What do you think?
The Animals of Farthing Wood #0.5
The Animals of Farthing Wood
When builders invade Farthing Wood, the animals leave their homes to find safety. With Fox as their leader - assisted by Badger & Owl - the animals set off on a perilous journey. An exciting series of books starring your favorite characters - There are 8 Animals of Farthing Woods titles available in the Buzz Book Collection.
Hardcover
First published January 14, 1993
About the author
Colin Dann
103 books87 followersColin Dann (born 1943 in Richmond, Surrey (now part of London)) is an English author. He is best known for his The Animals of Farthing Wood series of books, which was subsequently made into an animated series.
Dann worked at the publishing firm William Collins Sons & Co. for thirteen years, and his first novel, The Animals of Farthing Wood, was written during this period. The original cover for this and a dozen others was painted by Portal artist Frances Broomfield.
Colin Dann, recipient of Britain's Arts Council National Award for Children's Literature, is also the author of six sequels and a prequel to The Animals of Farthing Wood.
Dann worked at the publishing firm William Collins Sons & Co. for thirteen years, and his first novel, The Animals of Farthing Wood, was written during this period. The original cover for this and a dozen others was painted by Portal artist Frances Broomfield.
Colin Dann, recipient of Britain's Arts Council National Award for Children's Literature, is also the author of six sequels and a prequel to The Animals of Farthing Wood.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 13, 2021
There's an element of cashing in on the series popularity with this prequel.
I think this was the first instance where I'd read ahead of the TV series so came to this one last (which is probably the best reading order).
One of the reasons why Farthing Wood was so popular was due to the series not shying away from the gruesome realities of death, though in this instance it feels a little too doom-laden.
If your familiar with the series you'd be aware that a group of animals depart their homes when developers move in and tear down the woods at the beginning of the first book.
At this point the otters have helped keep it a protected land but there fued with the foxes will set a devastating chain of events.
Whilst it's impossible to get completely invested in all the animals plight, it's still interesting to see the ancestors of the popular characters along with references for fans to spot.
I think this was the first instance where I'd read ahead of the TV series so came to this one last (which is probably the best reading order).
One of the reasons why Farthing Wood was so popular was due to the series not shying away from the gruesome realities of death, though in this instance it feels a little too doom-laden.
If your familiar with the series you'd be aware that a group of animals depart their homes when developers move in and tear down the woods at the beginning of the first book.
At this point the otters have helped keep it a protected land but there fued with the foxes will set a devastating chain of events.
Whilst it's impossible to get completely invested in all the animals plight, it's still interesting to see the ancestors of the popular characters along with references for fans to spot.
November 9, 2025
I enjoyed the book very much and was gripped by the emotional rawness of the events that transpire. I do agree with some reviewers who have stated it doesn’t have the same feel as the original series, however its negative undertone only emphasises the realism the author has tried to convey. After everything, the ending is bittersweet and I believe was justly done. Our natural world is unpredictable and I enjoyed how the author didn’t shy away from sensitive topics but instead embraces it as the books core.
April 5, 2019
Our Animal Heroes Set off on their Journey to White Dear Park.
February 12, 2017
Like all prequels, this does not match up perfectly with established facts and events, despite its best efforts to do so. The story is very bleak and pretty pointless. The otters' "cure" for the sickness makes sense for them, but I've never been able to see any good reason why it should work on other animals.
December 20, 2019
What a negative, disheartening book! Can't Dann tell a story without telling us before anything even begins that's the dice have already been thrown?!
Everything is down to fate and a ridiculously negative fate at that! I read this first installment thinking at all times, "there is no point in this story, there is no point in going any further, every animal dies, the author's killed them before he's created them!"
I just didn't get the point of the book besides "otters good, foxes bad", which is yet another unbelievable conclusion of the author, giving the story.
This aside, I'm very very surprised that a children's book could end up being so uninteresting, so "blah" (without any momentum in spite of the numerous deaths), with characters too distant for us to care (they have no name) and a strong misogyny underpinning every page: most females are nasty bitches and most males wise, kind, brave ones.
I already bought the next installment so I'll read that one too but I'm not at all excited.
Everything is down to fate and a ridiculously negative fate at that! I read this first installment thinking at all times, "there is no point in this story, there is no point in going any further, every animal dies, the author's killed them before he's created them!"
I just didn't get the point of the book besides "otters good, foxes bad", which is yet another unbelievable conclusion of the author, giving the story.
This aside, I'm very very surprised that a children's book could end up being so uninteresting, so "blah" (without any momentum in spite of the numerous deaths), with characters too distant for us to care (they have no name) and a strong misogyny underpinning every page: most females are nasty bitches and most males wise, kind, brave ones.
