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The Treasure Seekers: Bastable Children #2
The Wouldbegoods
In this second novel of the Bastables, the family fortune has been restored, but the children can't seem to help getting into adventures and trouble.
Sent away to the country after a particularly unruly episode, the well-meaning but wayward Bastable children solemnly vow to reform their behaviour. But their grand schemes for great and virtuous deeds lead to just as much mayhem as their ordinary games, and sometimes more.
Sent away to the country after a particularly unruly episode, the well-meaning but wayward Bastable children solemnly vow to reform their behaviour. But their grand schemes for great and virtuous deeds lead to just as much mayhem as their ordinary games, and sometimes more.
179 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1901
104 people are currently reading
1448 people want to read
About the author
E. Nesbit
1,030 books997 followers
Edith Nesbit
(married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English author and poet; she published her books for children under the name of E. Nesbit.
She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a socialist organisation later connected to the Labour Party.
Edith Nesbit was born in Kennington, Surrey, the daughter of agricultural chemist and schoolmaster John Collis Nesbit. The death of her father when she was four and the continuing ill health of her sister meant that Nesbit had a transitory childhood, her family moving across Europe in search of healthy climates only to return to England for financial reasons. Nesbit therefore spent her childhood attaining an education from whatever sources were available—local grammars, the occasional boarding school but mainly through reading.
At 17 her family finally settled in London and aged 19, Nesbit met Hubert Bland, a political activist and writer. They became lovers and when Nesbit found she was pregnant they became engaged, marrying in April 1880. After this scandalous (for Victorian society) beginning, the marriage would be an unconventional one. Initially, the couple lived separately—Nesbit with her family and Bland with his mother and her live-in companion Maggie Doran.
Initially, Edith Nesbit books were novels meant for adults, including The Prophet's Mantle (1885) and The Marden Mystery (1896) about the early days of the socialist movement. Written under the pen name of her third child 'Fabian Bland', these books were not successful. Nesbit generated an income for the family by lecturing around the country on socialism and through her journalism (she was editor of the Fabian Society's journal, Today).
In 1899 she had published The Adventures of the Treasure Seekers to great acclaim.
She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a socialist organisation later connected to the Labour Party.
Edith Nesbit was born in Kennington, Surrey, the daughter of agricultural chemist and schoolmaster John Collis Nesbit. The death of her father when she was four and the continuing ill health of her sister meant that Nesbit had a transitory childhood, her family moving across Europe in search of healthy climates only to return to England for financial reasons. Nesbit therefore spent her childhood attaining an education from whatever sources were available—local grammars, the occasional boarding school but mainly through reading.
At 17 her family finally settled in London and aged 19, Nesbit met Hubert Bland, a political activist and writer. They became lovers and when Nesbit found she was pregnant they became engaged, marrying in April 1880. After this scandalous (for Victorian society) beginning, the marriage would be an unconventional one. Initially, the couple lived separately—Nesbit with her family and Bland with his mother and her live-in companion Maggie Doran.
Initially, Edith Nesbit books were novels meant for adults, including The Prophet's Mantle (1885) and The Marden Mystery (1896) about the early days of the socialist movement. Written under the pen name of her third child 'Fabian Bland', these books were not successful. Nesbit generated an income for the family by lecturing around the country on socialism and through her journalism (she was editor of the Fabian Society's journal, Today).
In 1899 she had published The Adventures of the Treasure Seekers to great acclaim.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 105 reviews
September 19, 2011
Edith Nesbit’s life was certainly unconventional by late Victorian and Edwardian standards, and it’s not surprising that her own childhood experiences and adult observations find themselves thinly fictionalised in her novels, particularly those written for children. Typical is her re-use of names of friends and acquaintances for the names of her characters in The Wouldbegoods. Of the six Bastable children, for example, Oswald and Noel take their names from her male friends and sometime lovers Oswald Barron and Noel Griffith, and Alice from her friend Alice Hoatson (not only Edith’s husband’s lover but also mother of two children whom Edith adopted). Of the two children who share the Bastables’ holiday in the country Daisy takes her name from Edith’s own childhood nickname, while Eliza, the long-suffering maid who appeared in The Treasure Seekers, appears to be a composite of the domestic servants in one of Edith’s residences in Lewisham, both of whom were named Elizabeth.
