Jacqueline Wilson gave Lancaster’s youngest readers a school day they’ll talk about for years. In December 2024, the former Children’s Laureate visited a chapel packed with 272 pupils and 35 staff from eight primary schools to share the story behind A Christmas Adventure, her latest return to Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree. There was a lively Q&A, a festive theme, and the kind of buzz only a favorite author can spark.
Wilson’s stop was hosted by Ripley, which opened its chapel to local feeder primaries and leaned into the season with Christmas decorations that matched the book’s wintry setting. The atmosphere felt part author talk, part celebration. By the end, most children had pre-ordered signed copies, and two Ripley pupils, Karolina Krauze and Lawrence Jackson, stepped forward with flowers to thank her.
A festive author visit that felt personal
Across an hour of storytelling, Wilson spoke about where ideas come from, how she builds characters, and why returning to Blyton’s enchanted world still excites her. She spoke plainly about the work of writing—drafts, edits, dead ends—and the fun parts too, like naming new lands at the top of the Faraway Tree. The format was simple: a talk rich in anecdotes, then questions from pupils who clearly knew the books.
Hands shot up as children asked about favorite characters, how she decides an ending, and what it feels like to write inside someone else’s classic world. The chapel setting helped; with the lights, tree, and garlands, it looked like a stage set for a Christmas chapter. Organizers say the decorations were a deliberate choice to pull the audience into the book’s mood.
Librarian Rosalind Buckland, who helped bring the event together, said the visit fit a clear goal. “Ripley is passionate about nurturing a love of reading and as the readership for this book is aimed at primary schools, we were pleased to have been given the opportunity to invite some of our feeder schools,” she explained. Afterward, she added: “I’m sure it was an experience they will not forget, especially as it was held in our chapel where the Christmas decorations complemented the theme of the book.”
The eight participating schools were:
- Bolton-le-Sands CE Primary School
- Cockerham Parochial CE Primary School
- Dolphinholme CE Primary School
- Garstang St Thomas CE Primary School
- Scotforth St Paul’s CE Primary & Nursery School
- Slyne-with-Hest St Luke’s CE Primary School
- St Wilfrid’s CE Primary School, Halton
- St Peter’s CE Primary School, Heysham
Teachers who accompanied the children noted how quickly the room settled when the questions began. Kids wanted details—the kind you only ask when you’ve stayed up late with a book. The author kept the answers practical and warm, talking about writing habits, the patience stories demand, and the moments when a character surprises you.
Why Faraway Tree still works — and why visits like this matter
Wilson’s talk was also a nod to a rare arrangement in British children’s literature. Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree has been a fixture since the 1930s—an enchanted wood, a towering tree, Moonface and Silky the Fairy, and new lands that roll in like weather at the top of the branches. Wilson has been authorized to add new adventures to that world. Her first Faraway Tree story introduced modern children to the wood; A Christmas Adventure, her second, leans into the season with a winter storyline and familiar faces.
It makes sense that this series draws a crowd. The premise is simple and elastic: a portal to someplace new each time. Wilson brings current-day concerns—friendship dynamics, family, courage—without losing the playfulness that made the originals stick. For pupils who have met Blyton through parents or grandparents, the update feels like a bridge rather than a rewrite.
There’s a practical reason schools invest time in visits like this. The National Literacy Trust has reported that meeting an author is linked with higher reading motivation and greater confidence in writing, particularly among primary-age pupils. Seeing a writer in person makes the process real: books start as notes, drafts get messy, and stories change shape before they click. That message lands best when it’s a familiar name at the front of the room.
Wilson, a Dame and former Children’s Laureate (2005–2007), has shaped reading lives for decades with books such as The Story of Tracy Beaker, Hetty Feather, and Katy. She tends to talk to children as equals, which helps when the topic is as mysterious as “where do stories come from?” In Lancaster, she rooted the answer in daily life—ideas from small moments, characters built from observation, and plots that grow as you write rather than arrive fully formed.
The practical impact showed up right away. Most pupils pre-ordered signed copies before they left their seats, turning the chapel into a pop-up bookshop for a few minutes. Staff said the enthusiasm carried into the corridor chat on the way back to buses: favorite scenes, which land at the top of the Faraway Tree they’d choose to visit, and how soon the book would hit their school libraries.
For Ripley, opening the chapel to feeder primaries wasn’t just a nice gesture; it was a strategy. Shared experiences like this help smaller schools access the kind of cultural events bigger schools can host on their own. Bringing eight communities together for a single author session gave the visit the feel of a mini festival—short, focused, and memorable.
By the time the flowers were handed over, the morning had done what it set out to do: connect children with a working writer, give a new Faraway Tree chapter a local launch, and turn a seasonal story into a shared experience. The decorations, the questions, and the signed copies were the visible bits. The quieter piece—an extra nudge toward picking up a book over the holidays—was the point.
A Christmas Adventure sits neatly where so many primary readers are right now: keen on magic, hungry for pace, and curious about what happens next. The Faraway Tree can carry that weight. So can a school chapel filled with eight sets of uniforms, all looking up at the same stage, waiting to hear how a blank page becomes a world.
