Reviewing and editing the text of Enid Blyton’s books has been an ongoing process, beginning in her own lifetime and continuing now and, we anticipate, into the future. At Enid Blyton Entertainment (owners of the Enid Blyton estate and copyright, and part of Hachette UK), our intention is to keep Enid Blyton’s books and stories at the heart of every childhood, as they have been for generations. To do so, we work to ensure that there are no offensive terms in the books – changing words where the definition is unclear in context and therefore the usage is confusing, and where words have been used in an inappropriate or offensive sense – while retaining the original language as far as is possible. This enables a very wide international audience of children to enjoy the books, while also understanding that they were written and set in the past.
The names of the children in the Faraway Tree stories have been changed from Jo, Bessie and Fanny, and cousin Dick, to Joe, Beth and Frannie, and cousin Rick. This change was made several decades ago by a previous publisher and has been retained in our editions of the books to avoid confusion and because these amended texts are now widely accepted as the standard editions of these books.
The Enchanted Wood (1939), The Magic Faraway Tree (1943) and The Folk of the Faraway Tree (1946) are the original Faraway Tree books written by Enid Blyton. In 1952 she altered an earlier book, originally called The Yellow Fairy Book (1936), to make it part of the Faraway Tree world. It is now published as The Magic Faraway Tree: Adventure of the Goblin Dog. The text of all these books was reviewed and minor editorial amendments were made where necessary (to correct errors, and to bring the text in line with our editorial standards as described above) when the books were first published by Hodder Children’s Books in 2020-21.
Enid Blyton also wrote the text for a comic-strip story called Up the Faraway Tree (1951). Two picture books have been published set in the Magic Faraway Tree world, with new texts, not written by Enid Blyton: Silky’s Story (2020) and Moonface’s Story (2021). Chapters from the first three original books are also published as individual full-colour editions for young readers, illustrated by Alex Paterson.
In 2022, we published a brand-new story set in Enid Blyton’s Magic Faraway Tree world but written by a different author: the bestselling Jacqueline Wilson. This book was illustrated by Mark Beech. This story, called The Magic Faraway Tree: A New Adventure, sees three contemporary siblings, Milo, Mia and Birdy, encounter the Enchanted Wood, the Faraway Tree and all its wonderful inhabitants and Lands. In 2023, we will publish a second new adventure set in Enid Blyton’s Magic Faraway Tree world by Jacqueline Wilson: The Magic Faraway Tree: A Christmas Adventure, also illustrated by Mark Beech.
In new editions of Enid Blyton books, we do not change language for the sake of modernising it. The books’ period setting is part of their charm and is enjoyed by readers of all ages. Any historic changes previously made to new editions, which come under the category of ‘modernisation’ in this context, have been or are being restored to the original text at the point of reprint.
