5th September, 2008
The Rat-A-Tat Mystery by Enid Blyton
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Published in 1951
ISBN: 1-84135-172-5
Do I even need to review this book??? I mean, it’s an Enid Blyton book, for goodness’ sake! 
Well, I’ll write about it anyway.
This is the fifth book in the Barney mystery series. Barney, Diana, Roger, Snubby, and Snubby’s dog, Loony, appear in all the Barney books. Diana and Roger are sister and brother while Snubby’s their cousin. He has no parents so he’s always sent to live with relatives during his school holidays but he enjoys spending his holidays with Diana and Roger. Barney is their friend. He has a pet monkey called Miranda. Pretty name, huh?
By the way, it’s the winter holidays for the kids. Barney has finally found his father after an endless search for him and he’s spent Christmas time with his newfound family. After Christmas, Barney invites Roger, Diana, and Snubby to stay at a house owned by his grandmother by a lake and surrounded by hills. Of course, Roger and Diana’s parents agreed to let them have fun by themselves. A Mrs. Tickle will be cooking their meals, washing their stuff, and just basically looking after them.
So at the house, the children spent their time skating and tobogganing down the snowy hills and having the time of their lives. Meanwhile, at night, they hear mysterious knocking sounds like ‘rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat’. Haha! Can you imagine such sounds? To me, it sounds odd but there you go.
As usual, the children being their inquisitive selves and with a huge sense of adventure, they decide to investigate the sounds. They even found a large glove on the ground outside and Snubby thought he saw somebody standing outside looking at the house. Therefore, they found reason to suspect that something was wrong.
I’ve now read 4 of the books in the Barney mystery series. The other three are The Rockingdown Mystery, The Rilloby Fair Mystery, and The Ring O’ Bells Mystery. Being an Enid Blyton fan and one who has grown up reading her books, I find them enjoyable and a great way to ‘relive’ my childhood.
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Posted in Authors B, Children's Books, Titles R at 12:49 pm |
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On September 5, 2008 at 7:35 pm Robert McCarty said:
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On September 6, 2008 at 10:44 pm Carrie (Reading to Know) said:
These sound really cute and fun. I noticed the date of publication. Are they still in print or should we checked used book stores for copies?
On September 8, 2008 at 12:22 am Josette said:
Carrie: Hi there, yes, these books are still in print! But if you want to find older published versions, you can try searching in used bookstores. You’ll be lucky if you can find them!
On September 11, 2008 at 2:38 pm KittyCat said:
I’m a huge Enid Blyton fan (who isn’t?) but strangely, this set of books is the least of my favourites.
Maybe it’s the name “Barney” because I also dislike “Barney the Dinosaur”!
On September 14, 2008 at 2:37 am Saturday Review of Books: September 6, 2008 at Semicolon said:
[...] Angelou)52. MFS (Peterson Field Guide to Birds)53. MFS (On the nightstand)54. MFS (Granta 102)55. Josette (The Rat-A-Tat Mystery)56. Shonda (Love the One You’re With)57. MFS (Snobbery: The American Version)58. Shonda [...]
On September 15, 2008 at 11:55 pm Josette said:
KittyCat: Yup, I know you’re a huge fan of her! Oh, then which of her books are your favourite ones? Barney’s a cool character in this series…he’s like the most sensible of all the children in it.
Aww, Barney the Purple Dinosaur isn’t that bad! Haha! I used to watch the shows when I was little.
On September 21, 2008 at 1:07 pm Daphne said:
This is my favourite of the R mysteries! That knock in the middle of the night is so exciting!
Thanks for yr comment on my blog a few weeks ago!
On September 22, 2008 at 10:34 pm Josette said:
Daphne: I can’t choose a favourite yet since I haven’t the other 2! But all of them are fascinating just the same. Thanks for dropping by here too.