Book Description
But I did, you see," said Chloe. "I taught it--little odd minutes when you were carrying buckets and sticking up damp books on their poor tails, so that you shouldn't notice what I was doing. Isn't it a clever ghost? Aren't I a good teacher?Download Description
But I did, you see, said Chloe. "I taught it--little odd minutes when you were carrying buckets and sticking up damp books on their poor tails, so that you shouldn't notice what I was doing. Isn't it a clever ghost? Aren't I a good teacher?" ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Pretty Good
E. Nesbit wrote three books about the Bastables: The Story Of The Treasure Seekers, in which the six Bastable kids look for treasure to restore treir family's fallen fortunes, New Treasure Seekers, a beautiful collection of wonderful Bastable adventures, and the Wouldbegoods, in which the motley troop goes on vacation with their cousins, form the soceity of Wouldbegoods, (in which the motive is to do one good deed a day) and fail miserably. The first thing Noel does is climb the chimney and fetch down a few bricks, a bird nest and a couple tons of soot. Wouldbegoods is by far the best, but if tou want to read it free go to Google.com, type in New Treasure Seekers, click on first choice and you can red either New Treasure Seekers or Wouldbegoods at your leisure.

It was jolly ripping!
Oh, I am sooo in love with Oswald Bastable.I first read the Wouldbegoods when I was twelve, and since then, I've read all the books in the Bastable series.He's the greatest character I've ever encountered.Ah, so real! ... Read more

Book Description
'We have to leave our house in London,' Mother said to the children. 'We're going to live in the country, in a little house near a railway line.'And so begins a new life for Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis. They become the railway children - they know all the trains, Perks the station porter is their best friend, and they have many adventures on the railway line.But why has their father had to go away? Where is he, and will he ever come back? ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (10)

A Masterpiece from a Master
A century-old thoughtful twist on the fairy tale genre by a classic Children's writer (would love to see reviews of some of her other works).Melisande is a princess subject to the usual misfortune: a wicked fairy not invited to the christening casts an evil spell on her--"The Princess shall be bald."Not to worry the King has a wish he was given by his fairy godmother locked in his safe, the Princess may use it however she wishes when she comes of age.At that point, the Queen says,

"Dearest, for my sake, wish what I tell you to.""Why, of course I will," said Melisande.The Queen whispered in her ear, and Melisande nodded.Then she said, "I wish I had golden hair a yard long, and that it would grow an inch every day, and grow twice as fast every time it was cut..."
"Stop!" cried the King..."You've done about enough."For he had a mathematical mind and could do the sums about the grains of wheat on the chessboard...

You can imagine what happens next.According to the formula, they promise the Princess's hand in marriage to the Prince who can solve this problem.One unfortunate attempt leaves her growing into a giant a la Alice in Wonderland.The final solution is very clever and I won't spoil it for you.There is a great deal of humor throughout and it is illustrated very well, though I'm not an uberfan of Lynch's caricatures.

Bad Hair Day
From one irritated, uninvited guest comes the gift of baldness. From one poorly worded wish comes out of control hair. Add one prince determined to find the solution. Mix in Melisande's need to rescue her island home. How does it turn out? It adds up to an enchanting tale that delights both young and old. I've used the book in elementary classes as well as college classes--both were mesmerized.

Big Hit With My Son!
...Nesbit writes beautifully and is clever and unpredictable enough that without going over the kids' heads, the reading adult can enjoy it too.The illustrations are excellent; I just wish the hardcover version was available!

Gotta love fairy tales
I remember this book from middle school. I told people the story, and everyone thought I made it up! I'm glad to see that it's in print, and not just a figment of my imagination. If you love fairy tales, you'll like thisbook. A little strange, but worth the read.

An excellant book that can touch areas across curriculum.
This is an excellent book.I have used it for medieval, folk/fairy tale, multiplication, critical thinking, and role playing studies. It is also just a wonderful story for read aloud at home or school.The illustrationsare just beautiful. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (28)

Read It!!!
This is not simply a children's book. It is an extremely touching story of three children whose father is suddenly taken away from them and how they cope with the changed circumstances, how they adjust to "play at being poor" as their mother says. It is a book that is bound to enthrall you.

Lovely Edwardian Charmer
Utterly delightful. Loved it, ate it up. Need more Nesbit, soon as poss.

