Read the opening of The Magic Faraway Tree: The Enchanted Wood Book 1

There were once three children, called Joe, Beth and Frannie. All their lives they had lived in a town, but now their father had a job in the country, so they were all to move as soon as they possibly could. ‘What fun to be in the country!’ said Joe. ‘I shall learn all about animals and birds!’ ‘And I shall pick as many flowers as I want to,’ said Beth.

‘And I shall have a garden of my own,’ said Frannie. When the day came for the move all the children were excited. A small van came to their door and two men helped their father and mother to pile everything into it. When it was full the van drove away, and the children put on their coats and hats to go with their mother to catch a train to the station.

‘Now we’re off!’ cried Joe. ‘The country, the country!’ sang Beth. ‘We might see fairies there!’ said Frannie. The train whistled, and chuffed out of the station. The children pressed their noses to the window and watched the dirty houses and the chimneys race by. How they hated the town! How lovely it would be to be in the clean country, with flowers growing everywhere, and birds singing in the hedges!

‘We might have adventures in the country,’ said Joe. ‘There will be streams and hillsides, big fields and dark woods. Oooh, it will be lovely!’ ‘You won’t have any more adventures in the country than you will have in the town,’ said their father. ‘I dare say you will find it all very dull.’ But that’s where he was quite wrong.

My goodness, the things that happened to those three children! They arrived at last at the tiny station where they were to get out. A sleepy-looking porter put their two bags on a trolley, and said he would bring them along later. Off they all went down the winding country lane, chattering loudly. ‘I wonder if we’ve got a garden?’