Enid Blyton was the first all-text no-pictures author I ever read. Two decades worth of evolved tastes and increasing cynicism have washed away most of my delight, but I continue to retain a lot of fondness for her fantasy stories. Its true that some good books can feel almost as random, Mary Poppins for example is at least as variable as this, however that randomness is offset by grounded moments that make the weird ones stand out through contrast. Unlike the first book, which was more a collection of short stories, the structure of this book is more like the Faraway Tree where there are a small number of adventures with the final adventure being a journey to light-hearted place (the Island of Surprises). It is also interesting that while the two children begin by looking for the land of Goodness Knows Where, they never actually arrive because they end up being distracted in their journey. Another interesting aspect is that the children are now at school so the entire adventure occurs during their long holiday (in Australia it would be the summer holidays in December and January but I am unsure how things work in England). The Wishing-Chair is a series of two novels by the English author Enid Blyton, and a third book published in 2000 compiled from Blyton's short stories. The three children's stories are as follows:

This book will provide you a dose of healthy nostalgia and remind most fans about the joys of earlier generations and the books. Enid Blyton is a legend and a brilliant story writer. Over the course of the books they travel to all kinds of weird and wonderful places — the Land of Dreams, the Village of Slipperies, Mister Grim's School for Bad Brownies, the Land of Goodies and many others, meeting characters like the Grabbit Gnomes, Witch Kirri-Kirri, the Snoogle, Mr. Spells and Winks the brownie. Enid Blyton used some of the same lands in her Faraway Tree series. This appears to have been written earlier than the Faraway Tree series and Blyton's style in this book seems to be quite different as well. Where the Faraway Tree had stories that covered multiple chapters the Wishing Chair has about one adventure per chapter with the exception of two, one takes up two chapters and the grand finale takes up three. Also, where the adult world occasionally intruded into the world of the Faraway Tree, in that the fairies would come and visit the children in their home, this does not happen in the world of the Wishing Chair. A couple of the adventures do involve the adult world intruding, but they only involved an incident when the Wishing Chair was going to be sold, where it was then moved into the house, and the other one involved a missing ring. However, pretty much most of the adventures occur in the play room, and the faerie realm, which appears to be an extension of the play room. The first book, Adventures of the Wishing-Chair, has the distinction of being Enid Blyton's first full-length novel — although it is episodic in nature. A TV series was made in 1998 as part of Enid Blytons Enchanted Lands. from removed chapters of the previous books as well as material from Sunny Stories and Enid Blyton's Omnibus! [2] Television adaptation [ edit ]Like the Faraway Tree series, the theme of the Wishing-Chair tales revolves mainly around the various places the children visit but Mollie and Peter have an advantage because they can fly off to any exotic location they like rather than having to wait for a suitable land to appear on their doorstep. Over the ensuing days and weeks they visit many places and besides coming across some extraordinary characters and situations, they also court much danger. To clue you up a little here are some of the chapters — The Grabbit Gnomes, The Adventure Of The Green Enchanter, The Witch Kirri-Kirri, The Magician's Party, Witch Snippit, The Windy Wizard, Mr Twisty, Two Bad Children, The Horrid Quarrel, The Enchanter Clip-Clap, Big-Ears The Goblin, The Snoogle and there are many more. It can be gathered that the children together with Chinky meet up with plenty of Witches and Wizards which is what all good fairy-tales require. There are also magicians and many dubious and crafty people which is obvious when Mr Twisty appears on the scene. The chapter about the horrid quarrel concerns a morning when they are all a little bored with the rainy weather and become a little crotchety with each other resulting in Chinky getting up and leaving in a huff! The children expect him to return but he doesn't so as they have a wonderful way of getting to any place on earth (or in Fairyland), they get into the Wishing Chair and whiz off to find him. It turns out that their little friend has been captured by a great big bird belonging to an enchanter so the plot takes off into the stratosphere with four chapters devoted to a thrilling account of a dangerous quest. Moving on it can be pointed out that in this book the familiar name of "Big Ears" does not refer to Noddy's friend but to a furtive goblin whom they come up against although he is very small fry indeed when compared with the Snoogle — and what can a Snoogle be? This is another of the creative names that Enid Blyton thought up every now and again and I can tell you that a Snoogle is a very frightening and rather spooky entity and poses a severe threat to the children's and Chinky's safety! We do have a few changes in the characters as well, including the Wishing Chair. It seems as if the Wishing Chair has a mind of its own, it tires out, and can also communicate, if only through creaks. At one point the chair loses its wings so it has to grow new ones, however there are also a number of references to how the children have grown and thus have become heavier. It seems that the characters have changed in the period between the tow books and must adapt to these new circumstances.

The book version of a straight to dvd disney film. As mentally stimulating as an 'Adam Sandler' movie. Narrative horse-tranquilizer. Whenever you start to enjoy it you can actually feel a few more braincells commit hari-kari. Everytime someone praises this book a fairy dies...wait..wait.. i'm sure i've got a few more ;)... In her foreword, Enid Blyton comments on the hundreds of letters she received when the Wishing-Chair tales came to an end in the original Sunny Stories magazine which she edited and wrote. The children wanted more and they wished that all the tales could be put into one book and that's not surprising because magazines are often missed which means that serial-stories can become quite disjointed. When Peter and Mollie wander into an antique shop to buy a present for their mother's birthday, little do they know how enthralling life is about to become. Quite by accident, they acquire a wishing-chair which sprouts wings and flies them wherever they want to go. Including a feature-length adaptation of Enid Blyton’s The Adventures of The Wishing Chair, this Tonie is perfect for long journeys and chapter-by-chapter listening Blyton does here to children's fiction what Edgar Rice Burroughs does to adventure fiction. And NO, the fact that this is aimed at kids does not excuse the poorness of the writing.Including a feature-length adaptation of Enid Blyton’s The Adventures of The Wishing Chair, this Tonie is perfect for long journeys and chapter-by-chapter listening.