I mention all this to show that the origins of the escapades and scrapes that the Bastable children get up to during their long summer holiday seem to be similarly drawn from life. Due to various misdemeanours the six siblings get ‘banished’ to Moat House in Kent (largely modelled on Well Hall in Eltham, where Edith and her extended family moved after Lewisham) and resolve to form a society, the Wouldbegoods, to counteract their unwitting misdeeds. Needless to say their actions largely result in near or complete disasters due to their apparent inability to consult about the appropriateness of their charitable deeds; this is compounded by their further inability to learn from their mistakes in what I feel is the only real flaw in this sequel to The Treasure Seekers. However, the tedium of successive episodes involving misunderstandings and disregard for property is more than balanced by Oswald who, as narrator, has that perfect boyish mix of ego and kind-heartedness expressed in entertaining bombast and endearing malapropisms.
The author concentrates on six protagonists (as in The Treasure Seekers) but rings the changes by largely not involving the rather insipid Dora who, it may be remembered, appeared to be the eldest sibling in the earlier book but is here relegated to a stay-at-home. Her place amongst the activists is often taken by either Denny or Daisy, mousey characters who redeem themselves by the end. Otherwise, the established figures of Dicky, Alice, Noel and H. O. feature, all led by the dominating persona of Oswald as they build dams, go on pilgrimages, give drink to the thirsty or seek for lost relatives. Adults are by turns forbidding and distant figures or lend sympathetic ears when they are not representing stranger danger in an otherwise innocent world. The Wouldbegoods is a fascinating window into an England of a century and more ago, both familiar and yet strangely exotic but one where middle-class children (and us, vicariously) can live out their fantasies.
I mention all this to show that the origins of the escapades and scrapes that the Bastable children get up to during their long summer holiday seem to be similarly drawn from life. Due to various misdemeanours the six siblings get ‘banished’ to Moat House in Kent (largely modelled on Well Hall in Eltham, where Edith and her extended family moved after Lewisham) and resolve to form a society, the Wouldbegoods, to counteract their unwitting misdeeds. Needless to say their actions largely result in near or complete disasters due to their apparent inability to consult about the appropriateness of their charitable deeds; this is compounded by their further inability to learn from their mistakes in what I feel is the only real flaw in this sequel to The Treasure Seekers. However, the tedium of successive episodes involving misunderstandings and disregard for property is more than balanced by Oswald who, as narrator, has that perfect boyish mix of ego and kind-heartedness expressed in entertaining bombast and endearing malapropisms.
The author concentrates on six protagonists (as in The Treasure Seekers) but rings the changes by largely not involving the rather insipid Dora who, it may be remembered, appeared to be the eldest sibling in the earlier book but is here relegated to a stay-at-home. Her place amongst the activists is often taken by either Denny or Daisy, mousey characters who redeem themselves by the end. Otherwise, the established figures of Dicky, Alice, Noel and H. O. feature, all led by the dominating persona of Oswald as they build dams, go on pilgrimages, give drink to the thirsty or seek for lost relatives. Adults are by turns forbidding and distant figures or lend sympathetic ears when they are not representing stranger danger in an otherwise innocent world. The Wouldbegoods is a fascinating window into an England of a century and more ago, both familiar and yet strangely exotic but one where middle-class children (and us, vicariously) can live out their fantasies.
February 20, 2015
Continuing the series about the Bastable children is The Wouldbegoods, in which the children discover that having money again and living in their Indian Uncle's fancy house in town does not make them automatically desire to be good.
I didn't find this nearly as much fun as The Treasure-Seekers. The latter carried on the often amusing conceit that the narrator was anonymous, although Oswald outed himself near the end, as if the reader hadn't already known after a couple of paragraphs. Still, he did come out and admit it – which makes it somewhat trying that the same conceit is carried on here.
It's a bit funny to read (listen to) this almost immediately after The Railway Children. That set of kids was well-intentioned, good-hearted, and heroic; this lot is much more lawless and self-absorbed. The very name "Wouldbegoods" is a sign of it: they realize that they are prone to petty criminality as the sparks fly upward, and the two "prissy" girls, Dora and Daisy, propose to form a club to try to improve themselves.
It doesn't go terribly well.
I hate to say it, being as he (along with his creator) is a birthday-twin, but … I don't like Oswald Bastable in this. He was somewhat endearing in his pompous yet insecure self-praise in TTS, but here he and one or two of the others seem to have a bit more of a mean streak, or perhaps simply carelessness. Oswald will go far, though, with his attributes – or end up hanged.
I think part of it was that I missed Albert's Uncle in The Wouldbegoods - hey! Where did his beloved go? And why did I only just think of that? Hm. Anyway. I loved Albert's Uncle in The Treasure Seekers, but while he was nominally the adult in charge here he was locked up in his room writing a great deal. Rather more than might have been wise given the amount of close supervision these children require. Without him, there is less of the second-hand, through-the-lens-of-Oswald's-POV adult reaction which made Treasure Seekers so priceless.
