6 h 53 minAudiobook4 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a wardrobe, a hedge, or a pond holds just enough magic to turn your day upside down?
In The Magic World, E. Nesbit brings wonder into ordinary places through twelve short fantasy tales. Maurice discovers what life looks like from a cat's point of view. Amabel steps into a magical land and must learn its odd rules. Elsewhere, a princess has a prickly companion, and familiar surroundings become the starting points for adventures.
These stories explore transformations, awkward wishes, and children who think quickly while grown-ups struggle to understand. Magic grants wishes in odd, literal ways, leaving the wishers to live with the results. Nesbit speaks straight to you, sharing dry jokes, offering warnings, and sometimes pausing to give her opinion of her own characters.
What you’ll discover
- Wonder close to home Find adventures beginning in wardrobes, hedges, and ponds rather than only in distant kingdoms.
- A cat's point of view Follow Maurice into cat-hood, where a different body brings a practical change of perspective.
- Rules worth puzzling over Join resourceful Amabel as she enters a magical land with its own strange rules.
- Wishes with awkward consequences Discover how getting exactly what you ask for can leave you with unexpected problems.
- A teasing storyteller Enjoy a narrator who draws you close with direct remarks and small, sharp jokes.
Who will love it
For parents reading aloud, anyone who loved Five Children and It, and readers who enjoy dry, teasing humor in fairy tales, mischievous magic and clever children.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Magic arrives in ordinary places
- Wishes come with awkward side effects
- Children are clever and adults are puzzled
- A storyteller who talks to you
Who’s who
- MauriceA boy in the tale of cat-hood who learns, in a very practical way, what life looks like from a cat's point of view.
- AmabelA resourceful girl in the story with her aunt, who steps into a magical land and has to learn its odd rules.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 6 h 53 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 4 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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The Magic World
by E. Nesbit· 1912
A boy lives as a cat and a girl steps through a wardrobe as everyday magic brings strange rules and awkward surprises.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 4
Magic arrives in ordinary places
Nesbit's best trick is where she puts her wonders. A wardrobe, a hedge, a carp in a pond and a house full of grown-ups are enough to start an adventure. The children in these tales do not travel for weeks to find enchantment. It is already waiting a few steps from the nursery door.
That choice gives the stories their warmth. A child reading them can look at a cupboard or a garden wall and wonder. The settings are English and familiar, with aunts, lessons, tea and rules, and the magic breaks into that world like a guest who has not read the house rules.
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What is The Magic World by E. Nesbit about?
It is a collection of short fantasy stories for children, published in 1912. Each tale brings magic into ordinary life through a wardrobe, a garden, a pet or a wish, usually with humor and a small lesson.
When was The Magic World written?
It was published in 1912, in the later part of Nesbit's career. The stories are works of imagination, not true accounts, and they reflect the English childhood world of the early twentieth century.
Is The Magic World a novel or short stories?
It is a book of separate short stories, not a single novel. You can read the tales in any order, and each has its own characters, magic and tone.
The author
E. Nesbit
1858–1924 · English children's writer and poet
Edith Nesbit (1858–1924) was an English author and poet who published as E. Nesbit. She was born in London and later lived in Kent. Her children’s books include The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1899), Five Children and It (1902), The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904), and The Railway Children (1906).
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