I've seen the film and now I'll read the book (The Adventures of the Wishing-Chair - Enid Blyton)

Member Name: chrisandmark

Product:	The Adventures of the Wishing-Chair - Enid Blyton
Date:	11/01/06 (382 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A wonderful childrens story, sweet illustrations, great light hearted adventures

Disadvantages: Absolutely none

As it says in my title, I watched The Adventures of the Wishing Chair a few weeks ago on video and it got me all nostelgic. Enid Blyton was always my favourite author as a child and my 9 year old is a big fan too so I popped up to her room for a copy of The Wishing Chair to read in the bath.

The book is pure fantasy in the same vein as The Magic Faraway Tree where a couple of children happen upon an old chair in an Antique shop, they've gone to the Antique shop with thirty five pence to buy a tea caddy for their mums birthday. The children are brother and sister called Mollie and Peter, once in the shop they are captured by a naughty wizard and his cat and jump onto a old chair while they are wishing they could go home. 'And then the most extraordinary thing of all happened! The chair they were in began to creak and groan, and suddenly it rose up in the air, with the two children in it!' The chair flew them home and out of danger but of course Mollie and Peters adventures didn't end there. Whenever the children sat in the chair and wished to travel to somewhere else the chair would magically sprout wings and fly wherever they had wished to be.

There are 26 short chapters in this book, each chapter beginning with Mollie and Peter discovering that a faraway and usually very magical land is in some sort of trouble and only they (with the help of The Wishing Chair and their new friend Chinky, a pixie) can save the day. Lots of wonderful and silly adventures ensue, such as The Silly Boy who insisted on pulling faces in the wind and he stuck like it so off Mollie and Peter go in the chair to see the Windy Wizard who can control the wind and help the little boys face to get back to normal. But the children find out that the chair doesn't grow its wings willy nilly and they have to wait for the chair to decide to sprout before they can go off on another adventure, and at times when they really need it to get wings and fly away the chair can get very temperamental and goes to sleep 'with a little snore'.

This is a fantastic book. Pure escapism for kids. Because of the wonderful way Enid Blyton had of writing for children, Mollie and Peter are never in too much danger so the book in no way could be construed as scary even for the smallest children to listen to. Chinky the pixie comes out with the most clever spells and enchantments as only a pixie could, of course these are spells only for good and are only used when Mollie and Peter are in any sort of trouble. The Wishing Chair goes missing a few times while the children are exploring the faraway lands, usually to be found snoring in a little corner or it's been chair-napped by naughty elves. The children always get the chair back and each chapter ends with Mollie and Peter hoping their next adventure comes along soon.

Charlotte (who's nine) absolutely loves this book, she's already read 'The Magic Faraway Tree' and found The Wishing Chair a kind of follow on to the adventures of Moonface and the gang. This book isn't really connected but all the children in Enid Blytons book are good little girls and boys and the fantastical characters these children connect with throughout the stories are very similar to those in 'The Faraway Tree'. She can more or less read this book alone and only has to ask for help with some of the words Enid Blyton uses, a common one is 'extraordinary'. Not a word you hear too often these days but let's not forget this book was written back in 1937, well over half a century ago! Alice is six and was enthralled more by the names of the characters than the stories themselves, who can resist names like the Land of Toadstools, Magician Greatheart and my personal favourite Mrs Twinkle, Chinky's mum.

Throughout the book are cute little illustrations, no great works of art but a section or two of each chapter is taken and a little black and white picture is produced to show what a lovely time Mollie and Peter are having. My favourite picture is of a party the elves threw for the children and it shows Mollie and Peter dancing around with the elves. These small (and rather basic) drawings are a lovely addition to the book and really help to keep your child interested in the stories as you can say 'Look what a lovely time Mollie is having' and it helps to draw the child in better than purely blocks of text on the page.

I've had a quick check on Amazon and you can buy one of the various publications of 'Adventures of the Wishing Chair' for a bargain £2 for a used copy although the book is so old they don't stock any brand new copies. The book is so beautifully written, as are the rest of Enid Blytons work, that if you can possibly get hold of a copy for your children get it. I promise you or the children won't be disappointed. Enid Blyton was also responsible for other famous story books such as The Famous Five, Noddy and The Secret Seven and if you've ever read these you can see why I love this book and author so much.

Summary: A fantastic book for children and nostelgic adults