I think that's a big part of why the constant string of incidents wore a bit thinner in The Wouldbegoods than in Treasure Seekers: it very soon becomes don't these kids ever learn? combined with Oswald at least must be old enough to know better by now. But they haven't, and he doesn't, and there goes the pig galloping down the road while the sheep vanish in the opposite direction. The one certainty in any given chapter is that there will be breakage.
Wouldbegoods is still miles better than most of what's put out today, as far as I've seen; it's still great fun. So: not my favorite, but still – E. Nesbit. That counts for a great deal.
I didn't find this nearly as much fun as The Treasure-Seekers. The latter carried on the often amusing conceit that the narrator was anonymous, although Oswald outed himself near the end, as if the reader hadn't already known after a couple of paragraphs. Still, he did come out and admit it – which makes it somewhat trying that the same conceit is carried on here.
It's a bit funny to read (listen to) this almost immediately after The Railway Children. That set of kids was well-intentioned, good-hearted, and heroic; this lot is much more lawless and self-absorbed. The very name "Wouldbegoods" is a sign of it: they realize that they are prone to petty criminality as the sparks fly upward, and the two "prissy" girls, Dora and Daisy, propose to form a club to try to improve themselves.
It doesn't go terribly well.
I hate to say it, being as he (along with his creator) is a birthday-twin, but … I don't like Oswald Bastable in this. He was somewhat endearing in his pompous yet insecure self-praise in TTS, but here he and one or two of the others seem to have a bit more of a mean streak, or perhaps simply carelessness. Oswald will go far, though, with his attributes – or end up hanged.
I think part of it was that I missed Albert's Uncle in The Wouldbegoods - hey! Where did his beloved go? And why did I only just think of that? Hm. Anyway. I loved Albert's Uncle in The Treasure Seekers, but while he was nominally the adult in charge here he was locked up in his room writing a great deal. Rather more than might have been wise given the amount of close supervision these children require. Without him, there is less of the second-hand, through-the-lens-of-Oswald's-POV adult reaction which made Treasure Seekers so priceless.
I think that's a big part of why the constant string of incidents wore a bit thinner in The Wouldbegoods than in Treasure Seekers: it very soon becomes don't these kids ever learn? combined with Oswald at least must be old enough to know better by now. But they haven't, and he doesn't, and there goes the pig galloping down the road while the sheep vanish in the opposite direction. The one certainty in any given chapter is that there will be breakage.
Wouldbegoods is still miles better than most of what's put out today, as far as I've seen; it's still great fun. So: not my favorite, but still – E. Nesbit. That counts for a great deal.
February 10, 2023
I read a volume that included both The Story of the Treasure Seekers and The Wouldbegoods with an incredible introduction by Noel Streatfeild - if you can find this volume, do read it. I come to Nesbit quite late in life - she wasn't an author I enjoyed as a child. She's a very modern writer - she's certainly the grandmother of modern fantasy for children with books like Five Children and It. The Bastable stories are ancestors to Judy Blume's Fudge books and The Penderwicks The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy. You can certainly tell that C.S. Lewis was a devotee of her works; The Bastables and Pevensies might as well have lived down the street from one another (and, as The Magician's Nephew begins, Polly and Digory did live at the same time.) Treasureseekers is a bit better book than Wouldbegoods but both are sharp as a knife and incredibly funny. Nesbit's characters differ from modern kids in dress and slang, but for all intents and purposes they could easily fit in among today's literary kids (and surpass almost all of them in wit, knowledge, imagination and creative play). The books are essentially humorous episodes - although a few are quite scary. They are NOT politically correct in the least. In the version I read, the children casually use the "n-word" at least twice. They also try to sell sherry to a tee-totaling clergyman and his wife (my favorite story in the bunch), purchase and shoot a real gun, open a roadside bar... There is one chapter in which a tramp holds them hostage in a tower, which is terrifying. You won't find ANY of these kinds on shenanigans going on in modern books written for children; I don't know whether this is a shame or not, but certainly modern kids don't have the opportunity to find trouble like the Bastables. That's the sad thing. The Bastables were bad kids, but they also had hearts of gold. Loyal, courageous, literal, patriotic, loving, well intentioned. At the end of The Wouldbegoods , Mrs. Pettigrew - who they gave no end of trouble to throughout the book, cries when they leave, and you totally understand why. Nesbit is a genius, the first really modern writer for children, and it's this genius that creates these noble scamps who are both horrid and beloved at the same time. Three cheers for the Bastables!
