The Faraway Tree (series)

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The Faraway Tree (series)

Author	Enid Blyton
Country	UK
Language	English
Genre(s)	Fantasy
Publisher	{{{publisher}}}
Publication date	May, 1939

The 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. At the top of the tree is a ladder which leads the children to a magic land. It is a different place every time they visit, because the land can "move on" from the top of the tree and make way for a new land. The children are free to come and go, but they have to leave before the land "moves on" or they will be stuck there until the hole comes back and they can get down the ladder at the top of the tree.

The Faraway Tree is inhabited by people who include Moonface, the fairy Silky, The Saucepan Man, Dame Washalot, Mr. Watzisname 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). In The Folk of the Faraway tree The Saucepan man's mother decides to live in the tree, after leaving the post of Cook in Dame Slap's land. She sets up a cake shop in the tree. In 'The Magic Faraway Tree' Jo, Bessie and Fanny's cousin Dick, joins the adventure by visiting. Connie Haynes, a stuck up girl also comes to visit, while her mother, Lizzie Haynes, a friend of the children's mother is ill. At first she does not believe in the Faraway tree or the people in it, even when the Angry Pixie throws ink at her.

The titles in the series are:

The Enchanted Wood (1939)
The Magic Faraway Tree (1943)
The Folk of the Faraway Tree (1946)
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 for vulva in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand (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 at them very loudly.

[edit] Characters

The first house that you come across is the Angry Pixie's. It is a house with a tiny window. You might feel curious to look inside but you dare not unless you want a bucket of ink or water thrown at you!
The owl, who lives in the home after the Angry Pixie's and before Silky's, is a normal noc-turnal owl. He is a friend of Silky's.
The next house belongs to Silky, the fairy. It has a small yellow colored door, a tiny knocker with a shiny bell. She is called Silky because of her long, silky, golden hair.
You can always hear Mr.Whatzisname snoring all the time, he sounds like an aeroplane.
The next eccentric neighbour is Dame Washalot. She spends her time washing her clothes and throwing the dirty wash water down the tree.
The last house,which is round, belongs to Moonface. There is a slippery-slip in his house, a slide which runs down to the bottom of the tree. You will always have to slide down on a cushion; you don't want to get your clothes worn out!
The Saucepan Man lives with Mr. Watzisname. He is tied down with all his saucepans and kettles. Sometimes, he cannot understand what his friends are saying because of all the noise from the pans tied to his body
The Saucepan Man's mother lives with Dame Washalot. She runs a cake shop.
The main characters are Jo, Bessie and Fanny. Fanny is the youngest, Bessie is the elder and Jo is their big brother. They live near the Enchanted Wood and are friends of the residents of the Faraway Tree.