joy and a thing of beauty forever, actions have logical consequences, and Miss Enid does not beat around the bush. I literally just read one story (The Forgotten Canary, from The Goblin Hat book), where the pet bird ran away from the little girl who owned her and left a note in her cage saying "Dear Katie, I am running away because you have not given me any food or water for days and I am nearly dead". BAM! That's what I'm talkin' about. Children's books nowadays are waaaay too cushy. Kids nowadays need to know that actions have real consequences. I relished the wide-eyed look my daughter gave me after I read this line to her and said solemnly, "Baby that's what happens when you don't take care of your pets". Enid Blyton clearly believes, like I do, that one is never too young to appreciate a high stakes plot.

Update after reading most of the stories in The Goblin Hat - I think that some stories have perhaps aged better than others. I just read one story in this collection where a dog-owner used a whip on and possibly starved his dog for eating too much and thus failing to stop criminals from robbing his house... not a lesson I would like my children to imbibe obviously. I would therefore have to recommend that given that these books were written in a different era, that parents should perhaps screen them before giving them to their kids, or be prepared to explain that some things in the books are no longer considered acceptable in this day and age. Mind you, I have only encountered this one problematic story out of maybe 35+ stories I have read so far, so overall I would still recommend this author's work.