Skip to main content
Have a personal or library account? Click to login
Political Correctness in Enid Blyton’s the Famous Five: Risks and Dangers Cover

Political Correctness in Enid Blyton’s the Famous Five: Risks and Dangers

By:   
Open Access
|Jun 2026

References

  1. Barrett, Sarah. “BBC’s New ‘Famous Five’ Doesn’t Present George as a Trans Boy, but Maybe It Should Have Done.” The Mary Sue, January 4, 2024. https://www.themarysue.com/bbcs-famous-five-controversy-explained/.
  2. Barnes, Elodie. “Enid Blyton, Prolific & Controversial Children’s Book Author.” Literary Ladies Guide, October 24, 2023. https://www.literaryladiesguide.com/author-biography/enid-blyton-controversial-childrens-book-author/.
  3. Blyton, Enid. The Famous Five: Five on a Treasure Island. Hodder Children’s Books, 2017. Ebook.
  4. Cain, Sian. “Famous Five Go Back to Original Language after Update Flops.” The Guardian, September 16, 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/16/famous-five-go-back-to-original-language-after-update-flops.
  5. Cambridge Dictionary. “Cancel Culture.” Accessed February 5, 2026. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/cancel-culture.
  6. Cambridge Dictionary. “N-Word.” Accessed February 5, 2026. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/n-word.
  7. Carpenter, Humphrey, and Mari Prichard. The Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature. Oxford University Press, 1984.
  8. Chung, Frank. “‘Ongoing Process’: Enid Blyton’s Famous Five Books Edited to Remove ‘Offensive’ Words.” News.com.au, March 14, 2023. https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/books-magazines/books/enid-blytons-famous-five-books-edited-to-remove-offensive-words/news-story/47a63bb79a5d870f19aed58b19469bb5.
  9. Dancey-Downs, Katie. “Banned: School Librarians Shushed over LGBT+ Books.” Index on Censorship, August 19, 2024. https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2024/08/banned-school-librarians-shushed-over-lgbt-books/.
  10. ———. “Reform UK’s ‘Children’s Book Bans’ Could Open the Floodgates for Censorship.” Byline Times, July 8, 2025. https://bylinetimes.com/2025/07/08/reform-uks-childrens-book-bans-could-open-the-floodgates-for-censorship/.
  11. Diamond, Lisa M., and Jenna Alley. “Rethinking Minority Stress: A Social Safety Perspective on the Health Effects of Stigma in Sexually-Diverse and Gender-Diverse Populations.” Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 138 (2022): 104720.
  12. Dohutia, Shabnam. “Enid Blyton: Department for Education. “National Curriculum in England: English Programmes of Study.” GOV. UK, 2014. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmes-of-study.
  13. Department for Education. “National Curriculum in England: Framework for Key Stages 1 to 4.” GOV.UK, 2014. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-framework-for-key-stages-1-to-4/the-national-curriculum-in-england-framework-for-key-stages-1-to-4.
  14. Department for Education. “What We Do.” GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education
  15. British Author.” Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enid-Blyton.
  16. Hastings, Chris. “Publisher Rejected Blyton Tale for Being ‘Xenophobic.’” The Telegraph, November 20, 2005. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1503430/Publisher-rejected-Blyton-tale-for-being-xenophobic.html.
  17. ———. “Royal Mint Blocks Enid Blyton Commemorative Coin because Bosses Think She Is a ‘Racist, Sexist and a Homophobe’ and Fear Backlash.” The Daily Mail, August 25, 2019. https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-7391487/Royal-Mint-blocks-Enid-Blyton-commemorative-coin-bosses-brand-racist-anti-gay.html.
  18. Hodder & Stoughton. “About Enid Blyton.” Accessed February 4, 2026. https://www.enidblyton.co.uk/landing-page/enid-blyton/enid-blyton-about-the-author/. Duden. ‘Cancel-Culture, die’. Duden: Sprache sagt alles. Accessed February 4, 2026. https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Cancel_Culture.
  19. Duden. “Sonnengebräunt.” Accessed February 5, 2026. https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/sonnengebraeunt.
  20. English Heritage. “Blue Plaques: Blyton, Enid (1897–1968).” https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/enid-blyton/.
  21. Equality and Human Rights Commission and Government Equalities Office. “Equality Act 2010: Guidance.” GOV.UK, last updated June 16, 2015. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance.
  22. Geißler, Heiner. Intoleranz: Vom Unglück unserer Zeit. 2nd ed. Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, 2002.
