The Faraway Tree
#564.28 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 4 books Status Complete 1939–1951 Reading commitment Medium Enid Blyton Last reviewed 2026-10-23
Overview
Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree books follow a family of children who move to the country and find an Enchanted Wood on their doorstep, where the trees whisper their secrets. In the wood grows the Faraway Tree, a huge tree inhabited by fairy-folk such as Moonface, Silky and the Saucepan Man and laden with fruit of all kinds, whose topmost branches lead to ever-changing magical lands above the clouds, some wonderful and some dangerous, which arrive and move on in turn. The children were called Jo, Bessie and Fanny in the original editions and Joe, Beth and Frannie in modern ones. First illustrated by Dorothy M. Wheeler, the books have stayed in print for more than seventy-five years and inspired a 2026 family film.
Portal fantasy, Cozy fantasy · For Middle grade
Core Canon: Reading Order (4 works) counts toward ranking
The Faraway Tree Enid Blyton
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Enchanted Wood; First published by Newnes in 1939; the ISBN recorded is a modern Egmont edition (pre-ISBN rule). | 1939 | 1 | core | 4.25 (30,882 ratings) |
 | The Magic Faraway Tree; First published by Newnes in 1943; the ISBN recorded is the Egmont hardback of 2016 (pre-ISBN rule). | 1943 | 2 | core | 4.29 (38,596 ratings) |
 | The Folk of the Faraway Tree; First published by Newnes in 1946. First published by Newnes in 1946; the ISBN recorded is the Egmont paperback of 2014 (pre-ISBN rule). | 1946 | 3 | core | 4.33 (18,879 ratings) |
 | Up the Faraway Tree; A picture-strip book first published in 1951; the ISBN recorded is the Hodder paperback of 2026, which contains the original text (pre-ISBN rule). | 1951 | 4 | core | 4.14 (2,633 ratings) |
Enid Blyton's stories of the Enchanted Wood and the magic tree whose top leads to other lands.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Faraway Tree? The Faraway Tree's Core Canon is 4 books.
- What is the reading order for The Faraway Tree? Publication order, starting with The Enchanted Wood. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Faraway Tree finished? Complete (1939–1951).
- How much reading does The Faraway Tree take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 4 Core Canon books).
- How is The Faraway Tree ranked? #56 in this site's official ranking, based on 90,990 reader ratings across 4 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #56?
Ranked #56 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.28 across 4 core books.
- A smaller readership (90,990 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #55, The Master and Margarita (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Top-tier rated · 4 books · Complete · 91k ratings · Ranks #56 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length portal fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (4 Core Canon books)
- The Enchanted Wood (1939)
- The Magic Faraway Tree (1943)
- The Folk of the Faraway Tree (1946)
- Up the Faraway Tree (1951)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe.
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.28 across 90,990 ratings on 4 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon extension: The Faraway Tree (Enid Blyton) accepted 2026-10-23
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia (The Faraway Tree) Tier 2
- Series page on the rating platform (ratings with titles) Tier 2
- Reader list on the rating platform (ratings with titles) Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-10-23
Rule: Core Canon = The Enchanted Wood (1939), The Magic Faraway Tree (1943), The Folk of the Faraway Tree (1946) and the picture-strip book Up the Faraway Tree (1951).