The Adventures of the Five Children

We first meet this delightful family of five children – Anthea, Cyril, Robert, Jane and their baby brother the Lamb (so-called because his first word was Baaa) – in 'Five Children and It'. ‘It’ is a wish-granting sand-fairy, but the wishes he grants have a tendency to go slightly wrong and the children discover that unlimited wealth (or even wings) can get you into all sorts of trouble. In 'The Phoenix and the Carpet' two magical discoveries whisk the children to far-flung lands where they get themselves into even more scrapes (including abandoning Cook on a tropical island). The sand-fairy turns up again in 'The Story of the Amulet', this time helping them to use an ancient Egyptian charm for time-travel. Their journeys to Ancient Britain, Babylon and Atlantis are hair-raising – but not nearly as worrying as when the Queen of Babylon pays a return visit to London … This edition features the classic illustrations by H. R. Millar, which so impressed Nesbit that she thought the artist must be telepathic.

Read more about the life and work of E. Nesbit