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Five Children and It

by E. Nesbit (1858–1924)

  • Free to read
  • 4 hours to read
  • 11 chapters
  • Reading level: 6th grade

"Five Children and It" by E. Nesbit is a fantasy children's novel published in 1902. When five siblings discover a grumpy, ancient sand-fairy called the Psammead in a gravel pit, they're granted one wish per day—but there's a catch. Each wish vanishes at sunset, and every desire goes hilariously and dangerously wrong. From unrecognizable beauty to unwanted riches, from inconvenient wings to a besieged castle, the children learn that getting what you wish for isn't always what you want.

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  • Siblings
  • Wishes
  • Fairies
  • Great Britain · History · Edward VII, 1901-1910

Read the opening

Chapter 1: Beautiful As the Day

The house was three miles from the station, but before the dusty hired fly had rattled along for five minutes the children began to put their heads out of the carriage window and to say, 'Aren't we nearly there?' And every time they passed a house, which was not very often, they all said, 'Oh, is THIS it?' But it never was, till they reached the very top of the hill, just past the chalk-quarry and before you come to the gravel-pit. And then there was a white house with a green garden and an orchard beyond, and mother said, 'Here we are!'

'How white the house is,' said Robert.

'And look at the roses,' said Anthea.

'And the plums,' said Jane.

'It is rather decent,' Cyril admitted.

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Contents

  1. Chapter 1: Beautiful As the Day
  2. Chapter 2: Golden Guineas
  3. Chapter 3: Being Wanted
  4. Chapter 4: Wings
  5. Chapter 5: No Wings
  6. Chapter 6: A Castle and No Dinner
  7. Chapter 7: A Siege and Bed
  8. Chapter 8: Bigger Than the Baker's Boy
  9. Chapter 9: Grown Up
  10. Chapter 10: Scalps
  11. Chapter 11: The Last Wish

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About this edition

This free edition of Five Children and It by E. Nesbit comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #778, released 1997-01-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Children & Young Adult Reading, Science-Fiction & Fantasy, Novels, British Literature.

Other editions: eBook #17314.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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