Five Children and It: A Retelling for Curious Readers

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The opening of Five Children and It: A Retelling for Curious Readers, free to read.

1. 

   The White House stood on a hill near a sand pit. Cyril, Anthea, Robert, and Jane had come from London, where there was nowhere to dig. They called their baby brother the Lamb, after his very first word: "Baa." Then Father was called away for work, and Mother went to nurse Granny. Martha the nursemaid was left in charge.

2. 

   The children took their spades to the sand pit. They decided to dig a hole right through the world to Australia. The Lamb fell asleep in the warm sand. The others wandered off to hunt for shells, but Anthea would not stop. Then she shrieked, "Come quick! It's alive! It said, 'Let me alone!'"

3. 

   They scrabbled in the sand. Up came a fat, furry brown thing, yawning. "What is it?" whispered Jane. It had a monkey's hands and feet, a bat's ears, and a body as round as a spider's. Strangest of all, its eyes stood on stalks, like a snail's, and slid in and out. "Don't you know a Psammead when you see one?" it snapped. "A Sand-fairy, in plain English!" The children said it like "Sammyadd."