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    The Railway Children (Legend Classics)
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    The Railway Children (Legend Classics)
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    The Railway Children (Legend Classics)
    Ebook232 pages3 hours

    The Railway Children (Legend Classics)

    By E. Nesbit

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Part of the Legend Classics seriesHer child characters are remarkable because they are so entirely human. They are intelligent, vain, aggressive, humorous, witty, cruel, compassionate... in fact, they are like adults - Gore VidalThe Railway Children, a much-loved children's classic, was first published in 1906 and has never been out of print. It is a classic tale of humanity, eternal love, and kindness. The lives of Roberta, Peter and Phyllis are shattered when their father is falsely accused of spying, forcing them to move away from their London home to a cottage in rural Yorkshire. They soon become enchanted with a railway that runs nearby. There follows a series of many adventures, including saving a train from disaster and befriending an old Gentleman (a daily commuter), who helps them in their struggle to prove their father's innocence.One of the most famous stories of all time, enjoyed by millions of children and adults across the world.The Legend Classics series:Around the World in Eighty DaysThe Adventures of Huckleberry FinnThe Importance of Being EarnestAlice's Adventures in WonderlandThe MetamorphosisThe Railway ChildrenThe Hound of the BaskervillesFrankensteinWuthering HeightsThree Men in a BoatThe Time MachineLittle WomenAnne of Green GablesThe Jungle BookThe Yellow Wallpaper and Other StoriesDraculaA Study in ScarletLeaves of GrassThe Secret GardenThe War of the WorldsA Christmas CarolStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr HydeHeart of DarknessThe Scarlet LetterThis Side of ParadiseOliver TwistThe Picture of Dorian GrayTreasure IslandThe Turn of the ScrewThe Adventures of Tom SawyerEmmaThe TrialA Selection of Short Stories by Edgar Allen PoeGrimm Fairy Tales
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLegend Press
    Release dateJun 1, 2017
    ISBN9781787198968
    Unavailable
    The Railway Children (Legend Classics)
    Author

    E. Nesbit

    E. Nesbit (1858–1924) began writing for young adults after a successful career in magazines. Using her own unconventional childhood as a jumping-off point, she published novels that combined reality, fantasy, and humor. Expanded from a series of articles in the Strand Magazine, Five Children and It was published as a novel in 1902 and is the first in a trilogy that includes The Phoenix and the Carpet and The Story of the Amulet. Together with her husband, Nesbit was a founding member of the socialist Fabian Society, and her home became a hub for some of the greatest authors and thinkers of the time, including George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells.

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    Reviews for The Railway Children (Legend Classics)

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      This classic children's novel from 1905 is a delight to read, and gently humourous in many places as our heroes, Peter, Phyllis (Phil for short) and Roberta (Bobbie for short) get up to all kinds of adventures in and around the railway, preventing train crashes, putting out fires, rescuing people from dark and dank tunnels and, slightly incongruously, meeting a Russian dissident. There are some nice illustrations in this edition also. I've never seen any of the TV and film adaptations of this, but I intend to seek them out.
    • 4/5
      A delightful and multi-layered children's adventure, focused on three London children who suddenly have to move to the countryside as their father mysteriously goes away. The pathos of the story lies in the cotrast between the children's enthusiams for theit new surroundings and the slow realization of
    • 4/5
      - Audiobook - This book was horrifying! It's a heartwarming story about three children who don't mind that they suddenly become poor, and who are brave and inventive and save people's lives. But children shouldn't have to save people's lives! They save, among others, a baby who is left alone in a BURNING houseboat, an ENTIRE TRAIN full of people whose track is blocked, a boy who gets lost in a train tunnel and breaks his leg, and a Russian man who has been in a Siberian prison camp for years and now needs to find his family. And if the children hadn't done the right thing, PEOPLE WOULD HAVE DIED! And the whole time their father has "mysteriously disappeared" and they had to move out of their big house into a tiny one and their mother works all the time (writing stories) so that they'll just barely have enough money for food.The book was fine but I didn't find it at all lighthearted, and I wouldn't recommend it to kids.
    • 3/5
      A beautifully written book, though definitely from another time. Three siblings and their mother leave their London home for the countryside because some men come to take their father away. What follows are a series of mini-adventures, mostly concerning the Railway and surrounding areas where the children express themselves through kindness and good deeds.

