For each of them, The Enchanted Wood has been the title that moved them across from picture books to chapter books as a bedtime story. After all, I’m not the target audience any more, and all three have been entranced by it.
Photograph: Hodder Children's Booksīut! I could see how much she loved the stories, and so I read them again to my middle child, and then again to my youngest, and I found myself reluctantly acknowledging the Faraway Tree’s charms once more. The Magic Faraway Tree by Jacqueline Wilson, to be published in May. The Saucepan Man in particular was a little creepy and as ever with Blyton, there’s editorialising to be done while reading out loud, if you don’t want the girls to be told to stand aside for the boys. Then I read the books to my eldest child – and found myself not as charmed as I’d hoped. I wanted to creep past the Angry Pixie, watch Dame Washalot empty her buckets of water over Mr Watzisname (how much washing did she really need to do?), and make friends with Silky and Moonface. I imagined biting into a Hot Cold Goodie, or sucking a toffee shock. I dreamed of using a Slippery-Slip – the huge slide which goes down the centre of the tree. Or flying on a dandelion seed in the Land of Giants. I read them first growing up, and revelled in the thought of the different magical lands that could be reached at the top of an enormous tree – the Land of Take-What-You-Want! the Land of Goodies! Imagine being able to ask for an ice cream of any flavour, and going for sardine, as Connie did. I am a veteran reader of Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree books.
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