From the back cover: It's startling enough to have a Phoenix hatch in your house, but even more startling when it reveals you have a magic carpet on the floor. Conceited it may be, but the Phoenix is also good-hearted, and obligingly accompanies the children on their adventures through time and space—which, magic being what it is, rarely turn out as they were … [Read more...] about The Phoenix and the Carpet by E. Nesbit
Children's Fiction
Five Children and It by E. Nesbit: B+
From the back cover: 'It' is a Psammead, an ancient, ugly and irritable sand fairy the children find one day in a gravel pit. It grants them a wish a day, lasting until sunset. But they soon learn it is very hard to think of really sensible wishes, and each one gets them into unexpected difficulties. Magic, the children find, can be as awkward as it is enticing. Review: After … [Read more...] about Five Children and It by E. Nesbit: B+
Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke: A-
From the back cover: Flung far across the universe, from star to star, faced with monsters, magicians, and maybe new friends... an Earth girl named Zita must find a way home. Review: I'm always impressed by children's fiction that doesn't underestimate its audience, especially stories with multiple plot threads that wind up stitching together in a way that's both surprising … [Read more...] about Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke: A-
The Railway Children by E. Nesbit: A
From the back cover: When Father goes away unexpectedly, Roberta, Peter, Phyllis and their mother have to leave their happy life in London to go and live in a small cottage in the country. The children seek solace in the nearby railway station, and make friends with Perks the Porter and the Station Master himself. But the mystery remains: where is Father, and will he ever … [Read more...] about The Railway Children by E. Nesbit: A
The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages: A-
From the back cover: It is 1943, and while war consumes the United States and the world, eleven-year-old Dewey Kerrigan lives with her father in a town that—officially—doesn't exist: Los Alamos, New Mexico. Famous scientists and mathematicians, including Dewey's father, work around the clock on a secret project everyone there calls only “the gadget.” Meanwhile, Dewey works on … [Read more...] about The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages: A-