Four Children and It

Bookworm Rosalind and her younger brother Robbie aren’t enjoying the summer holidays, cooped up in their Dad’s new house with their annoying stepsister Smash. Luckily there’s adorable Maudie, their little half-sister, to play with – and Rosalind can always escape into one of her beloved books, like Five Children and It by E. Nesbit. But when the family head off on a picnic to nearby Oxshott Woods, something extraordinary happens: just like the children in Rosalind’s book, they discover a strange creature called the Psammead who has the power to make their wishes come true.

Jacqueline Wilson pays tribute to her ‘all-time favourite classic children’s author’ E. Nesbit in this contemporary reimagining of Five Children and It. Although this is very much an archetypal Jacqueline Wilson story about the complexities and challenges of modern family life, it also remains true to the spirit of the original: the children’s wishes tend to go a bit wrong, but there’s plenty of fun and magic along the way before the story reaches its satisfyingly happy ending.

Wilson does a convincing job of recreating the Psammead, and Nesbit’s original ‘five children’ even make a cameo appearance, but even for readers who are not familiar with Five Children and It, this is a lively and engaging family adventure.

Four Children and It will be published on 16 August.