Reviews

Adventures of the Wishing Chair by Enid Blyton

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eccentricteapot's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

claire_reads23's review against another edition

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3.5

So damn nostalgic although don’t think I’ll be reading until I have kids or nieces and nephews.

vikingwolf's review against another edition

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3.0

I don't know how many times I read this book as a child but I loved it! I was forever trying to drag chairs out into the garden to use as my wishing chair, which enraged my mum on a daily basis one summer! I grew up on Enid Blyton books but I don't remember too much about this series other than the characters, rich kids Mollie and Peter who have their own playroom at the bottom of the garden, a houseproud mother and a servant called Jane. One day they visit an antique shop to buy a present for Mother and get involved in a strange adventure where they steal a flying Wishing Chair from the wizard shop owner and take it home. Each time the chair grows wings, it is time for a new adventure, and as a kid I just loved the different places and people that they met on their travels.

Reading this as an adult was always going to be a new experience and I'm glad to say that I still had fun with it. Of course I can point at how silly the kids are at times or laugh at their outrage when somebody steals their chair (seeing as it doesn't actually belong to them) but it was all very enjoyable. Each installment is a short self contained adventure of a handful of pages. I could be picky and say that each was too short and over too quickly but they were written for kids who might have shorter attention spans so that is fair enough. The kids are nice enough but my favourite character is still Chinky. The pixie is kind, intelligent and can do magic, as well as having a ton of friends through the magical community.

One alert to give is the name of the pixie being Chinky. The books were written back in 1937, and I first read it in the late 70's when attitudes to various things were different. My review is based on that context and I won't be publishing any comments on my blog complaining about the name being used in the review.

keishaamariee's review against another edition

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Loved this read, it was nice to go back and re read a book you haven't read in about 10 years. Different to what I remember. I had a lot of fun reading this!

amandawije's review against another edition

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3.0

Jumping back into the world of Enid Blyton was enjoyable for this short span of a novel. The Wishing-Chair books aren't as great to me as the Malory Towers or St Claire books because I just love those atmospheres. However reading these books did bring back some nostalgia for my youth when I would read these at night before bed. Overall I took this book for what it was...a children's book that doesn't really feel the need to explain itself. Everything is presented as known fact such as multiple entries to the Fairyland being right in their backyard. The children don't even have a crazy reaction when the wishing-chair flies for the first time. Each chapter was a separate adventure (with a few exceptions) so the events come to a close when you're ready to finish reading at the end of a chapter which is nice. Definitely recommend for younger children to play on their imaginations. These types of books are so important to a person's childhood.