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A review by lejoy
Five Children and It by E. Nesbit
4.0
I wasn't actually expecting to like this book as much as I did. I wrongly presumed, since it was published over a hundred years ago, that it would be stuffy and rigid, or worse quaint and cute. The name E. Nesbit conjures images of very neat children in starched pinnies and hokey 1960s Disney adaptations. Anyway, I was wrong.
Nesbit has a large, quick and playful wit that is riddled throughout the story, with many humorous asides to the audience that absolutely must have inspired many of the children's writers who came after her, right into the modern day. The children often also act surprisingly like you would expect real children to act, and not at all like you would expect little Edwardians to behave. Well, obviously they do a bit, but still, it's all very enjoyable.
The only particularly bum note is the Red Indian chapter, which can't help but feel racist today. However, in its defence, when the wishes come true it is as the children would imagine it rather than true to life, so the fact that these Indians scalp people is just because that's what the children mistakenly believe, as they would in 1902 with their only knowledge coming from picture books.
One other possible weakness in the story is that despite there being five children, they do not have very defined personalities. Anthea is the most thoughtful, and Robert is the nastiest, but otherwise they are fairly interchangeable in each scene. It's also really weird that Nesbit refers to the children in plural as 'it' rather than 'they'. It just feels dehumanising. The reader might also get frustrated by how poorly every single one of their wishes turns out. Nesbit herself encourages the audience at one point to consider how you would have handled the situation better, because she knows that's exactly what you are doing each time. But it is a shame that they never get to have any fun throughout the entire book! It might have been nice to have had more of a finale, but I guess it wasn't that kind of story.
Anyway, it's an enjoyable, funny little fantasy adventure story for children and I would be interested to read more by E. Nesbit now that I know her writing style is so engaging.
Nesbit has a large, quick and playful wit that is riddled throughout the story, with many humorous asides to the audience that absolutely must have inspired many of the children's writers who came after her, right into the modern day. The children often also act surprisingly like you would expect real children to act, and not at all like you would expect little Edwardians to behave. Well, obviously they do a bit, but still, it's all very enjoyable.
The only particularly bum note is the Red Indian chapter, which can't help but feel racist today. However, in its defence, when the wishes come true it is as the children would imagine it rather than true to life, so the fact that these Indians scalp people is just because that's what the children mistakenly believe, as they would in 1902 with their only knowledge coming from picture books.
One other possible weakness in the story is that despite there being five children, they do not have very defined personalities. Anthea is the most thoughtful, and Robert is the nastiest, but otherwise they are fairly interchangeable in each scene. It's also really weird that Nesbit refers to the children in plural as 'it' rather than 'they'. It just feels dehumanising. The reader might also get frustrated by how poorly every single one of their wishes turns out. Nesbit herself encourages the audience at one point to consider how you would have handled the situation better, because she knows that's exactly what you are doing each time. But it is a shame that they never get to have any fun throughout the entire book! It might have been nice to have had more of a finale, but I guess it wasn't that kind of story.
Anyway, it's an enjoyable, funny little fantasy adventure story for children and I would be interested to read more by E. Nesbit now that I know her writing style is so engaging.