      The reason I enjoyed this book so much was, not just for the wonderful old-fashioned language you find in books such as these (calling someone a brick always amuses me), but because it holds a very important message and that is you are not worth how much money you have. The children move from, not an unseemly amount of wealth, but definitely enough to afford a privileged lifestyle to barely being able to afford warming their house, resorting in the children "borrowing" coal in lieu of a game.
      The whole point of life is to better yourself and it's quite difficult to do that when you're born in to money. But the children better themselves despite this, and in so many different ways it's hard to look back on this time and envy them for being able to live in it.
    • 1/5
      Apparently this is a beloved classic. I would describe it as treacly.Sentimental. Much more about the childrens' emotions than about trains.Endless scenes of the children being responsible and noble and brave.Very much of its time and place, with children saying things like "Bother! I believe I've broken my leg."Morally didactic to the point of being patronising.Might be good for children who are very interested in emotions.
    • 3/5
      There were two sisters and one brother,Bobbie,Phyllis and Peter. They were very happy but the awful change came suddenly. Their father was led away by stranger. Presently, they moved to countryside. The children had a daily routine of seeing trains. They got to know the Station Master and the old gentleman. They became good friends,but their mother got ill through overwork. They were at a loss so they wrote a letter to the old gentleman. He gave them a basket full of food. Their mother recovered from ill.One day they found a land slide.Their action prevented an accident. The rail way company conferred on a title “Rail way children” on them.I like this book. This story must be an old story but I really enjoyed it. I think these children are very brave. I could see the importance of brothers and sisters through this story, because they always together and help each other.
    • 4/5
      A very interesting story that's over 100 years old. It is a third person story where the narrator describes the life of three children who come from a wealthy family, until their dad is taken from then and they have to move into a poor town. The children have to stop going to school, and in turn learn all about railroads, and become hero's. The language is fantastic and confusing at time, but you must remember that this tale of bravery takes place and the beginning of the 20th century in Great Britain.
    • 2/5
      Roberta, Peter and Phillis have the perfect life, wonderful parents and all the riches a child could ask for. Then one day, their father gets taken away by two men and put into prison. The children and their mother are forced to move to a small cottage in the country. While their mother writes stories to try and support them, the three children go on many adventures.I felt love of family,and how inportant family is.
    • 5/5
      What a classic! A great read for children and adults, and quite realistic railway action to boot.
    • 5/5
      Read this gem years ago. One of the best children's books ever by one of my favorite children's book authors.
    • 4/5
      I love reading children's books, particularly classics like this. The story is well-known: three children live an idyllic life with their cheerful father and loving mother in the early part of the 20th century. One day some men arrive unexpectedly and their father goes away with them. Their mother is very upset, and before long they move to a smaller house near a railway station.

