After reading Abi of Pellinor’s review of one of the Famous Five parodies, I somehow ended up in a secondhand bookstore in Manchester where I saw a copy of Five Go Parenting. Almost immediately, I knew that this would be one of my souvenirs from the trip, especially since my interest in the series was already piqued!

Five Go Parenting starts after the Famous Five foil a plot by their cousin Rupert and his wife. Unfortunately, they didn’t realise that their heroic actions would lead to them being responsible for baby Lily, the daughter of cousin Rupert. The rest of the story basically concerns the Five as they learn to tackle the challenges of parenthood, arguably a more challenging task than foiling the plans of villains.

I enjoyed this book for the most part! While this isn’t as funny as a good Terry Pratchett novel, I definitely found a lot of things to smile about. It also helped that the style of the book mimicked the original Famous Five adventures, so it felt like a blast from the past and a new story at the same time. I probably would have enjoyed this more if I was a parent, but I am an aunt to a few nieces and nephews so I understood most of the challenges that Julian, Dick, George and Anne faced (and felt the same sense of relief that I’m not the one dealing with a crying baby).

Another thing I liked were the illustrations because they really made the book feel like a Famous Five adventure! They seem to be taken from the original books, but with new captions put on, so the pictures aren’t super relevant, but they mostly fit.

Overall, this was a fun read. I’m not super tempted to get the other books in the series, but as a fan of Enid Blyton, I’m glad that I read this. I’m probably going to ask my cousins if they want to read this too.