Five Go On A Strategy Away Day and Five on Brexit Island by Bruno Vincent
Second paragraph of third chapter of Five Go On A Strategy Away Day:'Yup!' said Dick.
Second paragraph of third chapter of Five on Brexit Island:'I'm afraid so, Mummy,' said George. 'I'm for leaving Britain, and Julian's for remaining in it. You see, once they caught wind that I'd declared independence, the other three all demanded citizenship - Dick, Anne and Julian - and I gave citizenship to Timmy, of course, without him asking. It seems only fair enough, because they were all residing on the island when I declared independence. And, of course, I can't imagine Kirrin Island without them.[']
These are two one-joke books - different jokes, thankfully. Five Go On A Strategy Away Day is actually better and funnier; the notion of the Famous Five locked in bitter conflict with the Secret Seven over team-building games (there's a particularly brutal chapter where the three siblings and George analyse each other's personalities), and the addled adult version of camping, provisions and map-reading, make for a good chuckle or two. The joke in Five on Brexit Island gets pretty thin pretty quickly, leaving us wondering how many of her European co-workers Anne had been entangled with and exactly what Uncle Quentin and Aunt Fanny had got up to in their youth. George's evil (and non-canonical) cousin Rupert Kirrin makes an appearance in both books, which are lavishly illustrated with some of Eileen Soper's pictures from the original series, given completely unmatching captions. Basically corporate away days are much funnier than Brexit, and this is not surprisingly reflected in the books.
Second paragraph of third chapter of Five on Brexit Island:'I'm afraid so, Mummy,' said George. 'I'm for leaving Britain, and Julian's for remaining in it. You see, once they caught wind that I'd declared independence, the other three all demanded citizenship - Dick, Anne and Julian - and I gave citizenship to Timmy, of course, without him asking. It seems only fair enough, because they were all residing on the island when I declared independence. And, of course, I can't imagine Kirrin Island without them.[']
These are two one-joke books - different jokes, thankfully. Five Go On A Strategy Away Day is actually better and funnier; the notion of the Famous Five locked in bitter conflict with the Secret Seven over team-building games (there's a particularly brutal chapter where the three siblings and George analyse each other's personalities), and the addled adult version of camping, provisions and map-reading, make for a good chuckle or two. The joke in Five on Brexit Island gets pretty thin pretty quickly, leaving us wondering how many of her European co-workers Anne had been entangled with and exactly what Uncle Quentin and Aunt Fanny had got up to in their youth. George's evil (and non-canonical) cousin Rupert Kirrin makes an appearance in both books, which are lavishly illustrated with some of Eileen Soper's pictures from the original series, given completely unmatching captions. Basically corporate away days are much funnier than Brexit, and this is not surprisingly reflected in the books.