What do you think?
Rate this book
Bastable Children #4
Oswald Bastable and Others
Oswald Bastable and Others By Edith Nesbit
108 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1905
About the author
E. Nesbit
1,110 books1,025 followers
Edith Nesbit
(married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English author and poet; she published her books for children under the name of E. Nesbit.
She wrote or 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, a socialist organisation later connected to the Labour Party.
Edith Nesbit was born in Kennington, Surrey, the daughter of agricultural chemist and schoolmaster John Collis Nesbit. The death of her father when she was four and the continuing ill health of her sister meant that Nesbit had a transitory childhood, her family moving across Europe in search of healthy climates only to return to England for financial reasons. Nesbit therefore spent her childhood attaining an education from whatever sources were available—local grammars, the occasional boarding school but mainly through reading.
At 17 her family finally settled in London and aged 19, Nesbit met Hubert Bland, a political activist and writer. They became lovers and when Nesbit found she was pregnant they became engaged, marrying in April 1880. After this scandalous (for Victorian society) beginning, the marriage would be an unconventional one. Initially, the couple lived separately—Nesbit with her family and Bland with his mother and her live-in companion Maggie Doran.
Initially, Edith Nesbit books were novels meant for adults, including The Prophet's Mantle (1885) and The Marden Mystery (1896) about the early days of the socialist movement. Written under the pen name of her third child 'Fabian Bland', these books were not successful. Nesbit generated an income for the family by lecturing around the country on socialism and through her journalism (she was editor of the Fabian Society's journal, Today).
In 1899 she had published The Adventures of the Treasure Seekers to great acclaim.
She wrote or 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, a socialist organisation later connected to the Labour Party.
Edith Nesbit was born in Kennington, Surrey, the daughter of agricultural chemist and schoolmaster John Collis Nesbit. The death of her father when she was four and the continuing ill health of her sister meant that Nesbit had a transitory childhood, her family moving across Europe in search of healthy climates only to return to England for financial reasons. Nesbit therefore spent her childhood attaining an education from whatever sources were available—local grammars, the occasional boarding school but mainly through reading.
At 17 her family finally settled in London and aged 19, Nesbit met Hubert Bland, a political activist and writer. They became lovers and when Nesbit found she was pregnant they became engaged, marrying in April 1880. After this scandalous (for Victorian society) beginning, the marriage would be an unconventional one. Initially, the couple lived separately—Nesbit with her family and Bland with his mother and her live-in companion Maggie Doran.
Initially, Edith Nesbit books were novels meant for adults, including The Prophet's Mantle (1885) and The Marden Mystery (1896) about the early days of the socialist movement. Written under the pen name of her third child 'Fabian Bland', these books were not successful. Nesbit generated an income for the family by lecturing around the country on socialism and through her journalism (she was editor of the Fabian Society's journal, Today).
In 1899 she had published The Adventures of the Treasure Seekers to great acclaim.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 15, 2023
The Bastable stories (comprised of The Treasure Seekers, The Wouldbegoods, The New Treasure Seekers, and this volume) are my favorite of Nesbit’s creations. Somewhat unusually for Nesbit, there isn’t any fantasy element - they follow the adventures and misadventures of a large family of children. But what I find really delightful is how slyly funny these stories are - generally as a byproduct of Oswald’s narration. For example:
“'You shut up!' said Oswald, whose eagle eye had caught a glimpse of scarlet through the arch of the ruin. None of the others had seen this. Perhaps you will think I do not say enough about Oswald's quickness of sight, so I had better tell you that is only because Oswald is me, and very modest. At least, he tries to be, because he knows it is what a true gentleman ought to.”
Less than half of this volume is comprised of Bastable stories; the remainder is mainly fairytales. All good, but my heart belongs to Oswald.
(One final note: all of Nesbit is in the public domain. I read this on Kindle, poorly but adequately formatted, very cheap.)
“'You shut up!' said Oswald, whose eagle eye had caught a glimpse of scarlet through the arch of the ruin. None of the others had seen this. Perhaps you will think I do not say enough about Oswald's quickness of sight, so I had better tell you that is only because Oswald is me, and very modest. At least, he tries to be, because he knows it is what a true gentleman ought to.”
Less than half of this volume is comprised of Bastable stories; the remainder is mainly fairytales. All good, but my heart belongs to Oswald.
(One final note: all of Nesbit is in the public domain. I read this on Kindle, poorly but adequately formatted, very cheap.)