I already bought the next installment so I'll read that one too but I'm not at all excited.
February 19, 2019
The otters of Farthing Wood are leaving their depleted pond to hunt on land. The foxes especially take objection to this - not wanting to share, they force the otters away...while forces unbeknownst to them, decide the fate of the entire wood. Luke - Bookseller, Hammersmith
An absolute classic from my childhood. I grew up on both the books and the TV show, eagerly collecting each tale to add to my shelf. Rereading this book was both an absolute joy and a heartbreaking eye opener, as a child you love the stories and the characters of each animal. As an adult this is a heartbreaking tale of human destruction and greed without regard for the sanctity of the goodness of nature. Wayne - Manager, Hammersmith
Further reading: The Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann ISBN: 9781405281805
An absolute classic from my childhood. I grew up on both the books and the TV show, eagerly collecting each tale to add to my shelf. Rereading this book was both an absolute joy and a heartbreaking eye opener, as a child you love the stories and the characters of each animal. As an adult this is a heartbreaking tale of human destruction and greed without regard for the sanctity of the goodness of nature. Wayne - Manager, Hammersmith
Further reading: The Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann ISBN: 9781405281805
October 26, 2025
One problem we get with prequels to stories is the desire to answer all the questions with over-complicated answers.
In Animals of Farthing Wood we don't need to know why there's only one fox. Here it's explained:
We don't need to know why humans are destroying Farthing Wood - it's developers slowly expanding based on the needs of the town, wait, nope it's because they weren't allowed to before due to otters existing.
In fact all the animals know that the otters are important, especially the otters. So they become jerks, hunting away from the stream and stealing food that others have caught, this causes the other animals (especially the foxes) to try to get rid of them. This is painted as a really bad thing, the moral of the story is that some jerks are special and you shouldn't stand up to them.
In Animals of Farthing Wood we don't need to know why there's only one fox. Here it's explained:
We don't need to know why humans are destroying Farthing Wood - it's developers slowly expanding based on the needs of the town, wait, nope it's because they weren't allowed to before due to otters existing.
In fact all the animals know that the otters are important, especially the otters. So they become jerks, hunting away from the stream and stealing food that others have caught, this causes the other animals (especially the foxes) to try to get rid of them. This is painted as a really bad thing, the moral of the story is that some jerks are special and you shouldn't stand up to them.
July 9, 2022
Such a pointless story. Maybe the author had become a bitter cynic of the world by the time he wrote this prequel. There I was plodding along to the end while animals were dying left and right, hoping that there would at least be a proper ending and moral to the story. And then I reached a cliff edge and an abyss was waiting for me. =|
December 3, 2022
A prequel to Dann’s expansive Farthing Wood series, The Adventure Begins provides context that, while unnecessary to the original, has a chance of interesting longtime fans, through the rather scant characterization and thoroughly bleak tone may prove off-putting to its intended audience of younger readers. [5/10]
August 10, 2026
man it’s so heartbreaking to see the fall of farthing wood but it’s so definitely brilliant to read it last and see how our gang did indeed persevere thanks to our wonderful fox. what a cracking series
March 27, 2021
Oddly I think I liked this one best so far in the series. I was more saddened for the deaths. Quite a bit. Still needed more depth. Just feels more like a rough draft.
August 15, 2021
Pure nostalie! De proloog van mijn favorite jeugdserie stelde zeker niet teleur. Op naar het échte begin van deze serie!
February 6, 2022
4.25
i loved the tv show as a child and this is just as scarring. i knew what i was getting into but jesus, it’s sad and bloody.
i loved the tv show as a child and this is just as scarring. i knew what i was getting into but jesus, it’s sad and bloody.
December 29, 2023
Enjoyed but very dark.
July 16, 2024
Not the best in the series but still pretty good.
October 11, 2024
The single grimmest book I've ever read.
March 12, 2017
Pointless and mostly boring. I wouldn't like how bleak it was if I cared about any of the characters, but I don't. There's some wasted potential in the meeting and in Sleek Otter's journey through the story, both of which fail miserably. Nervous Squirrel is incredibly annoying, and as for Sage Hedgehog - well, the first Farthing Wood book felt very much like a mediocre copy of another man's genius, and here Dann is at it again with a mediocre copy of Fiver.
November 24, 2014
This is a prequel to The Animals of Farthing Wood, so chronologically it comes first, even though it was the last book to be written. It's a decent book, but I don't recommend starting the series here.