March 7, 2023
Frankly, not a patch on the original The Story of the Treasure Seekers. While the former was episodic, it did have a unifying element of all the children's escapades occurring while pursuing the goal of "restoring the family fortunes." In this sequel, there isn't any real motivation, so it's just chapter after chapter of them getting into increasingly outrageous scrapes by virtue of simply never thinking before they act. It gets exhausting. And also makes the children seem far less intelligent than they were in the first book. Of course there are some entertaining moments, as in any Nesbit book, so it's not absolutely terrible; but there just isn't a whole lot of merit in it.
March 7, 2025
I did really enjoy this book, but it wasn't as good as the first one. The kids were still delightfully precious and everything, and their hijinks were entertaining, but it lacked some of the charm of book one. Also, I felt like Albert-next-door's uncle was a completely different character than who he was in the first one.
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August 7, 2011Ripping good fun! Within the first chapter you may wonder if you will continue, but by the second you will be hooked! The kids and their antics are hilarious. It is a wonder that it is not a well known classic. Any lover of nineteenth century english novels must add this to their collection. Brilliant. [One of the key comedic elements that one could read the entire novel without discovering is that Oswald, the oldest brother, whom the narrator constantly praises and holds in high esteem IS the narrator. Oswald narrates it all in the third person.]
January 11, 2023
ENGL387 course reading
this was so much worse than five children & it, i didn’t like any of the characters, the stories were really boring & i feel like it could have been so much shorter. at least in five children there was magic and a cool fairy. i know i’m not the audience for this book, but equally i was bored
2 stars because i didn’t want to drop dead when i was reading it
this was so much worse than five children & it, i didn’t like any of the characters, the stories were really boring & i feel like it could have been so much shorter. at least in five children there was magic and a cool fairy. i know i’m not the audience for this book, but equally i was bored
2 stars because i didn’t want to drop dead when i was reading it
November 16, 2020
5+ stars & 6/10 hearts. Oh my. This book is simply hilarious!! It’s even better than book 1. The children are so naïve and clever and bookish, and I love Albert’s uncle—he’s absolutely amazing! I remember laughing so hard the first time I read this book, and even now I laughed aloud more than once. It’s just so FUNNY! I particularly love all the bookish allusions. ;) There were maybe two euphemisms, also a couple opinions I didn’t really agree with; but otherwise it was really good. Definitely recommend this book if you need a good laugh!
A Favourite Quote: “It is impossible to go on being cross when your feet are in cold water; and there is something in the smooth messiness of clay, and not minding how dirty you get, that would soothe the savagest breast that ever beat.”
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “Oswald called to him. He said, ‘Bull! Bull! Bull! Bull!’ because we did not know the animal’s real name…. [P]utting his head down close to his feet he ran straight at the iron gate where we were standing. Alice and Oswald mechanically turned away; they did not wish to annoy the bull any more, and they ran as fast as they could across the field so as not to keep the others waiting…. We climbed the stile quickly and looked back; the bull was still on the right side of the gate. Oswald said, ‘I think we’ll do without the bull. He did not seem to want to come. We must be kind to dumb animals.’ Alice said, between laughing and crying— ‘Oh, Oswald, how can you!’ But we did do without the bull, and we did not tell the others how we had hurried to get back. We just said, ‘The bull didn’t seem to care about coming.’”
A Favourite Quote: “It is impossible to go on being cross when your feet are in cold water; and there is something in the smooth messiness of clay, and not minding how dirty you get, that would soothe the savagest breast that ever beat.”
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “Oswald called to him. He said, ‘Bull! Bull! Bull! Bull!’ because we did not know the animal’s real name…. [P]utting his head down close to his feet he ran straight at the iron gate where we were standing. Alice and Oswald mechanically turned away; they did not wish to annoy the bull any more, and they ran as fast as they could across the field so as not to keep the others waiting…. We climbed the stile quickly and looked back; the bull was still on the right side of the gate. Oswald said, ‘I think we’ll do without the bull. He did not seem to want to come. We must be kind to dumb animals.’ Alice said, between laughing and crying— ‘Oh, Oswald, how can you!’ But we did do without the bull, and we did not tell the others how we had hurried to get back. We just said, ‘The bull didn’t seem to care about coming.’”
