Five Children and It is the first book in a trilogy dealing with magic. Four London Children, with their baby brother, while on a holiday unearth a Psammead, or sand fairy, who has the power to grant them a new wish every day. Fortunately, every wish is suspended at sunset. In the sequel, The Phoenix and the Carpet, the children discover that the secondhand rug in their basement is actually a flying carpet, and rolled up in it is a phoenix to travel with them as guardian.

The adventures in both of these works are comic and lighthearted. The final book in the trilogy, The Story of the Amulet, has more depth. It concerns the same four children who come across their old friend, the Psammead, in a pet shop. They buy him and take him home.

The grateful creature is now eager to grant their...