By Colin Dann
The Animals of Farthing Wood is a classic 'animal journey' tale. When the forest known as Farthing Wood is in danger of being destroyed by greedy developers, the animal inhabitants have no choice but to leave, but where?
It’s clear from the get-go that author Colin Dann is an animal lover and conservationist. As a reader, your heart breaks for the animals when the man-made machines arrive to raze their beloved forest.
All day the bulldozers crashed forward on their path of destruction. Shrubs, young trees and undergrowth fell before the cruel onslaught of the monsters’ greedy steel jaws. Old trees, stately and dignified with age, were mercilessly machined down by vicious saws. Yard by yard the forest fell back before the human despoilers; and, crouching in their burrows and tunnels, or huddled in the remaining tree-tops, or cowering under the bracken, the animals of Farthing Wood listened, shuddering, and longed for darkness.
Since it’s an animal story, Dann gives his main characters a dominant personality trait that befits a particular species, but over the course of their journey, a few of the key characters learn to overcome their individual flaws and work together for the good of the whole.
Toad is the one who discovered a nature reserve when he made his back home after he escaped from a kid’s jar and convinces the animals of Farthing Wood to make the long journey to White Deer Park. Toad is kind and resilient, but he tires easily. Badger is practical, gentle and respected by all the animals. He’s the one who called upon all the animals to assemble inside his largest burrow, which he dug out for the occasion. He chooses Fox to lead the motley group on their journey as he’s intelligent, courageous and a natural leader. I think it’s also Badger who establishes a pact so that predator and prey will promise not to harm one another during their journey (they’ll hunt or gather food outside of their own party).
Tawny Owl and Kestrel serve as scouts as they fly ahead to pick the safest routes for the travelling group. Although T-Owl is wise, he’s also quite pompous and tries to mask his fragile ego, which Adder sees through and is quick to poke fun of. Adder starts off as the aloof and cynical outsider, as befits a deadly snake, but later ends up helping the animals when they’re in a tight spot. However, my daughter will be sorely disappointed to find the rabbits are typecast as rather hysterical, timid creatures who at one point puts the group in grave danger.
As expected, the animals encounter many adventures and pitfalls as they make their way across various landscapes. Their first danger was caused by a negligent human tossing a cigarette, and the animals end up being trapped inside some blazing woods. Through quick teamwork, they’re able to help each other over to a small thicketed island in the middle of a large pond and hide while firefighters eventually put out the fire.
There are, of course, observations about humans from animals that are rather obvious, but can be overlooked in a children’s book.
‘All this damage and horror was caused by one foolish human,’ said Toad. ‘And all of it has to be put right by these others of his kind who had no hand in it.’
‘They’re certainly a strange species,’ agreed Badger. ‘I never pretended to understand them.'
As the animals watched the flames gradually diminishing under the efforts of the firefighters, many of them felt, for perhaps the first time, an unusual kinship with the humans who shared their desire to see the fire, their mutual enemy, quenched. Yet this kindship, they each understood, was to be short-lived. For as soon as the fire was finally overcome, the very present of the humans at such close quarters posed a new problem for their freedom. As long as the mend remained on the other side of the causeway, the animals’ safest escape route was blocked.
Published in 1979, The Animals of Farthing Wood has strong pro-environmental messaging that’s hard to ignore. Even back then, it was critiquing the mass monoculture farming that has taken over the small, traditional farming methods of old.
Once again they found themselves surrounded by farmland—only this farmland was different from any they had seen before. There were no hedgerows dividing the fields, no thatched farm cottages and no ancient lopsided barns. Everything was conducted in this area in a far more calculated, professional manner. Vast expanses of cereals and root crops grew mathematically in unbordered squares, without a wild flower or grass showing its head, even in corners. All unnecessary plants had been totally cleared away, and the field ha a cold, clinical look about them which seemed unnatural. The few trees that still existed were giants which had proved, in this cost-obsessed world, too expensive to move, and so they remained.
… Animals—farm animals, that is—could be heard cackling or grunting to each other, but they were never seen. It seemed they had all been shut away in the long, low concrete and steel outbuildings that were prevalent. In the over-heated interiors they were probably quite unaware of the existence of lush green grass spread with buttercups, or blue sky, or the fresh feeling of a shower of rain.
It doesn’t end there. It’s not just “soulless farmland” the wild animals found themselves in, but something more sinister, even apocalyptic. It was a land of death, despite being surrounded by so many crops. Tired and hungry, they were tempted to eat some vegetables, but Kestrel and Tawny Owl soon figured out that the farm was full of poisonous chemicals. Even the nearby orchard was littered with the bodies of bullfinches and blackbirds. In another field, they encountered more bodies, even earthworms and bees were impacted. The animals discuss among themselves the contradiction inherent in humans -- if they are so clever, why would they consume the foods that are themselves full of poison? I wouldn’t be surprised if Dann was influenced by Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.
Yes, there was some loss and a lot of hardship in their adventurous journey, and thankfully there was a happy ending. Most of the animals who left Farthing Wood made it to their destination and were welcomed by the inhabitants of White Deer Park. And naturally, the only kind of human worth revering is the nature-loving scientist.
‘My friends,’ [Toad] said in an awestruck tone, ‘that is a Naturalist.’
…’Strange to say, there are some humans who are interested in the welfare of wild creatures,’ the heron explained.
‘It’s these very people we have to thank for White Deer Park,’ Toad pointed out eagerly. ‘It is they who are responsible for the creation of those havens for wildlife they call Nature Reserves.’
‘It’s only when you learn of such kindness and interest in us creatures,’ said Badger, ‘that you recall that the human race is, after all, a brother species.’
The Animals of Farthing Wood was an enjoyable book, but I wouldn’t put it in the same category as, say, Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, which was much more subtle and effective in its messaging AND a fun read. I’m glad Olman found this book, and that there’s an entire series as well as a TV adaption. And I think our kid is at the right age to appreciate this book.