March 10, 2023
It seems a bit strange (for me) to grade a book I did not finish as 3-stars, but I got 60% of the way through. It's okay, but it's not grabbing me as the first had done. It's on my Kindle, and after I reached halfway I just stopped wanting to read it, in that Everything Else I had downloaded (or would later download) seemed more pressing or interesting or entertaining. I tried it again last night, and sure enough, it's just sort of there. There are good moments, but one of the other reviewers called it: the episodes are just episodes, they're not because of or leading to anything.
And with over 2,000 other books on my t0-read list, and I lost my immortality potion, drat it, so I'm just going to set this aside and move to other books I'll hopefully appreciate more.
By the way, my favourite E. Nesbit is the short story, fairy-tale style, called "Melisande," if you haven't read it, it's a treat.
(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
And with over 2,000 other books on my t0-read list, and I lost my immortality potion, drat it, so I'm just going to set this aside and move to other books I'll hopefully appreciate more.
By the way, my favourite E. Nesbit is the short story, fairy-tale style, called "Melisande," if you haven't read it, it's a treat.
(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
February 10, 2015
This book is the sequel of 'The Treasure Seekers', which is a brilliant book. In 'The Wouldbegoods', Dora, Oswald, Alice, Dicky, Noel and H.O. are banished to the countryside with Daisy and Denny to live with Albert's uncle, one of their friends. Dora, Alice and Daisy make up a society, and you can probably guess it was called 'The Society of The Wouldbegoods'. In this society, they find that being a Wouldbegood doesn't really help you be good at all...
This book is so good, I could read it ten times without getting bored. My favourite part was the chapter about the baby Dora found and adopted. It turned out the baby hadn't been abandoned, and belonged to someone Albert's uncle knew!
This book is so good, I could read it ten times without getting bored. My favourite part was the chapter about the baby Dora found and adopted. It turned out the baby hadn't been abandoned, and belonged to someone Albert's uncle knew!
May 2, 2011
Very good. At first I was slightly baffled: I never thought of the Bastables as naughty in the first book, but the kind of trouble they get into made sense. I really liked the idea of a "Would-be-good" society and it really gives the narrative a solid arc. There are some gems in this book. Oswald is Oswald, and Nesbit knew what to do with him in a lot of places. There's one chapter involving a cricket ball which is priceless.
I love the ending. Nesbit was a good person with words. Dora, Dicky, Noel, Alice, H.O., the two mice. All vivid as ever.
I love the ending. Nesbit was a good person with words. Dora, Dicky, Noel, Alice, H.O., the two mice. All vivid as ever.
January 27, 2013
The further adventures of the Bastables, of Treasure Seekers fame, is sometimes amusing but something too much of a good thing; their pranks, especially the really dangerous, harmful ones, get irritating rather than amusing after a while.
June 30, 2012
Proving once again that children need to be unsupervised to have adventures.
August 3, 2014
Pleasant and charming.
June 7, 2021
British children, escapades, and ginger beer sounds like a great summer to me.
July 19, 2020
Man, I loved my E Nesbit books when I was in elementary school. I was a bit concerned reading her as an adult, fearing she would not live up to my fond reminiscences. Luckily, my fears were unfounded. Her books are just as funny and entertaining as I recalled.
I did not realize that there were two other books about The Treasure Seeker kids until just recently. How did I miss that? It turns out there are a lot of E Nesbit books I haven't read yet. Better get cracking!
The one downside to reading this was my adult awareness of British history. The Wouldbegoods was published in 1901, 13 years before WWI. That means the boys in the story would grow up to be cannon fodder in the war. I mean, obviously not these exact boys since they are fictional characters but you get what I'm saying. Reading about the boys playing soldier and talking about going to war made me feel sad and pensive for the original audience of child readers who also played similar games before growing up to become entirely disillusioned by the horrors of trench warfare. I had to force myself to be in the moment when reading and not read it as a twenty first century adult but rather as a child innocent of what is to come.
Let's wipe my Debbie Downer musings away by sharing some funny bits from the book:
We had no clothes on to speak of - I mean us boys. We were all wet through. Daisy was in a faint or a fit, or dead, none of us then knew which.
Daisy is a little afraid of us still, when we are all together. She thinks we are rough. This comes of having only one brother.
If you have never done naughty acts, I expect it is only because you never had the sense to think of anything.
It is a great thing to know when not to say things.
I cannot see any harm in putting your finger in a cake before it is baked, and then licking your finger, if you are careful to put in a different finger in the cake next time. Cake before it is baked is delicious - like a sort of cream.
We tried to talk to her though we did not like her. (She was covered in red velvet like an arm-chair.) But she wouldn't. We thought at first she was from a deaf and dumb asylum, where her kind teachers had only managed to teach the afflicted to say 'Yes' and 'No'. But afterwards we knew better, for Noel heard her say to her mother, 'I wish you hadn't brought me, momma. I didn't have a pretty teacup so I haven't enjoyed my tea one bit.'
