The author also talked about “crackers” that had legs and were playing chase with the kids and forest friends in one of the fantasy lands. I remember there being a tree, obviously and I had a vague memory of some kind of market at the top of it. Again, I haven't let this change affect my rating, but I am extremely disappointed all the same at how political correctness and everything else is even creeping into classic children's stories. The premise is simple enough: a family from the city with three children (a boy and two girls) move out to the countryside.

Golliwogs were fabric rag dolls depicting images of black people: black body, frizzy hair, wide black eyes with white rings, and big red lips. Blyton was a prolific author of children's books, who penned an estimated 800 books over about 40 years. Many people are quite angry at this action but total war has been averted (so far) by recycling old copies of which there are plenty and it's only a matter of time as to whether the changes will be totally accepted.R. Martin and the entire Hitchhiker's series along with an extraordinary limited edition of Adams’s comedic space odyssey.

A little further on they encounter some Brownies who are holding a meeting and Jo spots a sneaky looking gnome who is about to steal one of the Brownie's bags. ENID BLYTON is arguably the most famous children s author of all time, thanks to series such as The Magic Faraway Tree, The Wishing-Chair series, The Mysteries, Famous Five and The Secret Seven.When Joe, Beth and Frannie move to a new home, they discover an Enchanted Wood just outside their doorstep. They often harp on about how lucky they are that the Enchanted Wood starts across the lane from their house. I had a big hardback edition with a green cover and delightfully-1970s illustrations, which I found were still embedded in my mind as I revisited the book. Three children living near an enchanted wood discover an enormous tree peopled with fairy folk, at the very top of which is a ladder that leads to a different magical land every few days.

Innocent, fantastical and full of fun, this is a trip down literary memory lane for older readers, while children will be whisked away to incredible lands on wonderful adventures, as they follow the antics of Moon-Face, Saucepan Man and Silky the fairy. The poet William Blake once said that the one way to achieve innocence is to look at life through the eyes of a child.First of all, Jo is now Joe, which makes sense as this small spelling change has brought the spelling of the name into the modern day. Other aspects of the book I enjoyed were the idyllic country setting (cool woods, chattering brooks, honeysuckle-laden cottages), and the appealing innocence of a bygone era conveyed by the children’s behaviour and actions. And inside they saw the strangest little man they had ever seen, dancing the strangest little dance! The Enchanted Wood introduces Jo, Bessie and Fanny, as they move to a new house and discover the magical world in the woods just beyond their back door.