Three kids are taken to live in the English countryside when their father, well, disappears. While their mother suffers silently, and sells short fiction to help pay the bills (those were the days!), the children make a fantasy land out of their little village, especially the local railroad depot with all its fascinations. Imagine being fascinated with the steam train when it was cutting edge technology, not nostalgia!Communicating with the passengers via signs, befriending engineers, porters and station masters, even preventing a nasty rail accident, the kids end up both having fun and relieving the hardships of poor, careworn mother.

Beautiful book both remembers what its like to be a child and peeks into a childhood none of us ever knew. If you love the world of late Victorian/Edwardian Britain, read it. If you love the early parts of the Narnia books, before the kids enter the wardrobe, read it. It's precious.

Pretty good
I think it is kind of cool how the kids think of how to stop someone from wrecking a train.Also how they got someone un-fainted from when they were fainted. It was also pretty funny how their mother made a mistake when one of the kids said they revived a hound with a red shirt, but it was really a person.

I didn't give it 5 stars because there isn't very much action.But I still liked it a lot.

Still Fresh at 100 Years Old
The Railway Children was originally published in 1906. It's different from many of Edith Nesbit's books, in that it doesn't feature any magic. The Railway Children is the story of three children, Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis. At the start of the story, the children live with their loving parents in a nice, modern house in London. Their lives change drastically, however, when their Father is called away unexpectedly and mysteriously. Their Mother takes them to live in an older house in the country, with only a single part-time servant, where they quickly realize that they are now poor. Mother spends all her time writing stories and poems, to submit them for publication, instead of playing games with them and teaching them, as she had done previously. The children are left largely to their own devices, with no lessons to distract them.

The house that they live in, Three Chimney's, is located near to a railway line and a small railway station. The railway quickly becomes a source of friends. The Stationmaster and the Porter (most especially the Porter, Perks) become major figures in the children's lives, as does a friendly "Old Gentleman" who waves to them every morning from the 9:15 train.

And the adventures begin. Through bravery and ingenuity (and through the coincidence of always being in the right place at the right time), the children avert not one, not two, but three separate disasters. They also get into trouble through their innocent attempts to help their Mother, and through their own sibling rivalries, and eventually help a Russian stranger newly escaped to England. Through it all, they miss their Father, and wonder what's happened to him, and why their Mother is so sad.

The constant adventures in this book make it a lot of fun. It does feel a little bit dated in places. There's a scene in which the local doctor tells Peter to be kinder to his sisters, for example, because they are "so much softer and weaker" than he is. But overall, I think that Edith Nesbit did a wonderful job of making the girls strong characters, too.

This book has lots of messages about bravery and right and wrong, and what makes up charity vs. friendship. And how to be good without being priggish. Some modern-day children might find it a little bit preachy in this area, though it is generally lightened with humor. But hopefully the adventures, and the realistic imperfections of the children, will win new readers over anyway. I know that I love this book (despite having a slight problem with the number of coincidences) and that the end brings tears to my eyes. If you haven't read it, The Railway Children is well worth checking out.

This review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on April 30, 2006.

charming!
I read this book aloud to my son (age 5) and he loved it.The children in the book exemplify the quailities I want my son to emulate: kindness, respectfulness, heroism, humility, generosity, trust, hope, perseverance, etc.The story was interesting and kept our attention.I would recommend this book for anyone who loves to read children's books. ... Read more

Book Description
When the children dug a hole in the gravel-pit, they were very surprised at what they found. 'It' was a Psammead, a sand-fairy, thousands of years old.It was a strange little thing - fat and furry, and with eyes on long stalks. It was often very cross and unfriendly, but it could give wishes - one wish a day. 'How wonderful!' the children said.But wishes are difficult things. They can get you into trouble . . . ... Read more

Book Description
"It had been a good day; lessons had been easier than usual, and teacher had read them a story of some naughty little boys who had thrown a dog into the water and aimed stones at it, and about a good little boy who had saved its life; and of how the dog had loved him ever after."

Thus begins "The Dog-Dream," one of the 10 stories in this poignant and sometimes bittersweet collection of tales about the tragedies of childhood. Some of the other Nesbit stories included are: "The Criminal," "The Ashpits," and "Thor and the Hammer."Download Description
Alf knew that "in the country" where dogs were possible to turrify means to annoy. He had always had dreams ever since he could remember--dreams of the farm in Kent that his aunt talked of, where the cherry orchards were, and the pears on the side of the house, "so you could pick 'em outer window." He had dreamed of being King of England, with ermine robes, so jolly for the winter; and a gold crown--less convenient, perhaps. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Another classic by E. Nesbit
I'm thoroughly enjoying reading this book with my 10-year-old son. The language and humor are rich. It is a collection of shorter works. So far, we've just read the first story in which a little boy finds himself king and accidentally releases a fierce dragon into his kingdom. After much tribulation the boy-king figures out how to correct his mistake and return the dragon to the book from which he had escaped because of the boy-king's curiosity and disobedience.

