100 Books to Read Poster Number 16

As you see it was The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton.

Luckily the addition of Borrowbox to my local library service saved me from having either the expense of buying it, or the embarrassment of taking it out of the library in person, as it is a book for very small children. It came as an audio book, read by Kate Winslet, who seems to be a bit of a go-to person for children's audio books. The fact that it was in audio format did at least mean that I could do something useful while listening to it. It still seemed awfully long.

I'd never read this book, which I think is also sometimes called The Faraway Tree, and I am astonished at how often it pops up on this kind of list. My mother disapproved strongly of Enid Blyton, although I am not quite sure why (she was not of the generation that would have objected to the gollywogs for example) so possibly she was, as a teacher, just following the lead of those librarians who deplored Blyton's limited vocabulary and formulaic storytelling. I gather her work was also banned from the BBC for decades as being 'second rate'.   

This does not mean that I suffered a Blyton-less childhood. I borrowed some of her books from friends, had some passed on to me from other people and occasionally was bought one by relatives other than my mother as a birthday or Christmas present. All this stuff about banning and the general disapproval is all  a bit reminiscent of a lot of the more recent fuss around the Harry Potter books, and makes me reflect how odd it is that cultural commentators who deplore any particular children;s author in such terms, seem to forget hat children do grow up and heir reading tastes generally grow up with them. Whatever the fears  in the 1960s the country was not plagued with a generation of adults who were still considering Five go to Smugglers Cove as the apogee of thriller writing in the 1970s and 80s. To me, it just all smacks a bit too much of snobbery and oneupmanship.

Anyway to revert to the actual book, all I can say is it's not for grown ups but if I had read it as a child I would have loved it, if only for the central concept of the ever changing destination at the top of the tree. So a miss for me now, but a hit for me then.

I note with some relief that having been very careful and gentle with the coin wielding, the picture for this book emerged unscathed and recognisable from behind its silver cover.