      The book mostly follows the lives of the children, who no longer go to school so are free to roam around the countryside getting to know people and learning a great deal about the railway. Which doesn't sound terribly exciting, but it's a great book - there are some very moving moments, and it's also very well-written with a bit of humour in the author's asides. Despite being written nearly 100 years ago the language doesn't seem too old-fashioned, and would probably be enjoyed by children from about the age of seven or eight upwards reading alone, or younger with a parent reading aloud.
    • 5/5
      it is a great book for all ages.a loveing story about three cildren.how has tots of fun to geather
    • 3/5
      This is one of my favorite books of plain fiction. I loved the book and the recording. I think it's a lot like /The Treasure Seekers/, only in my opinion it’s better (though it's a standalone instead of a series). However, /The Treasure Seekers/ does seem to be much more popular.
    • 4/5
      1993, BBC Audiobooks, Full Cast DramatizationBook Description: from BookDepository.comThis is a BBC Radio full-cast dramatization of E. Nesbit's enchanting and unforgettable classic. Roberta, Peter and Phyllis lead an ordinary suburban life with Mother and Father and trips to the zoo and the pantomime. But when Father is mysteriously taken away one night, everything changes. The children must move to the country, to a little white cottage near the railway line, where eventually they find that there are plenty of adventures to be had and friends to be made – including Perks the Porter and the Station Master himself. But the mystery remains – what has happened to Father, and will he come back? The story of Roberta, Peter and Phyllis and their life in the country has never been out of print since it was first published in 1906. Charming, sentimental and unforgettable, the novel retains all its enchantment and enduring appeal in this BBC Radio full-cast dramatization.My Review: Thoroughly enjoyed Nesbit’s The Railway Children and cannot say enough good about the full cast dramatization: it is superbly done. The simple, charming, ordinary suburban lives of Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis made me appreciate having grown up before our world became its present frantic, high-tech society of progress. Favourite characters are Perks and the Station Master. Most memorable scene is Perks’ birthday, on which the children bring a host of gifts from themselves and from neighbours. Perks is adamant he will not take what he sees as charity, but when the children read to him the messages from his neighbours, he comes to understand that his neighbours are not patronizing him but rather appreciating him as a valued friend and member of his community.
    • 4/5
      I know I loved this enough as a kid to read it at least ten times, but then I was a big re-reader when I was younger. I have always loved the film too but the book is better.Must re-read this some day.
    • 5/5
      A wonderful children's book, written more than 100 years ago. It is the story of 3 siblings Roberta (Bobbi), Peter & Phyllis who must move to a small cottage in a little town when their father is mysteriously taken away. They meet many of the town's folk; including Perks the railway Porter and the Old Gentleman, a rider on the train. While their mother writes stories to support them, they go off and have many wonderful adventures. What I especially enjoyed about this book is how real these children were; they argue, fight, make up and behave like "regular" siblings. I would recommend this book for children 8 to 12 years old or for families to enjoy together.
    • 4/5
      Roberta (Bobbie), Peter and Phyllis (Phil) lead a happy suburban life, with plenty of toys, treats to eat, nice clothes and servants to tend to the chores. But one evening two men come to the house and take Father away with them when they leave. Mother makes the best of things; selling many of their finer possessions, packing up the necessities and moving them to a cottage in the country, where she earns a meager living writing stories. Three Chimneys is comfortable if less spacious than their original home, and the children find much to do and make new friends among the villagers. They are particularly drawn to the railway station and to watching the trains that run past.

      This is a delightful classic of children’s literature. The children have many adventures, but behave like children throughout. They squabble and let their imaginations run away with them, but try very hard to be good when they notice how unhappy their Mother is. They sometimes misunderstand realities, but that’s to be expected given the times and how hard the adults try to shield them from the realities of some situations.

      I love how inventive they are in their play (I especially liked the scene where they were trying to enact billboard advertisements), and how they display loyalty, courage and compassion. They are children, however, and are bound to misbehave, but they are appropriately contrite and accept their reprimands with honest promises to try harder in the future.

      I’d read Nesbit’s Five Children and It series when I was in middle school, but never read any of her other works. Thanks to the member who mentioned this work recently, or I would never have thought to revisit her writings. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this story. One day the father of 3 children left from their house. From that day they're said to be poor by mother. But they didn't know why they should do so. And they face many difficulties, but they also meet good person and thigs. And does their father come or not..?I enjoyed this story. I felt love of family from this story. Family is very important. And the 3 children have so warm heart. I should learn from them!
    • 3/5
      A book I've been meaning to read for a very long time. These days the language of the book is a little dated but I can see how, in 1906 when it was first published, it would have become very popular with the targeted audience. A lovely tale of three children learning to deal with what life throws at them, at times overly sentimental but that could just be me, reading a children's book in 2016, that is over 100 years old.
    • 5/5
      I love this book. I love trains just as much as books. I enjoyed the charthers in the book. It about a family that has to make adjustment on the fly. I quite enjoyable. I love how this is a Classic. I did not know this book was out there to read while I was growing up. The Children name are Bobby, Phil and Paul.

      If you want to know mare about it what happens I would suggest picking it up. Something happens that causes their father to go away.
    • 3/5
      What happened to my review? I remember mostly being disappointed, as much of Nesbit I loved. Iirc, this had too much slang, and was too implausible, for me.
    • 5/5
      This book was all about the life of three children: Phyllis, Peter and Roberta (though she likes to be called Bobbie instead). The children's father mysteriously goes away, and none of them know why except Mother. They move house into the countryside and begin to live very poor. There the children make good friends with the people of the railway, and love the railway itself.

