Magic Faraway Tree Set (4 book set)

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Running for a total of four books, these were some of Blyton’s most enduring creations, one’s which stand the test of time to this very day. In the past there has been a television adaptation, with ten minute episodes of mini-adventures being aired in 1997. Plans to adapt it for the big-screen, though, are currently underway, as the director Sam Mendes has acquired the rights through his production company ‘Neal Street Productions’, with the intention of creating a major live-action film of the novels. Additionally Dame Slap is now Dame Snap, and disciplines the children in her school by scolding them rather than slapping them.

So I say to anyone, read this to your young kids, it is brilliant. Full of fantasy and adventure but really simplified. There are no in-depth plots, it is just one adventure after another, no slow character build-ups, just in your face - these are the characters, now let's go. If you had told me even six months ago that there was going to be a film of The Faraway Tree books, I would have been delighted. I was an Enid Blyton obsessive when I was young. I remember them all so fondly: the Famous Five, even more so the Adventure series. I’d have loved my own Wishing Chair. I wanted to be a Find-Outer. And I adored the Faraway Tree series, which occupies a special place in my childhood memories, as my dad would tell us not to be naughty, or we’d be sent to the Land of Dame Slap. The tree is populated by a good number of folk, though only a few are ever named. There appears to be no water supply or sanitation, and yet Dame Washalot is endlessly tipping dirty water down the tree. Being soaked by this water offers endless amusement to all but the soakee. It's an odd book. The children have a deeply unconvincing home life and never appear to go to school. Their parents hardly ever let them have five minutes free of chores, but when they do they're happy to let the kids (as young as 7) stay out to midnight in the woods in the company of old men they haven't met.In the first novel in the series, Jo, Bessie and Fanny (edited to Joe, Beth and Frannie in revised editions) move to live near a large forest, which the locals call "The Enchanted Wood". One day they go for a walk in the wood and discover it really is enchanted. They encounter a group of elves who have been robbed of important papers by a gnome. They chase the gnome and recover the papers, but the gnome himself escapes up a huge tree whose branches seem to reach into the clouds. This is the Faraway Tree. According to the Index Translationum, Blyton was the fifth most popular author in the world in 2007, coming after Lenin but ahead of Shakespeare. I have other issues with the Faraway Tree, not least the Saucepan Man. He wasn’t my favourite character in the books as a child (that honour went to Moon-Face, because he had the slippery-slip slide in his house), but I liked him. Reading the books aloud, as an adult, I have been startled to find just how creepy he is. He’s not magical, like some of the characters; he’s just a man who drapes himself, for no discernible reason, in pots and pans. And hangs out with a group of kids. In the story, there is a reference to Moonface asking Silky the fairy to help around the home. Mia tells him that he has sexist expectations of Silky, and explains why he should not say that.”

One day they discover a tree which seems larger than the others and decide to climb it, uncovering a host of magical people and creatures that actually live in between the branches in cosy little homes. I have a newer version, so names have been changed from Jo, Bess and Fanny to Joe, Beth and Frannie. I have mixed feelings about the update. I understand why some people would object to Fanny in particular. It's the loss of Bessie that I find saddest as it was updated because Bess/Bessie has fallen out of fashion. While I like the name Beth too, I don't see the issue with an old-fashioned children's book maintaining an older style of name. This was written in 1939 but I think it's still a fun read for kids of today. This edition was printed in the early nineties and does still contain elements which I think have been removed now. Obviously Golliwogs have been removed, however I read a few years ago that Dame Slap was considered problematic so not sure if she is still about. Slapping is a big storyline, so not sure what they replaced her with!

The Enchanted Wood Series is very close to my heart. This was most definitely the first novel I read when I was about 7 or 8, and I was completely mesmerized by Joe, Bessie and Fannie and their adventures in the enchanted woods so much that I just COULD no keep this book down.