The Brave Toy Soldier and other stories by Enid Blyton is a collection of eighteen short stories titled The Brave Toy Soldier, Poor Mr Pop-Off, The Sparrow, the Frog and the Duck, Sixpence for a Puppy, Gee-Up, Old Clothes-Horse!, The Astonishing Curtains, The Dog That Helped a Fairy, The Christmas Tree Party, Claws for the Cat, Mother Dubbins and her Clever Duck, Grandma's Doll, The Page That Blew Away, Puss! Puss! Puss!, Someone Liked the Mud, Old Mister Surly, The Witch-Sixpence, Butterfingers and I Don't Know How to Dance!
The Brave Toy Soldier is about a toy soldier who lived in a little boy named Gerry’s toy box. One day Gerry threw all his toys on to the floor and when he put the toys into the box, he forgot about the toy soldier that was on the hearth rug. And that evening when Gerry’s mother came to put coal on the fire, she trod on the toy soldier and broke his leg and Gerry threw the toy soldier into the back of his cupboard and his mother threw the toy soldier’s broken leg into the dustbin. The toy soldier was made of wood and he wore a beautiful read coat with blue trousers and a black busby.
Now when the toys came alive that night to play together, they felt very sorry for the toy soldier and they helped him. The next day a little girl came to tea with Gerry and saw the broken toy soldier and she threw him out of the window and he fell on to a flower bed in the garden below. That night the toy soldier heard a cry near the hedge and saw a small fairy being abducted by a big, ugly goblin.
The toy soldier tries to rescue the fairy and has an unusual adventure and he is rewarded for his courage with a happy and much better life than what he had at Gerry’s where he was not wanted or appreciated.
Reviewed by Hannah William