"But when Lionel was in bed he could not sleep for thinking of the book, and when the full moon was shining with all her might and light he got up and crept down to the library and climbed up and got 'The Book of Beasts.'" ... Read more

Book Description
* Mp3 CD Format *. In this classic story, first published in 1906, a false accusation places the father in jail, leaving his wife and three children on their own. Circumstances force mother and the children to leave their ideal life in London to live near a train station in a rustic cottage. As the good natured children work to rescue their father they befriend and help others along the way. ... Read more

Book Description
"Five Children and It" magically illustrates the wisdom of the saying "be careful what you wish for." Edith Nesbit's classic children's fairy tale is the story of five children who while spending a summer at the house in the country discover Psammead, a sand fairy. Psammead, a strange looking creature, has the power to make wishes come true and promises to grant the children one magical wish per day. However, as the kids soon discover, the wishes don't turn out exactly as the kids envision. Each wish leads to unexpected mishaps and adventures in this classic tale of fantasy and adventure. ... Read more

Book Description

THREE TIMES THE NESBIT, THREE TIMES THE MAGIC, THREE TIMES THE FUN!

All three of E. Nesbit's delightful fantasies about the "Five Children" gathered together in one convenient ebook. In each, five children (Robert, Anthea, Jane, Cyril, and "the baby") stumble on something magical. "Resulting inevitably in a totally delightful chaos," according to the Reader's Guide to Fantasy. "The children are wonderfully real - given a magic carpet their inventive mischief with such an object is awe-inspiring," the Reader's Guide continues. "Nesbit's magic is most original, hinting at great wonder and strangeness-" The guide also calls the Five Children Trilogy, Nesbit's "best work." You will see why when you read about what happens when the Five Children discover an amulet in the form of a horseshoe that grows until it becomes a gateway through which the children can enter the past and future, and the unintended affect their new-found magic ring has the maid! Here is a long-recognized classic that mixes fantasy and humor. Nesbit's world will enthrall and enchant and delight you all at once.

Book Description
Here let me make a confession, I had never really loved a doll. My affections up to that time had been lavished on a black and white spotted penny rabbit, bought at a Kentish fair; but when I saw Rénee, it seemed to me that if I could love a doll, this would be the one.Download Description
Here let me make a confession, I had never really loved a doll. My affections up to that time had been lavished on a black and white spotted penny rabbit, bought at a Kentish fair; but when I saw Rénee, it seemed to me that if I could love a doll, this would be the one. ... Read more

Book Description
Hardling's Luck is a sequel to The House of Arden, a great favorite of Nesbit fans; it's a story of injustice, poverty, deformity, magic, romance, suspense, sacrifice, and triumph over adversity that comes to its point with a fateful twist. . . . ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

sequel to _the House of Arden_
if you like mouldiwarps, or interesting turn-of-the-century iconography of Jews (in this case, a kind-ish pawnbroker and a magic star of david, this is for you.it fills in the backstory of Nesbit's earlier book, and is of interest to scholars and enthusiasts if not every child reader.

A 100 year old magical adventure that still shines with wonder
Are Edith Nesbit's novels where J. K. Rowling got the idea for her Harry Potter series in which magical witches and wizards live secretly among normal humdrum people (muggles)? It was Nesbit, who wrote 60 children's novels, that first started writing about everyday English children discovering magical people, charms, and spells in their midst. One of the founding members of the Fabian Society, Nesbit was famous in her time for her Socialist beliefs and friends. However, presently it is her children's books that are her enduring legacy.

Harding's Luck is the second of a pair of novels about Dickie Harding a young orphan in 1906 London who uses a crutch because his left leg doesn't work. When his father died he left Dickie an old toy that was to bring him luck, but as the story opens there is little luck or joy in the child's life.

Nesbit's Socialist beliefs are strongly represented in her portrayal of Dickie's poverty. She describes life for the poor of the time as follows. "...All the green trees are gone, and good work is gone, and people do bad work for just so much as will keep together their worn bodies and desolate souls. And sometimes they starve to death." She also portrays a society strictly divided by class in which Dickie is poor but has noble blood which elevates him above those around him.

