The Magic Faraway Tree series

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The Magic Faraway Tree series is a popular series of children's books written by Enid Blyton. The stories revolve around an enchanted wood where a gigantic magic tree grows, which is discovered by three children living nearby. Every now-and-then, at the top of the tree, a new magic land appears, which the children can visit; but they have to leave before the land "moves on", or they could be stuck in that land when it is replaced by a new land at the top of the tree.

The Faraway Tree is inhabited by people who include Moonface, the elf Silky, the Saucepan Man, Dame Washalot, Mr. Whatsisname and the Angry Pixie. The lands at the top were sometimes extremely unpleasant (the Land of Dame Slap) or sometimes fantastically enjoyable (the Land of Birthdays, the Land of Take-What-You-Want).

The stories are inventive and fantastic and have continued to delight children. Like many of Blyton's books, they also provide an insight into a particular vision of mid-twentieth-century domestic life.

The titles in the series are:

1. The Enchanted Wood (1939)
2. The Magic Faraway Tree (1943)
3. The Folk of the Faraway Tree (1946)
4. Up the Faraway Tree (1951)

[edit] Updates

• In modern reprints, the names of the children have been changed - from Jo, Bessie and Fanny to Joe, Beth and Frannie - in the first case to make it clear that Jo is a boy, in the second because Bessie is seldom used as a nickname for Elizabeth anymore (most would go by Beth, Liz or Lizzie), and in the third because Fanny is a slang term in the United Kingdom (see Wiktionary entry). Cousin Dick, who appears in "The Magic Faraway Tree", has his name changed to "Rick" in new editions, presumably for similar reasons.
• In modern reprints, the character of Dame Slap has been re-named to Dame Snap and she no longer practises corporal punishment but instead reprimands her students by yelling very loudly.

[edit] Trivia

• In Alan Moore and Dave Lloyd's graphic novel "V for Vendetta," V reads "The Magic Faraway Tree" to his protege Evey before bed, and alludes to "The Land of Do-As-You-Please" and "The Land of Take-What-You-Want" over the course of the book.
• Mr. Whatshisname's name is usually spelt as "Mr. Watzisname". He simply has just forgotten what his real name was (for a very good reason). In The Folk of the Faraway Tree, the gang makes a trip to the 'Land of Secrets' at one point where Mr. Watzisname learns of his real name. It is "Kollamoolitumarellipawkyrollo". Funnily enough, he, and the rest of his friends forget his name by the end of that chapter.