Five Children and It

Be careful what you wish for! This is a book for kids with wild imaginations.

A group of Edwardian kids move from London to the countryside of Kent. There, they meet a wish-granting sand fairy. It's worth reading just for the hilarious ways that the wishes go wrong. That it’s never been out of print proves the enduring amazingness of this novel.

It does not contain a sword.

This book sparked my imagination. I loved the fantasy element that delivered amazing experiences to five ordinary children, and many years later when it came to writing my own novels for young readers, I found myself writing my own quirky adventures where remarkable things happen in a world that otherwise appears to be as we know it.  

While digging into a sand pit, five children uncover a large, strange creature with a furry body shaped like a spiders’ and having telescopic eyes, and wonder what ‘It’ could be.

‘It’ is a sand fairy, also called a psammead. When the children learn that psammeads can make wishes come true, they ask ‘It’ to grant them their wishes. ‘It’ does, and the results are disastrous!

This is another childhood favorite. I loved how the children had a wish a day and laughed as the wishes backfired. I also loved the bond between the siblings.

Five Children and It was… show more.