There's a somewhat heavier book locked away in this one, and I can't help thinking it would have been just a little bit more satisfying. The daughter of the early public relations advocate Basil Saunders and his journalist wife Betty (née Smith), Saunders has worked for newspapers and magazines in the UK, including The Sunday Times, Sunday Express, Daily Telegraph, She, and Cosmopolitan. This was the one I was least looking forward to reading because its historical and it's very much a traditional, old fashioned children's book (I'm too old for those now! Unlike me, Saunders calculated that all those Edwardian children whom Nesbit brought to life so vividly – with their knickerbockers and tweed, their altercations with housemaids and their endearing turns of phrase ("Do dry up, Cyril! The language was very jolly-hockeysticks -- lots of "rathers" and "good-ohs", and everything was old: old bean, old dear, old boy.

Anytime that a prequel or sequel is published, especially to an old children’s literary classic, we ask ourselves whether or not it’s necessary. Before this last adventure ends, all will be changed, and the two younger children will have seen the Great War from every possible viewpoint – factory-workers, soldiers and sailors, nurses and the people left at home, and the war’s impact will be felt right at the heart of their family.The care of the Psammead is left to the youngest, the Lamb and the new arrival to the family - Edie. Why invoke these particular characters and their background of fun, innocent childhood and put them in wartime unless you were interested in how that contrast communicated. it was hilarious reading about the Pemberton's adventures with the Psammead (haha I don't know if I spelled that right) and the Phoenix. Kate Saunders has written a heartbreaking yet beautiful companion novel, one that I will definitely be revisiting in the future - maybe after reading the original trilogy, although I think having a gap of a few years between reading The Story of the Amulet was beneficial as any obvious differences in voice weren't as clear cut, at least to me. The story is linked in with the war and shows how the young were the ones who sacrificed most of their lives, and although in the novel serious things happened, I missed and felt somewhat cheated at not reading about the character getting up to any mischief with their wishes.

That said, what Saunders has written is certainly very readable, and it is an interesting way of presenting World War I to the child audience.Five Children on the Western Front is highly recommended for anyone who like a well-done combination of speculative fiction and historical fiction, and a novel with heart - bring tissues. then I decided to reread a children's book I've read three times already instead of touching a single book on my literal thousand book goodreads TBR thumbsUP.