Eight madcap tales of unpredictable dragons — including one made of ice, another that takes refuge in the General Post Office, and a fire-breathing monster that flies out of an enchanted book and eats an entire soccer team!
The
Book of Beasts (Excerpt)
He happened to be building a Palace when the news
came, and he left all the bricks kicking about the floor for Nurse to
clear up—but then the news was rather remarkable news. You see,
there was a knock at the front door and voices talking downstairs,
and Lionel thought it was the man come to see about the gas, which
had not been allowed to be lighted since the day when Lionel made a
swing by tying his skipping rope to the gas bracket.
And then, quite suddenly, Nurse came in and said,
"Master Lionel, dear, they've come to fetch you to go and be
King."
Then she made haste to change his smock and to
wash his face and hands and brush his hair, and all the time she was
doing it Lionel kept wriggling and fidgeting and saying, "Oh,
don't, Nurse," and, "I'm sure my ears are quite clean,"
or, "Never mind my hair, it's all right," and, "That'll
do."
"You're going on as if you was going to be an
eel instead of a King," said Nurse.
The minute Nurse let go for a moment Lionel bolted
off without waiting for his clean handkerchief, and in the drawing
room there were two very grave-looking gentlemen in red robes with
fur, and gold coronets with velvet sticking up out of the middle like
the cream in the very expensive jam tarts.
They bowed low to Lionel, and the gravest one
said: "Sire, your great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, the
King of this country, is dead, and now you have got to come and be
King."
"Yes, please, sir," said Lionel, "when
does it begin?"
"You will be crowned this afternoon,"
said the grave gentleman who was not quite so grave-looking as the
other.
"Would you like me to bring Nurse, or what
time would you like me to be fetched, and hadn't I better put on my
velvet suit with the lace collar?" said Lionel, who had often
been out to tea.
"Your Nurse will be removed to the Palace
later. No, never mind about changing your suit; the Royal robes will
cover all that up."...
About Edith Nesbitt:
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.
Nesbit published approximately 40 books for children, including novels, collections of stories and picture books. Collaborating with others, she published almost as many more.
According to her biographer, Julia Briggs, Nesbit was "the first modern writer for children": Nesbit "helped to reverse the great tradition of children's literature inaugurated by Lewis Carroll, George MacDonald and Kenneth Grahame, in turning away from their secondary worlds to the tough truths to be won from encounters with things-as-they-are, previously the province of adult novels." Briggs also credits Nesbit with having invented the children'sadventure story. Noël Coward was a great admirer of hers and, in a letter to an early biographer Noel Streatfeild, wrote "she had an economy of phrase, and an unparalleled talent for evoking hot summer days in the English countryside."
Among Nesbit's best-known books are The Story of the Treasure Seekers(1898) and The Wouldbegoods (1899), which both recount stories about the Bastables, a middle-class family that has fallen on (relatively) hard times.The Railway Children is also known from its adaptation into a 1970 film version. Gore Vidal called the time-travel book, The Story of the Amulet one in which "Nesbit's powers of invention are at their best." Her children's writing also included numerous plays and collections of verse.
She created an innovative body of work that combined realistic, contemporary children in real-world settings with magical objects – what would now be classed as contemporary fantasy – and adventures and sometimes travel to fantastic worlds. In doing so, she was a direct or indirect influence on many subsequent writers, including P. L. Travers (author ofMary Poppins), Edward Eager, Diana Wynne Jones and J. K. Rowling. C. S. Lewis was influenced by her in writing the Narnia series and mentions the Bastable children in The Magician's Nephew. (Wikipedia)