Well Done, The Naughtiest Girl!; The Naughtiest Girl Keeps a Secret; The Naughtiest Girl Helps a Friend; The Naughtiest Girl Saves the Day; Here’s The Naughtiest Girl!; The Naughtiest Girl is a Monitor; The Naughtiest Girl Again; The Naughtiest Girl in

Enid Blyton's naughtiest girl coeducational boarding-school stories were first published in the 1940s with the exception of the shorter Here's The Naughtiest Girl! which appeared at the beginning of the 1950s. The leading character, Elizabeth Allen, and her schoolmates were considerably younger than the average run of heroines in the schoolgirl sagas of that period. However, the naughtiest girl books, like the stories of Blyton's single-sex schools (Malory Towers and St Clare's), have proved more resilient than many of their rival creations in the genre and remained in print over several decades.

Digby, the author of the still running and popular Trebizon school stories, has now produced four further books in the naughtiest girl series. Books 'by other hands' than those of the original author rarely succeed and it is no slight challenge to have to recreate with authenticity and conviction Blyton's Whyteleafe School and its inmates.

Elizabeth remains about ten or eleven years old and - as in the Blyton tales - she is bright, colourful and sufficiently lively to hover on the edge of real or supposed 'naughtiness', though her positive qualities (leadership, enterprise and loyalty to friends) are emphasized. The switch from Blyton to Digby appears seamless and it is likely that young naughtiest girl fans will be quite happy to accept the four new titles as a continuation of the series. Adult enthusiasts might well feel that the characterization, events and relationships established by Blyton needed no expansion. Nevertheless Digby has done an excellent job, after a 50 to 60 year gap, in persuasively recreating the genuine publication and atmosphere. And it says a great deal for Blyton that this still appeals to children today. Digby has introduced new characters which work well and has made Elizabeth into a rather more rounded out figure. She skilfully reiterates well-known Blyton ingredients such as children's interest in friendship and rivalries, and their love of food, camping, concerts and play-acting. The new stories also have welcome touches of greenness and conservationism.

It will be interesting to see whether the Digby naughtiest girl will achieve as long a shelf life as Blyton's original version of Elizabeth Allen: despite the fact that the early books were in the vanguard of school stories (in depicting coeducational exploits and making a girl the leader of mixed sex groups), Elizabeth is surely one of the most slightly-etched heroines to attain Enid Blyton's resilient popularity. Whatever the 'secret' of Blyton's appeal may be, Digby seems to have reharnessed it.