Adventures of the Wishing Chair Chapters 1-4

This is my attempt at commentaries on my favorites stories. Starting out with my favorite author Enid Blyton, one of the earliest authors I was introduced to. I plan to discuss her Wishing Chair Series and Magic Faraway Tree series which I feel are interconnected and often take the characters to the same lands. I shall follow the format of chapter summaries followed by my reaction.

Chapter 1: The Strange Old Shop

Peter and Mollie go looking for an antique shop to buy a gift for their mother. They find one in a small street and decide to buy a small vase at the window. A small man, a pixie most likely attends to them. He is not very friendly. But he agrees to sell them the vase. They ask him for paper to wrap the vase. He opens boxes to find the paper and in the process lets out all kinds of strange magical stuff - a cat with golden eyes, a fox, blue butterfly and some green smoke. The children are scared and want to flee. But the doors are shut. So they huddle in a large ancient looking chair. A tall bearded man appears and is displeased that the contents of the box have been been unpacked. He orders the small man Tip Tap to catch the fox and put it back in the box and the children to help him. The children are scared of the fox and want to get away. They say they wish to fly away and immediately the chair rises up in the air and whisks them away to their home. Once safe and sound they want to return the chair to its rightful owner. They ask the chair to return. But it can't since it no longer has wings on its legs.

Chapter 2: The Giant's Castle

The children keep the chair in their garden. They want to fly around in the chair but unable to since it has not grown wings on its legs. One day it does and they board it. It takes them away to a castle and lands them on its roof. They descend down into the castle to find it is owned by a giant who is struggling with some math. His servant Chinky, a pixie is unable to help and he wants to punish him. But the children do the math for him in exchange for a promise not to punish the pixie. He does not keep his promise. He punishes Chinkie by locking him in a room and wants to enslave the children and keep them as his servants. They run up to the roof. The giant thinks there is no escape route in that direction and does not pursue. But they manage to escape, rescuing Chinky as well along the way. Thus Chinky comes to live with them. They request him to watch out for when the chair's legs sprouts wings and inform them.

Chapter 3: The Grabbit Gnomes

Chinky comes to inform them that the chair is ready to fly. The three of them board the chair and are taken to a strange village with large toadstools made into homes with the top of the toadstools, the roof of the homes doubling up as dinner tables as well. Chinky who is acquainted with various magical lands tells them this is the land of the Grabbit Gnomes who will grab anything they can lay their hands on. The children soon find the truth of his statement when the gnomes rush out and grab the wishing chair. The gnomes board the chair and ask it to take them to their treasure cave so thatthey want to add it to their hoard. But clever Chinky has already taken the precaution of tying the chair's leg to a tree trunk. So the gnomes are caught mid air. The children make use of their predicament e to take a tour of the gnomes' village and sample their food. When they are done, they pull the chair down with a bump dropping the gnomes on to the floor, jump on to chair, cut the rope and fly away home.

Chapter 4: The Ho-Ho Wizard

Chinky receives a letter from his cousin Gobo that a nasty wizard Ho Ho has occupied their village, bullying the pixies who live there and abusing their hospitality. He needs help to be rid of this unwelcome guest. Chinky and the children  head out to help the next time chair's legs sprout wings. The greedy wizard takes a fancy for the wishing chair. The children are invited for tea with him. The children use reverse psychology to trick him into snatching a chocolate spiked with sleeping spells from them and consuming. Then they bundle him into the chair, take him away and leave him at the door of his nemesis Dame Tap-Tap who will make a prisoner of him.

TF Carthick's Response

I liked the beginning. An old antique shop is a good motif to generate the magical feel. The various things emerging from the boxes gave me a kind of Jumanji feel - the feel of wonder and curiosity as to what will come next.   And before I could run out of curiosity and wonder and boredom set in,  the conflict is introduced - the children are trapped, there is a menacing antagonist. The titular wishing chair is introduced as the resolution of the conflict, a good dramatic entry.

The second chapter again follows the same format. A sense of wonder around the giant's castle followed by a conflict and quick resolution again involving the chair. While the first chapter introduced the chair, the second chapter introduced Chinky who will be the children's companion through the rest of the series.

The third chapter yet again follows the same formula. The village of toadstool homes whets one's sense of wonder. The gnomes grabbing the chair presents the conflict. Chinky's cleverness in tying the chair to the tree presents the resolution. This chapter provides no advancement in the overall story arc.

In the fourth chapter, there aren't that many elements to create wonder. Instead we jump straight into a conflict. The conflict and resolution are more complex and interesting than the earlier chapters, using ideas such as reverse psychology, using an antagonist's character flaws against him as well as taking advantage of his bad relationship with Dame Tip-Tap.

I expected this book to be on par with Magic Faraway Tree stories. But so far I have found it to have a rather episodic feel with no real broader story arc. The general level of complexity of conflicts and resolutions seems to indicate a younger target audience than magic faraway tree series. Many of the ideas are interesting and could form material for stories for an older audience with a bit of tweaks. For instance, as an older reader I would have loved to read about the origin of the wishing chair, attempts by the wizard who originally owned the chair to recover it and attempts by the giant to recapture Chinky seeking revenge. Interesting characters such as Grabbit Gnomes and Ho Ho Wizard  have been introduced. I don't want them to be just thrown away in the passing. I would really love to see them make a reappearance.

I like the magical elements - boxes with strange magic inside them, a flying chair that can serve as a portal of sorts transporting one to strange lands, a non human race that lives in toadstools and a giant's castle so far. But I  would have really liked it if all these elements had been integrated into a single land where all of them interact with each other to create a new world with its own society, economy, politics etc. I am also tempted to think about the aerodynamic possibility of flight of chair with wings attached to its legs and other such mechanics related to the magic system. But I guess that is too much to expect of a book targeting the age group it is targeting. But I am thinking of these more from the perspective of things I can do when I write my own stories