

The Phoenix and the Carpet
Author: Edith Nesbit
Narrator: Anna Bentinck
Abridged: 2 hr 38 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Naxos
Published: 05/01/2005
Categories: Children's Fiction, Classic Children's Stories
Author: Edith Nesbit
Narrator: Anna Bentinck
Abridged: 2 hr 38 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Naxos
Published: 05/01/2005
Categories: Children's Fiction, Classic Children's Stories
Edith Nesbit, the daughter of John Collis Nesbit, a schoolmaster, was born on August 19, 1858. Her father died when Edith was only six years old. Despite money problems, Edith's mother managed to educate her daughter in France.
At the age of nineteen, Edith met Hubert Bland, a young writer with radical political opinions. In 1879, Edith discovered she was pregnant; she married Hubert on April 22, 1880, and the baby was born two months later.
Edith and Hubert were both socialists, and on October 24, 1883, they decided to form a debating group with their Quaker friend Edward Pease, Havelock Ellis, and Frank Podmore. They decided to call themselves the Fabian Society and were later joined by other socialists. Edith and Hubert became joint editors of the society's journal, Today.
Edith was a regular lecturer and writer on socialism throughout the 1880s. However, she gave less time to these activities after she become a successful children's writer. Her most famous novels include The Story of the Treasure Seekers, The Wouldbegoods, Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet, The Railway Children, and The Enchanted Castle. A collection of her political poetry, Ballads and Lyrics of Socialism, was published in 1908.
After the death of her husband in 1914, Edith married Thomas Tucker, an engineer. Edith continued to write children's books and had published forty-four novels before her death on May 4, 1924.
That evening, Mother read to them from a book called The Phoenix and the Carpet, which she had had since she was a little girl. Like all the best children's books, it was written to be read aloud; you immediately knew that Mrs. Nesbit had read it aloud to her own children, and every now and then she......more
I loved this book and the series as a young girl. This book transported me with its imaginative plot and made me want to be one of the lucky children on a magic carpet! It's one of those timeless children's books that I hope children may still read today. Up there with books like The Famous Five by E......more
This is the second book in the Five Children series, but actually the last one I read, after the Amulet and then Five Children and It. I think this was the strongest book in the series with the most interesting plotline, and I recommend the whole series as a nice bit if early 20th-century sci fi/fan......more
Four children discover a strange egg in their new nursery carpet, and when the egg is accidentally dropped in the fire, it hatches a beautiful Phoenix. The Phoenix reveals that the new carpet is actually a magic carpet that can take them anywhere in the world. Although they have some fun adventures,......more
Fine, and a fun premise, but a little overrated for Nesbit. The plot is episodic and bumpy. The protagonists are rather spoiled, semi-neglected, un-self-aware children who don't experience character growth during the story. The Phoenix is an interesting fellow, but entirely too passive to drive the......more