Five Children and It

Book Review

Five Children and It

Written by Edith Nesbit

Ages 9-13

222 Pages

What to expect: Fantasy, siblings, humour

Overview of the story

Five Children and It is a children's novel by English author, Edith Nesbit. It was originally published in 1902 in a magazine under the title The Psammead or The Gifts, with a chapter appearing each month from April to December. The stories were then expanded into a novel. 

Characters

Five brothers and sisters:

• Cyril, known as Squirrel, the eldest sibling, is brave and very intelligent
• Anthea, known as Panther, is the second eldest, is kind and sensible
• Robert, known as Bobs, the middle child, is humorous with a quick temper
• Jane, known as Pussy, is a bit oversensitive and is easily frightened
• Hilary, known as the Lamb, is a bit too young to have a personality
• 'It' is the Psammead, a grumpy, ancient, wish-granting fairy who causes trouble for the children but grows fond of them

The Plot

The story begins when a group of children move from London to the countryside of Kent. The five children - Cyril, Robert, Anthea, Jane and the baby called the Lamb are playing in the gravel pit as they have nothing to do and their parents need to leave when they find a grumpy, ugly Psammead, a sand fairy with the ability to grant wishes with the condition that the wishes will turn into rocks after sunset.

All of the wishes go terribly wrong. The children wish to be beautiful, but the servants do not recognise them and shut them out of the house. They wish to be rich, then find themselves with a gravel pit full of gold guineas that no shop will accept as they are no longer used, so they can't buy anything. The wish for wings seems to be going well, but at sunset the children find themselves stuck on top of a church bell tower with no way to get down, getting them into trouble with the gamekeeper who must take them home. Robert is bullied by the baker's boy, then wishes that he was bigger making him eleven feet tall, and the other children show him at a travelling fair for coins. They also wish themselves into a castle, only to learn that it is being attacked, while a wish to meet real Red Indians ends with the children nearly being scalped.

The children's baby brother, the Lamb, is the victim of two wishes gone wrong. In one, the children become annoyed with their brother and wish that someone else would want him, leading to a situation where everyone wants the baby, and the children must avoid kidnappers and Gypsies. Later, they wish that the baby would grow up faster, causing him to grow into a selfish, smug young man who leaves them all behind.

Finally, the children accidentally wish that they could give a wealthy woman's jewellery to their mother, causing all the jewellery to appear in their home. It seems that the gamekeeper, who is now their friend, will be blamed for the robbery, and the children must beg the Psammead for a complex series of wishes to set things right. After mom and dad return will the children ever get another wish? Will they meet the Psammead ever again?