September 23, 2026

Before the Movie, There Was the Book (Faraway Tree Anchor)

Before it was a movie, it was a bedtime story.

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These are the books featured in this post — tap any cover to find it on Amazon.

Cover of The Enchanted Wood

The Enchanted Wood

by Enid Blyton

Three children, a tree at the edge of a wood, and a different land waiting at the top of it. Short chapters and a new world every few of them.

Cover of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

by L. Frank Baum

The book runs well past where the film stops, into a china country and a forest that picks its own king. Half of it will be brand new to a kid who only knows the movie.

Cover of Mr. Popper's Penguins

Mr. Popper's Penguins

by Richard Atwater

A house painter, a penguin sleeping in the icebox, and before long twelve of them in the basement. Short chapters and a premise your kid will repeat at dinner.

Cover of Lyle Lyle Crocodile

Lyle Lyle Crocodile

by Bernard Waber

A crocodile who lives with a family on East 88th Street, and a grumpy neighbor who wants him gone. Warm, funny, and done in one sitting.

Cover of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

by Judi Barrett

A grandpa's bedtime story about a town where breakfast, lunch and dinner fall from the sky, until the weather turns. The movie kept the title and changed nearly everything else.

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