The Faraway Tree series occupies a special place in my childhood memories, but reading them to my daughter now the books seem repetitive and creepy
If you had told me even six months ago that there was going to be a film of The Faraway Tree books, I would have been delighted. I was an Enid Blyton obsessive when I was young. I remember them all so fondly: the Famous Five, even more so the Adventure series. I’d have loved my own Wishing Chair. I wanted to be a Find-Outer. And I adored the Faraway Tree series, which occupies a special place in my childhood memories, as my dad would tell us not to be naughty, or we’d be sent to the Land of Dame Slap.\
But, no. Anticipating hours of fun, delighting in the fact that we were moving on from picture books, I cracked the series open with my daughter this summer, to be bemused, confused, and not a little disappointed by how they failed to live up to my recollections. Not only have Jo, Bessie and Fanny been renamed Joe, Beth and Frannie, and cousin Dick cousin Rick (I hadn’t remembered there was a Dick and a Fanny in the Faraway Tree as well as the Famous Five – how odd), but Dame Slap is also no longer Dame Slap! She’s now Dame Snap, which makes little sense. And she doesn’t slap any more; instead, she scolds.
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But, no. Anticipating hours of fun, delighting in the fact that we were moving on from picture books, I cracked the series open with my daughter this summer, to be bemused, confused, and not a little disappointed by how they failed to live up to my recollections. Not only have Jo, Bessie and Fanny been renamed Joe, Beth and Frannie, and cousin Dick cousin Rick (I hadn’t remembered there was a Dick and a Fanny in the Faraway Tree as well as the Famous Five – how odd), but Dame Slap is also no longer Dame Slap! She’s now Dame Snap, which makes little sense. And she doesn’t slap any more; instead, she scolds.
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