Rereading: THE BOOK OF DRAGONS by E. Nesbit

Illustrated by H. R. Millar

Edith Nesbit was a prolific author of books for children and adults, as well as poetry and other work. Her life was full of marital and family turmoil, socialist politics, and many children, both hers and others under her roof. Worth a read at the link above. This book collects eight stories about dragons published in The Strand magazine in 1899, with fine illustrations by Millar.

The writing is charming, humorous, and eventful, with most of the dragons having unexpected aspects of some kind, and the children in the stories are resourceful and clever, while also acting and speaking like real children, something Nesbit pioneered, rejecting the overly pious and treacly approach of many previous authors. The first story is perhaps the best, “The Book of Beasts,” in which an ordinary child suddenly becomes king on the death of a distant relative and inherits a castle with a library of books. One of them is magical, and when a page is opened, the beast on it comes to life and emerges into the world. This is harmless enough with a butterfly and a small bird, but the large dragon is quite a different story, and it causes all kinds of trouble.

While many of Nesbit’s books are fantasy, and there are some fine ones, what I think gives them continuing appeal is the reality of her children (and she had plenty of her own as models). Readers are quick to sympathize with their troubles and adventures because their reactions seem so believable, even if the subject is not. Some stories seem more rushed and made up as the author was writing them, but they’re still fun to read. Recommended.

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