The magic of the story is a spell involving the toy his father gave him that puts him in contact with a trio of magical moles called Mouldiwarps and a nursemaid witch. This group transport him back 300 years to the time of King James I where he is Richard Arden, a young boy of noble family who has two healthy legs. He travels back and forth between his London and that of James I with the help of the Mouldiwarps. In the process he saves the Arden family's fortune and has to decide between his present-day London and that of 300 years ago.

Nesbit is a wonderful storyteller and the plot is full of detail and adventure that make it a delight to read. Her use of the street language of the time makes this a difficult book for young readers of today, but adults who like children's literature will find it a delightful glimpse of English life. H. R. Millar's 16 original drawings help bring the tale to life. This Books of Wonder edition suffers from bad proofreading. I found over a dozen misspellings that should have been caught in the editing process. Although this is one of a two volume series, it can be read alone with no problem.

an elderly englishman's view
I'm buying 'Harding's Luck' for one of my 6 grandaughters - a very bright girl in Australia coming up for eleven years old, about the age I read it myself, with huge enjoyment. Her mother tells me that her daughter spurns the modern children's novels she gives her on the grounds that they're "too real" - unlike the books sent by grandfather - as e.g 'Wind on the Moon" by Eric Linklater most recently (highly recommended for 10 year-olds,if you can find it!).
'Harding's Luck' does wear its heart on its sleeve but no more than any of the great 19th century novelists of France, Russia or Britain - or indeed the USA, - and what's wrong with a novel with a message anyway? In fact it's no more 'naive', as one of your reviewers characterises it, than "The Railway Children" made twice into films. It's a lot less preachy and sentimental than say, Little Lord Fauntleroy,whose rags-to-earldom plot line, with adult redemption thrown in, is not so far removed. But in the hands of Nesbit who unlike F. Hodgson Burnettis a 'real' writer, traditional material is transmutedthrough imagination into something rich and strange and original.
Stylisticallytoo, it is right up to Nesbit's best form - try reading it aloud.
Finally Harding's Luck has all the elements that will capture a child's sympathy and imagination : injustice, poverty,deformity,magic, romance, suspense, sacrifice,andtriumph over adversity.And with twist - the happy ending is not quite happy.

Piers Croke
London

Hard Luck - No Stars
As an enormous E Nesbit fan and an avid collector of her books I can barely describe the glee with which I embarked upon Harding's Luck. Not only a new Nesbit book, but a sequel to The House of Arden - one of my top three Nesbit picks. Alas for me this book was a sad disappointment. It was bad enough that Edred's growing up in Arden eclipsed the truly magnificent Elfrida, but in Harding's Luck cousin Richard cheats them both out of any accomplishment. This would be bad enough, but Dickie our hero is cast in the `little lame beggar boy with the heart of gold' mold. After dozens of books with keen and natural renderings of children, this sugar spun Pollyanna crossed with Tiny Tim is flat and forced. As a bit of pure conjecture I will throw the blame on the social agenda of the plot thus demonstrating that very rarely does good art come from politics over observation. All that being said, it is Nesbit and it is the conclusion to the Arden story so I suppose it must be read. However for a book to wash down this one's bitter taste I suggest The Enchanted Castle, Five Children and It, or The Treasure Seekers.

Dickens would be proud
Many of Edith Nesbit's books are not so much novels as they are sequences of shorter stories (perhaps they were published, or meant to be read, serially?)Harding's Luck and its companion, The House of Arden, have farmore complex and interwoven plots.The events in the lighter House ofArden form only a part Harding's Luck, as Dickie is a much fuller characterthan Edred and Elfrida.They must have been plotted together, as eachcontains references to the other.

As in The Psammead and the Carpet,there are numerous instances of Nesbit's socialist views (not in the modernsense of big government, more along the lines of GK Chesterton's definition"A socialist is a man who wants all the chimneys swept and all thechimney sweeps paid for it.").Children will never notice these;adults may find them sweet but sadly naive.

In their richness of plot andcharacter, and in the sense of something deeper and truer lurking behindthe superficial magic, these two are probably the crown of Nesbit's work. Givn the fact that the paperback copy of Harding's Luck costs $10, it'sworthwhile to shell out another $7 for the hardback, so you'll have itlonger. ... Read more