Five Children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders (review)

In Saunders’ homage and sequel to E. Nesbit’s Five Children and It, nine years have passed since the titular five children—Cyril, Anthea, Robert, Jane, and the Lamb—last saw the Psammead, the sand fairy, whose ability to grant wishes led to a series of whimsical adventures. He’s reappeared to a now eleven-year-old the Lamb and nine-year-old Edie, but his magic is gone and he’s weak and ailing. World War I preoccupies much of the elder children’s time: Cyril’s a lieutenant, Anthea’s a volunteer at the hospitals, and Robert will likely soon be conscripted, so it’s up to the two youngest to look after the cantankerous but loveable Psammead. As the events of the war unfold, however, so too does the Psammead’s backstory, and the parallels between his past misdeeds and the world’s current tragedies become painfully clear. Saunders strikes a surprisingly successful balance between the mischievous magic of the sand fairy and the harsh realities of wartime England. This tension plays out in the Psammead as well; the endearing, often comical grump is revealed to be a former desert god whose tyranny led to the death of thousands. When he’s not making droll comments about his current accommodations (in a tub full of sand in the children’s house) or wryly mocking the ways of humans, he’s looking for a way to repent for his past cruelty so he can move on, hopefully to a state of peace. The relationships between the siblings and their love for each other and for the Psammead are clearly delineated here, so readers need not be familiar with Nesbit’s original text, though a curious few might want to visit the children pre-war to gain a sense of the innocence lost.