Product Description
This remarkable story tells of Lionel, a small boy who, to his great surprise, is made King. But this is just the start of his adventure. For when Lionel discovers the amazing Palace library and opens a book called The Book of Beasts, a Butterfly and a Blue Bird of Paradise fly out. But when he opens it again, he releases a wicked Red Dragon into his kingdom. Now it is up to Lionel to find a way to vanquish the Dragon and save his people. He knows the answer lies within The Book of Beasts, but what is it? And will he discover it in time? First published in 1900, this classic and substantial story has lost none of its charm and cannot help but enchant all who enter its pages. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A delicious lighthearted adventure
A boy accidentally releases a terrible red dragon from the magical Book of Beasts. His first attempt to make it right is clever--maybe clever enough, in some lesser storybook--but no, it doesn't work: the boy must face the dragon himself.

The way Edith Nesbit gets her hero into and out of this predicament is the defining quality of the book. There is peril, yes, and bravery, and adventure--but none of the grim, visceral struggle or the emotional sound and fury of, say, Saint George and the Dragon. Instead the turns in the plot are surprising, lighthearted, silly even--yet clever, with a certain satisfying fairy-tale logic.

This is an abridged, picture-book version of the original (in The Book of Dragons), which I have not read. The illustrations (like the prose) are airy, comic, and marvelous. Perhaps because it wasn't originally intended for a picture-book audience, the story will be a vocabulary builder for young children. Grown-ups will find much to savor here.

Colorful Tale of Dragons and Hippogriffs and More!
This large, colorful picture book is a faithful retelling of "The Book of Beasts," one of many stories originally found in "The Book of Dragons," written by E. Nesbit over one hundred years ago. In this story, a young boy named Lionel is, to his great surprise, crowned king after the death of his great-great-great-great-great grandfather. His grandfather was said by some to be a magician and sure enough, he finds in the royal library a book called "The Book of Beasts." He lets out of it some wonderful creatures, such as a butterfly "all red, and brown, and yellow, and blue," but then he ends up setting a dragon loose upon the kingdom. It's an upsetting start to his days as king, but eventually young Lionel vows to set things right.

The story is abridged (but done very well) and fully illustrated in ink, oil pastels and oils by Inga Moore. The illustrations are beautiful and fanciful, many covering entire pages and others woven into the text. Fantasy fans of all ages will enjoy this story and may be inspired to take a look at "The Book of Dragons," if they haven't already.

An instant favorite!
My daughter (6) and I loved this story.Imaginative, beautiful illustrations.Told skillfully with charming style, wit and a refreshing sense of resoursefulness.This one is a keeper! =)

Very clever and, yes, enchanting!
This is one of those special children's books that has captivated me, as well my son.The text is filled with funny remarks for parental appreciation.And it appeals to a child's imagination, portraying the child as probelm solver as well as trouble maker.The story resolves in a surprisingly clever way, dispelling all the trouble caused by the dragon.This is a witty enchanting fantasy!

Watch Out For That Dragon!
This book is a lot of fun, sparkling with the wit of E.Nesbit and filled with fantastic beasts that stir up quite a bit of trouble for a little boy whose great-great-great-great-great grandfather has died and left a kingdom to him. The original, unabridged version was written in 1900 and is included in a collection of stories called "The Book of Dragons". Inge Moore's new version of the story of the Book of Beasts is a wonderful opportunity for us to enjoy these fun-filled characters and the gentle humour of this great childrens' author.
Meet the Blue Bird of Paradise, the huge Red Dragon,the Manticora, and the beautiful Hippogriff and discover young King Lionel's thoughtful solutions to the problems they create when they spring to life straight off the pages of the magical Book of Beasts.
Moore's illustrations are colorful and comic and I enjoyed them a lot. I am so pleased that this captivating E. Nesbit tale is once again available to a wide readership. Don't miss it. ... Read more

Product Description
Most of the eleven stories in this collection were originally published in The Strand Magazine in 1899. Like Nesbit's other works, these tales are charming and will delight children of all ages. Included are such memorable stories as "The Book of Beasts," (where young Lionel is crowned king, but accidentally releases a dangerous fire dragon on his kingdom and must find a way to return the dragon to the magic book from whence it came), "The Island of the Nine Whirlpools" (featuring a princess and her true love, Nigel, who find the way -- via love and mathematics -- to free her from the curse her wicked father wished upon her), and "The Last of the Dragons" (about a princess who, not wanting to uphold the tradition that all royal maidens must be rescued from the dragon by their prince, insists that she be allowed to fight the dragon herself -- only to discover that this particular dragon is not at all interested in eating Princesses . . . nor in being killed by one). ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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All Round the Year is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by E. (Edith) Nesbit is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of E. (Edith) Nesbit then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Price for an excellent book
Nesbit was an author who wrote books (mostly for children) around the Victorian era.Although not a 'great' writer, she was very good and has influenced notable authors like C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling.The Wouldbegoods fully demonstrates her talent.