In some ways the good times you have with grown-ups are better than the ones you have yourselves. At any rate, they are safer. It is almost impossible, then, to do anything fatal without being pulled up short by a grown-up ere the deed is done. And, if you are careful, anything that goes wrong can be looked on as the grown-up's fault.
It is not wrong to listen at doors when there is only one person inside, because nobody would tell itself secrets aloud when it was alone.
The things you are frightened of, or even those you would rather not meet in the dark, should never be mentioned before little ones, or else they cry when it comes to bedtime and say it was because of what you said.
I never heard anyone not in a book say 'egad' before, so I saw something really out of the way was indeed up.
So that is the end of the Wouldbegoods, and there are no more chapters after this. But Oswald hates books that finish up without telling you the things you might want to know about the people in the book. So here goes.
I did not realize that there were two other books about The Treasure Seeker kids until just recently. How did I miss that? It turns out there are a lot of E Nesbit books I haven't read yet. Better get cracking!
The one downside to reading this was my adult awareness of British history. The Wouldbegoods was published in 1901, 13 years before WWI. That means the boys in the story would grow up to be cannon fodder in the war. I mean, obviously not these exact boys since they are fictional characters but you get what I'm saying. Reading about the boys playing soldier and talking about going to war made me feel sad and pensive for the original audience of child readers who also played similar games before growing up to become entirely disillusioned by the horrors of trench warfare. I had to force myself to be in the moment when reading and not read it as a twenty first century adult but rather as a child innocent of what is to come.
Let's wipe my Debbie Downer musings away by sharing some funny bits from the book:
We had no clothes on to speak of - I mean us boys. We were all wet through. Daisy was in a faint or a fit, or dead, none of us then knew which.
Daisy is a little afraid of us still, when we are all together. She thinks we are rough. This comes of having only one brother.
If you have never done naughty acts, I expect it is only because you never had the sense to think of anything.
It is a great thing to know when not to say things.
I cannot see any harm in putting your finger in a cake before it is baked, and then licking your finger, if you are careful to put in a different finger in the cake next time. Cake before it is baked is delicious - like a sort of cream.
We tried to talk to her though we did not like her. (She was covered in red velvet like an arm-chair.) But she wouldn't. We thought at first she was from a deaf and dumb asylum, where her kind teachers had only managed to teach the afflicted to say 'Yes' and 'No'. But afterwards we knew better, for Noel heard her say to her mother, 'I wish you hadn't brought me, momma. I didn't have a pretty teacup so I haven't enjoyed my tea one bit.'
In some ways the good times you have with grown-ups are better than the ones you have yourselves. At any rate, they are safer. It is almost impossible, then, to do anything fatal without being pulled up short by a grown-up ere the deed is done. And, if you are careful, anything that goes wrong can be looked on as the grown-up's fault.
It is not wrong to listen at doors when there is only one person inside, because nobody would tell itself secrets aloud when it was alone.
The things you are frightened of, or even those you would rather not meet in the dark, should never be mentioned before little ones, or else they cry when it comes to bedtime and say it was because of what you said.
I never heard anyone not in a book say 'egad' before, so I saw something really out of the way was indeed up.
So that is the end of the Wouldbegoods, and there are no more chapters after this. But Oswald hates books that finish up without telling you the things you might want to know about the people in the book. So here goes.
June 24, 2022
A children's book that has worn well, although there are many references particularly to the literature of the time, that most modern children would miss. At places, the brand of humor and careful set-up of a series of unfortunate incidents reminded me of Patrick McManus; I am convinced he read it as a child.
October 17, 2019
The second collection of so many hilarious misadventures of the Bastable children!
October 28, 2021
Laugh out loud funny. I loved this story.
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June 12, 2025this edition is abridged.
August 15, 2017
The Edwardian-era children in all of Edith Nesbit's stories live life with zest. Unlike many of her other tales, the three books she wrote about the Bastable siblings do not involve magic. The six unquenchable Bastables don't need magic--they get into enough trouble all on their own. They rarely mean to be naughty. They just get so wrapped up in whole-hearted pursuit of their games that disasters, most displeasing to the grown-ups, generally occur.
In this volume, the children--along with two friends--are sent into the country for the summer. While there, the girls propose the formation of a club to encourage them all to be good. Thus the society of the Wouldbegoods is formed. Meanwhile, the children keep busy damning rivers, going to Canturbury as pilgrims, building rafts, and saving England from invading soldiers.
