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Four Children and It

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The new bestseller from Jacqueline Wilson, creator of Tracy Beaker, Hetty Feather and The Illustrated Mum, is a funny, moving and heartwarming story of four children who discover a way to make wishes come true. Echoing the classic E Nesbit novel, Five Children and It, this new story from this mega-selling author, winner of the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, is a brilliant read not just for those familiar with the original book but for any of Wilson's millions of fans.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2012

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1330 people want to read

About the author

Jacqueline Wilson

399 books5,695 followers
Jacqueline Wilson was born in Bath in 1945, but spent most of her childhood in Kingston-on-Thames. She always wanted to be a writer and wrote her first ‘novel’ when she was nine, filling in countless Woolworths’ exercise books as she grew up. As a teenager she started work for a magazine publishing company and then went on to work as a journalist on Jackie magazine (which she was told was named after her!) before turning to writing novels full-time.

One of Jacqueline’s most successful and enduring creations has been the famous Tracy Beaker, who first appeared in 1991 in The Story of Tracy Beaker. This was also the first of her books to be illustrated by Nick Sharratt. Since then Jacqueline has been on countless awards shortlists and has gone on to win many awards. The Illustrated Mum won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award, the 1999 Children’s Book of the Year at the British Book Awards and was also shortlisted for the 1999 Whitbread Children’s Book Award.

Double Act won the prestigious Smarties Medal and the Children’s Book Award as well as being highly commended for the Carnegie Medal. The Story of Tracy Beaker won the 2002 Blue Peter People’s Choice Award.

Jacqueline is one of the nation’s favourite authors, and her books are loved and cherished by young readers not only in the UK but all over the world. She has sold millions of books and in the UK alone the total now stands at over 35 million!

In 2002 Jacqueline was awarded the OBE for services to literacy in schools and from 2005 to 2007 she was the Children’s Laureate. In 2008 she became Dame Jacqueline Wilson.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 131 reviews
Profile Image for Hayley.
136 reviews32 followers
December 3, 2017
I feel the cosy buzz of nostalgia covering me like a warm blanket right now.

This book was a delight, I loved rereading this and rediscovering memories in the pages the first time I read this.

I haven’t read this book neither any of Jacqueline Wilson’s other books since i was a child and I’m so happy I made the decision to reread this one and Four Children and It is one of my favourites from this wonderful and beloved childhood author of mine.

I did get a bit emotional throughout this reading experience and I am still because it is over but I know I will treasure this story just for what it meant to me all those years ago.

*sigh*

I’m just gonna sit here with a grin on my face and think of this book a little while more.
Profile Image for Monica Edinger.
Author 6 books353 followers
August 27, 2012
This just came out in the UK, but I couldn't find any indication if it is to be published in the US so I picked it up while in London and quickly read it while there figuring I'd leave it behind with someone if it wasn't that great. And I admit I was skeptical because Wilson isn't a fantasy writer plus in a recent interview she said she liked the Bastable stories. Now I think there are two kinds of Nesbit fans --- those who love the realistic Bastable tales and those who love the fantasy ones with the Psammead, the Phoenix, the Amulet, and so forth. I'm definitely one of the latter. And not only do I adore Nesbit's fantasy stories (and they've held up for me upon rereading as an adult), but I'm very skittish about people doing sequels of beloved books decades later. So, yeah, I had quite a chip on my shoulder going into this one.

But I have to say Wilson did a pretty decent job and I ended up quite liking this. The story is told by Rosalind who is a bookworm and whose favorite book is Five Children and It. She and her little brother are staying with their father and his newish wife, her daughter from her previous marriage, and the toddler they had together. Got that? So basically there are tensions between Rosalind and her stepsister, between the children and parents, etc etc. The sort of thing Wilson does so well in many of her books and does so here too.

They all head off for a picnic in the woods where there is a sandpit and in very short order the children encounter the Psammead -- the very same one, in fact, from Five Children and It. They begin with various wishes that quite fit their personalities and things go well and not so well just as in the original book. I think Wilson did a very good job coming up with wishes that are contemporary, but in the same vein as those in the original, say becoming rich and famous, meeting up with the original Five Children, and others. She captured the charm of the little half sister in the way that Nesbit did the Lamb. And she did a fantastic job with food --- I loved that she got that the Nesbit kids are always appreciating food. Wilson updated that beautifully.

My main quibble is with the contrivance Wilson came up with to get the kids back to the Psammead day after day. This happens with the kids talking the adults into picnic after picnic after picnic (all with incredibly yummy food) day after day after day. I just had trouble buying into the adults being so agreeable. Otherwise it is quite fun and I do think kids who read this and like it may well want to seek out the original.

So I liked it enough to have packed it up to take back to the US with me. And it is a big ol' hardback too!
Profile Image for Jo Bennie.
489 reviews30 followers
December 1, 2014
Rosalind has been sent to live with her dad and stepmother for the summer while her mother goes to sumer school and is not best pleased. Rosalind is a bookish girl, her brother Robbie is similar, lost in a world of playing with his toy animals. But at their dad's house they have to cope with their new stepsister Samantha, always appropriately known as Smash, and life with a dad who always seems to be disappointed in them. However, there is compensation in the form of Maudy, their new half sister, an adorable toddler. On a day out having a picnic in the local woods they find a strange creature in the sand and Rosalind recognises it, it's the sand fairy or passamead from one of her books, a creature that can grant wishes.

In a wonderful tribute to E Nesbit's Five Children and It Wilson shows just what can happen when your wishes do come true, and continues the tradition of the children learning a series of hard and entertaining lessons when things go wrong. Wilson brings Nesbit's classic right up to date, rather than five children from one family we have a fractured family with all the conflicting loyalties and difficult feelings that Wilson writes so deftly about. But there is the same feeling of 'what if' that still enchants.

Wilson reading her own book brings an extra wonderful touch, she is as entertaining a reader as a writer and her love for her character and story is so evident.
Profile Image for Katie.
348 reviews9 followers
August 15, 2019
Very cute ❤️ now I want to read five children and it
Profile Image for Daisy May Johnson.
Author 3 books198 followers
April 22, 2013
E Nesbit was one of those authors who wrote big, thrilling, seditious, moving books that pushed at the boundaries of what defined the genre of children's literature of her day. And I'd argue, quite happily, that that's pretty much what Jacqueline Wilson does today. The stylistic parallels of both authors are inescapable.

But for Wilson to write a contemporary spin on Five Children and It? That was a lot for me to think about. I love Five Children and It; I love the darkness, and the family dynamics and the way that sometimes, getting what you wish for may not be what you want. And, to be frank, I didn't really have high hopes for Four Children and It. If I had anything, I had doubts that it could - well - work.

Four Children and It works. It works really well.

Whilst there's the obvious plot, kids find Psammead, Psammead grants wishes, wishes aren't quite what they expect, bla bla yadda yadda, life lessons learnt and that; Four Children and It has a whole whole new level to it.

That level is this: this book is a tribute, a tribute to reading, to literature and to the golden age of children's literature. In a way it feels like it is closer to Wilson than anything else of hers that I've ever read. Four Children and It is rooted in Wilson's obvious love of children's literature, of Anthea, Cyril and the lamb, of their siblings one-book-removed of Roberta, Phyllis and Peter, of Mary Lennox, of Meg and Jo and Beth and Amy, of Sara Crewe and of Pauline, Petrova and Posy.

And it's lovely. It's genuinely very, very lovely. Each page is full of a sort of palpable pleasure that is impossible to resist.

Four Children and It feels like something quite special. It's a re-interpretation, a re-imagination of a very lovely text that keeps the source text intact. It's far too easy to rewrite a story with the noble intention of introducing it to a new audience and through the act of that rewriting suck every inch of pleasure from it. Wilson doesn't do that. Her writing is so happy throughout that you can't help but get on board.
653 reviews3 followers
September 6, 2020
This is a fan fiction sequel to E. Nesbit's wonderful book, Five Children and It, the It being a Psammead (a Sand Fairy) the original five children find in the warm sand of a gravel pit. The Psammead is rather grouchy, but he agrees to give them a wish a day, each of which somehow goes awry.
This new version involves four rather obnoxious children (and their rather obnoxious parents) in a blended family, more than a century later. These new children also dig up the Psammead, and one, having read the original book, tries to guide them all in their wishes...but again things don't always turn out the way they expect. Thus, forced to rely on each other to get out of jams, they do come to appreciate, perhaps even like, one another.
1 review
October 3, 2020
Amazing!

This book was fantastic best book I've ever read!
Recommended reading it if you already have not Brilliant!
five stars and no less in my opinion
Profile Image for Hannah Wright.
6 reviews
October 20, 2012
Four Children and It is about four children who go on a trip to the woods where they find a psammead (like a magic alien!) who gives them wishes of whatever they want, but they soon find that you don’t need everything all you need is your family.

Jacqueline Wilson’s inspiration is E.Nesbit’s Five Children and It. I tried to read this book as well, but the words were quite hard and I’m going to wait until I’m 8 to read it.

The main characters are Rosalind, Robbie, Smash and Maudie and they are the four children in the title. Smash and Maudie are sisters, but are step sisters to Robbie and Rosalind whose Dad has married their mum.

I loved this book so much when I got it I couldn’t put it down and had read it in 3 days.

I liked it because the stepsister Smash is a lot like me she loves playing outside climbing trees and I she was very adventurous and fun. she’s also quite dramatic and my Mum says so am I. I loved to read about their wishes and what would happen. I liked the way it was modern and easy to read.

Before this I had read 2 or 3 other Jacqueline Wilson books, but this was the longest (310 pages) and now I love Jacqueline Wilson and want to read lots more of her books.

Review By Romilly (aged 7) also on http://RomillysReviews.wordpress.com
Profile Image for Adele Broadbent.
Author 10 books31 followers
June 10, 2015
Rosalind and her brother Robbie are staying with their dad while their mum is on a holiday course. The problem is their stepsister Smash (Samantha), who is younger than Ros but rougher, louder, ruder and stronger. She is constantly nasty and doesn’t change that much through the story. There is also Maudie – their little half-sister who is just a toddler.

Dad wants them to get along and so he and Smash’s Mum take them for a picnic in nearby woods to a sandpit he used to play in. The children find a Psammead – the same creature out of E Nesbit’s Five children and It which grants wishes that end at sunset.
They become famous, fly, bring nursery characters and plastic animals to life – all the while learning to get on better.
Profile Image for Suzi.
146 reviews12 followers
February 20, 2015
I couldn't finish this book even though I loved the original. I really didn't like the characters or the things they wished for. However, girls in my Y5 class who like Jacqueline Wilson have been quick to snatch it out of the class library and tell me that they are really enjoying it!
3 reviews
June 18, 2014
It is a really good book. Makes your wishes come true!
Profile Image for emily.
12 reviews1 follower
July 1, 2021
my favorite jacqueline wilson book which didn’t have something super traumatic in it💀
Profile Image for Cynthia Egbert.
2,673 reviews39 followers
August 14, 2018
I love Nesbit's Bastable stories and so I was a bit concerned about how I would feel about the Psammead making an appearance in a modern day tale. I enjoyed this one immensely and appreciated that the Bastable children even joined in the fun themselves. I felt angst for the Bastable children due to some of their parents' decisions and I felt similar angst for the modern day, split-family children in this novel. But that is what makes the Psammead so particularly special. He knows what these wishes truly need to accomplish. I would not allow anyone to read this that has not read The Five Children and It first, but if you have, this is a worthy modern day follow up.

The most fun quote: "Oh yes, wait till you see our television - you'll absolutely love Doctor Who, especially the stone angels. They are seriously creepy."
Profile Image for I'mogén.
1,307 reviews45 followers
March 6, 2021
After really enjoying my week of reading books for the Wilsathon, I wanted to carry on, with a story I got from my library ebook service but didn't get to for that reading challenge.

Four Children and It is very much inspired by Five Children and It by E. Nesbit. I've never read that book or watched the movie, but I didn't find I needed to (though perhaps will do eventually) as Wilson gives you enough information, whilst simultaneously making it her own, with her characters and way of writing them.

This was so much fun. I really enjoyed reading the adventures the children got up to, involving their wishes, as well as seeing familial relationships grow and develop for the better. I don't think there was a massive moral to the story, but it was an enjoyable and satisfying read (although I do wish there were illustrations inside).

Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy! >(^_^)<
Gén
Profile Image for Sarah.
1,218 reviews11 followers
February 19, 2023
I don’t remember being a massive fan of Nesbit’s “Five Children and It” but I actually found that I enjoyed this retelling from Wilson more than the original. It’s been brought right up to date with modern characters and situations, despite being a retelling of an older, more classic story.

The children at the centre of it are thrown together through circumstances beyond their control and you see how they are grappling with trying to regain some of that control when they meet the creature. To try and make sense of the new and confusing world that they find themselves in.

