Scholastic The Enchanted Wood (Colour Edition)
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Price: £9.99
Brand: Scholastic
Description: A deluxe hardback edition of this classic and magical Blyton adventure - the perfect gift for every child!. Scholastic The Enchanted Wood (Colour Edition) - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: Scholastic
Product ID: 110835
ISBN: 9781405283014
Author: Rosemary Standeven
Rating: 5
Review: A very enjoyable read of a children’s classic, which amazingly I had never read before, or even heard about until a couple of years ago. It is the story of three siblings: Joe; Beth and Frannie, who move to a house by an enchanted wood, which is home to the Magic Faraway Tree. The tree is massive, home to many weird and wonderful folk, and from the top of the tree, magical lands (a different one each day) can be entered. The language of the book is quite old-fashioned to today’s ears. Anything that is unusual to the children is ‘funny’: “‘I expect they don’t much like when it rains acorns, funny little things!” “‘So this is the Land of the Saucepan Man,’ … ‘What a funny little land!’” “It was really rather funny!” Descriptions of things are frequently superlative: “They drank acornade, which was made of acorns and was most delicious.” “The Rocking Land was really most annoying.” “Moon-Face disappeared! One moment he was there – the next he was gone! It was most peculiar.” “‘Ding-dong-ding-dong!’ said the clock suddenly … It stopped walking when it chimed, but it ran after the children and Silky again at once. It was really a most extraordinary clock!” “And inside they saw the strangest little man they had ever seen, dancing the strangest little dance! He had saucepans and kettles hung all over him, he wore a saucepan for a hat, and he crashed two saucepans together as he danced!” Apart from the language, another thing that dates the book, is that the mother is quite happy for the children to go out without supervision all day (and many nights too), and meet up with strangers (including adults) who haven’t been vetted. She is also quite happy for the children to bring home things from the Faraway tree lands, that could be worth quite a bit (i.e. goat, chickens, shovel etc) without showing any curiosity as to how they came into the children’s possession. Oh, how innocent things were in the past! The children make several new friends: Moon-face; Silky (a fairy) and the Saucepan man, who help let them know when an interesting land is at the top of the tree, and help them navigate the various lands. I did like the inhabitants of the Magic Faraway Tree, but for me the real joy of the book, was the multitude of different lands – some welcoming and fun, others quite scary – but all highly imaginative and unique. The land that will probably appeal most to children is the final one visited – the Birthday Party Land: “‘This is the loveliest birthday party I’ve ever heard of,’ said Beth happily, flapping her big wings, as she sat and watched the fireworks. ‘Lovely things to eat – wishes that come true – exciting games – splendid presents – and now fireworks.’” This is a book that is pure fantasy, lots of fun, with little didactic content. The children are generally well-behaved and polite, and completely accepting of all the weird things going on around them (after, of course, they have called them ‘funny’ or ‘peculiar’).
Author: Lillibet
Rating: 3
Review: I am 46 and read the original te t of this as a child. Rereading it now it has been politically corrected, I find it somewhat jarring. Fanny has become Franny and the Land of Slap has changed a lot, plus modern money has been inserted in place of pounds shillings and pence. Are today's children really so cosseted that they can't cope with historical rhetoric?
