Five Children and It

There’s a sort of mindset you have to put yourself in when you tackle some of the children’s classics. It doesn’t apply to all of the books I’ve read, but it does apply to most of those written in the period 1930-1950. There’s a sort of suspension of belief, a need to be jollied along with the tale, and an understanding that children were just, well, different then. It seems that readers of Five Children and It are expected to be wide-eyed at the adventures of these kids. It is set squarely in a world where five children, from about 12 years to a baby, can be left in the care of the housemaid (who will feed them and make sure they are in bed at the right time) while the parents go off on important business. I suppose it’s not really different from leaving kids with a nanny or au pair now.What I like most about this book is the way the children can have just one wish granted by the fairy each day. This divides the stories up into nice neat adventures, which tend not to spill over into another day. Great for bedtime reading. The wishes are granted by It, a Sand-fairy, otherwise known as a Psammead, that the children find in a nearby gravelpit (not filled with water as all of ours are these days), The trouble is, what to wish for. The saying “be careful what you wish for, it might come true” is powerfully illustrated by the way the Psammead grants their wishes, and the consequences are not at all what the children expect. It takes time for them not to wish without intending it, and to wish for something that will actually do them some good. Happily, the effects of the wish wear off at sunset, but the four of them (thankfully the baby is often left out of the adventure through one device or other) often go hungry through missing their dinner and tea due to the effects of the wish.Once I got into these stories I started to really enjoy them. I thought the boys were well characterised, but I never really got the hang of which girl was which. A hangover from the age, perhaps? The way the wishes are granted are great fun, and probably gives ample opportunity for chatting about “what would you wish for?” and even more importantly “how would the Psammead grant it?”I know I read this as a child, but I couldn’t remember it at all, apart from the existence of The Lamb (the baby). There are more books about the Five by E E Nesbit, but I didn’t read them as a child, and I don’t feel the need to read them now either. Five Children and It is an enjoyable read, but one is enough.

I read The Railway Children first, then this, and finished off with The Phoenix and The Carpet. I think Five Children and It is the weakest of the three. I wasn't sure whether the free Kindle version I read was abridged, as the start and end of the story didn't seem quite 'right' but I did some checking and it seems this is the full version.There was no background to why the children were staying at the house, just a weak explanation 'father had to go away suddenly and mother had gone away to look after granny', and the story just sort of stops dead, it seemed odd, especially having watched the film version where the loose ends are tied up fairly satisfactorily.It might stir a child's imagination, but I found myself getting annoyed with the story and the way the 'wishes' were wasted, and I also found the characters too loosely drawn, it was hard to identify with them. In particular I couldn't picture the 'Sammyead' from the description given, some sort of spidery creature with a furry body and eyes on stalks?Although The Phoenix and The Carpet is a sequel to Five Children and It, and very similar in style, I personally thought it was a much better book.

I've seen various BBC series adaptations of this tale over the years and thought that it was time that I read the book. The free Kindle download provided an ideal opportunity, and I liked it.As an adult, I found the Edwardian English and slang interesting. I thought that this added to the atmosphere rather than detracted from the story. Mind you, there's some casual racism in there that, these days, is not so much near the knuckle as past the bone and gnawing at the sinews. The adventures of the children are also a stark cultural reminder of the gulf between childhood then and now.If it were submitted to a publisher now, would it be snapped up? I doubt it - so if you are thinking of this as a good read for your children, you'd probably be better off looking for a contemporary re-write.As a story it's fun but as a window into the past, it offers an interesting view.

Haven't read this since I was in the juniors. It was of its time, ie rich children left to the care of household staff whilst their parents go off into the world and come back at the end of the holidays. The children roam around the countryside on their own, was it written before the first world war? They discover a sandfairy,a psammead, not sure about that spelling now, but it very tiresomely grants them a wish a day. However they have to learn how to use these wishes wisely and they learn as they go along. Lovely little book!

Nesbit's ability to create completly authentic child characters has rarely been equalled to this day. I decided to re-read this story, and the others, after all these years to see if they would be good to read to my grandsons. I have read them the C S Lewis books and had to do some on-the-fly translation and editing because of the way that the language has changed. I find that Edith Nesbit's books require far less of this, despite being much older. The boys are really engaged in the stories of children who live in a world of gas lamps and horse drawn transport, but are still just like they are. The way that the magic is included in the story is done with a far lighter touch than Rowling can manage, and the humour does not date at all.

One of the great children fantasy books and as fresh today as it was over one hundred years ago. Of course it's of its era and your squirm a bit over the class perceptions, but it evokes equally, feelings of nostalgia for the ideal of childhoods spent safely in the drowsy summer countryside. I read this book originally when I was eight followed by the two others in the series, the Phoenix and the carpet and the third one, the story of the amulet. These two deepened in tone and substance and to this day I have never forgotten them. I will be reacquainting myself with them now! By the way, anthea s method of waking up really does work!