Five Children and It
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This classic tale delightfully explores the pitfalls of getting what you wish for, blending fantasy with timeless lessons about family and imagination.
Edition details
Book Summary
Five siblings discover a cantankerous sand-fairy, the Psammead, that grants them one wish per day, each lasting until sunset. Their wishes for beauty, wealth, and adventure lead to comedic chaos, teaching them that magic often brings unexpected consequences.
Cyril, Anthea, Robert, Jane, and their baby brother, the Lamb, move to a countryside house and unearth the Psammead, a prehistoric creature that grants daily wishes. Their first wish—to be beautiful—makes them unrecognizable to their own servants. Wishing for gold coins proves useless when shopkeepers refuse the ancient currency. A wish to be wanted ends with the Lamb kidnapped by gypsies. They fly with wings but get stranded on a church tower, and a wish for a castle traps them in a medieval siege. Robert becomes a giant to humiliate a bully, and Cyril’s wish for the Lamb to grow up creates an awkward adult child. Red Indians scalp their wigs, and a final wish for their mother’s happiness accidentally frames her for jewel theft. Through each mishap, the children learn responsibility, the limits of magic, and the value of their ordinary lives. The Psammead eventually departs, leaving them with bittersweet memories.
Reading guide
Go deeper in Five Children and It
Character guides, themes, chapter companions — plus Character Web, narrative arc, and theme heatmap teasers that unlock fully beside the text in BetterReads.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This is the story's dramatic climax because Cyril’s secret, early-morning negotiation with the Psammead repres…
Robert
Robert is one of the five children who digs up the Psammead and shares in its wishes, though he is often the one who suffers most from them. When a wish drops him among armoured men who call him a brave varlet, he clings to his dignity even as he longs to go home. His mix of pluck and panic makes him the reader's proxy whenever magic turns dangerous.
Cyril
Cyril is the eldest of the five and the one who thinks fastest when a wish has landed them in trouble. He is scornful of easy comfort, pointing out that no grown-up would believe in a Psammead and that stolen jewels would make their mother a receiver of stolen goods. His clear-eyed pessimism keeps the others from confessing too soon, and his schemes shape how the children survive each magical mishap.
Anthea
Anthea is the well-brought-up sister who folds her nightgown by the seams and rises at five to dig up the Sand-fairy alone. She would rather carry a plan through by herself than share it, and her gentleness with the cold, cross Psammead wins her a lap and a truce from its wish-granting. Her carefulness and her willingness to act alone make her the moral centre of the children's adventures.
Jane
Jane is the child who sniffs when the grown-ups press, and who blurts out the truth about the Fairy when her mother demands it. She is loyal and literal, more likely to be frightened than to scheme, and her siblings sometimes treat her as the baby of the group. Her plain truthfulness keeps the others honest even when they would rather lie, and her fears give the wishes a human cost.
The Lamb
The Lamb is the toddler brother whom Martha dresses in his best coat and the older children alternately cherish and try to hand off. When a careless wish ages him into a drawling young man in a grey flannel suit, the others must decide whether his mind grew up with his body. His transformation turns the family's ordinary burden of babysitting into a crisis that tests their loyalty and their nerve.
Martha
Martha keeps house for the children and the Lamb, laying the cloth with a bang and refusing to be flattered out of her suspicions. When Anthea offers her a Liberty box to take the Lamb to Rochester, Martha sees at once that the real aim is to get the baby off their hands. Her knowing, grudging compliance keeps the household running and gives the children's plots a practical, adult obstacle.
Wish Fulfillment and Its Consequences
The central premise of the book is that the children's wishes are granted by the Psammead, but each wish leads to unexpected and often troublesome outcomes, teaching that getting what you want is not always desirable.
Childhood vs. Adulthood
The children's adventures contrast the freedom and imagination of childhood with the constraints and responsibilities of adulthood, as seen in their desire to be grown up and the complications that arise when they temporarily become adults.
The Value of Imagination and Play
The narrative celebrates the children's imaginative play, such as digging to Australia or pretending to be historical figures, and suggests that creativity and exploration are essential to a happy childhood.
Family and Sibling Dynamics
The relationships among the five children—including their squabbles, cooperation, and loyalty—are central to the story, highlighting how family bonds are tested and strengthened through shared adventures.