January 5, 2017
Thanks to Gutenberg for this classic freebie. Not Nesbit's best work, at least when it comes to the Oswald stories. She spent too much time having him misuse words, which kids probably wouldn't get but adults would. Adults of the time might find this entertaining and "cute" but of course it would go over kids' heads. (I once tried to be "cute" by misusing a couple of long words as a child, till I realised the adult I was trying to amuse--a schoolteacher--didn't have those words in her active vocabulary. I did. Last time I tried to be cute.)
The non-Bastable stories are Nesbit's fairytales, which she does much better, except for the weird one about the boys riding across the ocean on a bicycle.
I have shelved this as "children" because they are the main characters, but most young kids of today wouldn't get the points, as they know nothing of the Victorian world the stories are set in. An enjoyable bedtime read to relax with, for grownups.
The non-Bastable stories are Nesbit's fairytales, which she does much better, except for the weird one about the boys riding across the ocean on a bicycle.
I have shelved this as "children" because they are the main characters, but most young kids of today wouldn't get the points, as they know nothing of the Victorian world the stories are set in. An enjoyable bedtime read to relax with, for grownups.
March 6, 2016
Nesbit amuses and entertains as always. Will always love her style - indeed I love her books more than Blyton's… although not by too much :)
What makes Nesbit's young characters lovable is how normal and unintentional they are when they get themselves into one mischief after another. Just like you and me as children. What? Not you? Okay fine then.
What makes Nesbit's young characters lovable is how normal and unintentional they are when they get themselves into one mischief after another. Just like you and me as children. What? Not you? Okay fine then.
July 18, 2022
The sexism in some of the others was pretty bad. It's ok when it's just Oswald being a brat, but it feels strange coming from characters who don't need to present sexist messages. Unsure if this was Nesbit's actual thinking, or she thought that was what people would buy, or if her publishers made her.
December 26, 2019
The nice thing about E Nesbit is how the length of time between reading one of her books doesn't matter because it always feels like you're coming home.
August 11, 2018
Nice selection of other stories, in the vein of some of her other short story collections--a lot of fairy tales and magic-related ones.
June 24, 2025
3 stars & 3/10 hearts. The first two stories are about the Bastables. I enjoyed them a lot! They were around the same strain as in the first three books. The first story in particular was very funny. All the other stories, however, dealt with magic/supernatural things. Some could be explained (“it was a dream”) but not most, and I’m just not comfortable reading them again.
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “My father was not pleased when he saw the Goat. But when Alice told him it was for the bazaar, he laughed, and let us keep it in the stableyard. It got out early in the morning, and came right into the house, and butted the cook in her own back-kitchen, a thing even Oswald himself would have hesitated before doing. So that showed it was a brave Goat.”
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “My father was not pleased when he saw the Goat. But when Alice told him it was for the bazaar, he laughed, and let us keep it in the stableyard. It got out early in the morning, and came right into the house, and butted the cook in her own back-kitchen, a thing even Oswald himself would have hesitated before doing. So that showed it was a brave Goat.”
July 11, 2011
I was surprised and somewhat disappointed to realize that this book was not just about the Bastable family. In fact, only the first third of the book chronicles their adventures, and the rest of the book is taken up with various short stories of a fantastical nature. Despite my initial disappointment (though I should have guessed it by the title!), I ended up liking the last two thirds of the book even better than the first part which told stories about the Bastables! They were all cleverly thought out and well written. Many were fairy tales, but all were unique and thought-provoking without being overly moralizing. I would recommend this book to anyone!
February 20, 2012
A series of short stories, some magical, some everyday. I particularly liked 'The Missing Will' and 'Sir Christopher Cockleshell". "The Charmed Life" was interesting - with its notion of a separate life that can be kept safe outside of oneself it reminded me strongly of Diana Wynne Jones's 'Charmed Life'. I wonder if she had read it.
March 14, 2016
This has been a pretty good collection of short stories. At first I felt it could be a little too childish. As in I couldn't really relate to the stories. Then they started to get a bit better, then suddenly the content changes completely and it becomes more fairy tails. All the same I am glad I read it.
July 10, 2012
A collection of short stories, which leads to the problem of how to rate it. Some of the stories were so-so, but there were a number of really good ones, and a couple that were solid five-stars. E. Nesbit can really write a perfect fairy tale!
July 23, 2008
Hilarious and wonderful! Great read-aloud book for the kids/entire family. (Your childhood is not complete until you've read this, in my opinion.)
November 16, 2012
Interesting
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews