Such a cute book! I wish I would have read/ known about this as a child.

Such a sweet story

2.5

This was a smart book; I like that at this stage of the game people have children the benefit of the doubt in that way. Children can handle intelligent, amusing tales of heartbreak and joy, of family and love.

A jolly good romp in the English countryside where things will always work out if you try hard and always try to do the right thing.

A hopeful dream but still a lovely book

No more luxury. All they have is 'The Three Chimney' ....

Thanks to Neverland reading challenge so that I could read this lovely middle grade book (I bought this one from a friend nearly three years ago). It's like someone telling you a story that you'll never get enough. I found myself really care about the mother and also the children (Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis). Though living in a cottage wasn't easy for them at first, they magically turn their fate into a wonderful adventure. This story taught me about loyalty, friendship, and also loving-kindness. By the way, 'The Three Chimney' is the house that lies beside the railway track.

I feel so related to Roberta in some particular way. Besides, they all have their own ways to show their love to each other. My favorite part is when the children wave flags so the driver and the fireman had got off the train engine for the sake of preventing the train that could go crashing into the awful mound. How brave they are!

It's an okay book. I had a hard time getting into it. Also, Peter is so obnoxious and his sisters keep apologizing to him when he is such a bully that I just didn't enjoy it much.

Edward Eager's books were some of my favorites growing up (and still are) and he never made even the tiniest secret about the fact that he was heavily influenced by E. Nesbit (in fact, she and her stories are referenced by characters in each of his Tales of Magic books). Reading this, I can absolutely see so many similarities — probably most especially with Eager's Magic or Not?, as in both books the children make friends with various people in the town, being heroes of a sort and having a positive impact on the community as a whole.

Nesbit did an amazing job at telling the children's story from their perspective (though in third person), so that we are only directly told what they know, yet there are many things we can easily guess before they figure them out. They feel like real kids — optimistic and adventurous, yet still flawed in their own ways, and just a bit naïve in their tendency to trust everyone they meet.