'Farthing Wood is being bulldozed, and there’s a drought. Fox, Badger, Toad, Tawny Owl, Mole and the other animals must band together and set off to a far-away nature reserve. Their journey is full of adventure and fraught with disasters, and the animals must work together to survive.
'The Animals of Farthing Wood is one of the most popular animal stories in children’s literature and is still in print nearly 40 years after first publication.'
The Animals of Farthing Wood is something from my childhood that I remember very fondly. I still have very clear memories of watching the animated series and being hooked by the plight of the characters. Unlike other shows the story wasn't wrapped up at the end of each episode, but continued on into a huge narrative. The characters were always in danger, and some not only died, but had brutal and tragic deaths. There were feuds and rivalries between groups where they plotted to gain power and thought of ways to harm the others. Looking back at it, it was like having a child version of Game of Thrones, and I suspect the series is a big reason why I enjoy serialised and deep narratives in my entertainment. Surprisingly, however, I had never read the book.
Picking up a copy of the newly released version of the first book, which chronicles that animals journey to White Deer Park, I was surprised at how much I still enjoyed the story. Whilst aimed at children, and written in a simple and easy to access way, the story has a surprisingly degree of complexity. The characters don't always get along, they argue and bicker. Some of them even hunt and kill some of the other members of the group, so having to come together as a unit and putting their differences aside isn't an easy thing.
What immediately jumped out at me, however, was the lack of female characters. Owl, Kestrel, Adder, and Weasel, characters that were all female in the television series were male in the original book. This was the thing that threw me the most, especially as they didn't seem as good as their show counterparts. The strangest thing was that none of their personality had changed. They still acted the same way, but certain character traits just seemed to work better with female characters. For example, Owl feels more like a moody old man who wants to be in a position of power, whereas the television version feels more like a kindly old mother figure.
As the book progressed I found more and more things like this that had been changed from the original source material, meaning that the book was able to keep taking me by surprise. Certain characters still died, but their deaths were changed around and happened in different places and different orders. I found myself second guessing what might happen, despite knowing the story.
The story hammers home how things that we humans take for granted, like a housing estate or a busy dual carriageway can be deadly to animals. It was this that really jumped out at me reading the book now. Whilst as a child I focused on the journey and the characters, now I found myself looking at the reasons for their journey, and the troubles they face along the way. The animals must flee their home because humans are destroying their habitat to build upon. They are almost killed in a wildfire because someone carelessly discards a light cigarette. The animals almost starve because the only food around them has been tainted with chemicals that will kill them.
The animals face multiple dangers in their journey, all of which are caused by the destructive nature of human beings. We take what we want, we change the environment around us, and we want things convenient. But we don't care what impact these choices have on the world around us, or the creatures that live there. We're destructive and careless, with no thought about the future of our own species, let along those of animals.
This is one of the things that I found to be really good about The Animals of Farthing Wood. It will appeal to different people for different reasons. Kids and adults alike will find something in the narrative that will grab them. Whether it's the dangers of the journey the animals go on, the characters that inhabit the book, or the underlying commentary on the destructive nature of man and the impact that it has on the world; there is more to the book than you'd initially think, and everyone is sure to find something to interest them.
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I loved Animals from Farthing Wood as a child! I'll definitely have to pick this up: thank you for the nostalgia 😀😀
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