Five Children and It - E Nesbit
First published 1902.
No, this is not a Stephen King novel.
Rather, this very sweet and silly story follows the titular five children (Cyril, Anthea, Robert and Jane, along with their baby brother, whom they call 'Lamb') as they discover a "sand fairy" or "Psammead" living in a gravel pit near their home. The Psammead can grant wishes that last until sunset, and agrees - reluctantly - to give the children one wish per day. The remainder of the book details each wish the children make, followed up with how the wish invariably goes wrong. Wishing for money, for example, leads to the children receiving old golden coins that they struggle to change for anything useful. Wishing for wings leads them to being trapped on a roof after sunset.
Each chapter is fairly self-contained, outlining a single wish and its consequences, although some elements of continuity do build up over time. The humour in the book comes from the situations and from the narration itself, which occasionally talks directly to the audience about how they would act or think about what was going it. As a book for reading out loud, some of these chapters are occasionally a little long, but the story is entertaining and well-worth checking out.
Completed, with Elise, 19 November 2023.
(Elise Books)
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