The Secret Seven short story titled "The Secret of the Old Mill". It followed an earlier short story, "At Seaside Cottage", which introduced the leading characters Peter and Janet prior to the formation of the society. There followed a further five short stories and fifteen full-length books. The Secret Seven appeared in seven short stories by Blyton, including a mini-novella explaining how the society was formed. These were left uncollected until 1997, when all but "At Seaside Cottage" were published in a single volume by Hodder Children's Books under the title of "Secret Seven: Short Story Collection". Scamper – Janet and Peter's pet
Enid Blyton for the London "Evening Standard". It was illustrated by van der Beek until his death in 1953. Blyton worked in a wide range of fictional genres, from fairy tales to animal, nature, detective, mystery, and circus stories, but she often "blurred the boundaries" in her books, and encompassed a range of genres even in her short stories. In a 1958 article published in "The Author", she wrote that there were a "dozen or more different types of stories for children", and she had tried them all, but her favourites were those with a family at their centre. In a letter