Five Children on the Western Front

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It's not a deal-breaker, but it does make some of the book's revelations feel a little bit inconsequential. With the other children growing up and less interested in their old friend, especially since he isn’t quite what he used to be, the exploring and adventures are left to the two youngest.

I've never read Five Children and It but I'm familiar with the story from 90s TV series, so I already had hazy memories of the Pembletons and Psammead. Saunders recaps the originals pretty well, and I can’t help but have high hopes for the fact that it may even encourage some kids to seek out the originals.It should come as no surprise that WWI affects them, although somehow you don't think of that when you read the original books. I thought Kate Saunders did an exceptional job capturing the personalities of each of the children and the curmudgeony Psammead originally created by Nesbit. is not necessarily going to have a happy ending, but there are touching moments and the story ends on a bitter-sweet note.

Unlike me, Saunders calculated that all those Edwardian children whom Nesbit brought to life so vividly – with their knickerbockers and tweed, their altercations with housemaids and their endearing turns of phrase ("Do dry up, Cyril! At the time, I never really noticed that most of her books follow a reliable - even repetitive - pattern (short story mini-adventures of siblings strung out into a novel, often with a grumpy magical creature involved), that her language and attitude is distinctly upper-class, or that they wouldn't really work outside of their own era.I think that one of the things I enjoyed most about the original Five Children and It (although it's probably been about 15-20 years since I read it) was that the wishes always went awry, and the Psammead was just like "lol w/e" while the children scrabbled to get themselves out of all sorts of scrapes. I have to confess that it has been a long time since I read Five Children and It and probably won't re-read it now that I've read this novel. With short, accessible chapters, this is the story of how a stray dog, a self-obsessed cat and a war-ready pigeon named Bomber embark on a perilous mission for the sake of two orphaned children.

Emotionally the last few chapters are tough and this book will certainly stay with you and that’s a good thing. With the children’s help, he learns to repent but Saunders doesn’t labour this point and her use of well-timed humour makes the message even more poignant: ‘Committing more murders,’ the Lamb suggested. This fits in nicely with the originals but I must admit, it was blindly obvious to me that a character that was supposed to be a cockney, was coming out with these kind of archaic sayings too! From Cyril’s first letter from the front, I felt a deep sense of foreboding and uncertainty for the children and their fairy friend: I felt that they and the story sat poised a knife-edge of great change. The children have now grown up: Cyril is off to fight, whilst Anthea is at art college, Robert is a Cambridge scholar, Jane is at school, and even the Lamb is now the grown-up age of 11.Interestingly, the author makes a very strong attempt at equating the atrocities of the Psammead’s past (which are always told in retrospect and are never seen firsthand) with the atrocities being committed as part of the war. Comfortably blending fantasy elements with an English period piece about a close family, Saunders doesn’t shy from the tragedies of WWI, but handles them with a tender sadness, eschewing any hints of sentimentality or melodrama. You don't learn about the war very much but you learn about all the risks that the family takes and what they suffer from the war.

I'm still not a fan of modern interpretations but Kate Saunders somehow managed to tap into Nesbit's voice perfectly and it was almost impossible to tell at times that this wasn't written by one of the first (and best) women authors for children herself. Although it is a darker and sadder story as the Pemberton family face World War I, I still loved every moment of it.Using letters from the trenches alongside the Psammead’s teleporting magic allows the reader to read two stories at once - that of the Psammead and his quest for redemption, and of Cyril, and indeed all of those young men at war. The Psammead in Five Children and It is a grumpy ancient sand fairy that grants the children wishes. Share in the adventures of the children and their irascible sand-fairy in all its comedy, naivety and joy before taking a final waltz with them in this touching and memorable story. While I can think of tons of historical fiction for WWII, there is very little besides the Anne of Green Gables title: "Rilla of Ingleside" about WWI.