Product Description

The five children found the Sand-fairy while they were exploring in the gravel pit. "Don't you know a Sand-fairy when you see one?" it asked them. The Sand-fairy smoothed his long ratlike whiskers and smiled between them. I daresay you have often thought what you would do if you had three wishes given you. "We want," said Robert slowly, "to be rich beyond the dreams of something or other." But we all know that wishes for avarice never work out the way they are supposed to. . . . and to his credit, the Sand-fairy was never mean spirited, nor vengeful, nor destructive. But he cartainly could be _weird_. . . . (Jacketless library hardcover.)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1521935 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

Ingram
A long-time favorite story of five children who discover a magical creature who grants wishes.

About the Author

Edith Nesbit Bland (1858-1924) published most of her work under the signature of E. Nesbit and wrote or collaborated on more than sixty books for children. Her works include The Railway Children, The Story of the Treasure Seekers, and The Wouldbegoods.

Customer Reviews

Be careful what you wish for...
E. Nesbit's classic story of about some Edwardian children who find a sand fairy one summer is an unsentimental delight. Each day the odd fairy grants them one magic wish, be it beauty, wealth, great size, etc. which will only last until sunset. Somehow each wish they make turns into a disaster, but through their own cleverness and a bit of luck, the children are able to make each problem work out in the end. Nesbit's writing is particularly full of amusing asides and offbeat humor in this one. Her turns of plot are inventive, and as the plucky children face their outlandish predicaments, it becomes clear that Nesbit has her finger on the pulse of the way real children might think. Her work has held up quite well considering it is over a hundred years old. This novel would be suitable for kids in about fourth or fifth grade.

sadly, this classic does not stand up to the test of time
Edith Nesbit is a charming writer. She tells her story with wit and humour, and interjects sly digs that engender a wink and a smile, but while the premise is timeless and interesting, the prose is extremely dated, making the book a bit tedious to read for any length of time. Also, the ideas and prejudices exhibited by the characters date the material.

The five siblings of the title, who have found a Sand-fairy willing to grant them one wish a day, continually make silly wishes that get them into trouble. Their first wish is to be "as beautiful as the day". Right there you get a sense of the book's outdated charm. This is of interest more as a tribute to a talented children's writer of a bygone era rather than for its own sake.

I wanted to enjoy this classic, but I found it hard slogging through. That is just my opinion, however, but I'd suggest you read a bit of the text before purchasing it unless you're already familiar with, or particularly interested in, author Nesbit.

Caveat: The occasional black-and-white line drawings are by H.R. Millar, not the Paul Zelinsky watercolors promised in the Editorial Reviews section.

My review of "Five Children and It"
This book is about Cyril, Anthea, Robert, Jane, and their baby brother who discover a Psammead,
or Sand-fairy, who agrees to grant the children one wish per day.
Soon, their wishes start to turn quite unlike what they expected.
Then, an accidental wish has terrible consequences, and the kids
are faced with a hard choice: to let an innocent man be charged
with a crime, or to lose their gift of magical wishes.

I read this book in one day, and I thought it was pretty good.
This book turned out to be fairly interesting.
I would probably read "Five Children and It" again.