That's partly because the author got a bit more sophisticated over time, so it may feel odd to take a step "backwards" when you move on to the first (written) book in the series. For instance, each character in that is simply named after their species, e.g. "Fox" and "Badger". By contrast, the animals in this book have adjectives too, e.g. "Stout Fox" and "Lean Fox". (The animals never actually use those names to refer to each other, so the names are gradually introduced after a description.) There is an unfortunate typo on page 57 of this edition where the names get mixed up:
The bigger issue is that this book is basically a tragedy. It's not quite the same as a disaster movie (e.g. "Titanic"); I'm thinking more about the ancient Greek plays, where characters do their best to escape their fates, but they're doomed by prophecy and there's an inevitable conclusion. Giving another film comparison, it's more like the "Star Wars" prequels. If you've read the first book in the series, you know the premise: . So, this story shows how they got to that point. If you start here, you may be discouraged by the bleak ending, and not bother with the rest of the series; that would be a shame, because the other books are much more hopeful.
One interesting thing about this book is that there aren't really any villains: even though different characters/groups are opposed to each other, they mostly have good motivations for what they're doing.
Like the rest of the series, this book doesn't flinch away from the fact that lots of animals are carnivores, so they need to kill in order to survive. This may seem a bit harsh, particularly when all the animals are portrayed as sentient. They're not excessively anthropomorphised, e.g. they don't wear clothes or walk on their hindlegs, but they are able to communicate with each other. It's not particularly gory, but there's a high death count. If you're worried about exposing children to traumatic images, the worst scenes probably involve an animal carrying off a decapitated head.
That's partly because the author got a bit more sophisticated over time, so it may feel odd to take a step "backwards" when you move on to the first (written) book in the series. For instance, each character in that is simply named after their species, e.g. "Fox" and "Badger". By contrast, the animals in this book have adjectives too, e.g. "Stout Fox" and "Lean Fox". (The animals never actually use those names to refer to each other, so the names are gradually introduced after a description.) There is an unfortunate typo on page 57 of this edition where the names get mixed up:
The bigger issue is that this book is basically a tragedy. It's not quite the same as a disaster movie (e.g. "Titanic"); I'm thinking more about the ancient Greek plays, where characters do their best to escape their fates, but they're doomed by prophecy and there's an inevitable conclusion. Giving another film comparison, it's more like the "Star Wars" prequels. If you've read the first book in the series, you know the premise: . So, this story shows how they got to that point. If you start here, you may be discouraged by the bleak ending, and not bother with the rest of the series; that would be a shame, because the other books are much more hopeful.
One interesting thing about this book is that there aren't really any villains: even though different characters/groups are opposed to each other, they mostly have good motivations for what they're doing.
Like the rest of the series, this book doesn't flinch away from the fact that lots of animals are carnivores, so they need to kill in order to survive. This may seem a bit harsh, particularly when all the animals are portrayed as sentient. They're not excessively anthropomorphised, e.g. they don't wear clothes or walk on their hindlegs, but they are able to communicate with each other. It's not particularly gory, but there's a high death count. If you're worried about exposing children to traumatic images, the worst scenes probably involve an animal carrying off a decapitated head.
November 15, 2021
A prequel to the ‘Farthing Wood’ series, written after the other books, this doesn’t quite live up to its predecessors. It tells the tale of the ancestors of the characters we’re familiar with, living in Farthing Wood before the destruction begins. The wood is initially safe from human interference due to the presence of otters, a protected species. But when the otters begin stealing prey from the land-based carnivores, they are driven out. Then the humans are free to move in …
It’s not a bad story, but the characters are somewhat bland and I found it rather ridiculous that otters, aquatic predators, are somehow better at killing prey on land than the animals that evolved to do this. They simply wouldn’t be capable of out-competing foxes, stoats and the like when hunting rabbits and mice.
It’s not a bad story, but the characters are somewhat bland and I found it rather ridiculous that otters, aquatic predators, are somehow better at killing prey on land than the animals that evolved to do this. They simply wouldn’t be capable of out-competing foxes, stoats and the like when hunting rabbits and mice.
January 23, 2016
While the general tone of the Farthing Wood series is still present here - gripping storyline and adventures had by the animal main characters - there's something lacking in this prequel. It's not just unfamiliarity with the new main characters, but that the otters come off as an unfeeling group worthy of little sympathy, throwing the book out as the reader questions who to support. There is also a rather gruesome feel to the story. While none of the subsequent novels gloss over the harsher realities of life in the wild as does the TV series, this one is particularly violent and I would not recommend for young readers.
It can easily be left out of a read of the series, giving off a feeling very much of an afterthought.
It can easily be left out of a read of the series, giving off a feeling very much of an afterthought.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews