Nesbit, E. The Phoenix and the Carpet. Read by Anna Bentinick. Naxos Audio Books, 2005.
Reason read: May is Nesbit’s birth month. Read in her honor.
The Phoenix and the Carpet is the second book in the Psammead Trilogy. (Five Children and It and Story of the Amulet round out the series). The same five children as in the first book are back: Cyril (Squirrel), Anthea (Panther), Robert (Bobs), Jane (Pussy), and Lamb (Hilary). This time they discover an egg hidden in a carpet. It holds a beautiful talking phoenix. Like a genie from a bottle, once the phoenix is freed from the egg it explains that the carpet can grant three wishes a day. So the children’s adventures begin. The phoenix needs to often consult the Psammead to get the children out of various predicaments, but unlike Five Children and It, this time the Psammead is not the central character of the story.
Author fact: Edith Nesbit was a political activist in addition to being an author.
Book trivia: The Phoenix and the Carpet was first published in 1904. It became a British miniseries in 1997.
BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Fantasy for Young and Old” (p 83).
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