This is one of those series that is at least as amusing to adult readers as children. Oswald, the eldest Bastable, makes for a hilariously unreliable/patently biased narrator. The Bastables pepper their conversation with references to history and the books they have read. Although they despise sentimentality and what they see as affectation, they are extremely keen on honor and courage. No Bastable would ever, ever, ever tell a lie.
The book is full of lines such as, "We took it in turns to have the pistol [secretly purchased by two of the boys], and we decided always to practice with it far from the house, so as not to frighten the grown-ups, who are always much nervouser about firearms than we are." Of course, the pistol ends up confiscated.
I rather think the Bastable have what Anthony Esolen (author of Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child) would view as the ideal childhood.
*Note: like many books from this era, there are a few references to non-English people that might sound racist to modern ears. It's a useful thing for children to see and notice the blind spots of other eras. Doing so is a reminder that we, too, have our own.
In this volume, the children--along with two friends--are sent into the country for the summer. While there, the girls propose the formation of a club to encourage them all to be good. Thus the society of the Wouldbegoods is formed. Meanwhile, the children keep busy damning rivers, going to Canturbury as pilgrims, building rafts, and saving England from invading soldiers.
This is one of those series that is at least as amusing to adult readers as children. Oswald, the eldest Bastable, makes for a hilariously unreliable/patently biased narrator. The Bastables pepper their conversation with references to history and the books they have read. Although they despise sentimentality and what they see as affectation, they are extremely keen on honor and courage. No Bastable would ever, ever, ever tell a lie.
The book is full of lines such as, "We took it in turns to have the pistol [secretly purchased by two of the boys], and we decided always to practice with it far from the house, so as not to frighten the grown-ups, who are always much nervouser about firearms than we are." Of course, the pistol ends up confiscated.
I rather think the Bastable have what Anthony Esolen (author of Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child) would view as the ideal childhood.
*Note: like many books from this era, there are a few references to non-English people that might sound racist to modern ears. It's a useful thing for children to see and notice the blind spots of other eras. Doing so is a reminder that we, too, have our own.
September 21, 2013
This is the sequel to The Treasure Seekers, starting not long after the first book ends, with the children and their father moving in with their Indian Uncle. The first book was good - funny, fast-moving and easy to read. This was still easy to read and fast moving but not nearly as funny. Instead of looking for treasure to "restore their family's fortunes" they are trying to become good as the girls have worked out that they while sometimes they are just cheeky sometimes they are down-right-naughty. The boys aren't too keen on the idea.
CHARACTERS
The six Bastables:
- Oswald, the narrator and the second oldest. In the first book he writes it both in third and first person and we are supposed to not know who it is. He reveals at the end that it was him all along. In this book he continues the disguise which annoyed me a bit - hello, you already told us who it was?
- Dora, the oldest who was told by her mother when she died to look after the little ones. This means she is often a bit prissy and goody-goody so she is right at the head of the Wouldbegood Society
- Dicky,
- Noel, a poet
- Alice, the only other girl. She is very DIY and won't let the boys leave her behind
- H.O., the youngest.
The two children of the "robber" (see the Treasure Seekers) whom the Bastables call "white mice". The girl lives up to the name - at the start of the books she faints because of the Bastable's antics which begins the whole thing - but the boy is a lot more like the Bastables.
MY OPINION
I know at the start of this review I didn't sound all too happy about this book. However, because I had to return my copy, I didn't read it to the end. Maybe this is an unfair review, maybe I should have persevered and got it on Kobo. I just don't like keeping going on a book when I didn't like the start. E. Nesbit has written some amazing books... but I wouldn't call this one of them.
CHARACTERS
The six Bastables:
- Oswald, the narrator and the second oldest. In the first book he writes it both in third and first person and we are supposed to not know who it is. He reveals at the end that it was him all along. In this book he continues the disguise which annoyed me a bit - hello, you already told us who it was?
- Dora, the oldest who was told by her mother when she died to look after the little ones. This means she is often a bit prissy and goody-goody so she is right at the head of the Wouldbegood Society
- Dicky,
- Noel, a poet
- Alice, the only other girl. She is very DIY and won't let the boys leave her behind
- H.O., the youngest.
The two children of the "robber" (see the Treasure Seekers) whom the Bastables call "white mice". The girl lives up to the name - at the start of the books she faints because of the Bastable's antics which begins the whole thing - but the boy is a lot more like the Bastables.
