Born in London, Blyton studied music briefly and then trained as a Froebel kindergarten teacher. She worked as a teacher and a governess for a short period, but by 1921 she was increasingly drawn to journalism and writing. Her first book of poems, Child Whispers, was published in 1922.In 1924, Blyton devoted herself full time to writing and in 1926 began editing Sunny Stories, a children's magazine where much of her work appeared for the first time. Her stories and poems at this time often appeared in Teachers' World, where they were valued by teachers who used them for their lessons. She also compiled a children's encyclopedia. But it was not until the 1930s that Blyton's stories started to attract a wider audience.
In 1938, the first of Blyton's longer books, The Secret Island, was published. A fast-moving tale, woven around simply-drawn characters, the book proved to be very successful, giving rise to a number of series which established Blyton as a leading children's writer. From 1938-44, Blyton launched most of her major series, including The Famous Five, The Secret Seven, the Adventure series, the Mystery series and the St Clares series.
In 1942, Blyton divorced and the following year married a surgeon, Kenneth Darrell Waters. His name was probably the inspiration for Darrell Rivers in her Malory Towers series of school stories. In 1949, she had her first Noddy story published, perhaps the most successful of all her creations.
However, Noddy became the main target when in the 1950s and 1960s Blyton began to be attacked by critics and librarians for the limited vocabulary, stereotyped characters and simplistic viewpoint of her books. Later critics accused her of being sexist and racist, but she continued to enjoy enormous popularity among young readers. In recent years, her ability to encourage children to read has been recognised generally. At the end of the 1990s, well over 300 Blyton titles were still in print, including editions of the Famous Five stories linked to the popular television serialisation (1995).
