I’m circling back to Five Children and It after having read The Phoenix and the Carpet, which is the second book in this series. Like the second book, Five Children and It is a fun, charming read, though unfortunately there are a few outdated chapters that show it’s a product of its time.

Five Children and It starts when the titular five children (Cyril, Anthea, Robert, Jane, and the Baby/Lamb) find a Psammead – a sand fairy – while playing in a gravel pit. The Psammead, while rather grumpy and odd looking, agrees to grant the children one wish every day. Unfortunately, the wishes, the first of which is to be “as beautiful as the day”, all do not turn out the way the children imagine. Luckily for the five of them, all the wishes will turn to stone by sundown.

As with the second book, this is a collection of somewhat standalone stories, loosely tied together with time, the Psammead, the romance of their servant Martha with a gamekeeper that is involved in one of their adventures. The children quickly get around the effects of their wishes by wishing that the adults in their house don’t notice what happens, so no matter what the consequence of the wish, the children are merely seen as naughty children (which they are).

One big difference I noticed between the two books is the authorial voice. While both books are told by an omniscient narrator, I felt that the narrator is much more involved here, making comments about the children and about the story as well. It feels quite personal, as though the book is talking directly to the reader, and it’s pretty fun.

One good thing that stayed the same was that the children are wonderfully realistic. They aren’t perfect kids but they’re not brats either. They have their good and bad moments, and it’s interesting to watch them. I did find it a bit funny how they reacted to the wish for the baby to grow up, because the baby acted like how many young adults do, but the children were just so offended at the behaviour (like children do). That chapter showed the self-importance that children place on themselves, and reminded me that some of the brashness of youth is natural.

Unfortunately, the first book is just as classist as the second book. At one point, the children disrupt the baker’s boy as he’s going about their work (they ambush him while playing bandit) and then are offended that the boy fights back. I rolled my eyes a little at that scene, because the children are so clearly in the wrong and the book doesn’t bother to point that out despite the narrator talking about fighting fair.

When it comes to writing about other races, however, the book is a bit of a mixed bag. Early on in the book, the children run into a group of Romani people who, contrary to their stereotype, do not steal babies. They do want the Lamb, but only because they are under the influence of the children’s wish. When the sun goes down, they are shown to be as normal as the children, with one young lady even giving the baby a blessing. On the other hand, there’s also a chapter where the children wish that “Red Indians” (Indigenous Americans) are in England and the people that are spirited over behave in a very stereotypical way. I was honestly uncomfortable with that chapter and it quite ruined the fun for me.

While charming, the flaws of Five Children and It are even bigger than that of the sequel. I would have recommended The Phoenix and the Carpet to children who are looking for fantasy or something fun, but recommending this is a lot harder. The Romani chapter does help to challenge stereotypes of the times, but the chapter involving Indigenous Americans played into the stereotype. Adults looking for something to read may find this an interesting study, but I’m not sure if this is suitable for children (not without discussions led by parents, at the very least).