Five children discover a grumpy sand-fairy who grants them a wish every day, with comic results
Be careful what you wish for
Cyril, Anthea, Robert, Jane and their baby brother, known as the Lamb, are spending the summer in a house in the English countryside. Digging in a gravel pit, they discover a strange, grumpy, furry creature with eyes on stalks: a Psammead, or sand-fairy, thousands of years old. It agrees to grant them one wish each day, which lasts until sunset.
Who will enjoy it
Children aged about eight to twelve and families reading aloud who enjoy funny, magical classic adventures.
What you will get
A funny, imaginative classic about wishes that go hilariously wrong, with lively children, a grumpy magical creature and timeless humour.
Five Children and It Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Classics · Wishes · Magic · Siblings
Length
240 pages · ≈ 7 h
More about this book
The children soon learn that wishes are tricky. They wish to be beautiful, and their own servant refuses to let them into the house. They wish for gold, but the old coins cannot be spent. They wish for wings and end up stranded on top of a tall tower when the magic wears off at sunset, and a wish for the baby to grow up turns him into an unbearable young man. Every adventure ends with the children having to rescue themselves before night.
Nesbit writes with wit and a gentle mockery of adults, and the children feel real: they argue, make mistakes and look after one another. The Psammead, irritable and vain, is one of the most memorable creatures in children's literature. Some passages reflect the attitudes of the time and feel dated today. The book was followed by The Phoenix and the Carpet and The Story of the Amulet, and it has inspired many later fantasy writers.
Funny, inventive and charming, a great read-aloud classic. Its idea that wishes rarely turn out as planned still feels fresh, and children enjoy guessing how each new wish will go wrong. About 240 pages in the Penguin Classics paperback.
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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Borrowers
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Twelfth Night
Cold Comfort Farm
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm
Pygmalion
Zuleika Dobson
Pinocchio