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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
i've always loved this book, and reading it for my children's lit class - after a space of maybe ten years - was such a pleasure. it's so funny! i never really realised before!
This book hooked my 8 year old daughter on Edith Nesbit.
fun children's book but OLD! (1902!)
Entitled, rich, white siblings getting wishes granted and learning lessons.
Entitled, rich, white siblings getting wishes granted and learning lessons.
The kids and I enjoyed this.
My favorite quotes:
“But children will believe almost anything, and grown ups know this. That is why they tell you that the earth is round like an orange, when you can see perfectly well that it is flat and lumpy; and why they say that the earth goes round the sun, when you can see for yourself any day that the sun gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night like a good sun as it is, and the earth knows its place and lies as still as a mouse. Yet I daresay you believe all that about the earth and the sun, and if so, you will find it quite easy to believe that before Anthea and Cyril and the others has been a week in the country they had found a fairy.”
“ Why, don’t you see, if you told grown-ups, I should have no peace in my life. They’d get a hold of me, and they wouldn’t wish silly things like you do, but real Earnest things, and the scientific people would hit on some way of making things last after sunset, as likely as not. And they’d ask for a graduated, income tax, and old age pensions and manhood suffrage, and free secondary education, and other things like that, and get them, and keep them, and the whole world would be turned topsy-turvy.”
My favorite quotes:
“But children will believe almost anything, and grown ups know this. That is why they tell you that the earth is round like an orange, when you can see perfectly well that it is flat and lumpy; and why they say that the earth goes round the sun, when you can see for yourself any day that the sun gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night like a good sun as it is, and the earth knows its place and lies as still as a mouse. Yet I daresay you believe all that about the earth and the sun, and if so, you will find it quite easy to believe that before Anthea and Cyril and the others has been a week in the country they had found a fairy.”
“ Why, don’t you see, if you told grown-ups, I should have no peace in my life. They’d get a hold of me, and they wouldn’t wish silly things like you do, but real Earnest things, and the scientific people would hit on some way of making things last after sunset, as likely as not. And they’d ask for a graduated, income tax, and old age pensions and manhood suffrage, and free secondary education, and other things like that, and get them, and keep them, and the whole world would be turned topsy-turvy.”
adventurous
medium-paced
I grew up reading Edward Eager's books, and he was heavily influenced by E. Nesbit (and dropped the names of her books in his frequently) so, eventually, I wanted to read hers. This is the only one I ever did, as a kid, and then more recently I read The Railway Children, which I enjoyed (but which isn't fantasy). Anyway, I think I only ever read this one once before, as I barely remembered it at all, and... it was just okay. My feelings about the children's personalities and interactions varied greatly throughout, and most of the adventures weren't super exciting. There's also quite a bit of casual sexism and definitely some blatant racism toward the end, and I understand that this book is over 100 years old, but still... I'm reading it in 2014, and I can't help but view it through the lens of a modern perspective.
So, it's not bad by any means, but not nearly as enjoyable as I found Railway Children. I do plan to read her other fantasy books, though maybe not right away.
So, it's not bad by any means, but not nearly as enjoyable as I found Railway Children. I do plan to read her other fantasy books, though maybe not right away.
A family with five children are staying at a house at the beach in this classic tale. While digging in a sandpit one day they discover a psammead or sand fairy who grants wishes. The children get one wish a day and their wishes always go awry. Luckily the effects of the wish disappear with the sun and everything goes back to normal.
I am not sure I would have finished this book if I wasn't listening to the audio. My goodness was it hard to get through. This is a story that has not stood the test of time and definitely shows its age. It is so full of sexism, racism, classism and every other -ism you can think of that it is almost unbearable to read today. That wouldn't be so bad if the characters were fun, but they are unbearable and unchangeable. Even after so many misspent wishes they never learn or grow and each wish is simply ridiculous.
I am not sure I would have finished this book if I wasn't listening to the audio. My goodness was it hard to get through. This is a story that has not stood the test of time and definitely shows its age. It is so full of sexism, racism, classism and every other -ism you can think of that it is almost unbearable to read today. That wouldn't be so bad if the characters were fun, but they are unbearable and unchangeable. Even after so many misspent wishes they never learn or grow and each wish is simply ridiculous.
The basis of this story was really good and the children adorable. There is definitely a moral to this story and it was easy to figure out. The book was originally written in 1902 and some of the vocabulary was very hard to figure out. This would be a great book to read aloud.
I surely read this when I was a child. I expect my mother read it when she was a child as well. And it could well have been read by my father and by my grandparents. I would say there's a high probability that at least one of my grandparents read it. That's rather nice to think of.
It's still a delightful read, with the children meeting a strange creature who can grant wishes. Of course, the children, having never had wishes granted before, wish for things that aren't that good an idea (well, haven't we all done that!), or wish for things by accident. Some very funny situations arise.
It's still a delightful read, with the children meeting a strange creature who can grant wishes. Of course, the children, having never had wishes granted before, wish for things that aren't that good an idea (well, haven't we all done that!), or wish for things by accident. Some very funny situations arise.