Five Children on the Western Front

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This book illustrates wonderfully how hard the war was, not just on the soldiers, but on the families (and Sand Fairies! I am truly sorry to say this , I mean no offence to the lovers of this book,but I dont reccomend this book. It is up to them, and the others when they can be around, to help the Psammead discover what's happened to him.

The Psammead’s confessions mirror what is happening in the background of the children’s lives - the Great War, which is where Cyril is fighting. Anytime that a prequel or sequel is published, especially to an old children’s literary classic, we ask ourselves whether or not it’s necessary. sometimes I get into stupid dumb idiotic moods where I desperately look for a good book to read bc I read/watched something that completely changed my brain chemistry (in this case it was Why Didn't They Ask Evans? We are made by friends and family and the knowledge that somewhere out there sleeps a Psammead, or that there's a wardrobe which leads to Narnia.It is from this point in that I found that tonally, this is not a Nesbit story: it’s Saunders’ and what she does with these characters in a dark and unsettling situation is deeply clever and touching. So, while I admired the bold concept, I read the first pages in trepidation: it could have backfired horribly. Something has happened to the psammead and it is for the Edie and the others to unravel the reasoning as to why he does not have the power he once wielded.

I think you can understand this is one of my favourite books that I have read in my secondary school, and this is the book that I would choose for the Carnegie medal. Edie, the youngest of the children, is adorable – and perhaps the character who feels the Psammead’s magic most keenly.It is very well written and it's a nice continuation of Nesbit's classic series, with some light exploration of the effects of the War on life at home in England. This book is beautifully written, has very enjoyable characters, is poignant and is funny and heartbreaking all at the same time. This book is packaged up in brown paper, string and a wax seal and will arrive in a box with all of our usual treats. Starting as a shy young girl, fantasizing over marrying a vet when she’s older and growing up to be a girl arguing over her right to be a doctor with her parents (the suffrage movement was just ending at the time). She builds cleverly on the Psammead’s own past and uses it as a parallel to trying to understand the atrocities of war that are going on around the family.

First sentence: The sand at the bottom of the gravel pit shifted and heaved, and out popped the furry brown head of a most extraordinary creature. She refuses to think less of the Psammead, whatever he has done: ‘I’ll never think less of you’ and when the Psammead finally prepares to leave, Edie’s words will break a little piece of your heart off: ‘I’m sorry, I can’t help crying… It’s just that I love you so much!

Just pop a note in the checkout and we will be sure to include tasty treats and beverages that suit your needs. The children initially regard the Psammead as a treasured (if rather bad-tempered) sand fairy but as the book progresses we learn about the awful crimes he committed in his time. Since the last time the five Pembertons, Anthea, Cyril, Robert, Jane and the Lamb saw the Sand Fairy ten years ago, there has been an addition to the family, Edie. With the children’s help, he learns to repent but Saunders doesn’t labour this point and her use of well-timed humour makes the message even more poignant: ‘Committing more murders,’ the Lamb suggested.