Edith
Nesbit Five Children And It
It’s too hard to read serious grown-up literature at the moment, so I’m comforting myself by re-reading some Edith Nesbit. If you like kids’ stories and haven’t read Nesbit’s books, I would recommend you do so in this time of crisis as they are funny, entertaining and, above all, lacking in violence, serious tension and intellectual challenge.
It’s too hard to read serious grown-up literature at the moment, so I’m comforting myself by re-reading some Edith Nesbit. If you like kids’ stories and haven’t read Nesbit’s books, I would recommend you do so in this time of crisis as they are funny, entertaining and, above all, lacking in violence, serious tension and intellectual challenge.
I
have been a fan of Edith Nesbit’s stories ever since my aunt Edith sent me a
copy of The Story Of The Treasure Seekers for Christmas when I was
eleven. That particular novel doesn’t
contain magic, like the Nesbit novels I love most, but it does contain some
likeable children and a fabulous narrator called Oswald. And it contains jokes that adults will ‘get’
even though the focus and sympathy of the narrative is always with the
children.
Later, I saw the film of Nesbit’s most
famous novel, The Railway Children, and quite liked it – though I was
never such a great fan as some people seem to be, and I personally found the
scene where Jenny Agutter runs along the railway platform towards her father
shouting ‘Daddy! My Daddy!’ to be cloying and sentimental. This might be
because my own dear papa ran off with our teenage babysitter when I was seven,
so I don’t have a sentimental attachment to fathers.
However, Nesbit’s stories which do have
actual magic in them are wonderful. The
trilogy beginning with Five Children and It (1902), and continuing with The
Phoenix and The Carpet (1904) and The Story Of The Amulet (1906),
are my favourites. The fine children are
Anthea, Jane, Cyril, Robert and the two-year-old ‘Lamb’, who live for a while
in a house between a gravel quarry and a sand-pit, in the latter of which they
meet a magical creature called a psammead who grants them one wish each
day. The wish lasts until dusk, then stops. Predictably, most of their wishes turn out
badly in one way or another, but I really enjoy the psychologically plausible relationship
between the siblings conveyed mostly through their dialogue, and the intrusive
narrative voice that often speaks directly to the reader.
Yes, they are old-fashioned, but that isn’t
necessarily a bad thing. Nesbit has a distinctive voice and a charm all of her
own. And they are undemanding, which is
lovely in a time like the current crisis.
Nesbit herself had a fascinating life. A
founding member of The Fabian Society, she lived a highly unconventional life,
and had several affairs with well-known people. Her husband had a child by one
of her close friends and Edith brought this child up as if it were her own (the
‘lamb’ is based on this boy) and even employed its mother as her housekeeper.
How that worked in practice, I can only speculate! A.S.Byatt based her fantastic novel, The
Children’s Book (2009), on Nesbit and her circle of friends.
Other Nesbit novels for children include: The Enchanted Castle, The Magic City, Man-size in Marble, Pussy and Dog Tales, The Book of Dragons.
RATING:
Five Children and It
Five Children and It
****
Key:
***** highly recommended - a 'must-read'
**** good - well worth taking the time to read
*** ok - will help to pass the time in a boring situation
** not very good - just about readable but flawed
* not recommended - boring, offensive, badly-written or deeply flawed in some other way
***** highly recommended - a 'must-read'
**** good - well worth taking the time to read
*** ok - will help to pass the time in a boring situation
** not very good - just about readable but flawed
* not recommended - boring, offensive, badly-written or deeply flawed in some other way
It's a long time since I read any Nesbit, but I remember really enjoying both Five Children and It and The Railway Children as a child. Have you seen that there is a TV series (aimed at kids, but so what!) being advertised at the moment called Four Children and It? It looks to have a Psammead (sp?) like creature in it, so I'm assuming it's a budget version of the book!
ReplyDeleteNo, I hadn't seen this, Ruth. I remember Sunday afternoon TV when I was a kid used to show dramatisations of stuff like The Phoenix And The Carpet, and there was a film made of Five Children and It a few years back with Eddie Izzard voicing the psammead - I quite liked that though I don't think it got great reviews.
Delete