Inspiring Young Readers
Five Children and It by E. Nesbit
This is another one of those classic children's books that I think I have read but then realise that I haven't. This is maybe because it conforms to the familiar fairytale trope of humans being granted wishes from an enchanted source. In this case it is the very grumpy Psammead or Sand-Fairy that three brothers and two sisters discover living in a gravel pit near their holiday home which is 'a sort of fairy palace set down in an earthly paradise' where 'there are no rules about not going to places and not doing things'.The Psammaed is an extraordinarily strange hairy creature with eyes like a snail who cannot bear the touch of water and grudgingly admits to the children that he is able to grant one wish per day even though the process of doing this is physically exhausting.
Edith Nesbit was a prolific and very successful Edwardian writer who was able to create likeable but intrepid children whose curiosity led them into all kinds of scrapes. Her characters were certainly the precursors of many other well loved creations by other authors, for instance William Brown by Richmal Crompton, The Famous Five by Enid Blyton and much later The Baudelaire Children by Lemony Snicket.
First published in 1902, this engaging story is about the world of a upper middle class family who are staying in a large and comfortable house in the countryside. When their Father is called away on business and their Mother to look after their sick Granny they are left in the care of the servants who are (of course ) too busy to pay much attention to their daily escapades. Although the children have promised to be good they are naturally fascinated by the Psammead whom they visit every day and who grants their wishes, all of which turn out to cause tremendous problems. Fortunately the magic evaporates by sunset each day so that they are able to escape from their various entanglements and to learn various important lessons about life.
Nesbit speaks directly to her young readers in a matter of fact but not at all patronising way. She points out that the children make some doubtful wish choices but at is at the same time sympathetic. I guess that her moral voice is that of the Psammead who wearily warns them to think very carefully before they wish. I was engrossed by all their adventures but my favourite was when they inadvertently wish for the tiresome two year old 'Lamb' (the title they give the youngest child) to be grown up. The magic works immediately with him sprouting a moustache and then growing before their eyes into an objectionable young man. One of their first wishes is that the servants do not see the magical transformations so we have the wonderful spectacle of the nursemaid carrying him back into the house just before the sun sets with the other four children sniggering in the background.
The children are of their time and so perhaps rather too quaint and old fashioned for modern children to identify with - I wonder if most readers are adults of my generation and older? It also reflects an Edwardian sensibility that includes encounters with a dubious band of gypsies and warlike Red Indians along the way. But this is a great pacey story for anyone to enjoy and I particularly liked the way that Nesbit cleverly embeds her renowned Socialist politics when the Psammead warns the children towards the end of the story not to tell adults about him in case they were tempted to ask for what might be viewed as impossible wishes:
'they'd ask for a graduated income tax, and old age pensions and manhood suffrage, and free secondary education, and dull things like that ...'
Karen Argent
26th March 2016