Magic Faraway Tree Set (4 book set)

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Join them and their friends Moonface, Saucepan Man and Silky the fairy as they discover which new land is at the top of the Faraway Tree. Will it be the Land of Spells, the Land of Treats, or the Land of Do-As-You-Please? Come on an amazing adventure - there'll be lots to discover whatever happens! The first title of the main trilogy, The Enchanted Wood, was published in 1939, although the Faraway Tree and Moon-Face had already made a brief appearance in 1936 in The Yellow Fairy Book. A picture-strip book, Up the Faraway Tree, was published in 1951. Over the years, the Faraway Tree stories have been illustrated by various artists including Dorothy M. Wheeler (first editions), Rene Cloke, Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone, and Georgina Hargreaves. [1] The Enchanted Wood [ edit ] First edition, 1939 First edition, 1943 First edition, 1946

Saucepan joins up with them again in their next foray and as he's very prone to accidents there is a need to visit the Land of Magic to put right something that has happened to him. Poor old Saucepan Man — things go from bad to worse and the picture-panels with the couple of lines of script under them show us exactly what happens to the unfortunate individual. The picture-story moves on with visits to more lands and at one stage Moon-Face's little house is invaded by some horrible people from the Land of Quarrels. The next place to arrive above the Faraway Tree is Toyland which brings plenty of excitement and a little problem involving a couple of straying dolls. Eventually the book ends with a perfectly marvelous land where everyone indulges. Indulges in what? You will find out when you get hold of this fourth and last book in the Faraway Tree collection although there is further Faraway Tree adventure which isn't classed as a separate book not that it couldn't be in this day and age because even single Enid Blyton stories are appearing as mini-novels for young readers.And there you have it. These stories all revolve around the central characters mentioned and their adventures both in the Faraway Tree and in the lands above. Like I said, simple adventure based stories for kids to grip onto rather than have to wade through the scene and character formation. Hachette, the publisher with the rights to the Blyton estate, commissioned an updating of Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven series in 2019. However, this is the first Magic Faraway Tree book in 75 years and the first by an author other than Enid Blyton. And keep in mind this is all about the adventure and that these books are essentially for kids. In fact, these books make an excellent start to get your kids reading and enjoying the written word. So, as an adult, don't be critical of the glaring irregularities of life - for example when the kids go to the Faraway Tree in the middle of the night and return early morning and their Mother doesn't really seem to mind. Be prepared also that within the group, it is Jo who predominantly takes control and makes the decisions. When at home Bessie and Fanny have to do 'female' chores with their Mother like sewing and Jo has to do 'male' chores with their Father like working the garden. I point this out ahead of reading - IT IS NOT SEXIST, it was just a reflection of the times when Blyton wrote these fantastic books.

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. 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. Mia, the older girl, says that in the modern world girls are just as clever as boys, and sometimes cleverer.Once there were two children called Robin and Joy." This is how the fourth of the Faraway Tree series begins in Sunny Stories of July 23rd, 1948. It was in picture-strip form and there were four panels per issue. Due to the popularity of the previous Faraway Tree tales it was fairly obvious that Up the Faraway Tree might also be welcomed as a dedicated book and this took place in 1951. Because of the format the book might not be classed on par with the first three Faraway Tree volumes but that's purely a matter of how you see it. Robin and Joy initially distance the theme by a factor of one and viewed as a whole it might even be considered as a story within a story. The bonus is that the reader is inundated with a host of the lovely Dorothy Wheeler pictures and who could complain about that? Mrs Wilson has form when it comes to updating literary classics. She previously wrote modern versions of Five Children and It and The Railway Children, the Edith Nesbit stories, and Susan Coolidge’s What Katy Did. The book starts off with a family moving to the countryside. The three children, Joe, Beth and Fanny are very excited about the idea of countryside. They think up of all the fun that they will have there. So when they spend their first evening out in the woods, they are nothing but surprised. Because you know, the trees whisper there. Or at least, the sound is as if they whisper! And that is how their adventure starts! Or well, when they find the faraway tree but it's sort of the same. They wouldn't have found the tree if not for the enchanted wood.

Ah, one of my absolute childhood favourites. I consider it a privielige that I get to read it to both my own child (5 years old) and my class (NZ yr 3, so 7 turning 8). And it appears that the appeal has not diminished with time. I still remember all the characters vividly. There was Joe, Bessie and Fannie, the three siblings; and then there were the magic tree dwellers, Mr Watzisname, Moon Face, Sauce-pan man and my favorite character, Silky. Likewise, the characters who inhabit the enchanted wood and the faraway tree were a bit hit and miss for me. Moon-face – a bit weird. Silky – lovely! Mister Whatzisname and Dame Washalot – one note wonders. The Red Squirrel – cute. The Old Sacepan Man – annoying! As for the three children – I never developed different voices for them with my read aloud as I did with the characters of Winnie-the-Pooh because quite frankly they all spoke exactly the same way and had near identical characters. They’re all idealised clone-kids, (good, kind, considerate, hardworking, respectful, etc). Considering how many of these identikit kids Blyton uses in her stories , she must have had a production line churning them out… Famous Five + Secret Seven + Faraway Tree Three = the Fiction Factory Fifteen? Haven't I told you to brush your hair properly for meal-times?’ said Dame Slap, and she slapped the pixie hard. Twinkle burst into tears.My only complaint is I remember this seeming longer and them having loads more adventures but I think it would have just taken me longer to get through this book as a kid. Enid Blyton is a very familiar name to me, I must have read most of both the Famous Five and the Secret Seven stories as a child, but somehow The Faraway Tree series passed me by completely. I don’t think I’d ever heard of it before Millie began telling me about it. In 1997, stories from the novels were adapted into animated ten-minute episodes for the TV series Enid Blyton's Enchanted Lands. The series, entitled Enchanted Lands: The Magic of the Faraway Tree had 13 episodes: