Railway Children (Wordsworth Collection) (Wordsworth Collection)
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Railway Children (Wordsworth Collection) (Wordsworth Collection)

3.89 of 5 stars 3.89  ·  rating details  ·  4,720 ratings  ·  208 reviews
The highest standards in editing and production have been applied to the Wordsworth Children's Classics, while the low price makes them affordable for everyone. Wordsworth's list covers a range of the best-loved stories for children, from nursery tales, classic fables, and fairy tales to stories that will appeal to older children and adults alike. Many of these volumes hav...more
Paperback, 202 pages
Published March 1st 1998 by NTC/Contemporary Publishing Company (first published 1906)
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Manny
Pilot for the Celebrity Death Match Review Tournament, The Railway Children versus Atlas Shrugged

It's a capacity crowd tonight at the Surrealist Boxing Stadium, and everyone's wondering if The Railway Children have a chance against Atlas Shrugged. I can see them in the blue corner, I must say they look nervous, they know they're behind on weight and reach but their supporters are out in force, that's always worth a lot, Bobbie is trying to calm Phyllis, she's whispering something in he...more
Becki
One thing I've noticed while reading "the classics" is that most of them center around female characters. I find that interesting, especially when you look over American educational statistics and see that girls generally fair much better at English class than boys. Perhaps this could be a reason?

It was a relief, then, to read The Railway Children and discover that female and male characters get equal play in this book. In fact, it was the favorite book of a male friend of ...more
Kimi
I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH!!! What more can I say, huh?

Ceritanya tentang keluarga, terdiri dari Father, Mother, dan tiga anak mereka, yaitu Bobbie, Peter, dan Phyllis. Karena ada suatu hal, ayah mereka meninggalkan mereka dan mereka pun harus pindah ke desa. Dan dari situ kisah dimulai.

Kisahnya sangat menggugah hati. Bobbie, Peter, dan Phyllis digambarkan sebagai anak-anak yang baik hati, ramah, rendah hati, dan suka menolong. Tapi, deskripsi pengarang tidak berlebihan sehingg...more
Stacy
Stacy rated it 2 of 5 stars
For some reason, I did not find this adventure book nearly as entertaining to read as Swallows and Amazons. Perhaps it was the unbelievable do-goodishness and endless supply of less than nice things happening in their neighbourhood that they could remedy. Maybe I just like that "Pippy Longstocking" or "Peanuts" effect where the adults are non-existant or in the background. These kids want to be friends with all the grownups around - what's that about?
What was education...more
Mandi
The children and I read this book together. I've often heard of it, but never read it, and now that I have... it's a favorite. It's rightfully called a classic. The story of these three children as their lives change dramatically and they move from London Society to a small country house is touching and should be a standard in every home. This family is brave both morally and otherwise. They stand up for what is right and do little acts of kindnesses even when they're not sure if they shoul...more
Geoffrey Dow
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Time travel is fraught with terrors, personal time travel most of all. Whether it is in the discovery that one's ancestors were criminals and murderers, or only that one's youthful tastes weren't as sophisticated as one thought (see note #74, o

...more
Stephanie Pina
I had never read this classic before and picked it up at the library as a bit of an afterthought. I read it aloud nightly to my children at bedtime and all three of them (ages 13, 12, 6) were enthralled.
I'm not sure if I would have liked it as much had I been reading it by myself. But cuddled up with each of the children as they shared their comments on the characters and situations has cemented The Railway Children into our memories. Our family dynamic contributed to the enjoyment. ...more
Indah Widianto
Judul versi bahasa Indonesia-nya adalah "Anak2 Kereta Api" :D

Ini juga buku jaman gua SD dulu dhe, atau ngga ya SMP githu dhe.

And mungkin karena ini juga termasuk buku klasik yang mana terbit di awal tahun 1900-an makanya kerasa bangets bedanya dengan cerita anak2 jaman sekarang, karena jaman dulu githu anak2 mah belon disibukkan dengan teknologi kalee jadi dalam cerita pun sang tokoh sibuk bermain2 di alam bebas menikmati belaian angin dan dapat melihat sepuasny...more
Elizabeth McDonald
Elizabeth McDonald rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommended to Elizabeth by: Edward Eager, I suppose
Shelves: childrens, british
A sweet book! The only E. Nesbit I read as a child was Five Children and It, and it's kind of delightful to discover more of her work now. I love seeing how much Edward Eager (author of Half Magic, among others, and long one of my favorites) drew from E. Nesbit. The children might all be cousins for how similarly they're written - and how realistically. Unlike most authors of her day, Nesbit portrayed her child characters as very human. They get into scuffles and arguments with each other, make ...more
Laura
I believe this may be one of the best children's stories I have ever read. Told in a creative and sprightly way, this book carries you into the story of Roberta, Peter and Phyllis. After their father is called away on a long, mysterious trip, these three must adjust and help their mother as they sell their mansion and move into a smaller cottage just outside of a rural village. There they make friends with various people who work at the railway station, and thus begins their love of trains. They...more
Fanda VIXXIO
Seperti halnya buku2 klasik lainnya, buku ini juga mengusung semangat kanak-kanak yang semakin menghilang dari hati kita. Semakin dewasa sepertinya kita makin sulit untuk merasa gembira. Tak seperti anak-anak, hal-hal sederhana bisa mendatangkan keasyikan bagi mereka. Tapi Bobbie, Peter & Phyllis bukan anak-anak yang hanya bisa bersenang-senang. Mereka sopan, ramah pada siapa saja, selalu ingin membuat orang lain gembira, dan mau menolong dengan tulus. Itu semua mereka warisi dari ibu mereka, ya...more
Theta Sigma
Having never read this book, and my only knowledge of it being the 1970 film starring Jenny Agutter and Bernard Cribbins along with the recent theatrical version at the Waterloo Station in London, I came to this book thinking that I may not have as much an appreciation of it as somebody who doesn't know the story at all.

I have no shame at all, even though I'm a (cough) thirty-something year old, in saying that I absolutely loved this book.

It harkens back to a more innocent er...more
Michelle
This book was first published in 1900 in Great Britain. Edith Nesbit was a favorite author of JK Rowling when she was a young girl. Nesbit has a wonderful conversaitonal quality to her stories, and makes the reader feel like you and the author share great secrets. This book is 329 pages, and contains a lot of turn of the century Brittish verbage... so you'll need to explain quite a few terms and phrases. It's a very sweet story about a family that experiences great sadness, and the adventure...more
Tracey
Again E. Nesbit shows herself expert at showing-not-telling, and at writing for anyone and everyone. With the story told from the point of view of the children, and aimed at children, all anyone under a certain height level is going to understand is that the father of the family goes away one night and does not come back, and the mother tells the three that he is away on business – and everything changes. Mother is upset or sad all the time, even when courageously pretending otherwise. The ch...more
Carsten Thomsen
Nothing like a good children's book to set ones mind on something a little more positive. I liked The Railway Children - a story about a mother with three children who are forced to move out of their house and give up their wealthy lifestyle.

The father disappears rather suddenly and no one - except the mother - knows what has happened. The family moves to a little cottage at the country side near a railway - and it's here the children form new friendships and experience a lot of adven...more
Douglas Summers-stay
I liked the Phoenix and the Carpet, and a few other books by E. Nesbit I had read (though The Enchanted Castle got arbitrary, as Daniel would say) but I wasn't sure about this non-fantasy. But it turned out to be good. The only trouble was rather too many improbable events where the children managed to save lives. One, sure. Three was really overdoing it.
I liked how the father being sent to prison was revealed only as the children themselves understood what had happened. And the best p...more
Ann Marron
The Railway Children was my favourite book as a child, and after reading again as an adult, it is staying firmly in my favourites pile. A wonderfully written book, it tells the story of the Waterbury family who move to “The Three Chimneys” after their father is falsely arrested and jailed on suspicion of being a spy for the Russians. Life changes dramatically for the three children in many ways. They leave their comfortable home and life for a small cottage along a railway. They are forced to be...more
Toby
I was really surprised to read above that this book was originally published in 1978. In fact, good old Wikipedia informs us that the story was originally serialized in a London Magazine in 1905, which feels about right. There is a political undertone here, of prisoners jailed both in England and in Russia, but without that historical context, I can't see any appeal for modern American children. I was interested to read a book by E. Nesbit, after learning of Jane Yolen's fascination with her ...more
Anne
This classic must be on our library shelves because the town was once a railway town, as are so many small burgs in the South. I skimmed it because the mother in The Children's Book was modeled on this one, writer of fairy stories, endlessly good and patient. The children do nothing but good deeds, don't fight because they don't want to add to their mother's burdens since their father is mysteriously missing. Written early in the 1900s, similar to The Bobbsey Twins and Five Little Peppers and ...more
Faith Bradham
My favorite E. Nesbit book. :)
I always cry at the end...not because its sad, but just because its rather heartbreakingly happy.
Julie
This is the story of three siblings whose father goes away and they have to go live in the country with their mother. Their most promising source of entertainment is the nearby railway station. They make friends with the men who work there, wave at the passing trains, and have numerous adventures. They tend to save the day a fair bit.

The girls are treated equally to their brother by the author, and even by their parents really. Considering that this is Edwardian Britain. And even jus...more
David
A terrific bedtime book, over about 2 weeks. Chaya's favourite at 6 1/2, and has led us into the rest of the Nesbit oeuvre. It starts with the children protagonists' father being mysteriously arrested, and the family abruptly plunged into poverty, which might have seemed frightening, but somehow wasn't. In any case, this was just a device for getting the family out of London and into a country shack where they could experience the full measure of the magical allure of the steam train. Nesbit's c...more
Sarah
The book of my childhood, I first read it when I was seven and am still reading it seven years later (do the maths! :P) It was a fabulous book, I don't rate it as highly as A Little Princess or Little Women, but I am definitely not one of those people who say it was actually far worse than the film. I think it was a funny, charming little novel, though due to Nesbit's crisp, no-nonsense style of writing, it was slightly lacking in the strong feeling needed to put across the tragedy of the book. ...more
Nikki
Ah, nostalgia. I've been meaning to reread this for a while, and it's probably a pity I didn't do it in time for my children's literature exam. Still, there it is. I felt like the English Lit student was ticking boxes in my head as I went through: morality lessons, check, didactic narrator, check, discussion of the different roles for men and women, check, happy domestic life, check...

Still, it's also fun to disregard that and read about the three kids getting into trouble and helpin...more
Sabah
I read a very simplified and lame edition of this book which was one of those classic literature turned into oxford learning material or what ever, Although I treasure SOME classic , like Les Miserables , and The Merchant Of Venice , this is not one that I think of rereading in a real , and unabriged copy , I just hated it and will forever shall , I don't know if it is because the stupidity of the plot, or if it just seemed that way because of the simple writing (it was almost 50 pages + illustr...more
Sue
I love reading children's books, particularly classics like this. The story is well-known: three children live an idyllic life with their cheerful father and loving mother in the early part of the 20th century. One day some men arrive unexpectedly and their father goes away with them. Their mother is very upset, and before long they move to a smaller house near a railway station.

The book mostly follows the lives of the children, who no longer go to school so are free to roam around t...more
Poernomo Gunawan
A touching story about a family whose father had to leave for a mysterious affair, leaving the children and their mother to start their lives in different way, different place, and definitely different socio-economic circumstances.
Seeing the children finding their joy in little things around them, including just a warm hand-wave from a friendly stranger on the train that always passed nearby their house has already given me a shed of tear.
I indulged in their simple-heartedness and ...more
Fida Amalia Fathimah
'Berpapasan' dengan buku ini di Bandung Book Center dan langsung teringat judulnya sebagai buku favorit salah satu karakter di novel Agatha Christie (bukan karakter yang baik sih sebenarnya). Langsung tertarik untuk beli dan untungnya saya tidak menyesal. Ini memang buku anak-anak, ceritanya manis, menarik, dan ringan sekaligus bermakna: bagaimana karakter-karakter di dalamnya menghadapi situasi masing-masing, masalah yang dihadapi keluarga protogonis, dll.
Karensi
I loved the BBC film adaptation growing up and can't believe I am only reading the book now. I'm glad to say it is just as sweet if not sweeter. It's one of those books I think I would read if ever I needed my spirits lifted. I really wish I had read it as a kid as I think it would have been a firm favourite and one that I would have read over and over again. Surprisingly my favourite character was not Roberta but Phyllis who I found extremely funny.
Elizabeth
Cute story about three children and their adventures with the railway. When some mysterious event takes their father away from them, the family is forced to live in the country and "pretend at being poor". The three children, Roberta, Peter and Phyllis, endear themselves to the railway station and the village in general and help out in different situations. They even make friends with the railway tycoon who rides the 9:15 train - who they only refer to as "the old gentlemen"...more
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The Railway Children (Paperback)
The Railway Children (Paperback)
The Railway Children (Paperback)
The Railway Children (Hardcover)
The Railway Children (Paperback)

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Edith Nesbit used only her first initial for her published work. She and her husband were founding members of the Fabian Society and their home was a center for literary and socialist activities. E. Nesbit wrote and collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, ...more
More about E. Nesbit...
Five Children and It The Phoenix and the Carpet The Enchanted Castle The Enchanted Castle & Five Children and It The Story of the Treasure Seekers

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“There was a pleasant party of barge people round the fire. You might not have thought it pleasant, but they did; for they were all friends or acquaintances, and they liked the same sort of things, and talked the same sort of talk. This is the real secret of pleasant society.” 1 person liked it
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