"However, we have every confidence in the Enid Blyton Society's views, " Chorion's Esra Cafer said.

BBC: 'Lost' Enid Blyton book unearthed

Mrs Dorme, a former librarian, said Enid Blyton had been writing 60 years ago with the attitudes and thinking of her time.

BBC: Enid Blyton

British company Absolute Studios has created an electronic Toyland and computerised versions of Enid Blyton's characters, which have been loved by children for decades.

BBC: Noddy in virtual toyland

United States television companies grabbed the chance to show a series based on Enid Blyton's creation which has been specially tailored for the American market.

BBC: News | Entertainment | US success for Noddy

Last year the centre set up an Enid Blyton archive after buying original typescripts of some of her best-known work including the Secret Seven series.

BBC: Enid Blyton legacy to Newcastle's Seven Stories centre

Enid Blyton is a registered trade mark of Chorion Rights Limited.

BBC: 'Lost' Enid Blyton book unearthed

"To my mind, they've nothing in common at all because they're completely different vehicles, " says Tony Summerfield, head of the Enid Blyton Society and a leading expert on the author.

BBC: Enid Blyton and the Mr Tumpy mystery

And he said Kastner celebrated that theme and also what children could do by themselves, an idea that had been picked up by writers such as Enid Blyton, Anthony Horowitz and Charlie Higson.

BBC: Brighton festival to celebrate children with line-up

David Rudd, professor of children's literature at the University of Bolton and an expert on the author, said Enid Blyton's stories had been seen as racist since the late 1960s, with the idea gathering momentum in the 1970s and 80s.

BBC: Enid Blyton