Five Children and It

Digging in a gravel pit, four children and their baby brother uncover It: a grumpy, furry Psammead, or sand-fairy, thousands of years old, who must grant them one wish a day, each lasting until sunset. Every wish goes wrong in a new way: to be beautiful as the day, so that nobody recognises them; to be rich, in gold coins no shop will take; to have wings, which vanish while they are on a church roof; and to have the baby grown up at once.

E. Nesbit published the book in 1902, and its rule that wishes come true in exactly the words spoken became a model for children's fantasy. Ten LibriVox volunteers read it in under six hours.