My first Noddy book was the second in the series (Hurrah for Little Noddy), and my second Noddy book is Noddy Gets Into Trouble, the eighth book. That’s what I get for buying a random pair from eBay because they were cheap.
The dustjacket for Noddy Gets Into Trouble is in better condition than the one on Hurrah for Little Noddy, it’s all in one piece though it has a couple of tears and looks a bit more grey than green. It’s not a first edition, I’ve compared the inner flaps of he dustjacket to those in the cave, but it’s from the original series which is fine by me.
The dustjacket
The cover reads All aboard for Toyland, in the trains steam trail, as opposed to Pictures by Beek. This is because Beek had passed away by 1953, the year before this title was published. Mary Brooks illustrated this one, so it will be interesting for me to compare the pictures.
Comparing the covers I can see a bit of a difference. Brooks’ are a touch more cartoony and have slightly heavier outlines but both illustrators are good. Brooks keeps all the characters instantly recognisable and the difference doesn’t look so extreme that you couldn’t believe it was the same illustrator whose style had evolved.
THE STORY
It starts with Noddy waking up certain he’s going to have a very good day. His egg doesn’t taste good at breakfast though, and his car has a flat tyre, then worst of all Mr Plod accuses him of stealing food from Miss Fluffy Cat who heard a jingling noise in the night.
His day turns into a very bad one then, as Miss Fluffy Cat has told everyone he is a thief and nobody will talk to him or ride in his car. That night there’s another theft and Noddy finds Mr Plod standing accusingly on his doorstep again.
Noddy starts feeling terribly sad and unloved, which is even worse when he goes to see Big-Ears and discovers he has gone off to look after his brother Little-Ears who is ill. He gets a bit selfish then, saying ‘bother Little-Ears! Why did he get ill just when I wanted Big-Ears?” but he’s so ostracised by this point you just have to feel sorry for him.
All’s not lost though, as Tessie Bear is visiting her aunt who happens to be out and she stumbled across Noddy in tears and turns out to be a very good friend to him indeed.
She has the marvellous idea of how to find out who the real thief is, and so they embark on some pretty good detective work, the story turning into a very junior Two Find-Outers sort of tale.
I shan’t give the ending away but Noddy does get his happy day at last after the mystery is neatly solved in a brave midnight adventure.
I think I enjoyed this more than the first book actually, maybe because the mystery element was more prominent. I found Noddy mostly likeable in the story and it was a good little story, I can imagine children liking it a lot.
The book itself
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World of Blyton 