Customer Reviews

The Phoenix and the Carpet

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The phoenix in an ancient animal, or to be more exact - bird. It falls into the hands of five cute children, who takes a real good care of it. It also brings along a magic carpet, just like everyone would like to have at home. The phoenix, is very bright, and its presence sure makes things much more interesting and fun. Its one of the books I liked the best.

I'm surprised there are only four reviews listed.. E. Nesbit's books are wonderfully intriguing. The sentence structure is complex, making for more interesting reading. The moral lessons are there, but subtle, not blatant like current popular children's liturature.

Exceptional writing! Many of the children/youth books now-a-days, lack the ability to capture and draw the imagination the way that Nesbit can. She was truly a remarkable author. I can't wait to dive in to more of her works. If only I had been introduced to her writing sooner. Clean, inviting and witty.

"The Phoenix and the Carpet" is about four children who find a carpet and then a phoenix shows up and tells them it's a magic carpet. The children have many adventures with the phoenix and the carpet including many in other continents and a place where there can be no whooping coughs. At the end, the phoenix has to part from the children. I thought this was a great book not only because it had magic and it was JK Rowlings' favorite author; but also because it was a fun well-written book.

Ms. Nesbit spun an amusing yarn of four easily bored privileged siblings (plus a baby brother) who stumbled quite fortunately on a supernatural bird and a flying carpet. The bird and the carpet fulfill wishes therefore the result is an utterly grand time for the little rascals each time they venture for a ride. And, how they make full use of the magical duo! The author's method of story telling is pretty exciting - there are asides to further relay useful information to the readers which are mostly quite witty. One could even learn how to play tricks on cooks and housemaids from the story. It might at first seem that the carpet would just take the children to one place after another in order to sate their curiosities. Don't be too sure because at the end, the reader will find himself/herself struck by the realization that all their journeys are tied together to complete a tale worth telling. Ms. Nesbit was a genius at attracting her readers' attention. It is a well-told children's fiction.

"The Phoenix and the Carpet" is about four children who find a carpet and then a phoenix shows up and tells them it's a magic carpet. The children have many adventures with the phoenix and the carpet including many in other continents and a place where there can be no whooping coughs. At the end, the phoenix has to part from the children. I thought this was a great book not only because it had magic and it was JK Rowlings' favorite author; but also because it was a fun well-written book.

This is another adventure of the children in Five Children and It. The children discover a magic carpet and a phoenix egg and have many more adventures. An excellent book.

The same kids from Five Children and It are now back at their house in London. One Guy Fawkes night they get a bit too keen with the fire workings, doing some damage to the floor coverings.

The replacement has an odd egg in it. Out of this, they get a Phoenix, a magic carpet, and yet more wish stuff.

I love Puffin classics! Complete and unabridged, they bring stories to life for children with lovely covers and readable text, and at $3.99-$5.99 are a great deal! I'm collecting all of them. :-)

Children might be tempted to believe that there are Wish Granters floating about, if one can just find them! This fanciful tale is set in Victorian England--an era of gas jets, scullery maids and coal hobs. Four children (as in THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE) discover a special fire egg which hatches in their nursery fireplace. Then their mother purchases a Persian carpet, which provides the vehicle for Space (if not Time) Travel. It even responds to written commands and obeys instructions without a human pilot.

All this magical flying about in response to wishes reminds me of the cloak in THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE and Mary Norton's THE MAGIC BEDKNOB. Nesbit's style also reminds me of Beatrix Potter, with many asides, advice or explanations directed to the reader. The setting returns us to the ingenuous nursery days of AA Milne's stuffed animal world.

The story takes place around Christmas and the children wrestle with their consciences over moral issues concerning the unexplained acquisition of wealth, curios, toys and pets. How much to reveal to skeptical parents and how ethical it is to whisk unsuspecting adults away to a remote island or to allow rational people to assume they are insane or just dreaming. How can the siblings plus their baby brother (called the Lamb) ever return to the status quo, since they can only enjoy their carpet rides and conversations with the Phoenix in secret?

This book is too naive for the elementary kids of the 90's, but it would be a good selection to read aloud, one chapter a night before bedtime to younger children. The more you have read of Children's Literature, the more you will recognize from other books. This one may have been the inspiration for the others...!