Audiobook · read by volunteers
Five Children and It
E. Nesbit (1858–1924)
Read by Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023), Hugh McGuire, Gord Mackenzie, Maureen S. O'Brien, Aaron Benedict, Peter Yearsley, Erica Kuntz, SarahHadley, Alisha, Kristen McQuillin · 11 chapters · 5 h 38
About the book
When a family of five children moves from London to the English countryside, the first thing they do is dig in a gravel pit. There they find the Psammead, an ancient, grumpy sand-fairy who can grant one wish a day. Naturally, the children wish for beauty, riches and wings, and just as naturally every wish goes wrong in some funny way: the gold is no use, the beauty is a disaster, and the wishes turn out to expire at sunset. E. Nesbit tells these adventures with a sparkling, mischievous voice that speaks directly to her young readers. Ten LibriVox volunteers, including Kara Shallenberg and Hugh McGuire, share the eleven chapters in about five and a half hours, giving this much-loved classic a lively sound for family listening.
Introduction
Edith Nesbit, who published as E. Nesbit (1858-1924), was an English author who wrote dozens of books for children, and her stories helped create a new kind of modern fantasy in which magic arrives in the middle of ordinary family life. Five Children and It appeared in 1902, and it is considered one of the finest of her works.
The book's structure is simple and brilliant: one wish a day, and each one is granted literally. The children, who are lively, quarrelsome and affectionate, are never perfect, and Nesbit's narrator treats them with amused honesty. The Psammead, a creature of ancient lineage and bad temper, is one of the great comic inventions of children's literature, and his dislike of being thanked or questioned is part of the fun. The story is also about the lessons that careless wishes teach, delivered without a heavy moral.
The recording has 11 chapters, with titles such as Beautiful as the Day, Golden Guineas and Being Wanted, and runs for about 5.6 hours. Ten volunteers read, so the children, the Psammead and the adults who surround them are given a variety of voices.
Why listen now? Nesbit's wit remains fresh, her sympathy for the children is genuine, and the idea of a wish that goes wrong is timeless. The book is a delight to share and a model for later fantasy writers. The wishes themselves are the real pleasure, since each chapter sets up a different experiment and lets the consequences unfold. Adults listening alongside children will recognise the dry authorial voice, which jokes at the expense of both generations, and the thoughtful ending shows that Nesbit knew how to be moving without losing her humour.
Public domain
E. Nesbit died in 1924: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text