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A review by readsewknit
Five Children and It by E. Nesbit
3.0
Our campus library has a beyond generous lending policy for faculty and staff; when it was clear in March of 2020 that the world was about to look very different soon, the last couple days on campus I made trips to the campus library to stock up on books, knowing that I wouldn't have to return them for a year. The first day I focused on my youngest daughter, especially, as she was just at the cusp of having reading click for her in kindergarten and I didn't want to lose those emerging skills, and our early readers are somewhat limited at home. I went into the library room primarily set aside for student teachers and packed full a reusable shopping tote with dozens of suitable titles. (That task accomplished, the second day I reserved for gathering titles I myself aspired to read.)
Edith Nesbit was not on my radar when I was growing up, but I've since heard a couple of her books recommended. When I spotted Five Children and It in the children's section, I added it to my pile. It was a hefty illustrated version that I hoped we might get to read aloud. I didn't start it until this fall, and it got a long break over Christmas when we turned our attention to our advent tradition, but we recently finished it.
In it, five siblings are at a vacation home, somewhat left to their own devices while their mother tends a sick relative and their father is working. They stumble upon a magical creature who agrees to grant them one wish a day (the effects of which disappear at sunset), and thus we have our framework.
As one might imagine, the children don't have the sense to think through the consequences of their wishes, so they begin the day with grand ideas for what their day will hold and often find themselves hoping to be rid of their wish because of the possible dangers and trials it brought about.
The vocabulary is rich with archaic or unfamiliar words that were at times challenging for the girls to make sense of; I found myself swapping out words on occasion to keep the flow of the story going. Not surprisingly, over the years sensibilities have changed, and I was uncomfortable enough with the second-to-last chapter I ended up skipping it during our read-aloud (it was called "Scalped!" and as I started, I feared it would be full of untrue stereotypes and behaviors, so I did a cursory skim to ensure we weren't missing any plot points and skipped to the final chapter, later going back to read it for myself).
I don't know that it's a must-read as far as canonical children's literature is concerned, but both girls did enjoy hearing about their antics and were invested in the children's success or failure for each chapter (more so the ten-year-old, less so the six-year-old).
Edith Nesbit was not on my radar when I was growing up, but I've since heard a couple of her books recommended. When I spotted Five Children and It in the children's section, I added it to my pile. It was a hefty illustrated version that I hoped we might get to read aloud. I didn't start it until this fall, and it got a long break over Christmas when we turned our attention to our advent tradition, but we recently finished it.
In it, five siblings are at a vacation home, somewhat left to their own devices while their mother tends a sick relative and their father is working. They stumble upon a magical creature who agrees to grant them one wish a day (the effects of which disappear at sunset), and thus we have our framework.
As one might imagine, the children don't have the sense to think through the consequences of their wishes, so they begin the day with grand ideas for what their day will hold and often find themselves hoping to be rid of their wish because of the possible dangers and trials it brought about.
The vocabulary is rich with archaic or unfamiliar words that were at times challenging for the girls to make sense of; I found myself swapping out words on occasion to keep the flow of the story going. Not surprisingly, over the years sensibilities have changed, and I was uncomfortable enough with the second-to-last chapter I ended up skipping it during our read-aloud (it was called "Scalped!" and as I started, I feared it would be full of untrue stereotypes and behaviors, so I did a cursory skim to ensure we weren't missing any plot points and skipped to the final chapter, later going back to read it for myself).
I don't know that it's a must-read as far as canonical children's literature is concerned, but both girls did enjoy hearing about their antics and were invested in the children's success or failure for each chapter (more so the ten-year-old, less so the six-year-old).