Exploring inside The Enchanted Wood

I was eight years old when my mother first handed me an old hard covered book, it's pages inside scenting as though they has been turned a thousand times over before, to chase the exhilarating adventures I was yet to explore.

"Oh, Amber, you will love this," she said, "I absolutely loved this as a girl".

I took my book with me and sat on our deck outside, plonking on the only spot of the daybed that had a patch of sun, heating it's space ready for my company. Tucking my knees into a comfortable ball, I sat back and opened the first page. I met my new friends, Jo, Bessie and Fanny, who had moved from the city into the country. I had always lived in the country, so it was exciting to see what they would make of it. Every word I read had begun to sink my mind deeper and deeper into the pages, and before long I was right there with them, climbing through the fence into The Enchanted Wood. I could feel the cool air tingling my skin, my ears listening to the 'wisha, wisha' of the trees whispering to us. The magic hidden in the air sent a thrill of excitement down my spine as we went deeper into the wood. Soon enough, more than a quarter of the book had already been explored and the sunny patch that was keeping me warm had since been lost behind a cloud, making the hairs on my skin stand tall. I dashed inside to grab a grey fluffy blanket that had been flung over the side of the lounge set inside, took a steaming piece of banana bread with melted butter oozing out the other side that had been left unattended on the kitchen bench, and went back to my nook on the daybed outside. As I unfolded the top right hand corner of the page I had left off from, I heard a shout from inside.

"Amber, did you take that banana bread?" shrilled my mother.

Shoving the rest of the crumbs into my mouth, I called back.

"Yep! Sorry, Mum!"

I heard her groan in annoyance but continued on with my adventures anyway. The four of us had now explored the wood and came across The Faraway Tree, and had climbed to the top to discover a peculiar cloud with a ladder leading into it's unknown land above. My eyes were like magnets to each word as I became so lost in the story, anything else happening around me had become blurred out of my consciousness. Until, my father had come up to tap me on my shoulder.

"Hello, is anyone still in there?" He joked, giving my head a little knock as though it were a door.

"Ha ha, yes I'm right here, Dad," I replied.

"C'mon, your mum said you need to come with me for a drive to the hardware store. Go pop your shoes on, I'll wait for you in the car".

I ran inside and put my book under my pillow, slipped on a pair of flip flops and ran out to meet my father in the car. Little did I know, that he had planned to make me a tree swing for the beautiful, white gum tree that stood tall at the end of our garden. After an afternoon of creating my new swing, it was finally ready to play on.

It was slightly too high for me to simply slide myself onto, so holding on to the rope, I jumped up and launched myself into the air to plonk down onto the round wooden seat. I discovered I could now see over our fence, and the cool evening air tickled my cheeks. It felt like the same magical air that I experienced in the Enchanted Wood. As I held the rope tight, I swung my head back, letting my blonde curls fall toward the ground, imagining that at the top of the gum tree was a hidden land waiting for me to explore it. I decided to investigate, just in case I might find a fairy or another being living higher up in the tree, just as my friends Jo, Bessie and Fanny had found their friends, Moonface and Silky. I climbed off my swing and started to pull myself up into the tree, hanging onto it's thick branches, feeling slightly worried there could be spiders hiding under the loose bark.

I'd managed to get halfway before I looked down and saw how high up I had gotten. I could see the whole world! Above me, a coral pink and deep blue sea mixture of the last daylight, illuminated through the sky. I wondered if maybe the soft fluffy clouds that drifted up there had The Land of Goodies, or perhaps The Land of Do-As-You-Please. I looked around the tree and could not spot any fairies. Maybe, I thought, the fairies will only come out at night, because my garden isn't a wood, and they wouldn't have much room to hide from bad things. I climbed back down and ran inside to see what delicious warm food would be waiting for me to devour.

The night had settled in, and I was snuggled in my favourite pyjamas, laying in bed, with my nose stuck inside the hard covers of my book. I was secretly hoping my mother wouldn't rush in to come kiss me goodnight. My friends and I had just discovered more adventures at the top of the tree, and I didn't want to leave. My mother came in and saw how close to the end of the book I was, and laughed in delight.

"I have a surprise for you" she said, walking back out of my room, before coming back in with her hands hidden behind her back.

"Guess what it is."

"Umm, I don't know! Show me!" I exclaimed, sitting up in my bed.

She pulled from behind her another hard covered book, with the same old ivory cream colour, but a new title 'The Magic Faraway Tree'.

"Oh!" I exclaimed with excitement, "There's more of them!"

My mother could see the thrill on my face and came to snuggle in next to me on my bed. We read the rest of The Enchanted Wood together and she put The Magic faraway Tree on my bedside table, ready for more adventures tomorrow.

Now, I am an adult, with a child of my own, I can only hope that he can feel that same sense of magic and excitement in reading such a creative and imaginative book series. I hope he will experience his own adventures with such an open mind as I did growing up, finding the mere thought of living to be an exhilarating and joyful abundance of never-ending discoveries.