The Wouldbegoods was Nesbit's sequel to her earlier work, The Treasure Seekers.The story is about six children named Dora, Oswald, Noël, Alice and H.O. Bastable and two children who go to stay with them, Denny and Daisy.The children end up going for a vacation in the country and after being reprimanded for getting into mischief, the girls propose they start a society for being good in - called The Wouldbegoods.For the children, being good is very hard and whenever it overlaps with anything really interesting, it ends up being wrong.

I would recommend reading The Treasure Seekers before reading this book, but it does stand fairly well on its own.All the characters are well developed, unique and believable.The really fun thing about Nesbit's Bastable stories, is that they are told completely from the perspective of Oswald Bastable.The novel brilliantly mixes the narrative with Oswald's very subjective commentary.The subject matter grows on you, although at first it is depressing (having the Bastable children get into trouble again and again.)But on later reads, the material endears itself more and more.

This version, from Kindle is excellent with the one exception of sometimes missing some of Noël's poetry.But at such a great price, I like it. ... Read more

Product Description
"Yes, dear, do," said the Princess Maia; "but don't do anything rash. No sorties now. You Lobsters are so terribly brave. But you know Mother said you weren't to. Ah me! --war is a terrible thing! What a state the rivers will get into with all this water going on, and the winds all loose and doing as they like. It's horrible to think about. It will take ages to get things straight again." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent, but want more details.
This is a great book for any young reader, especially those interested in fantasy and mythology, although some parts are much different than the "tradional" view of merfolk in general (such as removable tails), but the story was good.What I noticed first was the ommission of various details, such as how they suddenly learn of the mermaid's name or leaving out details in the battles towards the end.I did find, however, that the narrator does a good job of telling the tale, like a mother would tell it to her daughter.All in all, a good story with a little action and lots of magical adventure.

One of her best; especially good for well-read bookish types
I love all of E. Nesbit's books; they are some of my dearest childhood favorites.I also really like the Enchanted Castle, The Magic City, and The Story of the Amulet.Wet Magic is more poetic and literate; there seems to be more visual beauty, and I love the scene where the book characters are literally coaxed out of all their books to help with the battle. ... Read more

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I reach my hand to thee! Stoop; take my hand in thine; Lead me where I would be, Father divine. I do not even know The way I want to go, The way that leads to rest. ... Read more

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

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This sequel to Five Children and It sees the four children finding a carpet - and then being told by a phoenix that it is a magic carpet. It means a series of adventures. Anna Bentinck reads the tale, with music of the period. ... Read more

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Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare
The Book of Dragons
The Enchanted Castle
Five Children and It
Harding's luck
The Incomplete Amorist
In Homespun
The Magic City
The Magic World
New Treasure Seekers
Oswald Bastable and Others
The Phoenix and the Carpet
The Railway Children
The Story of the Amulet
The Story of the Treasure Seekers
The Wouldbegoods ... Read more

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According to Wikipedia: "Edith Nesbit (married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English author and poet whose children's works were published 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 precursor to the modern Labour Party. Nesbit published approximately 40 books for children, both novels and collections of stories. 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's adventure story. 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. 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 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 of Mary Poppins), Edward Eager, Diana Wynne Jones and J. K. Rowling. C. S. Lewis wrote of her influence on his Narnia[3] series and mentions the Bastable children in The Magician's Nephew. Michael Moorcock would go on to write a series of steampunk novels with an adult Oswald Bastable (of The Treasure Seekers) as the lead character." ... Read more

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Set in nineteenth-century England, The Railway Children is the story of how a family, whose father has mysteriously disappeared, deals with the profound changes that take place when they move away from London to settle in a country cottage near the railway. First published in 1906, this tearjerker is one of the greatest children's stories of all time. This edition of Edith Nesbit's classic is beautifully illustrated in color by well-known artist Dinah Dryhurst. Complete and unabridged, it is an ideal and inexpensive way to begin building a classics library. ... Read more

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This new and exciting translation of Homers epic war poem, The Iliad, is told with excitement and character by Anton Lesser. The poem concentrates on the key 50 days during the ten-year war, when there is strife not only between the Greeks and the defending Trojans, but also within the Greek forces themselves. The mighty warrior Achilles, angry with Agamemnon, withdraws from the battle and only returns to face Hector when his close companion Patroclus is killed. This abridged version offers the key moments. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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Alf knew that "in the country" where dogs were possible to turrify means to annoy. He had always had dreams ever since he could remember--dreams of the farm in Kent that his aunt talked of, where the cherry orchards were, and the pears on the side of the house, "so you could pick 'em outer window." He had dreamed of being King of England, with ermine robes, so jolly for the winter; and a gold crown--less convenient, perhaps. ... Read more

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SIR GEOFFREY met the white lady Upon his marriage morn, Her eyes were blue as cornflowers are, Her hair was gold like corn. ... Read more