7 Books in 1: The Railway Children, Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet, The Story of the Amulet, The Story of the Treasure-Seekers, The Would-Be-Goods, and The Enchanted Castle [Hardcover]

E Nesbit (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

J K Rowling, Edinburgh International Book Festival, August 15, 2004: "I love E Nesbit - I think she is great and I identify with the way that she writes." Classic stories by much-loved children's author E. Nesbit. This book contains seven full-length novels. Set in an England of steam-trains and magic, generations of children have thrilled to these exciting adventures. When the children in these stories aren't preventing a train crash, you'll find them flying on a magic carpet, travelling through time with an enchanted Egyptian amulet, hatching the egg of the mythical phoenix, or using their magical ring to explore an enchanted castle This '7 books in 1' edition is an ideal gift for any child who loves reading, or any adult who wants to bring some magic into their life! The Railway Children 'The train wouldn't care. It would go rushing by them and tear round the corner and go crashing into that awful mound. And everyone would be killed. Her hands grew very cold and trembled so that she could hardly hold the flag. And then came the distant rumble and hum of the metals, and a puff of white steam showed far away along the stretch of line.' Five Children and It The Psammead is a small, furry animal from thousands of years ago that has eyes on long horns like a snail's eves, ears like a bat's ears, and a tubby body shaped like a spider's and covered with thick soft fur; its arms and legs are furry too, and it has hands and feet like a monkey's. But the best thing about the Psammead is that it can grant wishes. The Phoenix and The Carpet (also known as 'The Phoenix and The Wishing Carpet') When the children from "Five Children and It" accidentally hatch the egg of the mythical Phoenix, it shows them how to use their magic carpet to travel anywhere they want... and a whole new round of adventures begins! The Story of The Amulet The children's mother is very ill, and their father has been sent abroad on business. With both their parents away, they discover their old friend the Psammead - captured and put up for sale! If only they could get wishes from the Psammead, they could wish their mother well again, and wish their father home. But the Psammead can't give them any more wishes. Luckily it knows where they can find an ancient Egyptian amulet that could give them their 'heart's desire' - if only it was in one piece! The Story of the Treasure Seekers "'I'll tell you what, we must go and seek for treasure: it is always what you do to restore the fallen fortunes of your House.'" When the Bastable family runs short of money, the children decide it's up to them to find a way to restore their family fortunes. Will they succeed in rescuing their father from the visits of policeman and debt collectors? The Would-Be-Goods The Bastable children behave so badly that their father sends them away to live in the countryside. Determined to be good in the future, they form a society, the 'Wouldbegoods', for being good in. But things don't go exactly as they plan... The Enchanted Castle Sent to live in the countryside for the summer, Jerry, Jimmy and Cathleen discover a secret castle containing a sleeping princess - and (although he's worried that she might slap him for it) one of the boys kisses her, and she wakes up. But shouldn't a real princess be taller? Is the castle really enchanted - or was the 'princess' just pretending?

Editorial Reviews

Review

"What books should I read to become a writer?" "The short answer is ... all the children's books of E. Nesbit." -- Washington Post, 20 July, 2003

E Nesbit constructs a believable scenario in which Roberta can blossom ... into a true girl hero. -- Sunday Times, 4 October, 1998

E Nesbit's The Railway Children is one of the most enduring pieces of children's literature. -- Newsquest Media, 19 August, 2004

I love E Nesbit — I think she is great and I identify with the way that she writes. -- J K Rowling, Edinburgh International Book Festival, August 15, 2004

She was able to create a world of magic and inverted logic that was entirely her own. -- The New York Review of Books, December 3, 1964

The quintessential children's book. -- Daily Mail, 17 October, 2003 --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

Classic stories by much-loved children's author E. Nesbit. This book contains seven full-length novels.

Set in a 1900s England of steam-trains and magic, generations of children have thrilled to these exciting adventures.

When the children in these stories aren't preventing a train crash, you'll find them getting wishes from the sandy Psammead, flying on a magic carpet, travelling through time with an enchanted Egyptian amulet, hatching the egg of the mythical phoenix, or using their magical ring to explore an enchanted castle!

The brothers and sisters created by E. Nesbit have the convincing and realistic feeling of being a real family - they're usually disagreeing with each other, but they're always cheerful about it. They try to be good but are always in trouble of one kind or another.

With a subtle ethical message underlying their exciting plots, these novels have been recommended childrens literature for many years.

This '7 books in 1' edition is an ideal gift for any child who loves reading, or any adult who wants to bring some magic into their life!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 584 pages
• Publisher: Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax Ltd (December 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0954840127
• ISBN-13: 978-0954840129
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #671,143 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I'm reviewing the book, not the contents, January 9, 2006

By 

J. C Clark "eanna" (Overland Park, KS United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 7 Books in 1: The Railway Children, Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet, The Story of the Amulet, The Story of the Treasure-Seekers, The Would-Be-Goods, and The Enchanted Castle (Paperback)

These are some of the most delightful books for children ever written. Better than Lewis. Better than Milne. Better than Ransome. Long out of copyright, even by today's standards. Gather up her best in one book. Wonderful idea. Oh! Yes this is a great bargain. Unless.

This is a paperback, not a hardback. And the type is very small. Very! But the two columns per page alleviates that somewhat. Only somewhat. But no illustrations. Just page after page of type; so, not as bad as a 1900 newspaper, but unappealing and unfriendly. I think the versions I read long ago had illustrations by Ernest Shepherd. Ohhhh, that is a loss....

Think about this. Two small-print columns per page, no illustrations, a floppy paperback printed on what appears to be cheap paper. This is not for a child to read.

I wish I had had a chance to see this in advance. Seek elsewhere for these treasures.

70 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic stories by JK Rowling's favourite children's author, January 23, 2005

By 

anh879 - See all my reviews

This review is from: 7 Books in 1: The Railway Children, Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet, The Story of the Amulet, The Story of the Treasure-Seekers, The Would-Be-Goods, and The Enchanted Castle (Paperback)

You get a set of E. Nesbit's seven most popular children's books, printed together in one volume. This is enough to keep you going for quite a long time, even if you're a very determined reader!

The stories are about groups of children, who have adventures when their parents go away (for different reasons). They're in a couple of sequences - 'The Railway Children' stands by itself, then there's three books about the same group of children ('Five Children and It', 'The Phoenix and The Carpet', and 'The Story of the Amulet'), then two about a different family (the Bastables: 'The Story of the Treasure-Seekers' and 'The Would-be-goods'), then 'The Enchanted Castle' is another one-off.

Some of these stories feature magic in a Harry Potter kind of way - that's the three 'Five Children' stories and 'The Enchanted Castle' - while the others are about the children's adventures within the normal Edwardian world - that's 'The Railway Children' and the Bastable stories.

E. Nesbit - the author - is strongly recommended by JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books. She's said in a number of press interviews that she really admires the writing of Nesbit, and models her own writing style on Nesbit's.

I'd recommend these books - they're very engaging and easy to read, and you really do want to keep turning the pages to find out what happens next! There's enough here to keep you going for a long time, too.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible Edition, December 21, 2005

By 

missmeg - See all my reviews

This review is from: 7 Books in 1: The Railway Children, Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet, The Story of the Amulet, The Story of the Treasure-Seekers, The Would-Be-Goods, and The Enchanted Castle (Paperback)

These books may be charming, but this edition 7-in-1 is awful - the print is so small that it is virtually unreadable. Very disappointing!