The Enchanted Wood, by Enid Blyton

This is the first Enid Blyton book I have read, and I received this book as a gift from a very special friend of mine.  Given these facts, I will alert you to the more-likely-than-not probability that this book is not available in the United States.  You may be able to find it at the library, but you will most likely have to get The Enchanted Wood from Canada, India, or the United Kingdom (try their respective Amazon sites, or better yet, try Alibris and Abebooks online, both of which specialize in rare, hard-to-find books).  

Remember those classic books you read as a child, like Half Magic, Mary Poppins, and Gone-Away Lake?   This book reminds me of all of those and brought me back to those days of reading truly delightful and innocent stories by the bundle.  Joe, Beth, and Frannie have moved to the country with their parents.  It is summertime and they spend their days doing their house chores and exploring the surrounding countryside.  There they discover the Enchanted Wood, the Faraway Tree, and the folk that live there.  The Faraway Tree is especially exciting because every week or so, if you climb all the way to the top, a different land is there above the clouds (e.g. Birthday Land and the Land of Take-What-You-Want, among other whimsically named lands straight out of my childhood daydreams).  If you know a child (or an adult!) who wants to read a fantasy where nothing scary happens and everything is wonderfully magical, I sincerely recommend Enid Blyton.  As far as I know, a fraction of Blyton’s books are available in the United States, and I usually find them in independent or used bookstores.  As I mentioned before, though, consumers can acquire them via online means (also try independent bookstores’ online storefronts).