Love all the E. Nesbit stuff (and the American versions of pretty much the same universe by Edward Eager). There was one set of five books that comprised two intersecting trilogies that I especially liked. What sets them apart from a lot of the modern stuff is that there's no Mr. Exposition to explain to the characters any of the rules underlying the weird shit they've stumbled across. They have to figure it out themselves and with only your average kid's brains. For example, it takes practically the whole book for them to figure out that there's only one real magical gizmo in the heap of stuff that they've found but it's a wishing ring and someone's gone and wished for a bunch of magical artefacts. They're also very average kids in that they squabble with each other constantly in a very realistic manner.
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Date: 2011-01-18 03:48 pm (UTC)From:Love all the E. Nesbit stuff (and the American versions of pretty much the same universe by Edward Eager). There was one set of five books that comprised two intersecting trilogies that I especially liked. What sets them apart from a lot of the modern stuff is that there's no Mr. Exposition to explain to the characters any of the rules underlying the weird shit they've stumbled across. They have to figure it out themselves and with only your average kid's brains. For example, it takes practically the whole book for them to figure out that there's only one real magical gizmo in the heap of stuff that they've found but it's a wishing ring and someone's gone and wished for a bunch of magical artefacts. They're also very average kids in that they squabble with each other constantly in a very realistic manner.