Babbles about childhood Books: The Enchanted Wood & The Magic Faraway Tree (SPOILERS)

Hello everyone 🌳


Welcome to the first of a new little series of book reviews in which I will be reviewing books that I have been re-reading and enjoying from my childhood and younger reading days. In this post I'm going to review 2 short books by Enid Blyton that I absolutely adored as a child. 

The Enchanted Wood (Book 1)

This is the first book in the 'Faraway Tree' collection and was originally published in 1939. In this book, the children - Joe, Beth and Frannie - move to their new house and have fun discovering the enchanted wood and meeting the residents of the faraway tree, as well as enjoying several different lands. 

Praises

One of the great things about these books is that they are so auditory, a staple for a gripping children's read - but I'm also a sucker for a land that's really well described and especially if sounds are focused on! The trees in the enchanted wood have their distinct "wisha wisha" sounds which I absolutely love. 

This book has many important messages that are vital to instill in children but that it never hurts to remind adults of too (that is my favourite thing about children's literature). In this book the parents have little money and encourage the children to take care of their clothes and toys; the children are aware of how hard their parents work and have to help out with lots of chores. There is a hard-hitting quote in this book which is "Food was very scarce and the children did not have as much to eat as they would have liked" (page 118) - but despite this, the children are happy - because they have the outdoors to explore and great friends. 

It also shows that friends come in all shapes, sizes and appearances - even covered in saucepans!

Criticism

For me the one issue with this book is that some of the lands are very rushed through - I know this is because it is a children's book of course but for me there is a missed opportunity for some amazing descriptive passages. Simply put - this book isn't long enough for all the magic to happen!!

This is a great book but unfortunately due to the rushed feel I am giving it a 3.5 star rating 

⭐⭐⭐ + 1/2

The Magic Faraway Tree (Book 2)

The Magic Faraway tree is the second installment of the series and I must say this book really is magical!! I enjoyed this slightly more than The Enchanted Wood and is definitely the one I remember most from my childhood. 

Praises

This book really stood out to me due to the emphasis put on family relationships. The children are so pleased to have their cousin Rick come to stay with them and take great delight in preparing a bed etc for him. Joe in particular is thrilled to have another boy to play with and is practically jumping for joy when he says "Oh mother! What fun! When is he coming?" on page 1. 

Also, the children use the Faraway tree and it's magic to help their family. In the first book they bring back hens and a goat to provide food and in this story they visit the Land of Magic Medicines in order to help their mother get better - having previously promised not to go back up the tree - they decide "if there's a chance of something to make her better, we'll certainly go!" (page 159). They become less selfish as the book goes on and start using the tree to benefit others, taking great delight in getting each other presents in Chapter 26. 

Other small things I liked about this book was that the lands felt less rushed (due to this book being a tiny bit longer) than in The Enchanted Wood and also - this is copy specific of course - there were some really lovely illustrations in this story. 

Criticisms

Again, only one criticism and this time it is that by the end of this second book I was beginning to find poor Mr Saucepan Man and his deafness a little bit irritating and by the end it was just no longer funny that he kept bringing back the wrong things. Perhaps that is just because I am reading it as an adult however, and a younger audience would find it more amusing. 

Really enjoyed this re-read and I was very quickly transported back to reading this when I was much younger. I give this book 4 stars

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you so much for reading this post!! As I said at the start, this is the start of a little series I will be doing due to the fact I've started re-reading and re-buying a lot of my past favourites. There will be a post following this on the sixteenth, as there are a further 2 books in this Faraway tree series, one of which I will be buddy reading soon! Hope to see you there!!! (Part 2 here)

**all quotes and page numbers mentioned in this post are in reference to Enid Blyton, 'The Magic Faraway Tree Collection' (DEAN, Egmont UK Ltd, London, 2019) ISBN 978-0-6035-7363-7