It's hard for me to dislike a Nesbit book(I think Water Magic is the only one I never finished) , so this one was average. Though the kids are fun, the stories are dated. Oddly enough, it could probably have fit into any time between 1840-1960 but, now, you would spend too much time explaining details to make it much fun. Though, I'm highly jealous, as always, of the seemingly limitless amount of unstructured time.