Editor’s note: to celebrate International Children’s Book Day on 2nd April 2023, Ella Gilbert takes us through some of her fondest childhood memories of reading.
Most of my childhood was spent with my head in a book, in some far-off fictional world. One of my earliest and fondest memories is reading The Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton with my mum and my little brother. We’d sit either side of her, all tucked up in bed, eagerly awaiting to hear which magical land was at the top of the tree tonight.
There are three books in the series which follow the adventures of Joe, Beth and Frannie as they befriend the residents of the Magic Faraway Tree and explore the different worlds at its top. The Magic Faraway Tree is an enormous tree with houses built into the trunk and an eclectic group of inhabitants. In each chapter, a different land would appear at the top of the tree that the residents could explore (or avoid!) before it quickly moved onto the next.
We would be in fits of giggles at the Land of Topsy-Turvy, or green with envy at the perfect party in the Land of Birthdays. However, whilst these lands were magical, it was always the character interactions I was the most jealous of. The three children befriend Moon-Face and Silky the Fairy on their adventures, and together they cautiously interact with some of the tree’s less amiable residents, or have tea parties with magical food.
Even as I grew older, Enid Blyton stories remained a consistent theme throughout my primary school years. Whether I was dreaming of a boarding school adventure like in Mallory Towers or listening to Famous Five audiobooks for hours on end on long roadtrips, her writing fostered my endless daydreams.
My family and I have often talked fondly of these books many years later. These were the stories my grandparents read to my mum as a child, the stories that she then shared with her children, and I hope to make these memories with my future children.
