Posted by Jordan
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Review
Tags:E. Nesbit, Funny, magic, quests
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Our rating: 
Phillip is bored one day in his stepfather’s mansion, so he builds an enormous city out of anything that comes to hand. To his great surprise that night, he shrinks down (or the city gets bigger) and finds himself in a realm containing every city he’s ever built. Through various magical rules, his stepsister Lucy joins him in the city, and they set out on a quest to perform seven tasks and fulfill an ancient prophecy of a coming deliverer who will be king. But their progress is hindered at every turn by the Pretenderette, who wants to claim the throne for herself.
The Magic City is signature Nesbit. How else do you describe her delightful style and humor? The story world is cleverly put together in a way that leaves you guessing about what will come next, but it makes perfect sense once Nesbit explains. I only took off half a star because the main character is bratty enough in the first couple chapters to make you think it’s not going to be any good. Keep reading! This one has made it onto my list of favorite Nesbit books.
(And as a side note, The Magic City inspired Edward Eager’s Knight’s Castle, which makes it great fun to compare the two and see where Eager plays off of Nesbit in his unique take on this concept.)
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Blog, Read-a-Thon
Tags:books, E. Nesbit, Edward Eager, fun fantasy, Read-a-Thon, The Gammage Cup
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Part of our Read-a-Thon 2010 highlight posts.
Almost everybody likes a good fantasy novel. There are so many good ones that get missed among the “super-stars” that we decided to share some of our more obscure favorites in the “fun” sub-genre of fantasy. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Jordan
Categories: All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:E. Nesbit, Funny, Good Read Aloud, treasure hunting
2 Comments »
Our rating: 
The six Bastable children have realized that their father is out of money, and because of this he has no time to spend with them anymore. So they decide to restore their family fortunes by finding treasure. They all sit down in the nursery and brainstorm ideas. Then they start trying them, one by one. Some ideas are reasonable, like going into business. Others a bit more far fetched, such as becoming highwaymen (but not robbing anybody nice).
E. Nesbit wrote this book before any of her other children’s stories. She had just finished writing breezy stories that magazines would print, and the haphazard style lingers here. The Story of the Treasure Seekers is quite enjoyable, but the writing style could turn off some people. However, fans of Nesbit will pick up on her subtle humor, which is absolutely hilarious in this one. I nearly died laughing quite a few times as the Bastables stumbled their way through money-making schemes.
Posted by Sarah
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Mysteries, Review
Tags:E. Nesbit, Funny
2 Comments »
Our rating:
Gerald, Cathy, and Jimmy are out of school for the holidays, and they discover a cave which leads to a seemingly enchanted castle. They awaken a sleeping princess, who shows them a treasure room, and a ring in it which starts a series of adventures.
I like this book. However, like most of E. Nesbit’s other books, there are temples. There are also some statues that come alive that are gods and goddesses and one of the parts near the end with the gods and goddesses is not my favorite. But that being said, this is a pretty good book.
Posted by Sarah
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:E. Nesbit, Five Children and It, Time Travel
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Our rating:
When Cyril, Anthea, Robert, and Jane find the Psammead, the wish-granting creature they met in Five Children and It, in a pet store and rescue it, the Psammead tells them about an amulet. They purchase it and discover it is only half an amulet. But the half will take them anywhere back in time to look for the other half. And the whole amulet will give them their hearts’ desire.
Despite a kind of weird part at the end, it’s a pretty good book. I’m not sure that I liked it as much as Five Children and It. (Which by the rating would make sense.)
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