Product Description

When their father's business fails, the six Bastable children decide to restore the family fortunes. But although they think of many ingenious ways to do so, their well meant efforts are either more fun than profitable, or lead to trouble...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3621056 in Books
• Published on: 1997-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: School & Library Binding
• 242 pages

About the Author
EDITH NESBIT was a mischievous child who grew up into an unconventional adult. With her husband, Hubert Bland, she was one of the founder members of the socialist Fabian Society; their household became a centre of the socialist and literary circles of the times. E. Nesbit turned late to children's writing. Her first children's book, THE TREASURE SEEKERS, was published in 1899 to great acclaim. Other books featuring the Bastable children followed, and a series of magical fantasy books, including FIVE CHILDREN AND IT also became very popular. THE RAILWAY CHILDREN was first published monthly in the LONDON MAGAZINE in 1905, and published as a book in 1906 and has been in print ever since.

Customer Reviews

Realistic, funny, creative children of the early 1900s
A word about me--I am the mother of four children ages 7-17 and have always loved to read. My favorite books as a child are still a pleasure for me today, although I read them more critically now: the Narnia books (where I first read about the Bastables on the first page of "The Magician's Nephew"); "A Little Princess," "The Secret Garden," "Little Lord Fauntleroy," and "Toinette's Philip;" "Little Women," "Ivanhoe," "Tom Sawyer," "Uncle Tom's Cabin," "Hans Brinker," "Tales of King Arthur," "Scottish Chiefs," etc. After my children were born I discovered new classics: Edward Eager, "The Phantom Tollbooth," Philip Pullman, Diana Wynne Jones, Lloyd Alexander, and of course Harry Potter.

The Bastable books were written for literate children of 8-14 almost a hundred years ago, and may be a little difficult for the easy-reader child of today, who thinks Harry Potter is full of hard words! It also has an "I" narrator, which many children do not like. But E. Nesbit was one of the first great children's writers, and in my opinion this is the best of all her books.

Although E. Nesbit is rightly well-known known for fantasies like "The Phoenix and the Carpet," "The Enchanted Castle," or "Five Children and It," this book is not a fantasy. The Bastables are six lively children who live in a dreary London suburb in a row house. Their mother is dead, their discouraged, rather milquetoast father has lost all his money. The children are left to their own devices, since they can no longer afford to go to school (this is the turn of the 19th century). They decide to go about seeking their fortune, and do so in the most imaginative and amusing ways. They often get into trouble, bicker, pout, and basically act like real children; but their emphasis on old-fashioned honor and bravery is a welcome change from modern books. Many of the scenes are very funny, especially to older readers who can figure out what is really happening, versus what the children think is happening. It is also fascinating to see how creative the children have to be to entertain themselves-- which they are very good at! and to marvel at how much more freedom of movement children had in those days. No one is worrying about their safety as they travel around London alone all day long. The narration itself is clever, both because the narrator, who is one of the children, tries to write in a literary style (with funny results), and because the narrator is trying to fool the reader.

The children accidentally bury alive a neighbor boy who "doesn't know how to play," ruin a fishing contest, kill a pudding, play with a real princess, meet a famous politician and a poet, and set out to catch a burglar. They quarrel over lost balls, who should pay for treats, and who has to take care of the youngest brother, whom they have nicknamed after a cereal ad, and who always insists on tagging along. You find yourself laughing and realize that these could be children you know today. There is almost no Victorian/Edwardian sentimentality (some may have been required to be publishable in those days, just as political correctness is now), and only a few convenient happy endings.

This book brings the past to life more vividly than almost any I have ever read. I find myself thinking of it whenever I read about that period of history. It's odd to think the boys would have been just the age to fight and perhaps die in the First World War. The Bastables are a children's classic.

Funny in an Original Way.
The Treasure Seekers is written from the point of view of a young British boy trying along with his siblings to recover "the lost treasures of the house of Bastable."

The book is crammed with hilarity. To begin with, the speaker says that he will not give away who he is - "While the story is going on you may be trying to guess, only I bet you don't." Throughout the book, he makes little digs about his siblings, and adds things like, "Oswald often thinks of very intersting things. And directly he thought of it he did not keep it to himself, as some boys would have, but he told the others."

His writing is very straightforward and honest (if biased), like a boy. And he does not try to be funny at all. Some ironies are obvious to the reader, making us chuckle while Oswald is very serious about them.

On the whole, Oswald is very likeable and understandable and creative, as are Dora, Dicky, Alice, Noel, and H.O. They get into scrapes with their good intentions, but the ending (in Oswald's words) "is like what happens in Dickens's books; but I think it was much jollier to happen like a book."

Cultural Reference "Let dogs delight..."
Some of the cultural references in the book are obscure, but finding what they mean can be a lot of fun. Here is the context of "Let dogs delight..." It is from an old hymn to encourage children to get along with each other. Here is the text:

Song 16. Against quarrelling and fighting. (8,6,8,6)
Let dogs delight to bark and bite,
For God has made them so:
Let bears and lions growl and fight,
For `tis their nature, too.
But, children, you should never let
Such angry passions rise:
Your little hands were never made
To tear each other's eyes.
Let love through all your actions run,
And all your words be mild:
Live like the blessed Virgin's Son,
That sweet and lovely child.
His soul was gentle as a lamb;
And as his stature grew,
He grew in favour both with man,
And God his Father, too.
Now, Lord of all, he reigns above;
And from his heavenly throne
He sees what children dwell in love,
And marks them for his own.