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E. Nesbit

Portrait of Edith Nesbit

From Wikipedia;
Edith Nesbit (married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English author and poet; she published her books for children under the name of E. Nesbit.

She wrote or collaborated on more than 60 books of children’s literature. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a socialist organisation later affiliated to the Labour Party.

I have a baker’s dozen of her books which I will be adding to this page; the work goes slowly because I keep forgetting that I’m supposed to be formatting, and I start reading instead…
The Bastable series has made me laugh out loud quite often.

The Story of the Treasure Seekers

We meet these raucous, redoubtable, resourceful children for the first time, as they invent and implement one scheme after another to raise the Bastable Family fortune once more . Back in the day this book was considered “Uproarious;” I think it’s pretty funny, personally.

The WouldbeGoods

Having ended the first book on a high note, our intrepid family cannot keep themselves from finding new and improved ways to have fun and keep the local gentry on its toes. The illustrations are wonderful and— side note— this is the epub file where I have learned to manage drop caps.

Another well-known series is the “Psammead Trilogy.”

The titular children meet a magical creature that grants wishes. Being beautiful as the day, for instance— or having a mountain of gold sovereigns. Or wings. But so many of their wishes go sideways! Little by little the children learn how to control their desires and expectations.

But this is not a book about controlling desires and expectations. Make no mistake, this is a book about magical adventure; but as the author remarks in one chapter; “I did not mean it to have a moral, but morals are nasty forward beings, and will keep putting in their oars where they are not wanted…”