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Enid Blyton's The Sea of Adventure is a bird-watching holiday mystery for 9 year olds where the grown-up in charge is secretly in hiding.
It all starts with measles. All four children have had it badly, and the doctor says they need a change before they go back to school. Their mother's answer is a very proper, very strict governess called Miss Lawson.
That lasts about five minutes. Kiki lets off her railway-engine screech and then orders Miss Lawson to wipe her feet. Philip's young white rats pop out of his collar, his sleeve and his shorts. Miss Lawson turns the job down on the spot (can you blame her?).
A trip to the wild bird islands up north looks like the perfect answer, until that falls through too. Then their old friend Bill rings, very mysteriously. He turns up in the middle of the night with bad news. He's been hunting a gang of crooks, and now they're hunting HIM.
Jack has a brilliant idea. Why not take Bill along, disguised as a bird expert? Bill gets to vanish and the children get their holiday. So it's the night train north, with Bill in disguise as "Dr Walker" and everyone sworn to secrecy.
Kiki is on top form in this one. She gets her sayings in a muddle ("wipe the door, shut your feet") and turns puffins into huffin and puffin. She also helps herself to strawberries out of the jam. Jack is desperate to photograph puffins and Philip quite fancies a tame one. Who wouldn't?
The children are sure nothing much can happen on a few lonely islands full of birds. With Bill on the run, your reader probably won't be so sure.
This is a very old-fashioned book, and Philip and Dinah's quarrels get physical. She slaps him hard across the face, he trips her up and they roll about on the floor. There's also a tense night-time scene where Philip is grabbed in a dark garden, gagged and has his wrists tied (it all turns out fine, but it's a scary page or two).
A child who's happy with old-fashioned rough and tumble will race through it. A more anxious reader might like to know that Bill is never far away.
This is the fourth book about these four, and their last holiday gets a quick mention. The story stands on its own though.
If they'd like the trip before this one, The Valley of Adventure is in the library too. It's the one with Bill's shiny new aeroplane and a night flight that doesn't go to plan.
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