MY OPINION
I know at the start of this review I didn't sound all too happy about this book. However, because I had to return my copy, I didn't read it to the end. Maybe this is an unfair review, maybe I should have persevered and got it on Kobo. I just don't like keeping going on a book when I didn't like the start. E. Nesbit has written some amazing books... but I wouldn't call this one of them.
November 2, 2023
Just scraping 3.5 stars, purely because of E. Nesbit's lovely writing. Almost every chapter followed the structure of them trying to do something good, not thinking it through and then actually being a real nuisance. Aside from this structure getting quite boring I found myself being quite frustrated at the thoughtlessness and the confidence at which they do quite major things without checking with an adult first. Perhaps that is the adult in me but it was annoying that they didn't seem to learn from major incidences like burning a bridge down, opening a lock (seeing that a boat was sitting on the mud and thinking it would be nice to surprise the owner to see it floating) and thereby ruining an angling competition, letting various animals loose to play circuses, flooding crops in a field etc. I know their intentions were without malice but I feel they should learn from even one major incident - just because harm wasn't meant doesn't stopping it being harmful. E. Nesbit's writing is enjoyable to read, subtly humorous and ahead of many more modern authors in its skill, and stopped this sinking to 2 stars.
June 24, 2018
Reading The Wouldbegoods really made me ask... Was there ever truly a time when children were so naive and innocent as the Bastable children? As with the first story in the series I think it would be very difficult now for today's children to identify with the Bastables and their adventures, brilliantly conceived though they were. I can't quite work out why these Edwardian classics feel so dated yet Victorian classics like The Secret Garden remain much more accessible. Part of the problem I feel is that the consequences of the children's early attempts to "be good" would today be worthy of an ASBO for Oswald at the very least and would certainly be unlikely to be viewed in a kindly or forgiving light by the adults affected. We have become a much less tolerant society and while children are no longer expected to be seen and not heard in public places they are nevertheless expected to be closely supervised by directive adults at all times unless in specially designated play areas.
August 28, 2018
One of her non-magical tales, a sequel to the Treasue Seekers which i havn't read. The narration was quite confusing at first, apparently in the previous book its explained that the narrator is supposed to be a mystery.
A group of children are sent to the country and decide to try being extra good as they're always getting into trouble. Leading to the kind of chaos you would expect. By the half-way point my inner adult was getting quite annoyed but the author seemed to sense this too and the kids are less destructive in the second half.
Its well written but almost feels like a script at times, like it would work better as a film than it does on the page, bit hard to explain. I alternated between listening on Librivox and reading it and i think it was more designed to be listened too.
The Librivox recording is also done randomly by a man and woman, possibly due to the narrator mystery but it works well.
A group of children are sent to the country and decide to try being extra good as they're always getting into trouble. Leading to the kind of chaos you would expect. By the half-way point my inner adult was getting quite annoyed but the author seemed to sense this too and the kids are less destructive in the second half.
Its well written but almost feels like a script at times, like it would work better as a film than it does on the page, bit hard to explain. I alternated between listening on Librivox and reading it and i think it was more designed to be listened too.
The Librivox recording is also done randomly by a man and woman, possibly due to the narrator mystery but it works well.
Read
October 19, 2020When I was little I didn't connect with the Nesbit books because I thought the kids in them were insultingly stupid, more recently I've accepted that the naivete is meant to be part of the charm. But wow this book is on another level! A group of children on vacation set out to do good deeds but accidentally end up terrorizing the countryside and cause significant damage to the property and livelihood of working class people. I think the oldest kid is supposed to be 12 but they are all still so very dumb that it is concerning. The book is more fun when you read it as a scathing indictment on classism and how daddys checkbook shields rich white kids from serious consequences, or maybe an allegory for how British imperialism or missionary type things ravage populations in the name of "values", but I don't think that was Nesbits plan since one of the morals is literally something something don't give to poor people for free. Oh well, I know that this was from a different time and I am not the target demographic but I have thought about this book a lot!
August 21, 2011
This book was not carried by the library when I was liitle, and I always liked the title and the Bastable clan, so it was good to get to read it, but...a club for trying to be good is not as much fun to read about as a club for hunting for treasure, and I see why the librarians stocked up on The Story of theTreasure Seekers instead.
October 12, 2025
Really good voice acting; very cute and natural sounding. Not too much of that annoying simpering thing they usually do when voicing old-fashioned children. Being an E. Nesbit story, it's full of wry wit and silly adventures.
December 23, 2020
Totally delightful. Only marginally less delightful than The Treasure Seekers but right up there. I listened to a librivox recording of this book and it was read so well I do recommend it. https://librivox.org/the-wouldbegoods...
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