The Magic Faraway Tree: The Story of the Film

Inspired by Enid Blyton, text by Emily Stead

Reviewed by Barbara Braxton

Nearly 90 years ago, as war clouds gathered over Europe and the world was swept up into a global conflict not seen since, English author Enid Blyton wrote the first in a new series of books that focused on a huge tree in the middle of a secret forest, a tree that housed characters with names like Moonface, Mr Watzisname, Angry Pixie, Dame Washalot and a fairy called Silky. It had a slide down its centre and a ladder that led to the clouds at the top where every now and then, a new land would arrive to offer its visitors extraordinary adventures.  Both the wood, known locally as The Enchanted Wood, and the tree are discovered by three children – Jo, Bessie and Fanny –  when they chase a gnome who has robbed some elves of some important papers, following him up the tree where they encounter its strange inhabitants and, over time, learn its secrets…

It was just the kind of escapism that young British children needed as many were separated from their parents through forced evacuation to the country or worse, and was followed by The Magic Faraway Tree (1943), The Folk of the Faraway Tree (1946) and Up the Faraway Tree (1951). Despite being later criticised by adults wearing their modern politically-correct hats as being “racist, xenophobic and sexist” and even sanitised in more recent editions to supposedly appeal to a more modern audience, the magic and wonder of both Blyton’s imagination and the tree itself have endured as it is now a fabulous movie that has become a family must-see and the childhood audience for whom it was intended have had the last laugh.

Now, to continue the magic and the wonder long after the final credits have rolled, there is this wonderful novelisation that young readers can return to again and again – a story that starts with a note to the reader from the director of the movie and begins… “We are so excited for you to read this book,  I think books are better than films because while we needed hundreds of people to make all the moving pictures for the Magic Faraway Tree film, you just need your amazing brain and imagination to see the tree and the lands in your mind when you are reading…”

Isn’t that the best intro to a book that you have read in a long time? It just sums up so much about the power of books, stories and reading so well, and what fascinated me was that despite the series being my all-time favourite for decades – I don’t know how many hundreds of children I’ve shared it with over the last 55 years of teaching – as I read, my imagination was just as carried away as it was back in the early 50s when my mum gave it to me, and there were new images and wonder that appeared on the screen of my mind. I was as engrossed today as I was then, and admit to binge-reading it well past my bedtime.  Familiar characters and lands and new marched through my dreams all night!

The beginning of the story itself has been brought into the 21st century – Beth, Joe and Fran are mainly cared for by their stay-at-home dad and spend their waking hours glued to their screens but when their mum loses her big city job, the whole family moves to a ramshackle barn on the edge of a wood. It’s bad enough that they’ve had to downsize, but now their phones have no signal and they actually have to interact with nature! However, the rest of the story is pretty much the same.  Fran finds a little purse and returns it, and from that good deed, just as that of her predecessors, the adventures begin…  And, as with the original, while the adventures are pure fantasy, there are subtle lessons to absorb as the children learn not just about themselves and their relationships, but the whole family begins to reconnect and appreciate each other again.  And, of course, it concludes with the possibility of a sequel.

But while the reader waits for that, they may well go in search of the original adventures -perhaps looking on Grandma’s bottom shelf – and starting new conversations and connections that way, as well as seeking out other new adaptations like  A New Adventure, , A Christmas Adventure, and the stories of Silky and Moonface , each adding to a series that has enchanted readers for generations gone and to come.

This one is definitely finding a permanent home with its parents on that special bottom shelf!

https://youtu.be/3aHYFwvoGek?si=-31hzeFRxKochluw

Hodder Children’s,  2026

Enid Blyton