      Their father goes for a very long time. When the children wave to an old friend of theirs, which they call 'The Old Gentleman', they are doing it for the purpose of him to send their love to Father.

      With many rescues and great journeys, the children have great fun and a brilliant time. But they are also sad - they miss Father so much, and yet they don't think Mother is happy. "How can we cheer her up?" they ask each other. "If she's not happy, she never will be until Father comes back, will she?" and the simple questions are: WILL Father come back? And if not, WILL the children or Mother be happy again?

      Wonderful book! Terrific! I like the phrases Nesbit uses - "don't let's quarrel, now!" - "Oh, rot!" - "Yes, Mother. Of course we will, ducky-dear." - it's all very funny, since we usually don't speak like that anymore, but it also gives a touch of what Nesbit DID speak like when she was still around.
    • 4/5
      Re-read this lovely classic after a long time. Written in a charming manner about a bygone era from Children's POV. It was a pleasure to read in Puffin Classic paperback.
    • 3/5
      Originally published serially in The London Magazine, E. Nesbit's childhood classic The Railway Children was first released as a book in 1906, and follows the story of three siblings - Bobbie (Roberta), Peter and Phyllis - who find their lives mysteriously transformed when their father is taken away one night, and they must move to the country with their mother. Here, at Three Chimneys house, the children befriend the locals, observe the railway - which becomes a central facet of their lives - and attempt to resolve the issue of their father's disappearance. When the three learn that he has been accused of espionage, they are determined to prove his innocence, a project in which they are aided by the Old Gentleman, a regular railroad passenger whom they have befriended...A book I have read many times, mostly recently for a course in children's literature, The Railway Children is an engaging story of three young people and their many adventures. It reflects the late-Victorian fascination with trains and the railroad - which are here the means of freeing an innocent man, and reuniting a family - as well as its creator's social views and interests. It's tempting to see a little of Nesbit in the children's mother, who bravely picks up her pen to earn a living for the family, when her husband is taken away, or to see the emphasis put on helping others in the right way - the importance of giving aid that is not perceived as charity, for instance, to avoid wounding the pride and self-respect of others - as a reflection of the author's views as a Fabian. However interesting any such references may be, this is also a book that has appeal as a story, one in which a happy family is torn apart, before eventually being reunited. The children's adventures in between make for entertaining reading!
    • 5/5
      I very much liked this story of three children who must move with their mother from the comfort of their well-to-do London home to a small cottage in the country and "play at being poor" while their father is mysteriously away. A bit saccharine, maybe, but a well-written and comfy read nonetheless, with nicely-drawn and sometimes hilarious characters.
    • 4/5
      Again E. Nesbit shows herself expert at showing-not-telling, and at writing for anyone and everyone. With the story told from the point of view of the children, and aimed at children, all anyone under a certain height level is going to understand is that the father of the family goes away one night and does not come back, and the mother tells the three that he is away on business – and everything changes. Mother is upset or sad all the time, even when pretending otherwise. The children are made to understand that they are now poor – for a while. And almost overnight they pick up and leave their home – taking all the furniture the children deem "ugly" and Mother deems "useful", but few of their pretty things – and move out to a cottage in the country and Mother begins writing most of the day and far into the night. And Father does not come back. I can't think how this story could be told more poignantly than as it is, obliquely through the children's eyes. Peter and Roberta (Bobbie) and Phyllis are, of course, bright children, and good ones, well brought up and attentive and conscientious – but they are wrapped in the happy oblivion of what seems to have been an upper middle class upbringing, wanting for no essential and few non-essentials, a world in which it is utterly and in all other ways inconceivable that anyone could ever dream their father did anything wrong. As it happens, of course, they are correct, but even had their father been in truth Jack the Ripper they would have been difficult to convince. They are essentially self-involved, viewing the world only as it affects them; for Peter and Phyllis it is enough that their mother tells them their father is away on business and they mustn't worry. They are upset when she is upset, but otherwise they are content and involved in their own lives. Bobbie is more attentive, more outwardly focused, and seems to step away from her childhood with this book. Mother is, in this story, utterly brilliant – and I don't think that's just because the point of view is thoroughly sympathetic. She does a tremendous job of protecting her children – whisking them away from their old environment before they can hear a whisper of what has really happened to their father. And of course the children are brilliant too. Roberta especially is rather magnificent. I love the narrator's frank statement that she hopes the reader does not mind her paying particular attention to Bobbie, but she has become rather a favorite. And I also love the equally frank assessment of her tendency to a) interfere or b) help lame dogs over stiles or c) help others, depending on who you ask – she can't help herself from making every effort to do something, and feels things very deeply, and this does not always make for easy relations with others. The realism of E. Nesbit's writing is a bit dinged by the heroic role of the children during the summer of the story. Not to spoil things, but the events the three of them become involved in might, individually, be acceptable; all together it's a little bit ridiculous. But for the original target audience it would be so much fun. For me, a good bit older than the target? Also fun – and I admit to choking up at the climax. Oh, and Karen Savage, the narrator of the Librivox recording? Absolutely terrific.
    • 4/5
      A remarkably good book. It is obviously didactic and the writer speaks directly to the reader, making it seem even more so. At the same time, it is full of humour, much of it derived from the children's interactions, imagination, and conversation. It is utterly improbable; people are never that helpful to chance-met children. The children also are remarkably resourceful in situations where suffering is both visible and real or where disaster is immanent. There are really excellent descriptions of what it is like to ride on a train and what it is like to watch one go by or arrive at the station and generally vivid descriptions throughout.It was reminiscent of "No Boats on Bannermere", including the part where the family arrives at an apparently neglected and inhospitable destination in the late evening only to find, the following day, how much has been done for them.
    • 5/5
      There is something perfectly lovely about all E. Nesbit's books, and they certainly formed the backdrop to many a day when I was a little girl. Reading this particular book as an adult fills me with not only with pleasure but with a deeper understanding. I could not help but wonder if this story, of a father wrongly accused and imprisoned, was not inspired by the Dreyfus affair, which was certainly preoccupying many people's minds at the time. One of the delights of Nesbit's writing is that she never condescends to her young readers. Complicated questions of justice, of charity, of the freedoms denied others -- there is quite a wonderful sequence involving a Russian political fugitive -- of absent parents and what it means to perform a heroic act. The children learn things indirectly, peeking into the world of adults from around the corners of childhood. It's very well done.One of the things that I noticed most this time around, though, was the amount of freedom children had. Can you imagine children left to play unsupervised in the woods, around a train station, by the train tunnels and tracks themselves? I will be showing my age here, but I recall many days spent wandering by myself in the fields and forests near my childhood home, expected to return only when I got hungry or the streetlights came on. Did I get into some mischief? Yes. Was it a bit dangerous? Yes. And was being left to create a world by myself, and sometimes with other children, good for my imagination, for my sense of independence, for developing a way of being in the world? Undeniably. I wonder, in fact, if I would have become a writer if I hadn't had those days, if I was driven from one place to another, one class to another, one computer to another.Well, that's an essay for another place. Here, I'll simply say it was lovely to visit a world, so beautifully crafted, which probably now exists no where except between the pages of a book. Recommended.
    • 4/5
      I listened to a BBC dramtization (or similar) which is far better than the film. I doubt the film could hold the attention of modern kids.
    • 4/5
      Ah, nostalgia. I've been meaning to reread this for a while, and it's probably a pity I didn't do it in time for my children's literature exam. Still, there it is. I felt like the English Lit student was ticking boxes in my head as I went through: morality lessons, check, didactic narrator, check, discussion of the different roles for men and women, check, happy domestic life, check...

      Still, it's also fun to disregard that and read about the three kids getting into trouble and helping their mother, etc, etc. I used to like Roberta/Bobbie the best, but she's really quite goody-goody most of the time.

      It's funny reading it now and seeing the narrator talking down to me/the child reader. I can't think how I didn't find that annoying when I was younger, because I generally didn't like being told what to do by books, but I took both this and some of the lessons in Little Women (which in a way is very like this only for older girls) completely to heart. I don't think that was a terribly bad thing.

      I love the ending. It's so unlikely, everything going right and all the people and friends they've made feeding into a happy ending, but still, everyone's a sucker for a happy ending sometimes.