Five Children and It

While digging in a gravel pit near their countryside holiday home, five siblings — Cyril, Anthea, Robert, Jane, and their baby brother "the Lamb" — unearth a Psammead, an irritable, ancient sand-fairy with the power to grant one wish a day. Each wish is fulfilled to the letter but expires at sunset, and the children quickly learn that getting exactly what you ask for is rarely what you actually wanted.

Wishing to be beautiful, rich, or grown-up each backfires in its own absurd way, stranding the children in scrapes with bewildered adults, a besieging army, and their own bickering. The Psammead, more interested in being left alone than in dispensing miracles, grows steadily more exasperated with its wish-happy neighbors.

Published in 1902, E. Nesbit's novel helped establish the template for modern children's fantasy — ordinary siblings, a grumpy magical creature, and wishes with consequences — and its blend of humor and gentle moral lesson has kept it in print for over a century.