The Magic Faraway Tree is a children's

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

 novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 by Enid Blyton

Enid Blyton

Enid Blyton was an English children's writer also known as Mary Pollock.Noted for numerous series of books based on recurring characters and designed for different age groups,her books have enjoyed huge success in many parts of the world, and have sold over 600 million copies.One of Blyton's most...

, first published in 1943.

It is the second book in the The Faraway Tree series of novels, in which Jo, Bessie and Fanny, the protagonists of the series, have their cousin Dick over to stay with them. They then introduce him to Silky, Moonface, Saucepan Man and all their other friends in the Magic Faraway Tree.

In 2003 it was voted #66 in the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

's Big Read

Big Read

The Big Read was a survey on books carried out by the BBC in the United Kingdom in 2003, where over three quarters of a million votes were received from the British public to find the nation's best-loved novel of all time...

 poll to find the UK's favourite book.

The book is also heavily referenced in the graphic novel V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta is a ten-issue comic book series written by Alan Moore and illustrated mostly by David Lloyd, set in a dystopian future United Kingdom imagined from the 1980s to about the 1990s. A mysterious masked revolutionary who calls himself "V" works to destroy the totalitarian government,...

. The third book is entitled 'The Land of Do-as-you-please", and V reads the "The Magic Faraway Tree" to Evey Hammond.

Lands In the Book

• The Land of Topsy Turvy
• The Land of Spells
• The Land of Dreams
• The Land of Do-as-you-please
• The Land of Toys
• The Land of Goodies
• The Land of the Old Woman who Lives in a Shoe
• The Land of Magic Medicines
• The Land of Tempers
• The Land of Presents

Modern alterations

The modern reprints have altered the names of the main characters. Jo is now Joe, Bessie is now Beth. Dick and Fanny have been changed to Rick and Franny, due to the modern sexual connotations of the original names.