The Land of Green Ginger by Noel Langley

Faber & Faber’s unabridged 2005 reprint, illustrated by Timothy Banks.

And of course, like many of these children’s books, it was televised on BBC’s Jackanory, read in this case by the incomparable Kenneth Williams, in the week commencing Monday 30 December 1968. I can’t remember all five in this set with ‘The Land of Green Ginger’ but two others were ‘Carbonel’ by Barbara Sleigh and ‘The Minnipins’ by Carol Kendall. To revisit the book for this review, I got it down from the shelf where it’s resided for decades. In this particular case, it was set of Puffin paperbacks, each of which was a children’s fantasy novel but unrelated. Those of us of a certain age will have had our first experience with box sets at birthdays and Christmases because rather than being a downloaded full season of a television series to binge watch, a box set back then was an actual cardboard box case containing a set of hardbacks or paperbacks. I first read the book in 1973, as it was one of a set of five paperbacks in a box set I’d had for Christmas 1972. First Edition, 1937, illustrated by the author. The book was so well received at the time that it was one of the factors that led to Langley working on and being credited as one of the three screenwriters on “The Wizard of Oz”. In 1937, an author by the name of Noel Langley covered the question that few had asked till then – what happens after ever after? His novel ‘The Tale of the Land of Green Ginger’ (the title was shortened in later reprints) tells the story of Abu Ali, son of Aladdin, who by now is the Emperor of China, and how adventure, villains, magic and true love runs in the family. It’s the perfect way to end fairy tales and children’s books but ah, if only real life worked that way. “And they lived happily ever after” is a wonderful phrase, full of hope and happiness and immortality for all the heroes, heroines and sidekicks involved. ❉ After Aladdin – Love, adventure and a button-nosed tortoise… We celebrate a timeless Winter warmer.

The Land of Green Ginger by Noel Langley