  23. Gladwell, Tilda. “‘Problematic’ Children’s Books: Is Cancel Culture the Solution?” Shout Out UK, April 9, 2024. https://www.shoutoutuk.org/2024/04/09/problematic-childrens-books-is-cancel-culture-the-solution/.
  24. Good Morning Britain. “Were Royal Mint Right to Refuse the Enid Blyton Coin?” YouTube, Good Morning Britain Chat Show, August 27, 2019. Video, 9 min., 15 sec. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY46sS3SyVs.
  25. Grant, Madeline. “Leave Our Period Dramas Alone!” The Spectator. https://spectator.com/article/leave-our-period-dramas-alone/.
  26. Greenfield, George. Enid Blyton. Sutton Publishing, 1998. Inclusive Minds. “About.” https://www.inclusiveminds.com/about.
  27. Jenkins, Christine A. “Censorship: Book Challenges, Challenging Books, and Young Readers.” In Handbook of Research on Children’s and Young Adult Literature, edited by Shelby Wolf et al. Routledge, 2011.
  28. Jeger, Lena. “In Large Print.” The Guardian, May 24, 1966. https://theguardian.newspapers.com/newspage/259521070/.
  29. Leighton-Dore, Samuel. “Enid Blyton: Commemorative Coin Blocked due to Homophobic Views.” SBS, August 28, 2019. https://www.sbs.com.au/voices/article/enid-blyton-commemorative-coin-blocked-due-to-homophobic-views/n8y7525u8.
  30. McCartney, Georgia. “13 Ways Political Correctness Is Killing Free Speech (and Common Sense).” Bolde, February 4, 2026. https://www.bolde.com/xx-ways-political-correctness-is-killing-free-speech-and-common-sense/.
  31. Merriam-Webster. “N-Word.” Accessed February 5, 2026. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/N-word.
  32. National Literacy Trust. “Children and Young People’s Reading in 2025.” 2025. https://literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/children-and-young-peoples-reading-in-2025/.
  33. Olulode, Kunle. “Airbrushing Racism: Why Racist Words Shouldn’t Be Edited from History.” Index on Censorship 44, no. 4 (2015): 34–36. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306422015622930.
  34. Power, John. “No, the Internet Is Not Bad for Your Child.” The Spectator. https://spectator.com/article/no-the-internet-is-not-bad-for-your-child/.
  35. Roßbach, Nikola. Dokumentation der Preisverleihung ‘Das politische Buch 2019’. May 10, 2019.
  36. Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. “Émile oder Über die Erziehung.” In Pädagogik und Ethik, edited by Kurt Beutler and Detlef Horster. Philipp Reclam, 1996.
  37. Rudd, David. “Five Have a Gender-Ful Time: Blyton, Sexism, and the Infamous Five.” Children’s Literature in Education26, no. 3 (1995): 185–196. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02355741.
  38. Short, Kathy G. “Reading Literature in Elementary Classrooms.” In Handbook of Research on Children’s and Young Adult Literature.
  39. Skidmore, Samuel J., G. Tyler Lefevor, Kiet D. Huynh, and Connor O. Berg. “Development and Initial Validation of Scales for Coming Out Vigilance and Positive Coming Out Responses.” Sexuality & Culture 28, no. 2 (2024): 771–793. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-023-10144-5.
  40. Stegemann, Bert. Die Öffentlichkeit und ihre Feinde. Klett-Cotta, 2021. Ebook.
  41. Stolworthy, Jacob. “Enid Blyton 50p Coin Stopped by Royal Mint over Author’s ‘Racist and Homophobic’ Views.” The Independent, August 27, 2019. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/enid-blyton-coin-50p-royal-mint-racist-sexist-homophobic-famous-five-secret-seven-good-morning-britain-gmb-a9080176.html.
  42. Sutherland, John. Triggered Literature: Cancellation, Stealth Censorship and Cultural Warfare. London: Biteback Publishing, 2024.
  43. The Mary Sue. “About Us.” 2026. https://www.themarysue.com/about/.
  44. Villarreal, Andrew. “The Impact of Censoring LGBTQ+ Themes in Children’s Literature: Perspectives from LGBTQ+ Parents.” MA diss., California State University, 2025.
  45. Wells, Ira. On Book Banning: Or, How the New Censorship Consensus Trivializes Art and Undermines Democracy. Biblioasis, 2025. Ebook.
  46. Wimmer, Rainer. “‘Political Correctness’—Ein Fall für die Sprachkritik.” In Evidenzen im Fluß: Demokratieverlust in Deutschland, edited by Siegfried Jäger et al. Duisburger Institut für Sprach- und Sozialforschung, 1997.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/clb-2025-0005 | Journal eISSN: 2601-7776 | Journal ISSN: 1842-435X
Language: English
Page range: 61 - 94
Published on: Jun 30, 2026
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

© 2026 Paula Lindner, published by Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.