It’s a retelling that actually works really well, because you can see where the great respect for the original comes in, but at the same time you see that the changes that have been made, were made because they were necessary and the original wouldn’t have worked in those parts.
Profile Image for Catherine.
36 reviews18 followers
January 11, 2018
A lovely book. All of my kids (9, 6 and 4) found it funny and could follow the story quite well. I adored 'Five Children and It' on which this book is based and so it was a nice trip down memory lane for me too, especially when the children wish themselves back into the original book!
The Psammead is still endearingly grumpy, the wishes still go wrong (on the whole). A great modern take on a classic children's story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Sue.
220 reviews3 followers
July 10, 2018
I liked this book. Some parts made me feel mad and angry at characters, and the author, but hey thatswhat good books do to you. I finished this book a few months ago, and before that, I hadn't read a book that made me feel like I was standing with the characters. Experiencing every thing at the same time they were. This book was a good one. It made me laugh and feel bad for certain characters. I really love Jaquline wilson's books.
😇😇😇😇😇
42 reviews
September 3, 2018
This book made me cry when at the end her brother died! It was so sad and I was devastated! The psammead was devastated before he died too, but I reckon I was sadder. I would of wished for Robbie to come back cause he was my fav character. And when the psammead dried up when Robbie got stabbed and was bleeding into the sand of the sandpit! I wish he wasn’t allergic to water. So good. 5 stars but maybe don’t make the psammead and Robbie die if you write another? I cried for hours! Literally.
Profile Image for Paula.
38 reviews
August 7, 2017
Jacqueline Wilson makes a brilliant tribute to my all time favourite book, five children and it. Rosalind and her younger brother Robbie and lumped with their dad and his new family over the summer. Bring in the psammead and their holiday takes a magical turn. With bumps in the journey, just like the original, can the children find a way to make the wishes bring this reluctant family together.
Profile Image for Chelsea.
86 reviews
September 6, 2017
Continuing on with my journey back into my childhood, I picked this up because I love the story of Five Children & It and wanted to see what Jacky had done to make the idea her own. And it was okay. Quite a few things irritated me within this book but the actual inclusion of E. Nesbit's amazing work was really great.
Profile Image for Varsha Seshan.
Author 28 books36 followers
March 4, 2019
I have no idea if I would have enjoyed this book if I had not been familiar with Five Children and It, but it was good fun. The Psammead, I think, is like that. The perfect grumpy character that you long to write about. I almost did too, in a short story in Dragonflies, Jigsaws, and Seashells!
Profile Image for Lucy Dawson.
475 reviews21 followers
September 9, 2019
3.5*s Not one of Jacqueline Wilson's best. I am familiar with the original and this really was a retelling just modernised. I also agree with another reviewer that it was tedious and unbelievable that the children managed to convince their parents to take them on a picnic to the same woods every single day.
Profile Image for Alisa.
15 reviews
October 17, 2020
This book is AWESOME!!
I just love it so much. If you have heard of Five Children and It, then you’ll see that this is basically a modern day version of it, and the children have different personalities. I’m sure I’ve read it about...10 times! Read this, and it will bring a smile to your face just like it did to mine☺️ Four Children and It by Jaqueline Wilson.
Profile Image for livenca.
120 reviews
April 9, 2021
I LOVED the escapism in this book. First, I only see my blank white walls in front of me but as I read it, I felt like I was part of it as I saw Robbie climb the tree with speed and turned down the next day; the kids being rich and famous; the story book characters playing in the woods, etc.

It's a really nice book if you want to escape reality
2 reviews
July 19, 2021
I read this book to my daughter, she 4 so maybe a little young for this book, but it turned out to be a pleasant read for myself, so much so I would often continue reading after my daughter had drifted off to sleep. It’s well written and funny in places - I once almost woke her laughing at a particular passage. Throughly recommend this clever and playful children’s book.
Profile Image for CJ.
11 reviews
March 7, 2022
I read this book as a child and fell in love with the story immediately, its very sweet and as a teenager I sometimes find myself rereading a few chapters of it for comfort its genuinely just so good for nostalgia. I know a lot of Jacqueline Wilson's stories can have dark undertones but this tends to steer away from that. Overall, when I was in like 4th and 5th grade it was my favorite book ever
Profile Image for LeenOvertheLeaningFence لِين.
23 reviews
June 4, 2023
Something about the way Jacqueline tells a story.. it always feels like the characters are talking right in your ear. This book almost feels like it’s my own memories. I always for whatever reason admired “Alice” to the point where I named my cat after her. Loved the portrayal of a rather “dysfunctional” family coming together in their own terms. Such a sweet story that leaves you smiling.
Profile Image for Alison Caller.
88 reviews3 followers
April 12, 2018
Reading aloud to DD1 (10) and DD2 (7) and we've all three enjoyed this a lot. It borrows a lot from the original and retains the style but updates the story to make it more accessible.

Not sure youngest understood some of the blended family bits but she got the gist of it.
129 reviews
April 22, 2021
Je to krásná kniha. Je plná fantazie a přání. Líbilo se mi, že to bylo tak trochu chvíli propojené s knihou Pět dětí a skřítek, když si Rosalind přála aby se setkala s Anteou, Janou, Robertem a Cyrilem. U téhle knížky je taky dobré, že když ji čtu, mám dojem že to dobrodružství prožívám s nimi.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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