I have to remind myself: It was old even then.Īnd it was wonderful to have my daughter run to me throughout the day clasping this beautifully illustrated deluxe edition, begging me to read another chapter, snuggling in despite the heat of summer, jumping up and down at the mention of Pop Biscuits. It's exactly the childlike turn of phrase that draws a five year old in, as it drew me in a full two generations after the series was first published.

Perhaps after an early childhood of well-written picturebooks, the language of Enid Blyton seemed dull, expository and dated, even to a child's ear?īut no, I think these worries are unfounded. I was wondering if the story might have dated too much, if what seemed like fantasy to me back in the early 80s has been eclipsed by the fantasy of computer games and a wider variety of TV. So it's with great relief that I pulled out The Magic Faraway Tree - for the third time over a period of months - and finally managed to engage her attention. Strategy games have their own charms, and I'd have loved them too, had they existed, but please dog, not at the expense of the books.

I can see into the future, the two of them sitting side by side playing networked Terraria, which is all well and good, except I want the kid to be one of those increasingly rare individuals who love both gaming AND reading in equal measure. I'm determined that the kid will love reading, whether she likes it or not.Įxcept she loves iPad games and Steam games and happens to be surprisingly adept at them. My daughter is now at the age where she's done with ABC 2 (Peppa Pig excluded) and I'm keen to keep her away from the mindless cartoons of ABC 3. Now, here in Australia there are two entire television channels dedicated to advertisement free children's programming - ABC 2 for the little ones and ABC 3 for the slightly older ones. I wonder if it was different a generation ago, when the only real competitor for a five year old's attention was a few hours of Playschool and The Smurfs per day (not real competitors at all). I'm keen to click my own daughter onto reading. Fortunately I was almost at the age where I could read myself, and before long I had my hands on the prequel and the sequel and I must have read them many times over between the ages of five and eight or so. The chapters always seemed far too short. I still remember my father coming home with it one day - there must have been a book club at his office - and he read me one chapter before dinner. The Faraway Tree is the book that made me 'click on' to reading.

Enid blyton the magic faraway tree