Five Children and It

Five Children and It by E. Nesbit (1902)

Five siblings discover a Psammead — a grumpy, ancient sand-fairy — who grants them one wish per day. Each wish goes hilariously and catastrophically wrong. The book that invented modern children's fantasy.

Historical Significance:
Edith Nesbit published Five Children and It in 1902, and it changed children's literature forever. Before Nesbit, children's fantasy was either moralistic or set in entirely separate magical worlds. Nesbit was the first to place ordinary, recognizable children in a realistic modern setting and then introduce magic — the template that J.K. Rowling, Diana Wynne Jones, and virtually every subsequent children's fantasy author would follow. C.S. Lewis and Edward Eager both acknowledged her as a direct influence. The Psammead — irritable, powerful, and hilariously put-upon — is one of children's literature's most original and beloved magical creatures.

This public domain classic was originally published in 1902. Free to read and share.