Five Children and It

1902

E. Nesbit's 1902 children's novel. Five children digging in a gravel pit turn up a Psammead, a bad-tempered sand-fairy who grants one wish a day that wears off at sunset, and every wish goes wrong in a way they did not think to guard against: beauty nobody recognises, guineas no shop will take, wings that strand them on a church tower. Eleven chapters, opening with Nesbit's dedication to John Bland.