The Valley of Adventure is a popular children's book by Enid Blyton. It is the third book in the Adventure Series.
Plot summary
.jpg)
Preparing for a trip by plane with Bill, the four children inadvertently go into the wrong plane, which takes off under frightening circumstances — and find themselves stranded in an isolated valley scarred by war, and at the mercy of sinister men looking for a long-lost treasure.
.jpg)
With this rapid plunge into adventure (just after Philip had promised his mother not to get into any more!) it's hard to imagine how Enid Blyton can prolong the interest throughout the rest of the book. But she does.
The children find themselves in a beautiful but deserted valley, with nothing but a number of burnt-out houses and buildings to indicate that people once lived there. With mountains all around, it seems the children are stuck there—with no one but a couple of bad guys for company, who have a little hut where they keep a stock of tinned food and supplies.
.jpg)
The children manage to steal some of the food and go off to hide somewhere, at first in a cowshed. But when the men find signs that someone has been there, the children venture further up into the mountain...
and find a perfect little cave near a waterfall that has a soft, dry, moss-covered floor and ferns to conceal the entrance. It's perfect!—and every kid's dream!
DOWNLOAD: THE VALLEY OF ADVENTURE
With this rapid plunge into adventure (just after Philip had promised his mother not to get into any more!) it's hard to imagine how Enid Blyton can prolong the interest throughout the rest of the book. But she does.
The children find themselves in a beautiful but deserted valley, with nothing but a number of burnt-out houses and buildings to indicate that people once lived there. With mountains all around, it seems the children are stuck there—with no one but a couple of bad guys for company, who have a little hut where they keep a stock of tinned food and supplies.
After landing in the deserted valley, the children find a dry barn to set up camp.
The children find a better hiding place...
...a nice cave tucked away near a waterfall!
But this is just the beginning of their stay in the valley. The men are searching for something...but what?
A great tree to spy on the bad men down below in the valley!
When the men fly off in their plane and return with a third bad guy and another man, evidently a prisoner, things get even more puzzling. Jack and Philip decide to follow the men as they set off on a trek across the valley.
To prevent the bad men following Jack and Philip to the cave, the girls distract them from the safety of the waterfall.
The prisoner, who apparently is supposed to be leading the men to a specific place, eventually stops before a rockfall and points. This, he seems to be saying, is where the entrance is—or was. Frustrated, the men try to shift the rocks but can't. Later, when the children rescue the prisoner, a man called Otto, he lets on in a heavily-accented voice that there is "treesure" in the valley. The entrance is not under the rockfall after all—that had just been a clever trick!—but somewhere up in the mountains. He draws a map...and the treasure hunt is on.
Otto, having escaped from the bad men, draws Jack a treasure map!
After discovering their friendly little moss-covered cave, which they set up as a temporary home, Lucy-Ann comes across a tunnel at the back leading into a vast cavern which echoes madly. They call this the Cave of Echoes. It leads through to an opening behind the waterfall, a ledge that is unapproachable from any other route. This proves useful later!
Philip's escape from the valley is fantastic. I had no idea/recollection what was coming until I read it, but when Philip emerged from a crate covered in straw at a small railway station in Scotland, I had a flashback and knew I'd enjoyed that moment long ago when I first read these books. This is also when we find out that Bill Smugs/Cunningham is a Detective Inspector. Somehow this lessens his mistique a little; I think I saw him more as MI5 or something. I can't help thinking that other Detective Inspectors on the police force might be a little jealous of Bill's "company vehicle"—a plane, for heaven's sake! As I said above: lucky blighter.
Philip finally seeks help from a startled policeman.
Oh, and one thing that made me roll my eyes was Bill's statement at the end that the very men the children had got caught up with were the very men he'd been after for some time. Now, there's a surprise!
Bill in action! The bad guys are rounded up!
But it's during the hunt for the treasure that Blyton excels herself, with The Cave of Stalactites first, followed by the Cave of Stars (with little twinkling points of light that "might be glowworm"). After a long tunnel and finally some steps cut into the rock, they come to a door, and beyond the door...well, you just have to read the book!
The Cave of Stalactites
No comments:
Post a Comment