Rereading: THE MAGIC WORLD by E. Nesbit

First published in 1912, this book collects twelve Nesbit stories involving magic of some kind, though all but one of them have new characters and situations (one story has a returning character in a small role). The stories range from cautionary tales like “The Cat-Hood of Maurice,” in which a boy who torments his cat is turned into one to see how he likes it, to traditional fairy tale themes of princesses who are cursed by evil fairies at their christening, and how they overcome. Nesbit’s narrative style is welcoming and personal, she sometimes adds bits of information about herself, and her children almost always act like real children, the element that made her stories stand out at a time when many authors of books for children either talked down to readers, or lectured them, or portrayed children as unrealistically gentle and well-behaved. This makes her stories seem fresh and modern despite the archaic settings of some and the time they were written. Nesbit’s magic is always interesting, too.

Recommended, though I prefer her novels to her short stories.

The post Rereading: THE MAGIC WORLD by E. Nesbit appeared first on Todd's Blog.